VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Chris Ratliff]

Just got it up and running a few weeks ago and would appreciate some good honest critiques. Thanks everyone!
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Chris Ratliff VO's
www.ChrisRatliffVO.com

"I have nothing more to say at this time. That is all"

[bobsouer]

Chris,

It looks wonderful, but takes quite a bit of time to load at least on the "broadband" connection in this hotel room. Also, the animated blots or spots in the lower right don't do anything when clicked. Either don't animate them or use them to go somewhere fun or interesting.

Those are my quick thoughts, but again, the site looks beautiful. And congratulations on the impending birth of your baby.
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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Jeffrey Kafer]

I like:

1. The background
2. The fairly clean layout
3. Tying in the baby and the sticky note is cute. But the little bio will probably go unread by those hiring you.

I dislike:
1. The load times. The content doesn't justify it
2. The ginormous nav buttons at the top.
3. The clock on the contact page. What's the point of that?
4. The inkspots. Same question as #3

I think you've got a good case of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Bruce]

Agreed on the weirdness of the big stretched-out type font for the buttons, and the throbbing ink spots. The throbbing is distracting from the main purpose: showing off your demos. And speaking of throbbing, the throbbing purple arrows on the play buttons for your demos are interesting but also distracting...kept me from reading the description of each demo. Also those buttons didn't always work for me. I had to click several different times and ways to make them work.

Remember, the goal of a VO talent's website is to make it easy for very busy producers to get right to your demos and hear them, not to impress them with your skilz as a web designer.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[audio'connell]

First and foremost, welcome Sarah to the world!

I like what you are trying to do with the site. It needs tweeking.

First off: readability.

Use only dark colored fonts not white on the beige background you have. The purples and the blacks show up well. Dry dark blue or something.

The font you use in the white headline is odd. Maybe I'll like it better when I see it in a darker color but I don't think so.

A saw a wordmark logo in the site but not on the front page. If you have an icon or wordmark logo....use it. If not that's OK but it needs to be consistent on ALL media platforms so clients and prospects get to know it as part of your brand

Next: usability.

Sorry but a nav bar is either across the top to vertical starting on the upper left corner. All screen resolutions are not the same and your goal once someone comes to your site is to make it easy for them to get around. Bottom of the screen does NOT cut it.

The news section isn't very newsy and its not terribly informative either. News implies updated time stuff like media releases. If you are not going to do this, drop the section. If you're going to keep it, update it and make it legible

Finally, I am a big believer in as few clicks as possible to get to the goods. So then why are your demos not on the front page? Why make users go the extra clicks? Your call and my preference isn't gospel.

Next: branding

While I touched on it with the logo, I am really not sure what the web site background is and therefore what it says about your voice. Old, yellowed tape strips? Are you the voice of old boxes or plain brown wrapping paper?

People who love design also often hire voice talent. It needs to look to them like you tried to create a design and if you're going for funky, I don't think you're getting the message across.

I hope this helps.

Best always,
- Peter
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- Peter
audioconnell Voice Over Talent
Your friendly, neighborhood voice over talent

[Diane Maggipinto]

chris, your demos play over each other. when i click 'play' on one, then move to another (before the first naturally stops), the second plays over the first ... and so on.

with a new baby, my best advice right now is don't try to do too much
(which, actually, applies to many peeps in many situations, and particular to voiceover. ha!)
also, forget much of what the books tell you (on babies. on vo, that's your call )
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[Chris Ratliff]

Dianne, thanks for the advice on the little one. I've read several childcare books and am in the middle of another. I find the best advice comes first from little Sarah's Doctor, then from my mother and grandmother!

Thanks Dianne and everyone else for the advice on the site. I've done some tweaking and am happy with the results so far. Although I'll probably go back and tweak a little more later on. Right now, Sarah's mother has just given her a sponge bath and she's sleeping snug as a bug in a rug... for now. I can't wait until her 2AM feeding! No, really!
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Chris Ratliff VO's
www.ChrisRatliffVO.com

"I have nothing more to say at this time. That is all"

[Deirdre]

For this latest iteration: Very nicely legible, and the load was quick!

I also like the smooth transitions between pages.

Practical notes:
I can't seem to get the character demo to play.

Try to keep your pages to 600px high or even smaller. Most people are either looking at your site on a laptop or their phone and you don't have a reason to throw a scrollbar.

personal critique notes:
Not wild about the type that your name/Chris Ratilff logo is in— it looks fuzzy.

If you're going to use a wide typeface for your client list, you need some space in between the list elements. Wide fonts can be less legible and are sometimes not attractive if they're too small, so be careful using them.
Keep your text face consistent across all your pages.
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This is amazingly excellent work considering your little one's demand on your time! My congrats to you for all the wild things going on in your life— it looks like you have a good handle on your website. Keep going!
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