Thank you all for the wonderful feedback!
Yes, I am definitely hard at work optimizing the site. At the moment, I am working on a solution for the YouTube page load times...and I think I may have found it in Flowplayer (http://flowplayer.org/). Flowplayer is a free flash video player.
The really cool thing about this is that it has a Splash Image option, so that in place of the player, an image loads on the page. Only when the image is clicked will the player itself load and start, so the load times should be lightning fast regardless of how many videos are on one page. A demo of this can be seen in the video section of my personal page.
Too bad I can't find a quick easy way to add a splash image like this to cover the YouTube pages. Flowplayer has a plugin for purchase that would allow it to play YouTube videos, but their demos look non-functional. Also, I'm still learning all of the cool things Flowplayer can do, and there are a lot of cool looking plugins that I'd like to use, but need more time to learn about.
"You've drastically limited your pages in terms of page design and layout for the sake of an irrelevant joke. (I'm *so* sorry, I feel bad for saying it, especially considering the attention to detail!)"
No offense taken :). I have grown fond of my computer monitor look...perhaps too fond. It was intended to be a way to help people be able to easily navigate my site...after all, you need a computer to view the site anyway, so people should feel right at home. However, this doesn't seem to be the case with all people; so if it must go, it must...then again, you can't please everyone all of the time. I'm definitely brainstorming alternatives to the monitor, though.
The monitor was also intended to be a fun interface that people could find little "Easter Eggs" in as they browse. As it stands now, here are some features:
Power button: Turns off monitor and displays a full site map below monitor.
Below monitor: Provides links to things nearby in the site for accessibility text browsing.
Desktop bar: "Choose Profile" brings one to a choice between the personal and theremin sections of my site, while "Show Desktop" immediately gets rid of all of the window clutter from the background picture and base icons.
Folder Minimize: When in a folder, get rid of it by clicking the green down arrow in the corner...I made it a green arrow so it wouldn't be exactly like a Mac or a PC.
Close Page: When in a full page, click the red "X" in the corner to quickly return to the folder that launched the page.
If the monitor must go, I'm ok with that. Hopefully, I'll have the time to redesign somewhat soon.
Security through Obscurity: Yes I totally agree that this doesn't work. My intent with it would not be to keep people out, just to have it look more professional with not linking to personal stuff in a professional website. This way, I could have two entirely separate sections for anyone who is interested and can get there. For now, though, I don't mind having a way to find my personal site from the theremin site.
That's all I can think of now, but may think of more later. Thanks again for all of the great feedback!
