Need Feedback On My Portfolio Site sonesayi.com/si

[sonesay 7]

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Hey guys, In the past few days I was making changes to how I uploaded my images and portfolio entries. I now have a working form that takes new portfolio item entries and images then generates thumbnails as well when its uploaded. This makes my life easier when adding in new items .

My problem is that now since the thumb nails are generated automatically and vary in size due to the different heights and widths of each image I get inconsistent thumbnail sizes being generated and put on my portfolio entries. This results in my DIV for each portfolio entries height and width being inconsistent. This is not a huge problem but I want to know what others think. is it really a big deal to you? If so are they any ideas on how to improve the layout?

The reason I have chosen go with floating DIV's instead of a table layout is I get the auto spreading and grouping of items as the page gets expanded. I think this is a nice feature because you utilize the entire page as opposed to fix width layouts.

Comments on other sections are also welcomed and much appreciated. I'm pretty much brain dead from all this thinking so I may have miss something I could improve on that is so obvious.

Cheers
Sone

note: also I am able to check in IE7 since my PC's power supply is dead so if anyone can check and let me know of any problems that would be nice.

[onscreen 0]

floating DIVs kill your layout. It is all overlapped viewed in Opera and Firefox. What you need is a fluid CSS layout where everything from header to content expand and shrink accordingly without the messed up layout.

This link should give you a headstart : http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Also, do not rely on one browser in making sites. Make full use of the If..EndIf at the html headers to make workaround for other browsers.

Example : <!--[if lt IE 8]><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/ie.css" media="screen"><![endif]-->

Explaination : if lower than IE 8, link the herf css for IE 8 browser viewing. End if.

[sonesay 7]

floating DIVs kill your layout. It is all overlapped viewed in Opera and Firefox. What you need is a fluid CSS layout where everything from header to content expand and shrink accordingly without the messed up layout.

 

This link should give you a headstart : http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

Also, do not rely on one browser in making sites. Make full use of the If..EndIf at the html headers to make workaround for other browsers.

 

Example : <!--[if lt IE 8]><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/ie.css" media="screen"><![endif]-->

 

Explaination : if lower than IE 8, link the herf css for IE 8 browser viewing. End if.

Ok maybe its my fault that I wasn't clear enough. I tried my best but I cant seem to understand how you came to the conclusion that I had a problem with my layout by referring me to that link. The link you gave me just explained a way to create elastic layouts but I have a fixed width for my navigation and elastic content already. I stated on my 3rd paragraph that I was happy with the way it expanded. My only problem was the inconsistent heights of the DIV for each portfolio items entry. I actually like the wrapping of the portfolio items as widths contracted. My problem was with the inconsistent heights.

 

You say they overlap in firefox and Opera? What do you mean my portfolio items are overlapping? Can you take a screen shot and show me because I don't see that happening. Also what resolution are you viewing it at? I checked in ff3 and opera and it seems fine besides the height problem of item DIV's. There is a minimum width set so on both ff3 and opera and safari I get at least 2 portfolio items shown on each row.

 

If all this problem is on IE7 I can understand as I have not got access to the browser and cannot check it for myself.

[jlhaslip 4]

Might want to check out this sourceforge software that manages the creation of thumbnails.
You can specify the destination size and aspect so that the original shape is maintained, watermark them, add effects and several other features. A very complete thumbnail creation system.

http://phpthumb.sourceforge.net/

Try http://www.zubrag.com/scripts/thumbnail-generator.php
Or https://www.google.ca/search?q=php+script+tlient=firefox-a

[Ruben 0]

To me there was one problem. When I first entered the site it looked jumbled, and I had no clue about what it was about. Now, your work looks great, but it shows that you aren't too into web design. You need to lay it out better, but everything lined up maybe. All for now, hope you like it. :)Overall: 6/10

[sonesay 7]

Thanks for the link jlhaslip. The script that I am currently using does keep aspect ratios the same. The problem is caused by different image sizes (The sizes vary and ratios vary for each image so the generated thumbs are just a smaller version of that). I seem to have fixed this by adding a div to contain the image and then setting a minimum height. I appears to be fine in ff3, safari 3.2, and opera 9.62. If anyone can check in IE that would be great.

[jlhaslip 4]

IE 6 won't like the min height. Can't recall if IE 7 and 8 work, either.

[contactskn 2]

Dear friend I have gone through your website and its a good one. What I think is the contents are really good and you should go for a good and professional look now. I am sure a bit change in the background and colour may give a catchy look to your website. And it will in turn attract more and more people towards your website.?

[sonesay 7]

I've made some updates and have decided to lose the lightbox gallery. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ I think its much more subtle and elegant this time round. Any comments appreciated. I have tested the layout in IE7 using http://browsershots.org/ and see no errors but I cant test out the ajax calls since it only takes screenshots. If anyone can test it on IE7 much thanks.

I will be changing it a bit so check back in a day or two (using JQuery now. great library if you haven't already tried it )

[Saint_Michael 3]

After looking at your site and working on my portfolio I would say you should move your site to a wordpress as you can do a lot more with it in less time, especially with images, about page, resume and stuff like that. take a look at my portfolio to get an idea how to set it up or at least the pages and the images and what not and if you need plugin suggestions if you do decide to move over to wordpress let me know and I give you all the ones that I am using/

[truefusion 3]

If anyone can test it on IE7 much thanks.

The Internet Explorer 7 i have on here doesn't seem to be working for me right now (can't even access LOCALHOST/ ), but the Internet Explorer 6 that i have installed on here works; however, your site says to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. I can see why you mention Internet Explorer 7 specifically. I'll figure out why Internet Explorer 7 isn't working in Wine later.
As for the portfolio, interesting gallery script; nice use of the fade in effect. However, there seems to be a problem when viewing the big images in Opera 10 and Firefox 3: the content goes beyond its border and therefore hides part of the gallery. In Opera i can scroll to the right to view the button again, but not in Firefox 3. Maybe you have a bigger screen resolution than i do, which allows for more space; i'm using 1280x1024.

