Valyard is owned and operated by Valentin. He is a flash/flex developer and as such he is a true inspiration to all who visit his site! He has been working in the web-design industry since 1999 and has sense developed amazing skills as a flash programmer using Action Script 2 and 3.0. Since that time he has done projects ranging from simple banner ads to complex web applications for his clients. One look at this guys site and you’re going to find out he’s everything you expect him to be!
The Lowdown: Lets take a look at the details of the site!
When you open the Valyard site you’re immediately met by ambient noises that pull you into a science fiction mode. Much like our last review, the sci-fi fans will love this site as well. His creative use of elements from the games he plays is pretty sweet too. Check out his about section for example… he uses the floating islands from the “Nagrand” zone of WoW ( World of Warcraft ). Nice implementation into the site! The interactivity the user experiences is another sign of this savy designers abilities. Every page is loaded with clickable “stuff” even the areas left black… click them and a ripple effect occurs.
Navigation:
His site is fairly easy to navigate and, unlike the typical website of today, he doesn’t limit himself to the idea of a header, content area, and footer sections. Valentin straight up goes for the knock-out by giving you a great content area. Everything you need is right there, and easily accessible.
As for the sites colors and layout… EXCELLENT! Two thumbs up! His color combinations are awesome; intense and flashy. One thing that was noticeable about the site is it’s attention to detail. If you notice, there are a LOT of elements used in his site, but you never find yourself focusing on just one thing, so there are no real distractions. Thats a mark of a great designer!
Be sure to check out his portfolio section in his “What I Do” section. The use of his drag and drop method is another one of his action-scripting techniques he used to trap you into playing with his site! Simple click a thumbnail and drag is to the thumbnail box and presto! you have the fullsize thumbnail.
Animation:
Okay, so for the animation section, there’s a lot that could be said here. We’ll try to keep it brief… From the second you press the “enter” button after typing in the address you come to the loading screen. It’s pretty stinkin’ cool honestly, but the best is yet to come! Once entering the site you’re going to notice as we said the ambient noises… watch closely though as the elements are in sync with the music when they load. This guy did his homework for sure. His timing is perfect for each element that slides, pops, scrolls, or what have you! He didn’t leave anything out. Then comes the grand finale… his main invention, which presents the navigation for the site. It looks like some sort of crazy portal/spaceship if you will.
Downside:
The only downsides to the site is that it has a boat-load of content so it takes time to load and it is made for much higher resolutions… so those with 1024×768 standard viewing these days… you’re going to need to upgrade if thats the maximum your monitor can view.
The Round-Up:
All-in-all this is a beautiful site! Aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, and an amazing use of ActionScripting that makes you want to scream give me more! We give this site two thumbs up and suggest you visit it now if you haven’t already! Hope you enjoyed the review!
Our Rating:
Rating: 
