Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

abril1127 · **www.aprilhendrick.com -** 04-14-2008, 10:01 PM

Ok, I'm hesitant but here I go. What do y'all think? Wow the amount of hours I've put into this thing is unreal. I started with a free template from flashvillage.com then posted in the hire section for some customizing. This AWESOME high school kid from Romania (http://stev.updateflashevents.com ) helped me out. So all I had to do was fill in the info and customize it (lol and learn how to every bit of that in Flash and dream weaver UUUG!)

I am still every bit a newbie but trying hard to learn and improve. I am hoping to start making some money soon!

Thanks for the CC
www.aprilhendrick.com

12stones · 04-15-2008, 08:03 AM

Okay, April, first thing that pops up is the song. While I love Garth, I'm not sure he's given you permission to use it for your website. There are other threads about using copywrited music on websites, and I never found out the definitive answer, but you'll want to check into those.

Second, your logo looks pixelated and messy. Not sure why it would in Flash since it should be a vector image, or maybe that's how you want it, but it doesn't look good to me.

Third, I don't get the blurb about you and why you're in photography until I click "Home Page" at the bottom. When I do, I don't get the whole thing. It stops in mid-sentence when scrolling to the bottom. Also, in that paragraph, you spelled "persuing" wrong. It should be: pursuing.

In your price lists, you only allow a 15 mile radius for choice of on-location visits. Can I ask why that is? As a service provider, you might want to think about taking that out. As a potential customer, I'm done with you at that point, because I don't want to the hassle of bartering with you about the location. You'll probably charge me more if I want to go outside of that radius and I don't want to be bothered.

Finally, in your text you have random capitalization of words. If you're going to capitalize all the of types of photography you do, then capitalize them all. If you're not, then capitalize none of them.

Hope this helps.

abril1127 · 04-15-2008, 08:33 AM

Hmm I think the logo looks messy because of the shaddows I added to the text. Let me see what I can do. I may have done it wrong. (learning as I go!)
Im glad you said that about the radious....I was thinking 15 miles outside of Lubbock.....so to include everything in Lubbock plus another 15 miles......So did it not read that way or do you think it should be more? What is the norm?

my3peas · 04-15-2008, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abril1127

Im glad you said that about the radious....I was thinking 15 miles outside of Lubbock.....so to include everything in Lubbock plus another 15 miles......So did it not read that way or do you think it should be more? What is the norm?

I charge a travel fee if they want the shoot outside my area. If they want me bad enough, they'll come to my area. I've never had anyone balk at the idea of a travel fee and have had people come from miles around. I don't mean that to sound cocky, I'm just saying I charge for my time and travel and it is worth money.

Are you wanting opinions of the site itself for the content as well?

12stones · 04-15-2008, 10:05 AM

I think the thing is stating a specific radius. It turns me away. I think if there's a discussion about it while we're setting up an appointment, I wouldn't have a problem, especially if you're the photographer I want, but having it on the site, IMO, isn't really necessary. Christie would be better at that advice though.

abril1127 · 04-15-2008, 10:05 AM

yes, let me hear it all. LOL it will do me good to work on taking Criticism.

bpjones · 04-15-2008, 10:48 AM

I personally don't like the fly-overs or hovers you have on your about me page or pricing. It's very distracting to have edges of images flashing behind the page I'm viewing.

Also, I know that flash websites are all the rage today, but I think they stink in general. Here's why. For the most part, they don't scale to the screen resolution I'm using. Look at my screenshot as an example. This isn't a high end monitor either - standard 20" Dell. I don't know why you'd restrict me to this small little box. The screenshot also illustrates a hidden picture like I mentioned above.

You offer so many pricing options, that I'd really need to print out this information to be able to make sense of it. If it were all on one page, I could tell.

Web design 101-- never blast music when I'm not expecting it- especially when the page loads. The default should always be off.

There are a whole bunch of progress bars that flash by when I'm loading the page. Those are neat and geeky, but there should only be one telling me how close I'm getting to actually getting into your site. Again, this comes from the fact that it's using flash. It reminds me of the 90's when every website had a intro/graphic animation. Those are also a thing of the past- thank goodness!

abril1127 · 04-15-2008, 11:00 AM

hmm It definitely looks like a spec in a sea of screen. What browser are you using?

