Please Review AvidNewMedia's New Design

[anmmark]

We would kindly like some feedback on our new design.

It took 2 months to design, and 1 week to redo it again lol

The design is still evolving though, but will keep the overall current look.

We're looking for some comments and feedback. Thus far it has all been good. So, we're trying to get feedback from the true masses :)

http://www.avidnewmedia.com

NOTE: You'll need Flash 6 player

[Chicken]

Hmmmm... there are things I *really* like about the site. And things I *really* don't like. I have a feeling the things I don't like will be ironed out in the, "The design is still evolving though..." future. I don't like the entrance page, nor the large blue world ara on the main pages, but as I said, both are likely to be altered once the design is complete. I've always liked your work, and think this is right up there. It's always what I call 'polished' and clean.

[anmmark]

Thank you for your feedback Chicken.

Actually everyone here, including myself, agrees that blue area needs some work.

The "global" image was initially intended to be a backdrop for a larger animation. However, time was ticking, and we didn't have the opportunity to work with it, the way we planned. So, there will indeed be a better, more attractive animation there soon.

The splash (entrance page) will also change shortly, to be a little more detailed, etc....

In addition, once the final design is layed out, there will be 2 versions of it, a Flash version (basically whats there now), and an HTML version. The entrance page will be a php file and perform the flash detection to create the link for the Enter Website button. We "plan" to use DHTML in place of many of the Flash aspects, for the HTML only version. That way the end user's will primarily get a very similar, if not close to identical experience, regardless of the version they are seeing.

Again, thank you for the feedback....much appreciated. :)

[bradley]

I agree w/ Chicken's comments. I never like splash pages. It seems that I lose too many people right off the bat when I've tried them. I have a theory that even the most interested potential customer has only a certain number of clicks they'll be willing to use on my site. Some have 100 while the more common have 2-5. I hate to use up one of five or one of TWO on a splash page. It doesn't leave much room to "close the deal".

I really like the cpanel login. Very cool. I also like the color and overall design. It is definitely very "polished and clean". I look fwd to seeing the DHTML version.

As has been discussed in another thread here, I dread sites that have music load when I first visit them.

Click on submit for the newsletter option and leave it blank. It goes to stadtaus.com's error page for formmail. You might want to alter that.

Overall, I really like it. Excellent work!

[robc]

Its a clean cool site, nice cpanel login, but then again, nobody wants to take the time to get the latest flash player, or should even have to have certain requirements to view your site.

[anmmark]

Its a clean cool site, nice cpanel login, but then again, nobody wants to take the time to get the latest flash player, or should even have to have certain requirements to view your site.


I hear you, believe me I do. However, there is a reason we did that. See, we're targeting a certain audience primarily, and that audience would more than likely have the latest Flash plugin, because they would more than likely be using it themselves.

We came to that decision with a lot of thought actually. We're not exactly in the position any longer that requires us to cater to "everyone." While we certainly don't want to eliminate anyone, that may need our services, we feel that giving those people the opportunity to take part, by giving them a link to download the latest player is sufficient.

Don't misunderstand, we're not trying to be arrogant about it in the least. We just feel that our target will already have the latest player, and for those that don't have the opp. to download it.

Keep in mind however, that the site is still functional without the latest player. The entire header will work in Flash5 just as well as it works in Flash 6, but we purposely exported to Flash 6 for that reason.