New Gallery
New Gallery
I've had to have a major reshuffle of the site after people have been PHP-injecting my site etc.I also found some great new Gallery software so... it seemed like a good occasion to use it.I'll be adding to it in the next few weeks once I get my scanner up and running again.I also particularly like the music http://www.xbomber.co.uk/iv
Dream big and bold and daring.
New Gallery
Flash-only website = Fail. IMO.
New Gallery
it's not flash-only - It has an HTML front and backend so it shows in HTML if you haven't got flash.Besides you need it to do anything - use Youtube, stream any video or whatever. Practically all decent phones have it as well (apart from the IPhone - but that's for idiots who want a useless flashy toy anyway). Welcome to the 21st Century!I was maybe hoping for some constructive criticism.
Dream big and bold and daring.
New Gallery
Sorry if I came off a little harsh there. Gut knee-jerk reaction, you see…
(Crash Override @ Jun. 05 2009,19:33)QUOTEit's not flash-only - It has an HTML front and backend so it shows in HTML if you haven't got flash.Ah, I get it now after a little digging. I use a Flash blocker that uses an overlay that requires a click for Flash objects to load. Since your gallery's Flash object actually covers all the HTML links and text, it looked like the site was Flash-only.
(Crash Override @ Jun. 05 2009,19:33)QUOTEBesides you need it to do anything - use Youtube, stream any video or whatever.YouTube is one of very few sites I access regularly that actually requires Flash. Almost every other use of Flash nowadays is garbage, IMO, heavily dominated by animated advertisements, startling auto-play music/noises, flashy (excuse the pun) "welcome" animations or site navbars, and agonizingly poor CPU performance. Flash has been a drain on my patience and my system resources for too long, such that now any site that "requires" Flash immediately loses me as a visitor/customer, loses my ad revenue, etc.Yeah, call me a luddite if you must, but as both a casual 'net user and a web developer, Flash is one of the few modern annoyances that I hope will be relegated to obsolescence in the coming years as browsers push for better HTML5 and CSS3 compliance and faster JavaScript engines. Frameworks like jQuery, YUI, and Scriptaculous are already enabling web developers to drop Flash in favor of standard HTML for things like animations, fades, transitions, and object interaction. Custom video players soon won't need Flash as Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 are already rolling out initial support for the HTML5 <video> tag; even YouTube already has a proof-of-concept demo that uses no Flash at all.The big guys are already trying to move in the direction away from Flash; now it's just a matter of time as the bleeding-edge developers blaze trails and then the masses start to follow suit./end rant Anyhow, cranky old man that I am, the first piece of "constructive criticism" I have would be to turn the music off by default or at least dial down the volume by half or so. Second, it's not very clear how you actually get around to the other pages once the thing has loaded. The textual menu navigation in the upper left corner isn't very obvious; maybe you could have the menu open by default without requiring the cursor to hover over it? The HTML version actually does a better job with discoverability by making the folder structure the key element of the interface.Navigation issues aside, that's a great selection of images you have! Your drawing skills as an artist definitely shine with the selection of ships that you posted in the gallery. You definitely have a good eye for proportions and mechanical aesthetics. Is that all you have, or would you be adding any more to that in the near future?
(Crash Override @ Jun. 05 2009,19:33)QUOTEit's not flash-only - It has an HTML front and backend so it shows in HTML if you haven't got flash.Ah, I get it now after a little digging. I use a Flash blocker that uses an overlay that requires a click for Flash objects to load. Since your gallery's Flash object actually covers all the HTML links and text, it looked like the site was Flash-only.
