Byron,
I am sending these comments to the list so others can review my
recommendations and may offer other suggestions.
First of all, I like the concept. The layout looks a bit busy, but this
is because you apparently have dynamic fields, which are not yet filled
with content. With that said, I will give
you my comments as if I were handling the Q/A for the site. Please keep
in mind that I only took a few minutes to review the site, so this is by
no means a complete report.
Secondly, due props for using PHP. This is my primary scripting
environment and I personally think it blows the doors of ASP. Best of
all, its free! Support the open source
movement!
Test System Specifications:
Windows 2K Professional
Plenty of RAM
1280 x 1024 resolution
Browsers Tested:
IE 5.5 w/ Flash installed
Netscape 4.73 (I don't like 6 at all) w/ Flash as well
General Recommendations:
I have noticed that some pages open separate windows and some open
content within the primary flash window. I really like what you have
done with the models page (of
course that was my first stop, let's be serious guys), but the Pink
Floyd page doesn't follow the same flow. The only thing I was looking
for was a "back" button on the main
fashion page, much like you have in the urlframe.php file. I understand
that "home" gets you to the same destination, but I have noticed that
users are always looking to go one
step back from where they were. Since you are using full screen frames,
I don't have the convenience of the browser's back button available.
1. Speed Detection page:
The speed detection page does not launch in full screen mode for
Netscape. It also locks the expand property so I cannot open the main
window to full screen in NS either.
I usually use the window.open command with the full screen attribute set
to 1. This has worked for me on both browsers. Also, consider an
auto-detect routine to estimate
speed as there are several floating around, which you can adapt for your
purpose.
2. Main Page (could not get URL, but it contains top.html, Flash and
bottom.html)
This page sizes perfectly in IE, but not in NS.
3. Pink Floyd Page (urlframe.php?movid=141)
I get a script error on this page. It looks like the content page is
actually hosted on Shockwave.com and it is trying to script across
frames. IE has some documentation in their
client SDK pertaining to cross-frame scripting, which prohibits
scripting frames of different domains. Also, I would consider loading
the video into the same window as your
launch script (frame.html), as the pop-ups get a little crowded on the
screen after a while.
4. Model Page
Layout is very cool. Top Clix is a nice touch. If every content area
looked like this one, you've got a winner.
Script error in IE for Frederique. Once again, it looks like it's
somebody elses code, not yours, but because it's in your frame people
will think it is your error.
Once again, urlframe.php cannot be resized, so it is tough to enjoy the
linked sites. Also, some of the sites you link to cannot compare to
your layout, which unfortunately
makes the linked sites look pretty lame. I would even consider
shrinking your top frame on this page as to make it clear that this is
linked content, not your own. Take this as a
compliment.
5. Music Page
Once again, Very nice layout. Same comments as the model page. Script
error launching DJ Christopher
6. Animation Page
The more I see, the more I like it. Just see if you can consolidate the
frame.html and urlframe.php, because the double pop-up gets annoying
after a while.
Conclusions
The site concept is very cool. Someone walked into my office while I was
browsing the site, and their first response was "cool!". Try to keep
the functionality consistent as you
have done with models, music and animation. Keep the pop-ups down, and
test all of the pages you link to. Otherwise, Nice job!
If you need full testing, I have a lab with all major browser and OS
combinations, and an experienced Q/A guy on staff.
Best Regards,
Tom Gerbe
Streaming Media Developer
Digital Planet
(631) 563-4157
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://digitalplanet.2unet.com/tomgerbe/index.html
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