I've been thinking that the pricing was too complicated....I wanted to offer a credit towards prints, but with PhotoReflect you can't offer a discount for the exact amount....(or does anyone know a way around that)
Would it be too simple to just say X amount an half hour?? and just leave it there.

bpjones · 04-15-2008, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abril1127

hmm It definitely looks like a spec in a sea of screen. What browser are you using?

LOL!!! That's an excellent way of saying it! I used Firefox 3 beta 5 to look at your site.

Regarding pricing, I think it's OK to have a bunch of options, but my main complaint was that they were hard to compare. Imagine you were in a restaurant and were only allowed to see one menu item at a time...

Also, it seems kinda weird about the photo credit not being consistent across all packages. If memory serves, one package had a credit as long as you met a certain threshold? I'm not sure why it's different than the others.

abril1127 · 04-27-2008, 10:51 PM

Well I fixed the small screen problem. Turns out my monitor had the wrong driver so I couldn't set it at the correct resolution.... So everything was extra big on mine! LOL
Let me know if it looks better.
Also Do you see a Halo around some of the pics? I colored some of the backgrounds (kept having wrinkles in the black backdrop...maybe too much light too?) and I am having a terrible time with them.....I thought they looked good until I saw them on a High Def Laptop monitor. If anyone has any tips on that, it would be greatly appreciated....other than take a good picture LOL
........Sometimes I think I should take up sewing instead. UUG!

Hikin' Mike · 04-28-2008, 02:22 AM

If I were looking for a photographer, I would have clicked away when I heard the music or waiting for the website to load. Sorry, but I just can't stand Flash and music on a website and I know I'm not the only one.

I do like the colors though!

abril1127 · 04-28-2008, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hikin' Mike

If I were looking for a photographer, I would have clicked away when I heard the music or waiting for the website to load. Sorry, but I just can't stand Flash and music on a website and I know I'm not the only one.

I do like the colors though!

LOL You're not quite in my demographics either Mike! Im hoping Moms, Grandmas, Brides and Pregnant women will like it. People who have sentiment on their minds.
I like your honesty. What did you think about my pictures? Should I take up sewing instead? LOL
BTW You have some Stunning work on your website

Hikin' Mike · 04-28-2008, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abril1127

LOL You're not quite in my demographics either Mike! Im hoping Moms, Grandmas, Brides and Pregnant women will like it. People who have sentiment on their minds.
I like your honesty. What did you think about my pictures? Should I take up sewing instead? LOL
BTW You have some Stunning work on your website

True, but I'm sure there are some people that feel the same way about Flash/music on a site. Your photos are great...better than mine. But that's why I don't do "people"!

daveb · 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abril1127

Ok, I'm hesitant but here I go. What do y'all think? Wow the amount of hours I've put into this thing is unreal. I started with a free template from flashvillage.com then posted in the hire section for some customizing. This AWESOME high school kid from Romania (http://stev.updateflashevents.com ) helped me out. So all I had to do was fill in the info and customize it (lol and learn how to every bit of that in Flash and dream weaver UUUG!)

I am still every bit a newbie but trying hard to learn and improve. I am hoping to start making some money soon!

Thanks for the CC
www.aprilhendrick.com

Ok ... here are the issues that I see with your site:
1) you are infringing on copyright unless you have a sync license form the owner of the music. there really is no gray area on this ... it is pretty cut and dried.

2) as others have mentioned... you logo really needs a cleanup.

3) the site is slow to load ... (I am on a T1 dedicated connection) I really don't need to see the loading progress bars.

4) The front page is not valid html. There are 19 coding errors on the page mostly relating to the way the flash is embedded.

5) Your links at the bottom of the page are triggering my popup blockers both in IE and FF

and lastly ... there is no indexable content on the site ... all of your words are embedded in flash.

Just my off the top observations. hope they help

abril1127 · 05-16-2008, 07:21 PM

Dave,
Thanks for taking the time to break that down for me.
Can you point me in the right direction on how to fix the load time......and the coding errors. I don't understand why the loading bars are a problem, please explain, I thought if they weren't there you would be looking at a blank page and probably click away thinking nothing was there.
If I take pictures off the portfolio's will this increase my load time? or would fixing the errors increase it??
LOL I'm having to take the poor mans education in web building so I will take any tips you may have.