Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

stacyreeves · 10:33 PM

This site is not technically live.. I haven't added the galleries yet and and the blog is hideously ugly so I'm trying to redo it.. I'm basically just looking for feedback on the template. is it TOO white? Do I need more color? Are the rotating images annoying? Is navigation simple enough? etc. etc.. I want to know what to fix now before I launch it officially. Any feedback is greatly appreciated :)

Edit: I just realized that I put the wrong link up!! That was the first concept.. the new one is up now! Please revisit!! :)

http://www.stacyreeves.com/weddings/

Steelsun · 10-12-2006, 09:02 PM

I like it, nice flow and layout.

I don't really like the part about having to download the latest Flash though to view the galleries. Many people will be turned off by having to do that, including the technically inept (like maybe ditzy brides), those surfing from work (where IT has dissallowed self install of new things), etc.

stacyreeves · 10-12-2006, 09:11 PM

I thought about that a lot before designing this, but I decided that the demographic I'm targeting is young, modern couples who should be pretty aware of things like Flash and already have it installed. I'm sort of from the "If they don't know what Flash is or can't figure out how to click a button to install it, they're probably not the type of client I want" school of thinking. Even most businesses keep their Flash player updated, because SO MANY sites use it these days. Eventually there will be an HTML version, but that sort of a last priority thing.

Thanks for the comments :)

David Whatley · 10-12-2006, 10:34 PM

I like it with the exception of rolling over a photo to find a link. I want the link to be visable at all times and the photo to be a thumbnail. But thats just me. BTW, I am in the software businees, and you would be amazed. I had a guy today that didnt know what an icon was :(

epoh · 10-12-2006, 10:35 PM

I use firefox and get nothing but a blank screen.

stacyreeves · 10-12-2006, 10:39 PM

I'm so confused..

David: Sorry, but I have no idea what you mean.. Where on the page do you have to roll over a photo to find a link? I'm pretty sure I don't have any hidden links anywhere..

Amy: Weird!! I wonder why.. Does Firefox not support flash?

Daniel Bates · 10-12-2006, 10:44 PM

It's blank in Firefox, but it works in IE. I see Flash sites in FF all the time, so it shouldn't be a Firefox problem.

The site looks clean and functional. I like the white--it works much better than a black-based site in my opinion.

stacyreeves · 10:56 PM

I cannot for the life of me understand why it isn't working. It's just a plain white page with a flash movie embedded. So weird.

edit: i figured it out. really dumb mistake on my part. working now?

pps :: firefox=WAY overrated

mmpictaker1 · 10-12-2006, 11:13 PM

Updated flash player... Looked it up ..Didn't work ....

reupdated flash ...looked it up...still didnt work....

Reinstalled Firefox, updated flash... looked it up ....finally worked.

I like the sites look and flow, but think the border should be extended out more.
What I mean is the small dark area around the pics should cover more of that white border. Or better yet do you have one without the shadow on the back of that frame so that it blends with the page?

The site looks great none the less. Good Job.

Daniel Bates · 10-12-2006, 11:14 PM

It works now. Thanks!

(about the FF comment--uh, to each her own I guess.

)

stacyreeves · 10-12-2006, 11:19 PM

Thanks for the input eddie.. I considered doing a thicker black border, and I definitely still might.. The border on the page is the same border I use for all my proofs and web images, so for the sake of branding I wanted to keep it the same, but I agree with you that it should be thicker on the website.

As far as the shadow, that was sort of a last second addition.. I like how it gives the frame a sort of 3D feel, but maybe I'm the only one. Plus I was trying to break up all that white.. do you think that if I remove the shadow it will be too flat and simple?

Daniel Bates · 10-12-2006, 11:32 PM

I personally like the shadow... it "grounds" the navigation buttons and the contact info. It just looks too simple without it (in my opinion, again).

AndrewSA · 10-12-2006, 11:47 PM

seems to be working fine on my end. I'm using Safari on a Mac.
Nice images, loads quick enough, etc. Only thing that I didn't like is the point size of the navigation and other copy like (loading, gallery one, etc) seem really big to me. I'd maybe even think about using a slimmer font like Univers or something like that. Otherwise, looks very nice.

stacyreeves · 10-13-2006, 02:18 AM

Updated the page to contain one gallery. I'm not sure if the alignment on that one is right or not, so any comments there would be greatly appreciated as well :)

Daniel Bates · 10-13-2006, 02:29 AM

It looks pretty good layout-wise... some of those transitions are really really fast though. Some don't seem to have any dwell time... I'm not sure what's up with that.