need some criticisms, work in progress

beetlesales said

iamthwee said

Second thing is the slideshow navigation buttons. Make them sprites!

Why? Looks ok to me.

And where is the newsletter I can’t see it? Good start BTW .

Please tell me you know the difference between sprites and Jscript image switch? I shouldn’t have to explain why he should use sprites… But if you insist.. I guess I will.

Sprites will completely negate any “flicker” effect that almost always occur on image-switch hover states. Sprites are also much simpler to implement and require less code than their Javascript counterpart.

LOL , thanks beetlesales

Can’t disagree with those points, although here are a few of my thoughts…

The OP has only a few images to load… So the overall flicker would be negligible… The greatest argument for using CSS sprites is to reduce http requests, but unless you’re getting sh*t loads of traffic such as sites like google or yahoo the difference is negligible.

One of the disadvantages of using CSS sprites which I particularly agree with is:

I’ve seen this technique used for a number of years, but mostly in navigation before.

While I understand the principles behind it, it really just doesn’t make a lot of practical sense (aside from the request argument) to do this.

The reason I mainly dislike this probably comes from my bias of having worked on a site using it, that I didn’t originally design. I didn’t have the original graphic files, and it was a pain to have to try to recreate it from scratch (when all I wanted to have to do was change one little icon and not have to worry about the other 4 in the same graphic).

Better site performance, maybe a little. I would say the biggest time hit on most sites are server-side these days, especially with all the database driven platforms out there now.

It’s worth it if you’ve got the time I say, but I say especially if you are under deadlines it could cost you more than it’s worth.

Thanks all the same for taking your time to explain this Beetlesales. [I’m not being sarcastic by the way]

@ the OP. I think I’m getting mixed up with your live version and just the image based one.

I like your live demo but if you’re going to use the same elements of design in your new design I guess that could work too.

Good luck!

iamthwee said

beetlesales said

iamthwee said

Second thing is the slideshow navigation buttons. Make them sprites!

Why? Looks ok to me.

And where is the newsletter I can’t see it? Good start BTW .

Please tell me you know the difference between sprites and Jscript image switch? I shouldn’t have to explain why he should use sprites… But if you insist.. I guess I will.

Sprites will completely negate any “flicker” effect that almost always occur on image-switch hover states. Sprites are also much simpler to implement and require less code than their Javascript counterpart.

LOL , thanks beetlesales

Can’t disagree with those points, although here are a few of my thoughts…

The OP has only a few images to load… So the overall flicker would be negligible… The greatest argument for using CSS sprites is to reduce http requests, but unless you’re getting sh*t loads of traffic such as sites like google or yahoo the difference is negligible.

One of the disadvantages of using CSS sprites which I particularly agree with is:

I’ve seen this technique used for a number of years, but mostly in navigation before.

While I understand the principles behind it, it really just doesn’t make a lot of practical sense (aside from the request argument) to do this.

The reason I mainly dislike this probably comes from my bias of having worked on a site using it, that I didn’t originally design. I didn’t have the original graphic files, and it was a pain to have to try to recreate it from scratch (when all I wanted to have to do was change one little icon and not have to worry about the other 4 in the same graphic).

Better site performance, maybe a little. I would say the biggest time hit on most sites are server-side these days, especially with all the database driven platforms out there now.

It’s worth it if you’ve got the time I say, but I say especially if you are under deadlines it could cost you more than it’s worth.

http://css-tricks.com/css-sprites/

Thanks all the same for taking your time to explain this Beetlesales. [I’m not being sarcastic by the way]

@ the OP. I think I’m getting mixed up with your live version and just the image based one.

I like your live demo but if you’re going to use the same elements of design in your new design I guess that could work too.

Good luck!

Thanks for posting that above ^ I enjoyed reading that CSS Sprites comment

I also forgot to mention that sprites are “fun” to create! I really enjoy the freedom I have when I’m working in Photoshop

beetlesales said

iamthwee said

beetlesales said

iamthwee said

Second thing is the slideshow navigation buttons. Make them sprites!

Why? Looks ok to me.

And where is the newsletter I can’t see it? Good start BTW .

Please tell me you know the difference between sprites and Jscript image switch? I shouldn’t have to explain why he should use sprites… But if you insist.. I guess I will.

Sprites will completely negate any “flicker” effect that almost always occur on image-switch hover states. Sprites are also much simpler to implement and require less code than their Javascript counterpart.

LOL , thanks beetlesales

Can’t disagree with those points, although here are a few of my thoughts…

The OP has only a few images to load… So the overall flicker would be negligible… The greatest argument for using CSS sprites is to reduce http requests, but unless you’re getting sh*t loads of traffic such as sites like google or yahoo the difference is negligible.

One of the disadvantages of using CSS sprites which I particularly agree with is:

I’ve seen this technique used for a number of years, but mostly in navigation before.

While I understand the principles behind it, it really just doesn’t make a lot of practical sense (aside from the request argument) to do this.

The reason I mainly dislike this probably comes from my bias of having worked on a site using it, that I didn’t originally design. I didn’t have the original graphic files, and it was a pain to have to try to recreate it from scratch (when all I wanted to have to do was change one little icon and not have to worry about the other 4 in the same graphic).

Better site performance, maybe a little. I would say the biggest time hit on most sites are server-side these days, especially with all the database driven platforms out there now.

It’s worth it if you’ve got the time I say, but I say especially if you are under deadlines it could cost you more than it’s worth.

http://css-tricks.com/css-sprites/

Thanks all the same for taking your time to explain this Beetlesales. [I’m not being sarcastic by the way]

@ the OP. I think I’m getting mixed up with your live version and just the image based one.