[sonesay 7]

After looking at your site and working on my portfolio I would say you should move your site to a wordpress as you can do a lot more with it in less time, especially with images, about page, resume and stuff like that. take a look at my portfolio to get an idea how to set it up or at least the pages and the images and what not and if you need plugin suggestions if you do decide to move over to wordpress let me know and I give you all the ones that I am using/

I think you got me all wrong. I'm into learning how to work with code and layout/designs from scratch. I think it teaches you more and enables you to become more flexible in your work. Sure wordpress is quick but I do not like those generic layouts. There are themes but I don't like the designs either by others.

See that gallery? Written by Truefusion originally. I got the idea and he showed me how to do it. I made it into an expanding width. I would have not been able to do that if I did not seek to be different. The reason why my site isnt done is because I'm learning and refining alot of areas as I go along. You may not know it but the site started out and is still being built with a CMS that I use to manage it with.

I'm not only getting into design only and require pre-made solutions. I want to be able to write my own. I've seen your site all I see is wordpress.

The Internet Explorer 7 i have on here doesn't seem to be working for me right now (can't even access LOCALHOST/ ), but the Internet Explorer 6 that i have installed on here works; however, your site says to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. I can see why you mention Internet Explorer 7 specifically. tongue.gif I'll figure out why Internet Explorer 7 isn't working in Wine later.

Thank you for checking that. Yes I have decided it is not worth the effort to fix IE6 Bugs since an upgrade to IE7 is free. I will need to get my self access to IE7 and test more.

As for the portfolio, interesting gallery script; nice use of the fade in effect. However, there seems to be a problem when viewing the big images in Opera 10 and Firefox 3: the content goes beyond its border and therefore hides part of the gallery. In Opera i can scroll to the right to view the button again, but not in Firefox 3. Maybe you have a bigger screen resolution than i do, which allows for more space; i'm using 1280x1024.

Yes in FF3, Safari and Opera 9 which I have there is a redraw problem when images loaded are much larger then the current window width (box and gallery is centered and side edges hidden until you resizing and reveal more.). This could be a potential problem with people with smaller resolutions but at this stage I will have to think about how I will go about it. My resolution is 1440x900 so more testing with lower resolutions will have to be done
Edited February 4, 2009 by sonesay (see edit history)

[novoAlias 0]

I think you got me all wrong. I'm into learning how to work with code and layout/designs from scratch. I think it teaches you more and enables you to become more flexible in your work. Sure wordpress is quick but I do not like those generic layouts. There are themes but I don't like the designs either by others.
See that gallery? Written by Truefusion originally. I got the idea and he showed me how to do it. I made it into an expanding width. I would have not been able to do that if I did not seek to be different. The reason why my site isnt done is because I'm learning and refining alot of areas as I go along. You may not know it but the site started out and is still being built with a CMS that I use to manage it with.

I'm not only getting into design only and require pre-made solutions. I want to be able to write my own. I've seen your site all I see is wordpress.

Hey this is semi replying to your comment on my thread haha!
I used flash/iframes/lightboxes on my old website to (i think) great effect, I like lightboxes because they can display any image in its original size without opening a new window. That frees you up to use any thumbnail style you like... I think your scroller box setup is good but the way the window resizes doesnt seem clean, especially since I have to scroll to see the whole image afterwards. It might work better if your window contained the main text description and then was replaced with the image when you clicked on a thumbnail. Also make the window a fixed size, and put the scroller thing at the bottom to balance out the layout. If you have no idea what im blathering on about say so and i'll do a photoshop sketchup to make myself clear I think it would look good! Also If your thumbnail slider was flash based it would be much smoother and almost as quick to load...

[Ash-Bash 0]

flash/iframes/lightboxes

Wow yes they do give some good effects to put on your site ,

My friend used to use it

[sonesay 7]

Hey this is semi replying to your comment on my thread haha!I used flash/iframes/lightboxes on my old website to (i think) great effect, I like lightboxes because they can display any image in its original size without opening a new window. That frees you up to use any thumbnail style you like...

I previously had a light box gallery but I've chosen to move away from that. Flash gallery I might consider if this doesn't work out well.

I think your scroller box setup is good but the way the window resizes doesnt seem clean, especially since I have to scroll to see the whole image afterwards. It might work better if your window contained the main text description and then was replaced with the image when you clicked on a thumbnail.

Yeah the re size problem is something I just realized since truefusion mentioned it. I'm working on and tested out a javascript solution to get the width of the image and reset the min-width of the body and it seems to work but currently Its buggy since the image is being retrieved by ajax and I get inconsistent width values 0 or its real value. A problem I am currently working on.
You mean create a text description gallery then replace it with full size images when clicked on? Or do you mean show text descriptions on hover then replace with image when selected? that would be a good way to do it. I was considering javascript pop up windows for more description/info but that last idea isn't bad either.

Also make the window a fixed size, and put the scroller thing at the bottom to balance out the layout. If you have no idea what im blathering on about say so and i'll do a photoshop sketchup to make myself clear smile.gif I think it would look good! Also If your thumbnail slider was flash based it would be much smoother and almost as quick to load...

I am going for a layout where it will use the maximum width of a users screen resolution so I will definitely not be using any standard fix width sizes. If it doesn't work then I may have to resort to that.
Also I'm curious to what screen resolution and browser your are using?
Edited February 5, 2009 by sonesay (see edit history)