119 karma · joined April 25, 2012
Also, I didn't mean to be talking down on your framework. I have personally never made a front end framework or released any sort of open source project, so it is cool that you have done that. All I am really trying to say is there is a tradeoff between file size and what a framework can offer.
You have chosen to go the smallest possible file size route, which is cool, but I would never use it in it's current state. The page advertises support for IE5.5 and it shows. It looks like something that was developed when IE5.5 was around. It is easy to support a single text input in IE5, but try building out a complex form in CSS and see what happens in old IE. Also, nothing looks finely polished. I just see a bunch of colored rectangles filled with text. There are no examples of typography beside the header tags. The padding\margins on buttons and alerts look funny. The forms are completely lacking. There is an issue with the navbar where the entire thing slides up a pixel or two when the dropdowns appear. The icons are just standard unicode characters that really have little use on the web and look dated. Again, I don't mean to knock your framework, I just think it needs a bit of polish and it is unfair to say it offers most of what bootstrap does. I'd also highly recommend you put normalize in there.
I'll defiantly keep an eye out for version 2! Good luck!
Since you are going responsive, you may want to look into doing a mobile first design. It is a lot easier to get your content looking good on a small screen and then slowly work your way up to a full screen experience. Going from full screen down to mobile is a lot harder. You will end up with more code, and find yourself fighting your existing styles to get things working on the small screen. Since you are using bootstrap, I'd recommend you use the built in grid system to help with this. (I fought grid systems for years... now, I wouldn't build a site without them.)
Another area I would concentrate on is typography. Choosing matching fonts can be tricky. A good rule of thumb is to pick two fonts that really contrast each other. In your case, the fonts basically look the same. Try picking a serif font for headings and sans-serif for body copy or the other way around. Google "font pairings" for more examples. I'd also bump up the body font size a bit and increase the line height. Aim for no more than 10 words per line for the best readability. (HN doesn't follow this and it is a pain reading long comments!) Again, Bootstrap has great defaults for type. I'd recommend sticking with them at first and then tweaking things as you finalize your layout.
Finally, I'd simplify your effects a bit. Every animation should serve a purpose and enhance the user experience. It is fun to dig in and make things move, but if not done properly, they become a huge turnoff. The hard part is making them feel natural and finely polished. Many times very subtle animations do so much more that large ones. Think "pat on the back" vs. "punch to the face". (Not saying your site is a punch to the face.... just repeating some advice a designer once gave me.) As your skills improve, you can add more complex animations and effects that add value to your site.
Overall you did great for your first site. Digging in and trying new things is the best way to learn. If you ever need assistance with anything, feel free to reach out.
Just wanted to point out that the hearing taking place tonight will probably be recorded by BATV (http://batv.us/) and available to stream later in the week. Once the recording is posted, I will update with a direct link.