Pixel Development

Peter:

This comes from an "everday user" (: ) that's a kind way of saying newbie).

Very nice site. I use XP. I found your site easy to navigate through, and pleasing to look at. Really like your image of forest after a snowfall.

One thing I noticed was that there is a reflection of the dropshadow (cutting into the heading text) between headings on your porfolio page.

Sincerely,

Jon Shannon
Sierra Nomad Photography

Hi

Thanks for spotting that. It only happens when you scroll in Explorer in a certain way?!? Ah, good ol' Microsoft swings and misses again. Note that when you move your mouse over a link Explorer 'fixes' itself. That is, it draws the page as it should have in the first place.

Ok, 'exploring' into this problem has revealed what is required to cause this issue. It seems that if you have a div with this style inside another div:

style="float: right; width: 200px; height: 150px; overflow: auto; position: relative;"

overflow: auto causes the enclosing div background to be redrawn (in Explorer only), but the enclosing 'top' is now where this div is located. The result? A background image that's only supposed to be at the top of a div is redrawn down the page everytime you have a div that includes the above stuff. This is what causes the shadow to sometimes appear underneath the profile section titles.

Solution: don't use background images for pages when doing this kind of trick (scrolling pseudo iframes using css).

Ok, it should behave in Explorer now - you may have to clear out your browser cache to see this though.

Peter

Looks pleasing to the eye, good valid code.

Although a few broken images in the articles area....although that could be my work comp playing up. Haven't done a test on 56K yet though.

I think the site is excellent. My only real problem is that the icon to enlarge the text says "larger text" (or something like that) even after you click it. So I thought that clicking it each time would make the text bigger and bigger. Turns out that it actually makes it smaller the second time you click it. I would use JavaScript (or something) to change that text to something more accurate.

The icons are great, the images are great, the colors are great.

On this page: http://www.pixeldevelopment.com/touchup.asp when I clicked on the image of the bird, I got a 404 - file not found error.

Best wishes for the site. Good luck.

Thanks!

I'm still working on the articles. You're right in that some of the images weren't showing up there, and that some links weren't working as they should - soon! In the meantime, give the Gallery a try.

Regarding the A+, if you take a closer look at the second row of buttons you'll notice that they are push buttons with 2 states: on and off. The text size control is a bit limited - you can view it in standard size, or larger.

Peter

It's clean and nice. Good job

Nice job Peter! I'm trying to decide if I like the dropshadow thing that separates each section, it's neat, yet something about it is offsetting to me...yet it's different, and kind of neat...

My only gripe is about some of the content:
Why articles/and or links about scanners. printers, photos from Mars, Google maps etc?

Shouldn't the focus be on 'development'? Shouldn't articles relate to that? Shouldn't the other stuff be on another type of site? It's kind of like it 'looks' all organized and well put togther, yet it's foucs is all over the place.

Hi
I like your site as well, but I'm not sure about the background image used in the footer and actually behind the whole page too. Using some sort of more visible and clean texture would be better

m.

Hi Roo - long time no type!

All valid points, much appreciated!

madeo: are you refering to the snowscape used in the header and foot, or the dark blue texture used for the side margins as well? Do you not like the image, or just find the text in the navigation bar and footer less readable than you'd like?

Peter

In my opinion ... the background behind the whole page (dark blue or whatever) is too "oldschool". it remainds me of those background patterns in MS word clip-art gallery the header photo is nice because there is more sharp than blured /pixelized. and finally i'd give the footer just a simple background color or some sort of linear gradient to make it cleaner

... again those are very subjective ideas

good luck

madeo

Hi madeo - I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

Changes:
- Home more focused, content wise
- Home page has clickable "spotlight gallery"
- Contrast increased for menu items when in 'low contrast' mode
- New section: "Development"
- Deleted section: "Articles"
- New introduction page to Touchup section (not 100% complete yet)
- Gallery page completely revised, now with neatly arranged thumbs
- New galleries added
- Gallery display page has a few renamed buttons, and a slew of new ones for enhancing the image when in 'Enhanced' mode (ie: Touchup is on)
- Gallery display page gives more feedback- buttons temporarily depress, etc
- Only two galleries are still completely editable
- PhotoPaint Process Image Script dialog snapshot updated
- Some re-wording here and there
- Re-worked the plain Touchup demo page to make it easier to follow an example use

The coolest change is when you view a gallery, and click on 'Enhance'. A brand new line of buttons appears below the image allowing one-click changes for gamma, contrast, black and white, sepia, inverse, soften, sharpen, etc.

