-= Gametoast.com =-

Here's a T-Shirt design I made. And the actual T-Shirt.

AcaelusThorne wrote:

Lephenix wrote:

Hidden/Spoiler:

Very nice Lephenix. how long did it take you for that ?

Thank you, it took one afternoon and an evening, and here's the final result:

My website.

Looks pretty good, but according to my Web Design courses, a few things should be improved and/or changed:

-The banner should be scaled down and translated upwards as to not take up the entire front of the home page.
-The header "Sharpened Images" should probably be removed due to redundancy - there's already a banner there saying the exact same thing anyway.
-The YouTube and Facebook buttons should be aligned right and moved to the top of the page with the links.
-Perhaps consider changing the YouTube button's image to a smaller YouTube icon.
-The 'Videos' and 'Zach' pages use 100 megabytes of RAM due to all of the embedded Flash web players.; consider changing the layout to something similar to this: http://www.collegehumor.com/originals

Every web page should have a purpose, and I can't see the purpose of most of your site's pages; your website in its current state is a good start, but much needs to be done before it can be made perfect.

Marth8880 wrote:-The banner should be scaled down and translated upwards as to not take up the entire front of the home page.

Yeep. The problem is that the website building site wants to either have a title or a small picture at the top, so I can't do that too well. The header is unable to be removed.

Marth8880 wrote:-The header "Sharpened Images" should probably be removed due to redundancy - there's already a banner there saying the exact same thing anyway.

I got rid of that, but as stated above, it still wants to take up empty space and not let my banner go up there. I haven't published the changes yet, because I'm still working on that huge space and what to do with it. Perhaps an SI header at the top and a banner at the bottom of each page? No, that wouldn't look good.

Marth8880 wrote:-The YouTube and Facebook buttons should be aligned right and moved to the top of the page with the links.

I removed the YouTube button (since it was my channel and my channel has a ton of random stuff on it) and moved the Facebook to the top so when you click on it you are sent to the Facebook page. I wasn't able to put the like button up there, though.

Marth8880 wrote:-The 'Videos' and 'Zach' pages use 100 megabytes of RAM due to all of the embedded Flash web players.; consider changing the layout to something similar to this: http://www.collegehumor.com/originals

I used to have something like that, but then I realized that the fullscreen button was not working on them. So right now I'm trying to think of something to do, maybe you click on a picture with a short description and a new window opens up with the embedded video in it.

Marth8880 wrote:I can't see the purpose of most of your site's pages

Right now, I'm simply using it as a place so people can find all the videos I make. I'm also using it to claim the domain name. (I think it's a good one)


Thank you for taking the time to comment about my website design. If you have any experience with HTML codes and would be willing to help me, please tell me as that is one thing the website can do and I think it would work well with making the video gallery run more efficiently. I'm hoping to find and take a class on web design or HTML over the summer though if I can find one.

Ugh, I dislike the Webs site builder, it's pretty crappy.

Refer to this for web design skillz: http://www.w3schools.com/ Start with HTML and CSS, invest in Adobe Dreamweaver, and go to town.

Marth8880 wrote:Ugh, I dislike the Webs site builder, it's pretty crappy.

AGREED.

Marth8880 wrote:Refer to this for web design skillz: http://www.w3schools.com/ Start with HTML and CSS, invest in Adobe Dreamweaver, and go to town.

Thanks! I'll definitely be looking at that website a lot in the coming weeks.

I've gone and put my idea into place; all the embedded videos are now pictures that you can click on and a new window will open with the video. Done using a basic HTML code, and I'm proud.

I'm still unsure of what to put on the front page. I want to use my banner, but my header is already there so it's too repetitive if I do. Right now there's a lame slideshow with a bunch of pictures.

EDIT: I think a blog might be good on the first page. I'm going to start looking into this.


BUMP! I made a star! It's large.

Very nice pic Noobasaurus
Emidiatly saved as background .

Made this a verryyyyy long time ago as a BF3 refference and possible pose mod for Fallout 3/NV
The Battlefield 3 refference here:
Of course my Fallout pic is missing a APC or a Tank but still proud off it due to the custom pose i made for it xD

The new Sharpened Images look and homepage. Thoughts anyone?
Of course, you can visit the website and experience it for yourself by clicking the picture or the title above.

The site is certainly improving!

Recommendation: Don't have every single frame centered; move all text-based news to a right-handed sidebar thing and keep media-based news in the "main" area.

Marth8880 wrote:Recommendation: Don't have every single frame centered; move all text-based news to a right-handed sidebar thing and keep media-based news in the "main" area.

So you mean the announcements that are simply text should be kept in a sidebar and if there is an announcement with pictures then it would be centered. The problem with this is that I can't make more pages (like a blog) simply for announcements where you can click on the title in the sidebar and then be directed to the page describing the certain production. The Webs builder is bad, but I think I may be able to integrate the forums feature with these announcements. We'll see though.

Thanks for the input again, Marth. It's always much appreciated.

Noobasaurus wrote:The new Sharpened Images look and homepage. Thoughts anyone?

Hidden/Spoiler:

Of course, you can visit the website and experience it for yourself by clicking the picture or the title above.

