Paul,
I know, when asked for comments, I tend to provide more criticism
than accolades. So, sorry for this in advance, and I hope it will be
helpful to you.
1. When I first opened the web-site, - I only saw the background
image and I was able to scroll down to where the background image was
starting to repeat itself (someone already mentioned - this doesn't look
good), - there was a control for a plugin (Quick Time).
That's it, - there was no text ("Stenquist; 2006 I).., II).., III)..)
I tried it on Windows XP: IE6, Firefox 1.5, Opera 8.53
I had to disable protection from the pop-up/pop-under and animated adds
in my 3rd party (i.e. non-Windows) firewall.
Yes, I know that most of the people don't use such software, but on
the other hand, most of good websites do not present a problem when
this function is in use. Yours essentialy doesn't work with it.
2. As for the sound, - Probably the reason why I had control visible is
that (under IE6) I had disabled playing sounds automatically.
As several people have already said, - sounds that start playing
automatically are annoying. When that happens, unless I really need some
information from the page, I usually close that window.
3. You resume is there as a gif.
I don't know what is the goal of the resume - only to show who and what
you are to those who came to your web-site?
Do you want people to come to your web-site based on resume search? -
if so, - this will not happen. Gif is not readable and so the information
will not become a part of the search engines.
If this is what you want - it's fine. Just be aware.
However, what looks a bit weird is that it's width is 850, and
on the screen wider than that - there is a well visible edge between
this gif and the background.
3a. Your other words/menus are also gifs. So, your web-site
will not be found based on searches in Google, Yahoo, etc.
If you want attention to your web-site, or even if you want somebody
(e.g. who wants to hire you, or buy your work)
to find your portfolio by searching for key-words, or even simply
your name, - it will not happen. (Yes, you can insert keywords, and
play a few other tricks to improve your visibility in different searches,
but that's another, and more difficult game).
Today, many people when they want to check out who you are, - go to
Google and type in your name, expecting to see references
to your professional appearance (especially if it is related to the web).
4. multiple new windows - people have commented on this already.
5. (very-very subjective and optional)
If I were creating a page that would be Windows and Mac
(as well as other platforms) -friendly,
I would probably consider a few different options with respect to the
video-file format.
E.g.:
having two - QT & either WMV (Windows Media Video) or RealVideo or MPEG.
The latter two are more platform-independent, in the sense that
people using various flavors of Unix (Linux, SGI Irix, SunOS, FreeBSD, etc)
can also see you videos. I am not sure how important this for you,
as probably most of your visitors will be Mac and Windows users.
Though, QT is still common enough that you can disregard this comment.
