Re: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/2165

> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/2165
.
<<<<I posted a request for site 
critique, but got no response.>>>>
.
Sometimes posts for critiques that come near the weekend get overlooked. 
Generally, I don't "critique"  home pages as they are more personal.
Critiquing a poetry site, or someones family site can get touchy.
I will look at this site as if I were going to work on it myself.


"Mondo Colorado" is a unique and bold heading.  You might consider following
that up immediately with something like:
           Mondo Colorado
               -gallery-
photography and other media

This defines "what is" Mondo Colorado. Otherwise I am just looking at the
name, cut off from the rest of the page with the animated horizontal rule
(animations draw the eye, leaving it sometimes difficult to focus on the
content.)
 Expanding the heading with the definition will help the initial focus of the
site
Then, by the time I get to the "contents" list, I already know where I'm going
to go, the gallery.

Your welcome paragraph describes the site as a hallway with rooms, but the
visual design of the site is very neon. "Floor plan" and the visual appearance
don't relate clearly. You might consider, even just for fun, designing a site
to reflect a floor plan or a hallway. I think the "gallery" idea and a
"hallway" would go together nicely. 
But there again, a homepage is a reflection of a person, and does not really
have to follow a particular path. You have a gallery, and you also like a neon
look. Nothing wrong with that.

On the gallery page:

I think the titles "Simplicity" and "Bits and pieces" might do well next to
the two images that denote them. Again, it is a definition that I am already
familiar with from the wording on the start page. I am looking for that.
Gallery 1 and 2 are new definitions. 

The Simplicity photos themselves are very cool. Art within art. Excellent eye.
These images could easily be broken into a few pages, like three to five per
page.( I think there were 18) A simple page two, page three link could be
available, (or the "hallway" theme could be applied here...)
and IMHO, the next thing available should be your link:
[Gallery 2][Visual Arts Linker][Home]
This establishes the "repetitive navigation" necessary for the flow of the
site (for the average repetition programmed human user). 

On to gallery 2, again many images on one page. This time I clicked on an
image and saw the image at full size. The directive back to where I had been
was called "index", which was a new definition. (I am sorry that I am being
redundant, but these are the "possible problems" I see that would get my
attention, were I working on this page...) next/previous image, back to
gallery 2, to gallery 1 would be more familiar.
I clicked the link that said "let it be heard" and was taken to the bottom of
the start page. You might consider placing again "let it be heard... vote for
us as starting point hot site!" Otherwise, with what I have been presented,
I'm not sure if you are directing me to hot site, geocities, your official
homepage, or the guestbook, etc. A heading or "lead in" would help there.

The site has lots of links, lots of branches to the tree. Familiar navigation
is imperitive so the user does not get lost within the site and click one of
your "out going" links (hot site, photography ring, geocities, CD now...),at
least not too soon.
I must also mention the liberal use of horizontal rules. They serve a purpose
- to break up information. When overused, they break up the page too many
times. This can create a "scattered" look in the end.
One of the "rules for design' is:
When you can't take anything else away from a site, you are almost finished.
Many of the horizontal rules could be removed, and by doing so would actually
pull the site together. 

The opening page has a black background, and gallery page is blue, gallery 2
is black and the artist statement is plain text. You might consider a more
uniform look for familiarity as the user goes from point to point.  I would
suggest maintaining the theme throughout, black, blue or whatever. 

The "welcome animation" page really served no purpose, other than to display
the animation. A whole page dedicated to this image is not necessary. It could
be incorporated into a "contact page" or similar, where there is more purpose
to the page.

I didn't go much deeper into the site, and you are probably grateful! 
I tend to be long winded at times. This is one of them.
My parting words are; the overall content of the site is most excellent. The
neon look of the site is only called into question when approached with the
"floor plan" aspect of the intro. Strategically removing a few horizontal
rules would help "pull the site together".  The artwork could be more
prominently defined in the opening page. Navigation could stand to be more
simple and repetitive, and therefore more familiar.

Lots of work went into this site, and it shows. There is a "curse of the
homepage" that exists - you are destined to make changes to it forever! Not
only will you technically grow and expand, but your inspirations and ideas
will change over time also. 

Above all else, have fun!

EA
shdowrks(at)aol.com
-- 
www.shadoworks.com

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