(Crash Override @ Jun. 05 2009,19:33)QUOTEBesides you need it to do anything - use Youtube, stream any video or whatever.YouTube is one of very few sites I access regularly that actually requires Flash. Almost every other use of Flash nowadays is garbage, IMO, heavily dominated by animated advertisements, startling auto-play music/noises, flashy (excuse the pun) "welcome" animations or site navbars, and agonizingly poor CPU performance. Flash has been a drain on my patience and my system resources for too long, such that now any site that "requires" Flash immediately loses me as a visitor/customer, loses my ad revenue, etc.Yeah, call me a luddite if you must, but as both a casual 'net user and a web developer, Flash is one of the few modern annoyances that I hope will be relegated to obsolescence in the coming years as browsers push for better HTML5 and CSS3 compliance and faster JavaScript engines. Frameworks like jQuery, YUI, and Scriptaculous are already enabling web developers to drop Flash in favor of standard HTML for things like animations, fades, transitions, and object interaction. Custom video players soon won't need Flash as Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 are already rolling out initial support for the HTML5 <video> tag; even YouTube already has a proof-of-concept demo that uses no Flash at all.The big guys are already trying to move in the direction away from Flash; now it's just a matter of time as the bleeding-edge developers blaze trails and then the masses start to follow suit./end rant Anyhow, cranky old man that I am, the first piece of "constructive criticism" I have would be to turn the music off by default or at least dial down the volume by half or so. Second, it's not very clear how you actually get around to the other pages once the thing has loaded. The textual menu navigation in the upper left corner isn't very obvious; maybe you could have the menu open by default without requiring the cursor to hover over it? The HTML version actually does a better job with discoverability by making the folder structure the key element of the interface.Navigation issues aside, that's a great selection of images you have! Your drawing skills as an artist definitely shine with the selection of ships that you posted in the gallery. You definitely have a good eye for proportions and mechanical aesthetics. Is that all you have, or would you be adding any more to that in the near future?
New Gallery
(Crash Override @ Jun. 05 2009,19:33)QUOTE(apart from the IPhone - but that's for idiots who want a useless flashy toy anyway)Oh, and I guess I'm an idiot because my iPhone is just about 100x more useful than my former BlackBerry. The only things the BlackBerry was good for were phoning, emailing, and surfing the web in a horribly crippled browser. Even installing Opera didn't help much there…
New Gallery
Haha sorry Brad - I'm the one being cranky around here. It has been that sort of a week.I got a bit browbeaten that Pete's server was ending up getting hijacked for god-knows what. I've rewritten the index.php. The original one I didn't write and it was a fantastic design but not well written in a security sense.After the unceasing torrent of problems with the game in the last couple of years - technical slowdowns, performance issues, bugs in the dev software, takedown requests, hacking, insults, you name it basically, I just got a bit too... downhearted really.Nah the IPhone is a mighty fine handset you're right. The only problem is some of the pleps that swoon around them - and it can use Youtube properly too - I think the Windows Mobile ones sorta give 'em a run for their money - only problem is how diverse the hardware is so you can't write an application that fits all of them perfectly.I think Flash would be fine if it were an open-source standard that could be built into the browsers like html rendering. But you know that ain't gonna happen with ($$$) Adobe ($$$). They should change their name to "Bloaty" as well.I'm gonna have a think about that drop-down menu - it made me puzzle for a second when I first saw it on some other random site (which gave me the idea). There's some more drawings or more scribblings to come - I designed some drop-ships for the EDF the other week and the plans are ripe for scanning. So I think I'll be adding to that a little.Cos this program does the thumbnails I'll be adding more screenshots. The latest two levels look really quite decent.
Dream big and bold and daring.
New Gallery
OK - I've been going thru my 'back catalog' and notes and have uploaded quite a fair few drawings - many of them very old. I've been busy polishing them up to being finished drawings. It's nice to give the game an extra 3rd dimension, above what you see onscreen while playing it.I'm working on one or two more things and am compiling all my scribblings and designs from my old notebooks and condensing them into one folder + notebook essentially. I had to do the same thing with my X-Bomber filing system ages ago - but it was worth it having everything very centralised and clearly organised.
Dream big and bold and daring.