my first web page, please review and hook me up with any feed back good and bad Options

[Modish Designer]

This is my first real web page. I studded web design a bit in college but never really put those skills to work till I needed a online portfolio. I just got it up and working out all the bugs. Would be great to get some feed back so I can make it even better so I can land another dream job. Thanks so much!

http://www.modishdesignstudios.com

-David Garret

[Darin McGrew]

You already know that it's a fixed-width layout that forces horizontal scrolling on narrower browsing environments.

You have a lot of images of text. It's better to use real text rather than images of text, but if you're going to use images of text, then you should provide alternate content:
http://htmlhelp.com/feature/art3.htm

Background noise is annoying. I was listening to something else, thank you very much.

There doesn't seem to be any navigation on the site. It's just a big image. I shouldn't have to scrub the site to figure out where the navigation is.

[Modish Designer]

You already know that it's a fixed-width layout that forces horizontal scrolling on narrower browsing environments.

You have a lot of images of text. It's better to use real text rather than images of text, but if you're going to use images of text, then you should provide alternate content:
http://htmlhelp.com/feature/art3.htm

Background noise is annoying. I was listening to something else, thank you very much.

There doesn't seem to be any navigation on the site. It's just a big image. I shouldn't have to scrub the site to figure out where the navigation is.

Thanks so much for the feed back you rock. Yea the fixed width is a problem i am trying to figure out. I would like it to view the same on everyone's computer. I originally started my webpage off as a flash sight. I know that when that is up it should scale more easily between browsers. That sight I am still having trouble with preloaders. The flash sight right now people wont know to wait for loading and move on before they even start. But when I was almost done with the flash sight i discovered that search engines have a problem with reading flash content so i would have to make an alternative static web page. I was trying to put as much text as I could as I know that text in pictures wouldn't get read. I think it was in the bio section that i combined the 2 and i felt that that info wasn't as important. I didn't know how to place text at a angle. The rest are all loaded into frames and are text.

I was shocked you felt that my navigation was off???? The menu bar on the left doesn't move. and in the gallery's all the navigation is still on the left of the screen. Is it because of my fix width that makes the navigation poor?

[Darin McGrew]

Sorry, I didn't notice that the whole page was just a content-free entry page. The graphic includes "click to go to", and clicking takes you to the real site. (I recommend getting rid of the entry page.)

I thought the scrollbars were badly obscured, but that happens only when JavaScript is disabled/unavailable. But I still find the noises annoying when I click links.

[newwebseo]

I have just one word for your site.

BEST

Truly your work is awesome, really you are born for designing. You just need a bit of training in web and you will be good to go.

Your dream career is waiting for you my friend

[Modish Designer]

Sorry, I didn't notice that the whole page was just a content-free entry page. The graphic includes "click to go to", and clicking takes you to the real site. (I recommend getting rid of the entry page.)

I thought the scrollbars were badly obscured, but that happens only when JavaScript is disabled/unavailable. But I still find the noises annoying when I click links.

I have the entry page because I am working on and will eventually will be adding a flash site. Don't you need a entry page so the user can choose what direction they want to take. Flash or static web....This first page u see was a bit thrown together as a sort of under construction and temporary. I plan on re-designing my entry page once the flash is up. Is there a better option u can suggest instead of having a entry page?

-I agree with you that the fist page needs to not have scrolling to match what i was trying to do with the rest of the sight witch is to have all the content load into the screen to you don't have to scroll around the page.
-I am guessing that the main button leading into the static web page should be more odious as you had a had time finding it on your fist visit
-I was on the fence putting in the sounds but i thought it brought a fun interactivity to it. Do you think it would be more appropriate to get ride of the sound for the static web page and leave them in for the flash as with flash the user is more likely to suspect there will be sound as well?
-"the scroll bars were badly obscured" is this referring to me re-skining the scroll bars? I had a lot of trouble with this...do you have a better idea on how to do this?

Thanks again with your responses....it is great to get some feed back from someone who knows what there talking about and hasnt been starting at it as song as I have. Doing this sight has given me a whole new appreciation to what you do.

[Modish Designer]

I have just one word for your site.

BEST

Truly your work is awesome, really you are born for designing. You just need a bit of training in web and you will be good to go.

Your dream career is waiting for you my friend

Thanks so much my friend! There is so much to learn about the web and so much more complicated than I had originally thought. My hats off to all of you that know your stuff.

[Darin McGrew]

I have the entry page because I am working on and will eventually will be adding a flash site.

Well, I don't think you need a Flash site.

-"the scroll bars were badly obscured" is this referring to me re-skining the scroll bars? I had a lot of trouble with this...do you have a better idea on how to do this?

I'm a big fan of leaving basic widgets like form elements and scrollbars alone. The users know what the normal widgets are and they know how to use them.

I'm one of many users of the NoScript plugin. Here's what your site looks like until I whitelist it:


Also, your "skinned" scrollbars break normal scrolling mechanisms like my mouse wheel. To be honest, I rarely use scrollbars. I normally use other scrolling mechanisms because they're easier and faster. I don't like sites that break the normal browser UI.

[Modish Designer]

I have the entry page because I am working on and will eventually will be adding a flash site.

Well, I don't think you need a Flash site.

-"the scroll bars were badly obscured" is this referring to me re-skining the scroll bars? I had a lot of trouble with this...do you have a better idea on how to do this?

I'm a big fan of leaving basic widgets like form elements and scrollbars alone. The users know what the normal widgets are and they know how to use them.

I'm one of many users of the NoScript plugin. Here's what your site looks like until I whitelist it:


Also, your "skinned" scrollbars break normal scrolling mechanisms like my mouse wheel. To be honest, I rarely use scrollbars. I normally use other scrolling mechanisms because they're easier and faster. I don't like sites that break the normal browser UI.

I see what your saying....i designed it on a mac and noticed it looked like that in explore on my friends pc. But i thought i fixed that, I hear you about keeping the scroll bars that people are used to but I wanted something that flowed with the design. The color of the scroll bars in light grey ruins the whole aesthetic of the site. For functionality I wanted the scroll bars to be on the left as all of my menu is on the left. Is there any resources you know of that you could direct me to that would be a better solution to my scroll bar issue? Thanks for your guidance!

[Modish Designer]

I have the entry page because I am working on and will eventually will be adding a flash site.

Well, I don't think you need a Flash site.

-"the scroll bars were badly obscured" is this referring to me re-skining the scroll bars? I had a lot of trouble with this...do you have a better idea on how to do this?

I'm a big fan of leaving basic widgets like form elements and scrollbars alone. The users know what the normal widgets are and they know how to use them.

I'm one of many users of the NoScript plugin. Here's what your site looks like until I whitelist it:


Also, your "skinned" scrollbars break normal scrolling mechanisms like my mouse wheel. To be honest, I rarely use scrollbars. I normally use other scrolling mechanisms because they're easier and faster. I don't like sites that break the normal browser UI.

also are there a lot of people with the NoScript plugin? Does the average person? the demographic I am trying to hit with my page are mostly designer type groups witch will most likely be a mac user, But want it to be as equally compatible with pc's. So if a business types wants to see my portfolio and/or you never know where or what computer someone is using.