Before I post the link, please read:

 

So I'm almost done with completing a website for the firm I worked for this summer.  This was a difficult project because everyone wants something different.  But it's definitely an improvement from our old site.

 

I am NOT a professional web designer.  This is actually only the third website I've ever made.  The other two were done for a school project.  But our firm needed a new site badly, and I happened to have some html experience

 

I don't know much flash either, yet this entire website is done in flash.  We decided to do this since most of our competing firms do as well.  We also decided to drop our 800x600 users for higher resolution.  Only 1% of the hits to our existing website use this lower resolution.

 

Anyways, I have just one week left and I go back to school in Ann Arbor so there isn't much more room for changes.  You'll find some missing content since not everything uploaded.

 

I'm posting this because I just want some confirmation that this site is acceptable (I hope).  This was a four month project, however the first site was completely redone for this one.  The site you see here was built in only 3 weeks.

 

The official release is next friday:

 

NEW WEBSITE (currently on my own server space)

----LINK REMOVED - UNDERGOING CONSTRUCTION - Check back in a day or two ------

 

If you have a mac, there may be an issue with the color in the blueishgray background.  I will fix the color settings tomorrow.

 

 

EXISTING SITE THAT WILL BE REPLACED:

http://www.wtmarchitects.com

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the only other "official" website I've designed

http://www.tcaup.umich.edu/expandedhorizons/

It looks good, and much more functional than a lot of firms' sites I've seen. A few questions:

 

1. Would your clients (or more importantly, potential clients) benefit from being able to download "case studies" of each project?

 

2. Where is the email option on the Contact page?

Thanks Mayday!  In response to your questions:

 

1. We will likely add the material you suggested to our sustainability projects only.  Reason why is they are 60-140 page pdfs with lots material.  So we will probably keep it limited to a few.  We were also doing a "save the Carnegies" [libraries] type of program that would be worth featuring, but I'm not sure if that will go up.

 

2. I have not placed the email function up yet because we just got a new server and the addresses are all changing including the firms main email address.

I would add an "about" or "history" category with a brief description of the company. Otherwise it looks good.

I'll definitely ask my boss about that.  BTW, for the reference.  I did not make the AWARDS or CONTACT US pages.  Just to give credit where it's do, they were done by another employee.

Run it through one of those sites that checks for readability for people w/disabilities. Also, add alt tags for mouse-over of link titles, that way if someone w/poor eyesight rolls over the alt tag will announce the link. Love the design and execution.

Very easy to navigate and a huge improvement over the old site.

 

Under the Sustainability tab I would like to see examples of sustainable projects that your firm has done.  Instead I just see a standard blurb about LEED.  Make the next intern fix that!

 

Overall, very well done!

I agree .. it's light years better than the original web site, especially in terms of aesthetics and ease of navigation. It has a nice, contemporary feel to it.

 

A couple points, if you don't mind:

 

1. The awards page looks very cluttered and overwhelming, text-wise, in my opinion. I'd personally prefer to see this cleaned up a bit so that it "breathes" a bit more.

 

2. Also, the image galleries are okay to me right now. I wish that you'd push them further a bit visually. I'm not sure how to do this. I just wish they'd be a bit more poppy or exciting. Essentially, this is one of the most important parts of the website. I'm not feeling it right now.

 

Great job, though!

Again, thanks all for the comments.  I find them very valuable.

 

Marado, you make some excellent points about our site needing to be accessible for user with disabilities.  Macromedia is equipped to "scan" the page and communicate the page via braille keyboards.  We don't have a lot of html text, so that's a downside, although I can bury descriptions within the flash.  The chance of us encountering these users is low whereas government sites or major retailers should be more concerned.  However, we know that numerous web users have vision problems that can make reading a site difficult.  I cannot place alt tags in because it's flash, but I do permit a ZOOM feature.  Most flash sites don't have this, but I kept it.  If your right click you can zoom up the website.  It's little pixeleated, but definitely more readable.

 

Hootenany, I felt that was necessary as well.  That will actually be my next project.  I'll have a link on the sustainability page that will load a box with the links to those projects.  On historic presv, it will take you directly to that page.

 

jpop, I'll be honest and say I do not like the Awards page at all.  I didn't design this.  But I see no reason why we have to put all of the awards received.  I also think the locations could be omitted.  I guess this page is not really my decision though, so we'll just have to see.  I think cluttered is an understatement.  It's actually chaotic IMO

 

The project pages are bit plain Jane.  But I had to engineer them so someone at our firm without web design knowledge could update them.  As a result they ended up being a bit generic.  Plus we are bit concerned about loading time.  We can accommodate Lightbox though as a link to "View Larger Images" It's a nice little surprise, and it's already coded into the site.  Just needs the links

 

http://dolem.com/lytebox/

 

Great work...how many hours did you put into this (roughly)?

Building this particular website....approximately 100 hours.  Done entirely from scratch.  There were other concepts and work done along the way throughout the summmer, but this was built in just over two and a half weeks.

Very nice job! I think the visual appeal is better than that of a lot of work done by "professional" web designers.

I use 800x600 and the site worked fine for me.