More feedback is welcome!

Peter

very good looking website, i would recommend that you switch the background with a solid color or something different. also i would change the pixelation on the top banner to have the pixelation on one side only and fade it out more, rather than doing the small/quick fade on each side

Hi

Thanks for the feedback. The dark blue pattern used for the side background has been replaced, ditto the footer background. Changing the pixelating header is something I'll have to consider as it's presently set up to repeat when you switch to wide mode.

Peter

gutted

wrote a long post and then TWF didnt let me post cos i had change my profile just beofre i posted and had not approved it grrrr

so here is the short version:

first impressions:
- well designed if not original
- proffesional looking bit not imediately clear what it is you do

lasting impressions:
- very user friendly with inovative aditions to aid this

things i liked:
- the dotted links (how do you not get them to happen on image links as well as its not text decoration you use...?)
- the way you display your portfolio in the iframe

things i dont like:
the chrome effect on sub headers

also maybe you could keep it looking fresh by changing the top image every so often

over all its a very well built site

Hi

Thanks for the constructive criticism, JP. I'm reworking the intro para, as well as the title in the top graphic. The style switching is based on an idea from A List Apart, but I've taken it further. The dotted links is a bit of a trick, you don't change text decoration while hovering, change the border. The portfolio isn't really done with iFrames, it a small container holding a larger area, forcing a scrollbar. Turn off the CSS and you'll see it all shows on a plain page. I'll have to think about the sub header.

I've just added a custom site search engine, Google doesn't cut it.

Peter

Ok. The title and header background have been reworked. Ditto the intro paragraph. How's it look?

Peter

I generally keep to basic format critiques and this site has an excellent format. The only problem that I have with it is that your big image at the top eats up almost half of your fold (first 500pixels). This first fold is the most important portion of your site and should grab your users with some content. I'd personally narrow down that image.

It does take up a fair amount of space, but I think it is reasonable. On a system at 1024x768 with a fully decked out browser (ie: extensions up the yin-yang), the side margins take about 1/3 of the width. Of that remaining width, the sidebar takes 1/3. Of the 550 pixels of height that's visible, the top image/logo takes 180 pixels, a shade under 1/3. This also shows the intro paragraph, and the first three items (products). The remaining items (not shown until you scroll) are merely galleries, news items, copyright and validation. From a photographer's eye, it follows the composition rule of thirds, which usually make things asthetically pleasing. Granted photography and page layout are different things, but in both - beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

However, it is something I'll keep in mind.

Peter

Yeah, I guess on your 1024x768 it'd be all right. I'm running 800x600 so it takes more of my screen.

the intro text is a marked improvement

hey so if its border on the links how do you get it to not affect the image links?

Make it a class, eg: 'a.textlink'

Peter

I've listened to the advice that has been given, and here are the changes I've made:

- The gray background on the sides has been replaced with something that better complements the header image
- Narrowing the home page sidebar leaves more room for above fold content
- The main navigation 'hover' effect is more pronounced
- Galleries can now be shown in the same window, or in a popup window
- Extra hints on the gallery page "800x600 visitors should display galleries in a new window, or hit F11 to enlarge viewing area."
- Portfolio page reflects the new same page vs new window style for galleries
- Traditional Chinese now available as a translation option
- css file cleaned up

Thanks!

Peter

New visitor no longer sees switching from blue to orange backgrounds.

Article -
Saying goodbye to Tables

Peter