I like your live demo but if you’re going to use the same elements of design in your new design I guess that could work too.

Good luck!

Thanks for posting that above ^ I enjoyed reading that CSS Sprites comment

I also forgot to mention that sprites are “fun” to create! I really enjoy the freedom I have when I’m working in Photoshop

I’ve never had fun plotting out the positions in pixels. Everytime I used photoshop it was always ass backwards, if anyone know an easy way of getting the pixel positions, please pass that info my way!

xstortionist said

beetlesales said

iamthwee said

beetlesales said

iamthwee said

Second thing is the slideshow navigation buttons. Make them sprites!

Why? Looks ok to me.

And where is the newsletter I can’t see it? Good start BTW .

Please tell me you know the difference between sprites and Jscript image switch? I shouldn’t have to explain why he should use sprites… But if you insist.. I guess I will.

Sprites will completely negate any “flicker” effect that almost always occur on image-switch hover states. Sprites are also much simpler to implement and require less code than their Javascript counterpart.

LOL , thanks beetlesales

Can’t disagree with those points, although here are a few of my thoughts…

The OP has only a few images to load… So the overall flicker would be negligible… The greatest argument for using CSS sprites is to reduce http requests, but unless you’re getting sh*t loads of traffic such as sites like google or yahoo the difference is negligible.

One of the disadvantages of using CSS sprites which I particularly agree with is:

I’ve seen this technique used for a number of years, but mostly in navigation before.

While I understand the principles behind it, it really just doesn’t make a lot of practical sense (aside from the request argument) to do this.

The reason I mainly dislike this probably comes from my bias of having worked on a site using it, that I didn’t originally design. I didn’t have the original graphic files, and it was a pain to have to try to recreate it from scratch (when all I wanted to have to do was change one little icon and not have to worry about the other 4 in the same graphic).

Better site performance, maybe a little. I would say the biggest time hit on most sites are server-side these days, especially with all the database driven platforms out there now.

It’s worth it if you’ve got the time I say, but I say especially if you are under deadlines it could cost you more than it’s worth.

http://css-tricks.com/css-sprites/

Thanks all the same for taking your time to explain this Beetlesales. [I’m not being sarcastic by the way]

@ the OP. I think I’m getting mixed up with your live version and just the image based one.

I like your live demo but if you’re going to use the same elements of design in your new design I guess that could work too.

Good luck!

Thanks for posting that above ^ I enjoyed reading that CSS Sprites comment

I also forgot to mention that sprites are “fun” to create! I really enjoy the freedom I have when I’m working in Photoshop

I’ve never had fun plotting out the positions in pixels. Everytime I used photoshop it was always ass backwards, if anyone know an easy way of getting the pixel positions, please pass that info my way!

You mean doubling the canvas size in height, duplicating the sprite and then placing it below the original?

I didn’t use this method in any of my projects.. It was fun to read about it. Eventhough it has nothing to do with my topic, im glad you guys talked about it cause you made me learn that trick:)

As for my design, i’ve made 6 psd files so far .. I might update this thread in the next days.

Aw god i hate to be sick.

Yeah sorry for derailing your thread. Look forward to some of your new works!

iamthwee said
Yeah sorry for derailing your thread. Look forward to some of your new works!

It’s okay I’m sure that most of the people who enter this thread learned something!

Well, in order to not confuse people between the two projects, which i’m not quite sure why i’ve chosen to use the same name, I renamed this project to “Clapper”.

• Home > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper.jpg
• Portfolio > 2 Columns > with Sidebar – http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-Portfolio-2-Columns-Sidebar.jpg
• Portfolio > 4 Culumns > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-Portfolio-4-Columns.jpg
• Portfolio > 2 Columns > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-Portfolio-2-Columns.jpg
• Pages > Blog/Portfolio Item > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-Item.jpg
• Pages > Headings, Dropcaps, Highlights > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-headings-dropcaps-highlight.jpg
• Pages > Columns > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-columns.jpg
• Contact Page > http://webcut.net/clapper/clapper-contactus.jpg

8 Pages total. Do you think it’s enough? I’ll create some more pages to ensure that the page amount isn’t the reason why my work has been rejected.

I’m Done!

• Home
• Portfolio
  • 2 Columns + Sidebar
  • 1 Column + Sidebar
  • 4 Columns
  • 2 Columns
• Examples
• Headlines, Dropcaps, Highlights
• Columns
• Contact Page

I created 9 psd’s total.. i feel very comfortable with the final result.

Regards,
Dor b

An interesting concept but your template requires improvements, in particular:

1. The design needs improvements in typography color usage. Although you may
 feel this is a subjective topic, it is quite objective and relevant to core
 design principals and will affect the theme’s overall appeal. Light colored
 text on a light background causes poor contrast and results in uncomfortable to
 read text

I can honestly say that I saw much brighter designs in TF marketplace. But I dont care of others, I changed the hiearchy and the color. It much easier to read and easier to understand now.

I also added new color in order to increase the buyer’s interests.

• Home (Orange / Cyan)
• Portfolio
  • 2 Columns + Sidebar (Orange / Cyan)
  • 1 Column + Sidebar (Orange / Cyan)
  • 4 Columns (Orange / Cyan)
  • 2 Columns (Orange / Cyan)
• Examples
• Blog/Portfolio Item Example (Orange / Cyan)
• Headlines, Dropcaps, Highlights (Orange / Cyan)
• Page Columns (Orange / Cyan)
• Contact Page (Orange / Cyan)

Are you submitting this as a psd?