Best website ever?

Question

I'm a british author, and I've got got my Flash website working. Any suggestions as to how to improve it?

The address is www.spinninglizard.co.uk. Thanks!

Answer 1

Overall, great effort...love The Nest area page, graphics very nicely done...however you don't get any of the information that is contained in that section unless you hit the back button. You may consider making some of the graphics in the screen area interactive so that people have more ways to get to the 2nd page of that area than just the button above.

Your intro...I'm not particularly a huge fan of such things but I do commend you on the fact that you haven't included any music or lengthy graphic viewing. Well done! The one thing I do think you should do here tho is slow down the lizard entry...it, combined with the followup of the site name above is a bit taxing to the eyes. Either slowing things down or use really muted colors. Other than that, the start is fine.

First page...love the welcome animation, however I'd suggest the Welcome come out as you have it, fade as you have it and that's it...no repeat.

When I went back from the site map (very nicely done btw) to home, I was placed on the Entry page without the entry repeating...this time there where passages from various literary works cycling on the screen and a 100% progress bar with "accessing site" beneath it...the passages in some cases moved very slowly and disappeared quickly, sometimes leaving little time to read...just a bit of a tweak in tweening and such and shorter time frames in some areas might work it up smoother. As I have T1 access with a high end system I rarely experience lagging, but if you find that others haven't had this problem you have no reason to change it then :) The only access to another area however was by clicking on the progress bar. Perhaps some indication either as a tag or hover notice sign to indicate it's a way to access back to the home page will work.

Due to the fact that your intro page announces your site I'd like to see content on your Home page. An autobiographical snapshot of yourself: What you write, where you were educated, what you've had published etc. Short but informative. Also, first para if you add content...I'd state a welcome to the site and an overview of what people will find there during their visit.

Link to your forum in your content so that there is more than one way to access it. Having a link right in the content is going to create a lot of traffic checking it out...almost everyone first time to the site will pop into the forum via the link rather than by the sidebar. Return members will do it by the sidebar, unless you decide to add a logon section specifically for them.

You might also consider an RSS feed that is highlighting the different subjects that relate to your site.

Contact page : Consider linking your email address here...people normally won't want to highlight, copy and paste. Either have the email directly enterable from your site (ensure you use safeguards to stop robots/spammers...google this subject for a variety of ways to do this...a PHP script is one of the better methods). Or have the link so that it will automatically bring up their email program.

Don't be afraid to add lots of content...change it frequently (update) and grow your site by adding or removing things that work...or don't :) Of course, goes without saying...the content needs to be effective, no drivel or boring useless meandering (sort of like I'm doing :) none of that)

I can see where you're coming from in changing color on each page...however, what you want to try and do is gain continuity throughout...big move these days is to sites that flow well, are clean, tidy and have a style consistency throughout.

Forum: Color change necessary...muted colors should be used here as people will spend a lot of time in this area if they get active in the different forum posts.

Suggest you go here: http://www.hypergurl.com/colormatch.php for a very useful color coordinator online tool. Using the sliders you can create visual color changes that show on a background/text area. This way choose the best colors for your entire site and incorporate them into the forum as well if possible.

Blue is not a bad start ... varying shades, i.e. black type or a blue just a few shades darker than background but still very readable...this will be more restful for the eyes if done with the right colors , pale pale blue background, darker blues for navigation and logo etc. Fool around with the selector see what you come up with. Blues are symbolic of trust, honesty, friendship, knowledge etc and believe it or not the color your site is will affect how long people stay there.

Whew! Sorry...I get carried away :) I think your site overall is a great start...it's going to be a super place for other authors to gather and also for you to get a good level of exposure.



Good work!!! All the best with everything

Here are some themes I think might work (the following is because of the lizard you have going...these colors reflect that theme because they indicate deserts etc (hope these links work correctly): Also you want to play with the text colors...some will work best on light grey or white backgrounds using the colors as accentuation, etc (okay I'll shut up now)

http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=6CA3BD
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=8DAAC9
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=A79680
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=B1C38E
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=BFB193
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=679BC2
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=9DC0D3
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=E0A558
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=7E9463
http://www.hypergurl.com/?color=C3D0EE

Sorry was having too much fun with this thing :)

Answer 2

Best for what? Best for whom? My 'first-class' may not be your 'first-class'. And ever? The "first-class internet site ever" hasn't been created but. It will by and large on no account be created. Ever is decades, an infinitely very long time. The "first-class" internet site will regularly be superceded by way of whatever higher someday.

Answer 3

Its pretty good!

But the flash movie is too big, I think.
Not everyone has a 17" screen.
Or is it just not framed?
And you might want to change the fonts.
Other than that, pretty sweet and simple!
:-)

Answer 4

Need to make the screen bigger
Love the nest anyway

Answer 5

the lizards are awesome
very elegant website
:)

Answer 6

its awesome. keep up the good work

Good luck

Answer 7

it's good

Answer 8

are you really british ?!?!?!?!?! awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!