Re: Dear HWG members. Critique Requested. http://metaphorm.com

by "Sebastian de Raadt" <sderaadt(at)clear.net.nz>

Date:	Tue, 7 Apr 1998 21:10:08 +1200
To:	"Ani" <ani(at)metaphorm.com>, <hwg-critique(at)hwg.org>
	todo: View Thread, Original

Hi Ani and the list

I checked out

>http://metaphorm.com

and have some comments. All comments are IMHO of course :-)

1. The left and right gif animations are far too big. Each frame is
duplicating the text, even though it is the same throughout the animation.
Do one of three things:

a) Change only the animated bit, not the whole lot. To do this, use a
animation program that allows you to offset the image within the frame. Then
use smaller gif's for the animation word, and just a base image for the
static parts. Gif Construction Set by MindWorks [1] can do this well (I'm
sure others can too, but thats the one I use :-).

b) Make that image three images. The top static text, the centre animated
gif and the bottom static text each their own image, then lay them out with
a table, like your main centre graphic.

c) Even better, make the animated part a gif animation, the static text true
text - not images. I think it is bad form and inconsiderate to the owners of
slow modems to make them load an image simply of anti-aliased text! This
will cut load time down considerably.

2. I like the centre logo/image, it is certainly very distinctive and
strong. However, although well executed, I didn't like the animation in the
centre logo. It was too distracting, it didn't flow nicely and the colours
clash with the red background.

3. The light blue edging around metaform could be a deep yellow, IMHO, like
the centre of the image above it, because I don't think (at least in this
case) a lighter shade of a colour should be used on a darker shade of the
same colour.

4. It was a slow download, some images were a little big. Cut the animated
gifs on either side and use a graphic filesize optimiser like Ulead
SmartSaver [2] to cut down the sizes of the other images.

5. I was glad to see that you used the ALT attributes and put in them a good
description and the filesize too.

6. I think the main impression is that there is too much stuff moving and it
is too cluttered. I would trash the counter, underconstruction images and
cut the amount of text at the bottom to a minimum (you can have contact
information on a separate page). Furthermore, the animating words on either
side of the main logo are all in different fonts. I find this very
distasteful and messy. Maybe if you cut all the other animations and rmoved
almost everything else from the page, the centre animation is tolerable and
becomes the focus rather than a distraction.

Regarding the two side panels of text, and their content, you can explain
the merits of your company in the next or further pages. As it is, it is too
overwhelming.

7. In 640x480 resolution there is horizontal and vertical scrolling.

8. There were no javascript errors in NN3, IE4, Opera 3, and the page looked
exactly the same in each.

9. I found one spelling mistake in the description meta tag.

...content="METAPHORM Mutlimedia ...

10. The code didn't validate, there was a long list of errors [3], because
the dtd is for HTML 2.0. I suggest using HTML4.0 [4] Transistional doctype
[5].

11. I personally don't like counters. At least yours is modest, but it still
adds a distraction and clutter. Furthermore, it shows how few visitors
you've had.

12. I couldn't find 'Enter' very quickly, maybe you could make the big image
also link to the same place.

Well, thats about the fullest critique I've ever done for a single page! And
certainly enough to keep you busy :-)

Cheers

Sebastian

Win95
MSIE4, NN3, Opera 3
640x480 and 600x800 res with 32-bit colour.
28.8 dialup from New Zealand

[1] http://www.mindworkshop.com/
[2] http://www.ulead.com/
[3] http://validator.w3.org/check?url=http://metaphorm.com/
[4] http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/
[5]<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"
     "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">

__________________________________
Sebastian de Raadt  sderaadt(at)clear.net.nz
http://www.rh.steiner.school.nz/sebastian
"If you're feeling good, don't worry, you'll
get over it."
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