Attached Link: http://smaupindesign.tripod.com

I recently graduated from college and have created an online portfolio. I am a graphic designer, and created a pretty basic online portfolio. I would love any comments, or suggestions about how I can make the site better, or on my work in general. Please note that my web design experience is limited to using Dreamweaver MX. Thanks! P.S. Constructive critisim is most welcome. Also view the site with your pop-up stopper enabled. It is a free site and it has way too many pop-ups.

Hi Susieqbaby, You have done a great job with your web pages and your illustrations are as you have said basic, but nevertheless showing great talent.. Keep up the good work..:) (sorry about my poor english :( ...) Best regards, Bertin (BowOnix)

Okay. You've obviously got plenty of experience with critiques, so I trust you'll take this the way it's intended. ;-) I really do mean it constructively. I do appreciate that you're not a web designer, of course, and before I start I want to note that you did a pretty good basic job. :-) That being said, here we go... Popups and advertisting are pretty unprofessional. You really might want to look into hosting your site somewhere that doesn't require stuff like that. Every time a potential client goes to a new page to view your work, they're going to get another popup. :( Main/Index page has no title. "Untitled Document" doesn't look so polished. ;-) (easy to fix in Dreamweaver) I can't seem to get to your source code because of the way Tripod has their frames set up, so I can't tell if you're already doing this, but if you're not, use ALT tags. Super easy to do in Dreamweaver (just type the text alternative for the image in the ALT box). It's also a really good idea to provide text links as well as graphical. While it's unlikely that a potential employer wouldn't have graphics turned on, it's a good option for usability and it shows attention to detail, and some people just plain prefer text to visual for various reasons. The mousovers are reasonably cute, but seem slow-loading. Look into pre-loading your rollover images (if you're not already; it could be my connection but I'm on a fairly quick cable link). Still, in this case, I'm not entirely sure that the rollovers really enhance the content especially. There's nothing wrong with them, but the focus here should be your graphic design work, and I'm really not sure that the rollovers really aid that. I really like the fluted edges on the thumbnails for your examples. VERY nice touch, and shows attention to detail. Not keen on the yellow background, though. It's generally a good idea to keep the same general color scheme for all the pages in the same site, for continuity's sake. Put in footers on the pages, to finish it off. Just a little note such as maybe the copyright information, a text link to the main page, etc. Set the font to something other than the default (which is usually Times or Times New Roman). Times New Roman is a great font for print, but it really sucks for reading on a screen. Use something like Verdana, with secondary options for Arial, Helvetica, and sans-serif (you can do those all in one go, just separate the names with commas). The yellow-orange pages just make reading the text that much harder. Having a straight "mailto" link is just begging for spam. Spambots and spiders will get it and you'll never stop getting spam at that address. There are options you can use to put up an address that's still usable but isn't as easily harvested, though. I've got a bunch of links and other information here: http://alicorna.com/resources/Miscellaneous_Resources_Spam_Control.html Now, as for your actual work, WOW. Excellent stuff, good choice of samples. It shows that you're versatile and have a lot of basic talent and technical understanding of the field. I'm really enjoying looking at your work (although I've had to turn on my pop-up blocker, as mentioned). Again, please take this the way it's intended. I really want to help, not pick on you. :-) :-) :-) If you like, feel free to drop me an IM or email through the R'osity mailer thingy and I'll pass on resources, help, whatever you'd like. Your graphic design work is so good, it deserves a really well-executed setting. :-) bonni

Oh, and yes, I see that you noted about the popups, but I had to comment anyway because I was in "critique" mode. Hehehe. :-) bonni

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned is the width of your web page is too wide. For example, on your Illustrations page, you have the table set to 873. Anyone using 800 x 600 would have a bottom scroll bar. I would either set the width for 800 x 600 or make the table 100% and have the first column (one with back.gif) autostretch.

One thing I do is to create a template page that I use for nearly every page on my site. I tend to like black pages, so the only exceptions are if a page has a lot of text and then I pick a white or light color for readability.

where would I change the size of my pages?

I normally hand code but it's easy to using Dreamweave MX to change width from 873 pixels to 100%.

Using your Illustrations page as an example.

Click on Layout View on your Layout tab.

Click on Layout Table tab to select your table.

Click on the number that appears on the top of your 2nd column (empty column) and select Make Column Autostretch.

Click back on Standard View and look at Properties panel and you will see the table width has changed from 873 pixels to 100%. For those using 800 x 600 the 2nd empty column would be narrower and prevent bottom scroll bar. For those using a higher resolution the 2nd empty column would be wider.

This is one of the ways and the easiest to explain.