Website Review and Suggestions

**krazytim** · 12-21-2007, 09:12 PM

I have posted previous versions of my website here before, but I have recently gone through many changes as a designer and I now create more professional and visually stunning designs.

I have been into web design, interface design, and web development for over 3 years and I absolutely love it as an art form and as a job. I create web sites with the most recent web standards (Valid XHTML & CSS) and I make an effort to create designs that people remember because of their overall quality and visual appeals.

Let me know what you all think of my new portfolio

I want to hear lots of C&C and I am looking forward to hearing what you all think. I pushed myself to create a layout with minimal graphics and a specific focus on the content - my portfolio. The other pages has lots of information as well if you are interested.

Peace,
-Tim

**meloncholy** · 12-22-2007, 12:33 AM

There's some nice work at the top of the page. I really like the orange one - it has a nice mix of vibrancy and subtle shading. The beach one is also well done (and nicely detailed), though not really my style. (Not that that matters of course...) I would try to emphasise the text a bit more, though. In the beach design it fades into the background rather, and for the orange one it's not obvious whether there is a text area or if it's just part of the picture. (I think this is quite a common problem - I've seen quite a few nice WordPress themes that are really let down by typographic choices.) If you haven't already, you may wish to check out Chris Pearson's work, as this is something he pretty much nails every time. But overall it looks like good stuff, in my relatively uninformed opinion at least.

**krazytim** · 12-22-2007, 11:49 AM

Thanks for the comments

As for the main text areas, I don't know what else I can do to make the text stand out more other than making it larger :P I checked out some of Chris Pearson's stuff, but I don't really like his style, its too artsy imo. I'm more into interface design, so my typography needs are different then those of a mtv-like designer. Thanks for the suggestions though

**skoogo** · 12-24-2007, 04:12 AM

wow, you built all those!?

i dono what to say, those are really good designs , you're an awesome artist

**TripleMoons** · 12-24-2007, 08:31 AM

Clean web site. Very nice work in the portfolio.

My only suggestion would be to center the web site. Even on 1024 x 768 it looks off being aligned left, I couldn't imagine what it would be like on larger settings.

**mihai074** · 12-25-2007, 08:51 AM

Very nice design,
You have a little bug here http://timsilva.com/tutorials/
i'm using opera 9.23, some of the text is out of its place.

**multitechie** · 12-25-2007, 09:15 AM

I like it alot! I need a portfolio script that can do that

**krazytim** · 12-26-2007, 10:00 PM

Thanks all

I tried to fix that bug on the tutorials page, it was showing up in IE7 for a while too until I tweaked the CSS. It really is too bad people are still using Opera/IE/Safari. FF should be the new standard

Ah well, it is what it is.

I am considering redoing the site so that it is centered

**jdfreelance** · 12-26-2007, 10:18 PM

Krazyt,

Very nice website, i like the colors. One thing I do not like is how dark the website is, lighten it up a bit.

My 2 cents

.

**fastreplies** · 12-26-2007, 10:28 PM

I hade mile long index pages.
It's take time to load and then half way down you are loosing any interest and run away

Split it and you'll fine

fastreplies

**krazytim** · 01-02-2008, 12:38 PM

*Updated

I have made major changes to the content and layout that are worthy of posting.

Link: http://timsilva.com/

(I have recorded some cool new tutorials and will be releasing them shortly for those of you who are interested.)

@ jdfreelance - I appreciate your comment and suggestion, but that is a preference, and I enjoy working with both light and dark designs. (In fact I have gotten plenty of job requests for dark designs)

@ fastreplies - It is a visual portfolio site, many artists are using the one page method to present their work because it doesn't require any clicking and people can get what they came for within seconds. I used to dislike tall pages too until I realized how many benefits they have. I considered making a splash page or a home page at first, but I want to display my work right away. Thanks for the comment though.

**TripleMoons** · 01-02-2008, 01:09 PM

Yay for centering!

**jdfreelance** · 01-02-2008, 01:36 PM

Keep up the good work, I like it

**houdini987** · 01-02-2008, 01:38 PM

That's some great work Tom, the graphics are impressive.

My only suggestion would be to widen your samples - it looks like your sample pages are currently 600-700px wide and it leaves a modest gap even on a 1024x768 resolution. Obviously you'd probably have to do a lot of re-coding to change it but my first reaction was that the samples were a bit small on the page.

Also, even though it's an impressive body of work, it does make for a rather lengthy page. Maybe it would make more sense to break your portfolio into different category pages?

Really nice stuff though.

**Jdinh04** · 01-02-2008, 05:38 PM

Looks very good =D

**xanadu** · 01-03-2008, 08:43 AM

Very promising. Good job, Tim. I like the arrows going up too with the Ajax feel to it, but not overdone. Best of luck with future clients!

From a fellow designer.

**Bartosz** · 01:22 PM

Beautiful, nice colors, looks simple and clear. Great work

**krazytim** · 01-05-2008, 09:27 AM

Thanks for all your help and comments

I learned on a lot here.

@ houdini - Both of your suggestions are good, but they are preferences. It is actually very popular to have thin sites now days, it is one of many popular styles. I made it that size on purpose for several reasons. Firstly, I want the content to be the focus of the site. Secondly, these are only preview images and I wanted to display a lot of my work on the front page so people can see what I am made of. If they were any bigger, they would take longer to load and then clicking on the full view wouldn't be too revealing if most of it is being shown already. Thirdly, one page portfolios are better for many reasons (imo) because people don't have to click on anything. Check out how many people are doing it: http://www.onepagefolios.com/ - Thanks for the comments and suggestions though, I do appreciate it

**kevsta** · 01-05-2008, 08:34 PM

..very nice site and some great designs. if they had been free templates i'd have even downloaded a couple

**krazytim** · 01-10-2008, 08:18 AM

I have been thinking about coding some old templates and selling them... I might do that one day