Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

ndsimm · 09:52 PM

OK, in my quest to do better in '08, I'm redoing my site....again. This is still in the testing phase but I could really use some honest critique. The images are not the final selections, but please critique those as well. how fast does it load? how is the layout? text? etc....

link to current site is in my sig if you want to compare....

http://www.photosforu.com/new07/

Joe_Lorenzini · 11-22-2007, 10:32 PM

I like it. It's still a bit rough around the edges but you've done well with the simplicity and navigation.

As for my impressions. It did load quickly on the TW cable modem. On the down side, there seems to be no advantage to viewing full screen as opposed to the open browser window. The size of the photos do not change so I'm not sure why this option is there. IMHO I'd suggest maybe opening directly up to the in-browser version and have a "full screen" tag if you want to offer that option. Forget the welcome screen (if you can or will consider that option).

One last suggestion and that is to make the majority of your images fit inside the borders you've constructed. Most do not touch the sides and to me, the images would have much more impact if they filled the space. Your vertical images, though very nice, had a visibly reduced impact due to the size constraints.

Hope this helps. Great job so far!

_/oe

bbailey · 11-24-2007, 04:11 PM

Is there supposed to be that much empty area at the top of the entry page? Maybe a limitation of the template? Moving that up would be a good idea since visitors with less than a 1280x1024 resolution may have trouble seeing the menu at the bottom of the page w/o scrolling. That same gap is also on the blog.

ndsimm · 11-24-2007, 05:24 PM

thanks for checking guys...I thought about the images and I will make them all horizontal to give more impact...as for the splash page, that image is probably too big which is why the page has to scroll. I'll resize that image and will probably make it horizontal as well....

ndsimm · 12-10-2007, 09:51 PM

OK, can you all check once more? I decided to keep my HTML site for SEO and just add the Flash, so how does the Splash page look?
http://www.photosforu.com/new07

bbailey · 12-10-2007, 10:13 PM

At the top of the page you have "" name=keywords>" I noticed that your code has several <head></head> sections. I also noticed that you have the code for meta "descriptions" and keywords multiple times.

The dashes around Enter HTML do not match the others on the line.

ndsimm · 12-10-2007, 10:28 PM

Thanks, Ben, I was basically copying my meta tags from my HTML site and probably missed a few....
I also changed the spacing on the dashes....

Joe_Lorenzini · 12-11-2007, 01:40 AM

Ok... it's late so you're going to get blunt.

First page is an entry page and says "Photographics, your memories, your way" which is solid tag but then you have a picture of a cityscape which doesn't, even though it's a good shot, support your tag one bit. I think if you're going with that type of tag it should be an emotional shot.

I clicked on each of the four links below and as much as I wish I were as PC as some on the forum, your web site is all over the place. It has no flow and looks like 4 different people designed it without talking to each other. Don't get me wrong though, all the elements are there, they just seem very unorganized and fractured.

My suggestions might be this:
1. Your blog seems to be your strongest message in fact looking at yours makes me want to start one on my web site. It shows you're active, your versatile and your shooting. It shows off your skills well. After looking through your blog I wanted to go into the galleries to see the "really good stuff"

2. Flash/HTML sites are so different I didn't want to look at either plus on the HTML pages you're running some cgi/scripts which defeats the KISS principles. My suggestion might be to go with one or the other or to lose both and combine them into one with an HTML entry and a flash slide show as a feature.

Grain of salt stuff. No offense intended but I think with the quality of your images, you can do better in how you present them.

_/oe

PS. And don't forget to put your contact information at the bottom of EVERY page. Email at least, phone number preferred. When people decide to contact you they'll want to do it immediately. Give them the info they need.

ndsimm · 12-11-2007, 05:46 AM

Thank Joe, blunt is good and I needed that...that was one of the very reasons I wanted to re-do the site...I was getting traffic, but no one was hanging around and I guess that's why. I was only keeping the HTML because I was concerned about losing my Google ranking and have heard so much about how bad flash sites do with google. I'll try and make the HTML look like the flash, but if not, I'll kill the fHTML and go straight flash....

Outlaw · 12-18-2007, 02:37 PM

Hey Nathan, looks like you've put a lot of work into this site! I'll just touch on a couple of points.

One, your web site is just an extension of your business card, your shooting style, your persona as a photographer, and as a business. I agree with Joe that the parts of your site are a bit disjointed. I think stepping back and doing some evaluation of what your style is, what personality you/your business wants to project, and then coming up with some colors, themes, and graphic elements that support that style, would benefit you.

With this, you can reverse engineer all of your "marketing materials," your web site included, to be consistent in creating a common feeling among viewers and potential clients. Consistency builds trust, trust signs checks.

On a specific note, going to your flash site, there's no way that I saw to click back to your splash page. I had to use the back button to get to it, and from there, I could move on to your blog, which was my next stop.

Great start! You've got the art, now just need the window dressing!

Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

Testing new Flash site - updated Splash page