New Feature: iPhone-compatible portfolio

I've just added an additional feature to my site - an iPhone-compatible version of my portfolio.

One of the reasons I have used Flash for my main site for the last few revisions was the ease of updating via the XML files. This allowed to to easily and quickly update my portfolio. What used to happen was I'd create my portfolio, and by the time I motivated to update everything, I'd essentially have to rebuild the site from scratch. This version uses PHP to read the same XML file that powers the Flash version, although for the sake of load time and preventing interminable scrolling, I only load projects that have been flagged as new.

Why?

Last week, a Creative Director here at Organic made a comment that while he doesn't always appreciate the aesthetic of single-page portfolios, he loves being able to check out a link on his iPhone and browse it easily. In the age of smartphones, it's a good point.

As far as why PHP, it's simply to move the processing off of the user's browser. JQuery is much easier when it comes to processing HTML, however it relies on the browser's Javascript engine to read the file and create usable HTML. On a mobile device such as the iPhone, that will hurt performance, whereas my server can handle the load without blinking, even with many simultaneous requests. Also, JQuery doesn't create 'actual' HTML, so search engines would not index it properly. I'd imagine that other mobile browsers such as Opera Mini, or browsers on the Blackberry or Windows Mobile platforms (and lower-power processors than the iPhone) Javascript performance is poor.

So, the site is up. It's accessible as a direct link which you can find here, or as a link if the Flash detection fails on the main page.

Also, I used this excellent PHP5 tutorial to help me figure out the backend code (since I'm not a PHP expert by any means).

This was a Bad Idea.

Gears of War - Emergence Day

Someone who isn't me was paid a large sum of money to make this site. They'll even get a little fame by winning an FWA. But, the site does several things very wrong that we as designer really need to stop.

1. A Splash Screen

Just stop it, ok? There's no clear idea of what to do - and that by clicking on the image you'll get immediately popped to a full-screen takeover.

2. Full-screen takeovers

Why does the site force itself to full screen? It doesn't take any advantage of the opportunity to show a large video, or create an immersive experience... it's just an animation loop of smoke billowing. Nothing within the site itself has any reason to be shown full screen. There's really no content to speak of, and the interface stays pretty tightly bound within the standards of video-game-website-interface - brushed metal, blocky type... flipping screens, rust, smoke, fire. Whatever.

3. A 'Show Content' Button

If you have to have a big button that says show the content, YOU HAVE FAILED. Sure, you can click the chainsaw/gun/thing in the top-left corner, but there's no hint it's interactive in any way shape or form. It's not like there's an overwhelming amount of content that we would need to hide - some unlabled videos and some still images.

It's a bigger sign

I would guess that this is a sign that we still don't know what the next 'big' thing is on the internet, so we're playing with cheap tricks to convince users that we're giving them some groundbreaking, new, experience. It's a shot at the FWA as well - they are not promoting good design... just whoever is making a Flash-y cookie-cutter site.