Portfolio trends

Flash sites seem to be the best at grabbing ones attention immediately.  The motion and animation are very pleasing to the eye instead of a motionless and static page.  My personal favorite is the website for the movie "Coraline".  Visually it is stunning, the page moves with the direction of the mouse (very good action scripting).  There are many animations that bring you to new "rooms" or spaces.  If I could find one flaw and it's not that big a deal, it would be the preloader that gets a little boring after you've seen it a dozen or so times.  The hidden avenues the user takes to get through the house is fun and engaging.   Now this is not a personal portfolio but I will use it as inspiration when the time comes to design my own site.  In exploring other personal sites for motion graphics professionals I've found some excellent ways of displaying the artists work.  I believe that the theme that is common in all portfolios is the quality of the pieces not the quantity.  Just like a printed resume, the pieces should be short and specific to the job you are applying for.  The viewer will not be spending a lot of time on the site, so there is a need for some serious shock and awe!  Readability of the fonts is going to be a big issue.  There were some sites where the font was so small that I found myself just skipping to the next site instead of trying to read it.  Helen Simms portfolio has a very simple interface and strong graphics.  This made it interesting enough for me to explore the rollovers.  Sometimes simple is best.