I am an old member here; I am also a flash junkie. I don't think many of you will remember me. But I need some feedback on the overall look of the site I am making for a client. I'm doing a website for NYC Welcome Week, which is this string of parties all over NY for college kids. None of the links work, but it would be great if you guys could give me some feedback on the look itself.

http://www.NYCWelcomeWeek.com/

That was a pretty long loadtime. It's worth it, though. I like the intro and how the navigation works. Good job!

^ About how long did it take to load?

Took me about 90 seconds, from what it said on the loading page.

Oy. The music file is what's making it big, but it's really hard to compress it and make it smaller. Hm. That would either mean cutting down the length of the song or making the quality lower.

I'd say the music. The image is too good to be lowered in quality. Can't you have the music shortened then just put on repeat or something?

Well, it was actually more of a compromise between the length of the song and the quality of the sound (not actually the picture :P). I could probably shorten the song, but if I take a segment out, it will sound off-beat and out of sync with the original intent of the beat. On the other hand, lowering the quality of the music is always just :(

Oh, right. Well, it's up to you. That's a hard choice to make, though.

Okay, I actually cut the song AND lowered the quality, so I cut the size of the file in half. That should lower the loading time significantly. If anyone else has any suggestions as to the overall look or feel of the design, please let me know! I really appreciate this community's feedback!

omg, omg.
I friggin love this!

Wow, it looks incredible. I really have nothing negative to say.

Thanks for the replies so far guys! I actually added a few more doodads (in particular, the spotlights coming from the buildings and some decorative texts). I get the feeling it might be a little cluttered now, but if you have any feedback on what I should change (or to just keep it the way it is), just let me know!

I love the rollovers. :] It took a bit less than a minute to load for me, but it's worth the wait.

WOW, you are craazy good. I love the whole thing. Good color choice & I like how the navigation is. Good song choice too. Love the rollovers.
The only thing is the little signature thing on your navigation, it has like a little grey line on the outside. very tiny thing but I figured I'd point it out.
Oh cool rollovers.

I remember you! We were on Skype for like.. 7 hours before. Anyways, I've always enjoyed your flash layouts. This one is no exception. Good job on the over-all design and song choice.

Ay Jon! Welcome back man! Dunno if you remember me, but that's alright, ha ha.


Gah dang, your flash work definitely improved since last time man. How much do you charge for a website (if you would design for other people), no kiddin'?

Hey! Of course I remember you guys! Well, my firm is about to go public, but when it can get anywhere from a few hundred to about $5000 if we're talking about a company or so. People will pay good money for a design on the web (just as a tip for all you people that are loving this stuff, you're on the right track). I'll try and remove the gray lines around the signature (I don't even know why it's there) and I should be able to get the working navigation up soon! Keep it coming guys!

wtf, i love this
i like how the building lights up when hovering over the menu that's cooll

not gonna lie...
i would totally do you after seeing that. <3


on a more serious note.
this has got to be the most creative flash site i've seen.
the flashing buildings when the links are hovered is a bit...iffy. i mean it fits with it all, but it's just not one of those "you should do that" things, IMO.
the music is a plus.

What about for a small personal website?

load time took a bit but once it got to 30 it sped up.
love how the image stretches with the size of the browser.
song was a good choice.
the blinking buildings for the links was a nice idea but it would be even better if the opacity was lowered a bit.

overall it looks great, i live in NY, and it fits to us well. Love how you choose Manhattan at night and the greenish yellow hue was a good choice. also great that times square wasn't chosen... its a awesome place at night... but annoying after a while.

Um...



That works.

Haha. Seriously though, for a small personal website, maybe a few hundred dollars to over a thousand. It really depends on the client and what exactly they would be looking for. If you wanted me to design a flash-integrated myspace, I would probably charge somewhere near 300~400 for a very decent one. If you were talking about a news blog, near a thousand. Full scale company or event, more like 2Gs.

By the way, this is the full version up-to-date. Navigation and content, everything. Feedback is still always great guys!

Jon, maybe it's just me, but the site isn't working ATM.

edit//

Nevermind. The spacing in the info looks pretty funky. Maybe it's just my FF, but it looks like this:

It's just the justification that's screws up the last few lines. I can probably get that fixed!

Ha ha, you are good, but perhaps too good for me.

Hey guys,

The site is completely finished! Let me know what you think!

Amazing Flash layout. Great rollovers, song, and image.

I hope you'll post about any new layouts you make. :D

That IS great! But I would love to know, what's the name of the song and who sings it?

i need to learn flash bro.

I absolutely will post my other layouts! I'm running a freelance design firm, so when I have any new clients, I'll always look to you guys for feedback (I've always trusted you all at cB).

The song you're listening is by Daniel Bedingfield (I know, who would've thought?). It's called James Dean.

If you haven't noticed, my home page isn't quite done, so I'll be working on that and posting up for you guys to look over. Keep with the feedback, always appreciated!

ah, daniel bedingfield.
ok, thank you =]