JosephBassary.com

Hi, currently working on a flash website which is an online cv for the client; (Joseph Bassary).
It's not quite finished yet (there a re few minor adjustments required within the movie plus content for the home page and blog pages uploaded and some simple sfx)

also, need to adjust the html code for embedding the flash movie so that the html validates (not sure if this is really relevant for a flash site, but i guess its good practice).

Clients brief was to create a flash site for them with the design being predominantly in the style of the 'Sin City' with some elements having a gritty, 'noirish' feel to them. Along with this the client was very keen to have swirly animated vine type elements.

anyway, any feedback/critique of the design/flash implementation would be much appreciated

Hmm, you need to offer a HTML alternative. Presumbably this is for prospective employers to look at and many places where I have worked, flash is really not that widely available. It's also impossible to use for any browser that doesn't support flash at the moment. If they are not able to look at it then the purpose of it existing is null. It's also quite hefty at almost 1.8Mb to download.

As for the flash aspect of it, I'll leave other members to comment on that who are more knowledgeable regarding Flash usability.

to use flash with no html alternative was entirely the clients decision so nothing i can really do about that.

as for the download size. i will have to look at optimising the swf so that it is smaller than 1.6mb though.

I think the style of the site is great! Especially the loading sequence. If I'm being honest the pictures of the guy on each page make me chuckle, possibly a bit cheesy, but the rest of it I love!
Didn't take long for me to download, plus I didn't mind waiting because it looks impressive.

Fair enough, just seems weird that there is no interest in accessibility issues considering the field the guy is interested in. These days there are laws, and just even more simply ethical issues, in the U.K. regarding requirements about making media accessible to all.

Regarding the site's usability I guess I would just mention that it would probably be better to have linked pages for the C.V. than having to scroll down with the arrows (or mouse wheel) kind of like you have done with the About page. I hate scrolling to find key information (naturally it's okay when I'm just browsing) but clicking is okay because that's what the Internet is about.

Loved it at first glance! Your creativity is impressive!
The swirly things are so "in style" right now... very good call on the clients behalf.

Two things that really bother me.... It's too long in height. I wish it fit on the screen without having to scroll down to see the navigation. I think that is something that really needs to be corrected.
A flash site like this should be able to fit on the screen that's 800 x 600.

It's also not centered but you may know that?

Question that is not relevant to the design. What if one of his prospective employers wants to print out his cv? Is that possible?

I totally love the design, right down to the outline around his pics. GREAT job!

Yeah lchad hit the nail on the head there with what I was trying to say about putting his c.v. on seperate pages =) The ability for someone to print it out! hehe, thanks

the cv thing being on separate pages was something suggested to the client but he preferred it to be on one page. good shout on it being printable. i'll ask the client if he would like there to be a link to a printable version (say in a popup window).

and with regards to the accessibility. again. end of the day, its the clients perogative. I think the reasoning behind it was that the audience for the site is going very selective in the respect that it will only be put on the cv that he sends to certain companies/agencies as an online version of his cv to give off a certain image and show that he is into his multimedia. this leads to the reasoning for the site being designed for 1024x768 as the people he would be getting to look at wouldn't have a lower resolution than this. one possibility however is to set the width and height attributes of the flash movie to say 90% so that they always fit on screen. the only downside to this is that on widescreens the site would look distorted. i've heard that with css you can dynamically position elements within the movie so maybe that is something to look at for me.

however i do agree that a development that the site needs to have to be fully accessible for if he is going to distribute it widely (eg. on business cards etc) is to have a splash page with a choice for flash and for html versions which is something i'll be putting forward to the client.