Looks good. When I first loaded it up, it didn't fit into my [secondary] monitor so well, which means it won't fit to smaller laptops. I would suggest making the title smaller.

Everything on this page is kind of loud. I remember when I first started into design, this was my way of doing things too. I think it's pretty much where everyone starts. Here's a great quote that might help you out. Glowing effects, big bright titles, and space backgrounds are cool, but might be a bit distracting from the content, which is ultimately what your website is about

Marth8880 wrote:Recommendation: Don't have every single frame centered; move all text-based news to a right-handed sidebar thing and keep media-based news in the "main" area.

Can I ask why?

Didn't fit in my browser either. Also, totally agree with everything Dohnutt said. (And not just 'cause he's an expert.)

Noobasaurus wrote:The new Sharpened Images look and homepage. Thoughts anyone?

Step right up! We got straight lines, we got wavy lines. We got serif, we got sans-serif! All caps? Got it! Title case, sentence case? Sure! Busy? Don't be! We've got that covered!

So, thoughts - class that sucker up a bit. You're a line of flashing text and a sound file on repeat away from a classic GeoCities-type site. Your background's pretty busy - if you like the star theme, make it an inset image or something. Or subdue it a lot and make your center scroll a flat background on top of the stars. Right now, your background distracts from everything else.

Next I'd say take a look at a text convention - plan ahead a little and say "I'm using this font setup for titles, this for headers, and this for text." Unify the colors/fonts/sizes across each case.

And personal pet peeve? That wavy line. If it's wavy, give it some kind of pattern to indicate organization. Straight is probably a better separator (but that's personal preference).

Check out some websites you like - clean, professional websites - and just steal ideas.

Dohnutt wrote:Looks good. When I first loaded it up, it didn't fit into my [secondary] monitor so well, which means it won't fit to smaller laptops. I would suggest making the title smaller.

Will do.

Dohnutt wrote:Everything on this page is kind of loud.

Yeah, I just realized that.

Dohnutt wrote:Glowing effects, big bright titles, and space backgrounds are cool, but might be a bit distracting from the content, which is ultimately what your website is about

I can see what you mean. I'm definitely going to take away from elements (such as the background) and put more into the content so that it pops out more at the viewer.

CressAlbane wrote:Didn't fit in my browser either.

Yep. Definitely getting rid of the huge title and background.

Maveritchell wrote:Step right up! We got straight lines, we got wavy lines. We got serif, we got sans-serif! All caps? Got it! Title case, sentence case? Sure! Busy? Don't be! We've got that covered!

I GOT YOU COVERED MAV, NO WORRIES!

Maveritchell wrote: class that sucker up a bit

Will do. I'm trying to make it as professional as possible with my noobish skills.

Maveritchell wrote:if you like the star theme, make it an inset image or something. Or subdue it a lot and make your center scroll a flat background on top of the stars. Right now, your background distracts from everything else.

I never really noticed that. I just thought the background looked cool and stared at it more than the actual content on the page. I'm definitely going to subdue it a lot when I get the chance.

Maveritchell wrote: Unify the colors/fonts/sizes across each case.

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely start doing this from now on. Yes, the colors/fonts/sizes are a bit sloppy right now, so I'll try to clean them up.

Maveritchell wrote:If it's wavy, give it some kind of pattern to indicate organization.

I'll do something about that. Maybe get rid of it, maybe change it. I'll probably get rid of the glow, though.

Maveritchell wrote:Check out some websites you like - clean, professional websites - and just steal ideas.

Ctrl+U ... Not just ideas, code! No one would be the wiser (is that legal?). Now, of course I'm not going to steal the whole website, just bits and pieces so that my website can be cleaner, faster, and look better. I'll be able to find out how they arranged everything in such ways that it appeals to the viewer. Then I'll use all that information and see if I can conquer the Webs builder! ...by that I mean drop the "Custom HTML code" and then copy all of my awesome code on there and see if I can over write the website's code. Probably not. In about 16 months my contract with Webs will be over so I can find a simple website host that lets me make the whole page using HTML.

Thank you for all of the input guys. I really appreciate it. Don't go bother checking on the website right now; I haven't done anything yet. I'll post an update here when I've actually done something.

Have some more art! I made this a while ago but I don't think I posted it here yet. It's glowy. Some of you have probably seen it one place or another before.

It's glowy.

I like it. If I wasn't so happy with my Mirror's Edge wallpaper I'd switch to this.

re: web host, Hypernia. I use 'em for Unification's server, they're pretty great.

re: art, you're going to want a background that isn't flashy; look at Hypernia's, it's so simple but it's somehow attractive and it gets the job done.

Marth8880 wrote:re: web host, Hypernia. I use 'em for Unification's server, they're pretty great.

re: art, you're going to want a background that isn't flashy; look at Hypernia's, it's so simple but it's somehow attractive and it gets the job done.

I've never heard of Hypernia, so obviously I can't compare, but I'm hosting my website through 1&1 for like $10/year (and it's 50GB/unlimited bandwidth). Googling Hypernia, it looks like it's focused on servers - if you're looking for a personal website, go with the tool that fits the job - you're no doubt paying for more, but you're also paying more if you use the tool you mention.