First things first. I am in the process of re-designing my personal website in almost 2 years. Within these 2 years I have come up with nearly 5 to 10 different layout ideas and even ended up writing my own CMS script. But from what others told me, it wasn't what really attracted them. So I came up with a new layout few days back. I call it ENIGMA (I like giving strange but creative names to my layouts). Majority of the vectors were created by me from scratch (yeah took a lot of time). Please tell me what your feeling towards that layout is. I welcome all positive, negative, and mixed comments. For some reason not sure why, I feel like the header is missing something. I feel like there should be something above the navigation but I also have mixed feeling as it will make it look over crowded. Also if you have any ideas on making my header tags creative, please do share. A demo would also be helpful.

Secondly, what should I do with the copyright notice area. I want to say that I am a professional at this and that (sort of like an ad), but I don't know how to do it. For now I just left it like that. What are your feelings towards that?

Demo: http://sazzadhossain.org/portfolio/enigma/

In IE, there's a mouseover problem with the main navigation system [below the header] -- the text remains visible, but the background vanishes; I'm sure you'll be looking into it...

I think the same thing is happening in Firefox... Maybe it is just me?

The vectors look great mate. What is the idea behind having that person in the top right there?

Jacob.

I like that layout very good. On the mouseover the image doesn't dissapear you have to wait for it to load, maybe preload the images when the page loads will sort that out. Also in IE6 the top navigations the images arn't transparent and the left navigation is underneath the content.

Hey man i like thet template but about the nav it takes a little longer for the rollover to get workin... good woring

@Top Nav issue - The problem with the top navigation is that it is in high quality png. I really don't like the quality of gif files since the shadow output isn't that great. Lets see, I'll make those images into sprites instead of having 2 images.

@Narzy - The character is supposed to resemble me. I created a vector a little while ago you can view it here.

@IE 6 Issue - I'm really not sure why its doing that. I checked my code and it should work like a charm. I have both containers with float: left; and I also have the height issue being fixed with the peekaboo hack. Very strange. If someone does realize a solution, then please help me out.

Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate it.

I like it alot. It's very calming and the header (picture) made me laugh.

I also thought it was weird that the navigation vanished, but i left mouse on for a few seconds and it loaded back up. Like someone said above I think having the images pre-load upon page load would be the best way to fix that.

As for the copyright notice... Do you have a web design degree, or are you a certified webmaster?

If not I wouldn't put "professional" as.. Well.. You're not really a "professional" i think unless you've gotten some kind of paper telling you that you are (even though I can tell you can do 'Professional quality' which might be something better to put there).

Just my opinion though.

Unfortunatly. All i can say is. I love it :]

Is there a legally required format for copyright?

(symbol) (date) (owner) (rights involved)

e.g. © 2008 prixat all rights reserved

I try to use a short link which pops up a simple window with all the legal stuff in it.
The same for the privacy and disclaimer statements, if you're using them.

With that reduced and out of the way you can make your professional titles bigger






P.S.
Don't forget to correct the spelling of 'graphic' in 'Professional grpahic designer'

Good job with it mate nethertheless.

Jacob.

@Prixat - Wow excellent catch on that error. I really wasn't paying attention to my spelling at all. I will fix that right away.

@Jetteh22 - I actually have partial degrees in those field. I have a diploma in IT & New Media; currently working as a professional software engineer with a new and well doing software company, working on my mechanical & manufacturing degree. Yes I do have a life. I'm spending only a total of 5 years in college. LOL. I really liked the picture too. I originally made it because my girlfriend told me thats how I look sometimes when I'm either watching tv, sports or just staring at come sort of code.

@Paradoks, NaRzY, Jetteh22 & Prixat - Thank you for your generous comments. Your feedbacks help a lot when it comes to making what is best suited for an attractive personal site.

like everyone else the site is really amazing, its really calm and really good for a personal site.
like everyone else i got the loading problem but i guess your gonna solve it with the position bottom and CSS.

2 things :

- i feel like the top and the bottom (middle to bottom) feel too different... like its really separated in a rush. its going from an image (drwing of you which is nice by the way) and some shapes on the background which looks really good, to a simple 2 colored middle and bottom site. Too big difference i think, but really something small...

- i think the right navigation is not really going well with the rest of the site, well the color is not.

But a very nice looking website ! really nice !

Hey MrTouz,

Thank you very much for your reflection on the layout. To resolve the loading issue (and still keep the quality of the image) what I am going to do is have it load up in the sidebar as a background. Over that image I was thinking of putting a RSS feed button as well as a CSS valid button. I know for some reason once I integrate it into either the CMS system I wrote up or wordpress, XHTML errors will show up. That seems like the best solution at the moment.

Replying to the comments regarding the transition from the header to the content area, well I did that on purpose. I felt like if I made it very flashy all around, my readers would get distracted by the design and not focus on the content. It has happened to me before with a different design for work. I actually took a poll at another forum and most people told me that the best way to transition from a very nice header to a content based body was to add the shadow transition effect like I have now.

The sidebar navigation was something I put a lot of focus on. I tried nearly 6 or 7 navigation for that but could not come up with any "good" one I actually liked. This was one that was the closest to something I wanted to use. If you have any suggestions on a better nav, please do share with me as I am desperate (it would be better if you design one for me *cough*).

Once again, thank you very much for your feedback and I'm glad people like the design. I got couple of new customers after I posted this design on DeviantART.

I think I found the IE6 problem...

In the .mymenu style:

.mymenu {
width: 200px;
margin: 10px 10px 10px 0;
border-style: solid solid none solid;
border-color: #BCD2E6;
border-width: 1px;
}

You've only got 200px to play with but IE6 adds it up to 212px: width + right-margin + left border + right border

Seems to work without the right margin and allowing 2px for borders

.mymenu {
width: 198px;
margin: 10px 0 10px 0;
border-style: solid solid none solid;
border-color: #BCD2E6;
border-width: 1px;
}

and doesn't seem to effect other browsers!

Wow I completely ignored the fact that I added a right margin. Thank you very much. I am implementing the change right now.

Oh btw how does the footer look in general? Should I make some changes to it or is it fine?

ANN: I just uploaded a newer version of the layout. Made some quick changes. Added a thought bubble to the character after some suggested it on DA. Fixed the IE6 bug. Added validator tags at the footer using the same background as the top nav hover to help the navigation hover load faster.

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Can someone please ban his account? Its extremely obvious that JohnJsr was created for spamming purpose

Maybe you should connect your brain up, johnsjr

Anyway, the layout looks cute. Great job

Well the nav buttons are loading really fast now so i guessed you fixed the problem.

As for the right navigation, well i would of put less 'gloss' you know the rollover effect with a glossy look it has, and probably not borders. Maybe set the color of the nav as the same color of your BG.

again, i really like it !

@ MrTouz >> I gave it a shot, modified the images, took away the border but the colors don't seem to work out at all. The boarder is sorta required to differentiate between one listed item (li) to the other. The color seems a bit strange since its dark and light, therefore its really hard to find a decent font color and black (the color I originally wanted to use for all nav) suits well where there is a white overlay where as on the dark portion, it blends in. I have also tried all the vertical CSS menus from DynamicDive.com and none suited well either.

@ Rachel >> Thank you very much.