Hi
I'm working out a layout for a personal website of mine that will serve as somewhat of a portfolio and journal.
The major points I wanted to hit when making this design were ...
a vertically centered, fixed interface, with a focus on the images that will be placed where the colored bars are positioned now.
Text in the center column will usually be a short list of projects instead of long blobs of text, but in the case that it is a long blob of text, allow the user to scroll it without losing sight of the navigation and "stage" as i call it
accesibility from 1024 x 768 and up, and semantic markup
it was a bit of a pain to get this fixed layout to work in internet explorer so, if you notice anything terrible going on, let me know
Finally, I'd like to add that this website was created after I convinced myself I didn't need flash to pull it off, so I'd like to drive home that the focus here is presentation.
Criticise me!
Something a tad experimental...
Does the big coloured area to the right change or is it the same for every page. While I like it as a graphical element I think to have it the same all the time would be a waste of that space.
The layout does have some problems in Opera - scroll down past a certain point and the content in the outer columns just disappears.
Also, I personally wouldn't opt for a layout that didn't work below 1024 x 780.
Something a tad experimental...
Hi
Criticise me!

Actually I like the overall look, it's sufficiently different to make it stand out.
BUT
The latest Opera v8.54 doesn't like it. When you scroll the page vertically the left and right sections disappear about half way down the page.

Something a tad experimental...
Use some sort of rollover effect on the left links,
use sifr for the "what am I doing here" text,
get rid of the picture toolbar thing that appears in IE when you hover over the block on the right,
and I'll be happy
Something a tad experimental...
Does the big coloured area to the right change or is it the same for every page. While I like it as a graphical element I think to have it the same all the time would be a waste of that space.
The colored area is a place holder for project thumbnails, so thats why i gave it so much space. the image i have there now will probably be what you see before you choose a project.
Actually I like the overall look, it's sufficiently different to make it stand out.
In terms of the layout width, I think i'll work on making it so that a horizontal scrollbar is possible.
And I hadn't checked this in the latest version of Opera!! Silly me. While I'll do my best to fix this problem, just out of curiosity, does anyone know what percentage of the web's users this version of Opera has?
Otherwise, I appreciate your comments ... aside from browser compatibility and width ... what do you think of the layout concept in general?
Thanks
Something a tad experimental...
While I'll do my best to fix this problem, just out of curiosity, does anyone know what percentage of the web's users this version of Opera has?
The number's not that large but if your layout has problems in Opera, it could mean that there will be problems in other browsers that you haven't tested too. If you can't test in all of them my view is that the more browsers it looks right in, the higher the likelihood of it being right in ones you haven't tested in.
Something a tad experimental...
Yea I actually used browsercam and tested it in a few browsers I have on my system (Opera 7 being one of them) but obviously browsercam doesn't allow you to interact with your site so I didn't catch that bug.
My purpose in posting the site was not really so much that it was done and I wanted feedback, but moreso to get a reaction towards the layout I've proposed. It's laaargely a protoype. Thanks again.
Something a tad experimental...
If you use Browsercam's remote access service instead of screen capture, you can interact with the page just as you can normally.
Something a tad experimental...
Use some sort of rollover effect on the left links
Moreover, it is quite hard to see what is a link and what is not. From what I see so far, only the menu encompasses all hyperlinks?
Something a tad experimental...
Not Found
The requested document was not found on this server.
Web Server at anythinganymore.com
dang
Something a tad experimental...
Two things:
1. Moved the page - http://anythinganymore.com/old/aa2/
2. I probably didn't make what I mean clear when I said that "this was a tad experimental." First off, in terms of rolllovers and the like, I've literally just begun the css for the page. The site is largely a work in progress, as I see now is not as obvious as I thought it would be. The "experimental" aspect to which I was referring was the fixed layout with the scrollable text in the center. My question remains --- what do you think of such a layout? Am I to assume that the lack of comments directed towards this aspect of the page shows that it's not that jarring of a concept?
Something a tad experimental...
Well, it certainly is an interesting way of doing it. Not sure I like the tiny width on the content itself, but it is well executed
Something a tad experimental...
I myself am not so sure I like the tiny width of the content, but the way I justify it inside my head is:
Its a "portfolio," so this scrollable text will more often than not be a list of projects as opposed to prose. I prefer to think of the content as what will occupy the space that the colored bars occupy now.
Thanks so much for all your feedback
In other news:
I've looked into this problem of dissapearing content in Opera, and I find it very strange. There's nothing too special going on in my CSS besides a container div with position: fixed; ... so I really can't explain why this is happening in Opera. Any ideas?
Also, in response to Tyssen's comment on the width of the layout. I realize now that 800x600 resolutions are more common that I previously thought. But, being that much of the content is fixed, if I try to enable a horizontal scroll bar under certain browser widths, the fixed content remains fixed when scrolling horizontally. Here, I'm clueless.