SITE REVIEW: www.fkportfolio.com

Hi guys,

I decided to redo my portfolio site for the new year. I would love to get some feedback and thoughts about the new design.

I have tested the site with IE6 & FF1.0.7 and all seemed well. Site works best with Javascript but should still be accessible with it disabled.

http://www.fkportfolio.com

Cheers.

I like the javascript menu for a means of organization, but it shouldn't be your main feature. Move it to the left sidebar and use the rest of the page to do a little biography about yourself, your education and expierence. If you sell webdesign services directly, put a link to that at the end of your profile. Also, avoid have clicked links open in new windows as these might be shut by pop-up blockers (like mine) that get confused. Help me know who Fady Khalife is and to see the great work he's done.

Hey farmer_Tom,

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't include any personal information, or services offered as I only use this page to acompany my resume for job applications or when someone requests to see my work. Thats why I went the JScript and unconventional popup style. I will definitely make a more traditional website come time to sell my web design services.

Cheers.

Your contact form opens in a new window that spans the height of my screen. This would be fine if you had the content to fill the new window, but your contact form takes up very little vertical space. As such, it might look better if you opened your window to accommodate the content, rather than 100% of the screen height.

I don't know if this is a consequence of the script you're using, and it's quite a minor thing, but using Firefox 1.5/XP, my cursor doesn't change when I hover over your menu options. While there's nothing technically wrong with this, I think that changing the cursor is a pretty widely accepted standard for indicating that some action may be performed on the item (from a hand or crosshair or question mark over links to the "look," "take," "open," etc. cursors of classic point-and-click adventure games).

The comment about your contact form also applies to your individual project detail pages. Further, you open a new window for each project detail page. I would suggest modifying your script so that if a new window with the required specs is already open, its contents are replaced with the new detail page.

Aesthetically, no complaints. I love what you've done with the site. It's simple, clean, and the image of the woman sitting in the "frame" is probably one of the more unique "footers" I've seen. Well done!

Hi justG,

I have fixed it so the hand cursor is used on the project buttons. I had a few friends rollover the buttons and say "what do I do now" so I underestimated how important this is.

I have also fixed it so only one popup window is used for displaying project details, I didn't even think about this at the time to be honest.

Two reasons for the details page opening at 100% height and vertically narrow. One, I wanted it to continue the thin narrow feel of the site and second I use it to cover up the menu on the page behind as a few mates told me it's annoying to see that in the background.

I think I may need to create another footer for the contact and display pages so that the bottom is not so barren on larger resolutions.

Thanks again.

Okay, well, I understand your reasoning now, but.. it doesn't work. =] Are you assuming that the browser window is maximised? Mine isn't. So your new window opens up horizontally centred on my screen, which ends up being just to the right of your menu.

Hmmm, strange. Heres what a fresh popup looks like for me in Firefox 1.5

http://fkportfolio.com/example.jpg


I was wondering, what resolution do you browse at?

Cheers.

Your screenshot answers the question I asked in my previous post. =] You assume that the main browser is maximised. That is the only way that your new popup will open up directly on top of your menu, because both are horizontally centred on the screen. Resolution shouldn't matter; if your main browser is not maximised, your new popup shouldn't hide your menu. I run at 1600x1200.

Ahhh, I get it now. Looks like I will need to maxamise the window when the page loads.

Thanks.

Eeeek! Is there any way you could ascertain the current height and width of the browser window, as well as its position on the user's screen? That way you could open up your new window so that it's centred relative to the main browser window, rather than relative to the monitor. I don't know how relevant this is to your situation, but... non-spam/-advert popups I can tolerate, but if a site presumes to mess with my main browser window, I won't ever be returning to it.

I find myself repeating this frequently: browsing the web is - rightly - a user-controlled experience that we site authors should not attempt to manipulate. I know that I'm not alone in my vehement objection to having my window controlled by a web site. I understand that your portfolio URL will complement your CV, and while I understand that showcasing your scripting prowess is part of the idea, I would suggest that you consider the effect you might have on prospective employers by using such scripting tricks.

I really like the design. The whole vertical thing is cool and because of the menu system you keep it nicely in range of any res the site is displayed on.

Also, normally I hate pop-ups, but since it's right there and lines up with the main page, it's great!

Good stuff!

Thanks G$, nice to hear the popups worked well for you, but I have scraped them no due to some negative feedback and problems with FF on the Mac.

Hey justG, I have found the overall reaction to the popups to be negative, especially when it disrupts their browsing with maximizing and the addition of new windows.

I have decided to bite the bullet and scrap the popups (I really did like them tough) and have redesigned the functionality of the site. Please have a look and let me know what you think now.

Cheers.

very nice and clean... Love the colour scheme.
Btw i just hatched. Still new and wet..
em.. please cross the "wet.".

on first quick impressions i like it, its very simple yet professional enough and the layouts very nice and straight forward i havent fully browsed through but for the moment i like it alot keep it up !

Hi Fady,

I thought your original approach was pretty innovative in concept, but given the difficulty of ensuring that people see precisely what you want them to see how you want them to see it, I like the revision a lot better. I'm not too keen on how the menu keeps jumping around from centre to left and back again as options are chosen and projects are closed, but overall I think you've done a wonderful job incorporating the project detail pages into the single-page design.

Great job!

- Gita