[Portfolio] - Feili Chen
Hello there, i'm building a new website, still filling up the galleries... I wanted some feedback and advices, about the site, the works in it (though i haven't finished galleries, most 3D content is there)
thanks
http://feili.chen.free.fr/
The website is like 4Mo for everything, but somehow it sometime takes long to load... i guess it's my french web hosting service provider that's very slow.
thanks
http://feili.chen.free.fr/
The website is like 4Mo for everything, but somehow it sometime takes long to load... i guess it's my french web hosting service provider that's very slow.
Replies
Stick to plain old HTML, there's no requirement for Flash in a folio site at all (unless you are infact a Flash site developer looking for work in developing Flash sites). HTML will load a lot faster, too.
Id also get rid of the homepage and have it go directly to your art.
There's not many breakdown shots or texture sheets displayed either.
Also, some bigger pics would be a good idea. Just make sure you finish the rest of your site.
Other than that, it's good imo, cleanly laid out and easy on the eyes.
Images need to be bigger, and with your Flash site you cant save images which would come in handy for potential employers.
I liked the chick with the big juggs for the fact that she had big juggs and a sexy pose
Get directly to the art.
And is that 2d thing supposed to work? Chrome doesnt show anything there :O
I haven't made the 2D gallery yet (and there's 2 3D galleries missing too)
i'll add details sheets too
For the html last time i tried i ended up with an awful website and it took almost 3 weeks of headaches and it didn't work on explorer... =.=
reeeeeaally bad experience >o<
But i think it's my free french web hosting service, as i said my whole website weight 4Mo, and some friend with 20Mo flash portfolio website have a real quick loading time, since he paid his hosting service...
This loading thing annoys me by the way, i wonder what i can do without killing myself trying to do something on html...
And yeah i like sexy cowgirls with big juggs
I know, not very professional, i'll fix it later! ^^
I'm too "manga", it's hard for me to do something else, i was brain washed at birth
but alright i'll try something really realistic........ after the unearthly challenge
Most Flash sites are scripted smartly to only load in what they need when they needs it. So you get a fast initial response (which is important! people want an instant reponse when they go to a site, not to sit at a blank loading page) as the basic site loads up nice and fast. Then it loads in the images for the folio separately as they're required, usually each with a wee loading bar. It's pretty simple to set up and there's plenty of tutorials around that'll teach you how to do that (actionscript.org is good for it).
That said, I think you'll get a much better response with an HTML site. The benefits simply far outweigh the use of Flash. HTML loads very fast, you've no image dimension restraints, you can link directly to any image or page in your site, you don't need a browser plugin to view any content. I think even the most basic looking text-and-images site will do better than a Flash one.
And yes, splash out a wee bit of cash for some proper hosting. You can get it incredibly cheaply these days and it'll be far faster.
Everything about a folio site should be geared around making it as easy and as fast as possible for someone to a) go through your work and b) contact you. Everything else is just fluff and isn't important, so it should take a back seat or just be chucked away. So you want to minimise loading times, and minimise the amount of times people have to click to see the full-size piece of artwork/wires/textures or to email you.
i'll first try solution A with the "streaming loading" thing, if it gets bad i'll try to put my head in html again and survive ><
if it's still slow i'll check hosting prices, i have no idea right now...
Thanks for the comments!
monkeyboy garth : yeah i used an ugly old site that doesn't even work on explorer to get my job (lucky me they liked my work) and the clic to enlarge is not done yet, but i'll add it soon don't worry.
you could load each piece as soon as its demanded i.e someone clicked on a thumbnail using external assets instead of pusing everything into 1 SWF movie.
Also for high efficient SWF movies try to use tiles as possible for bitmap graphics (loop stuff, save only needed parts using vector fills for solid color fills instead of bitmaps,...). A Flash movie can be way smaller as a HTML page but since most flash designers are not at all economical or don't care about file size that much it often gets bloated without need.
movie still loads,- will continue with another reply as soon as I see something
I don't know about the hiring world, but I personally enjoy middle mouse clicking to open up a
bunch of art in tabs when I look at portfolios.
I looked at your stuff and I like most of it,- its just sad that the website needs to load that long. Also I cant embed images from you on a BBS or eMail in case I might want to reference or link to your work.
Also the sub menus have no absolute URL's that I could forward (i.e link to just the 2d works...).. Congrats on getting the job at Ubisoft.
Btw. again regarding file sizes for websites or flash stuff. If the initial load (i.e engine, core sysstem, wrapper) is <= 100 KB you usually have a good stream experience. Anything above 500 KB starts to lag for some people. And loading speed is very essential, it can make a big difference on impression. I believe thats also the reason why so many people like google services because they really load fast compared to other similar websites.
Awww, got so much to add and already so many problems to fix ToT
(thanks btw