Portfolio Example

[JDLOKI]

Hi everyone,
this is only an example of the front page of my website but I was hoping you guys could crit the style to see if im on the right track (cos I have never even attemted a website before)

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...iteExample.jpg

Thanks

[benclark]

I would get rid of the text. It means you have to scroll to see your work.

Have all that text in your resume or an 'about me' page

[Talon]

I'd scrap the background image. It's large and will slow up the loading times of your site. And like Ben says, I'd move the text to another page. The most important thing on your portfolio site is your portfolio, so that should be the first thing any visitor sees. The portfolio gallery right there in their face. Everything else should be optional to the visitor, something they can look at if they want to hang around.

It's a bit harsh, but no one wants to read your text or welcome message or anything like that. Any barriers at all that you put between them and your portfolio will only annoy them. Whether that's long load times, having to click more than once, having to read text, having to see a flash intro... anything.


One good way to design websites, especially focused sites like a portfolio, is to do it backwards. Start with the most important and frequently seen and used page, the one that's the core of your website. Ensure it all works perfectly. Then go backwards from there up through the levels to your front page.

There's nothing more annoying than designing a front page only to find that it doesn't work well for showing the actual portfolio pieces and then you've gotta either break the site or badly shoehorn your portfolio into a design that wasn't built for it.

So, start with the most important page (i.e. the template for the page that contains the piece of your portfolio) then one step backwards, design the front page (i.e. your portfolio gallery). And after that you can use the front page layout as a basis for all the other stuff (about, resume).

[JDLOKI]

ok, thanks guys! Back to the drawing board...

[BJA]

You should mention what kind of employment you seek for and change "online portfolio" into something more specific like "environment artist" or whatever.