Portal Page - Scary looking?

[HotHolly]

Is my portal page scary looking? I was just looking at other sites and ours and was wondering what you guys think.

www.bellesphotography.com

[AndrewCCM]

my eyes ! my eyes !!!

No. I like it. My kinda style.

[GypsyHighSide]

Scary no . . . elegant . . yes

[Casper]

My first reaction was "goth" but I like that. The graphics are cool. I guess it depends on what kind of customers you are trying to reach. My eye went to the couture photography graphic because it is very bright. So, I don't think your portal page is scary but it isn't mainstream.

I like the look of your photography workshop blog.

The couture photography site is nice, but what about those on dial-up? And, what about those who don't have a clue about how to load the Flash Player? An html option would be good.

I'm not complaining, your site is 100 times better than mine :)

Steve

[HotHolly]

Thanks. I have a shoot in 2 secs. I was just browsing other photogs sites and noticed that our portal page is kind of unusual. It does look a little goth. Its kind of conflicted with the cutie site...oh well! My last portal page was super uggo. Gotta go shoot something (only photographers and crazy people can say that!) lol

[brad]

I also thought Goth at first glance.

[MattMoore]

It would be the picture on the lower left; that is the picture that people probably think is scary.

Nice site BTW.

[KeepsakeGirl]

my first thought was VINTAGE..not Goth. Maybe because at first glance your backdrop behind your biz name looked like a doiley to me.

[ndsimm]

I see more elegant than goth, but it's just different from most photographer sites as you stated....

[Joe_Lorenzini]

I'm in a different camp. The page seems sloppy to me.

I hope you don't end up hating me but I'm gonna be blunt...

1. The BW is always cool and never goes out of style BUT your entry page has NOTHING in common with the two pages they link to. This may not bug others but it bugs the heck out of me. Makes me think it's an afterthought.

2. Your Couture site is fantastic! A joy to look at. Why you wouldn't you carry that look-n-feel to the entry page is beyond me (or better yet, make that the entry point and add a workshops menu link).

3. You have two images that look the same on the entry page. It doesn't distinguish between the two sites and I've seen enough of your site to know that you have plenty to choose from.

4. The tag and the address are on the same line and there's no phone number or email contact. Why, why, why?

5. Flash statement is written so sloppy I don't know where to start. No caps and information no "normal" client is going to understand. Why not just simply state that "This site requires Flash 8 or later" and leave it at that (and make the text smaller because really, no one is going to care until it doesn't work for them).

The only reason I say any of this is because I think you have a wonderful web site which should really be the entry point. I'd love to see your portal disappear. You've got seconds to impress and to be brutal, this doesn't do it for me considering your talents and the quality of the photos inside.

Ugh. I'll go get the ax and smash the soapbox I'm on.

_/oe

[brad]

Originally Posted by Joe_Lorenzini

Why not just simply state that "This site requires Flash 8 or later" and leave it at that (and make the text smaller because really, no one is going to care until it doesn't work for them).

Actually, if it doesn't work for them, they probably won't care at all... they will just move on to a site that works.

[HotHolly]

Believe it or not - the last portal page was uglier. I'll add the phone number but no email. We get 20+ spam messages per day as it is. The contact form page seems to weed that a bit.

I don't like that there isnt continuity b/t the site and the portal page. The portal page is pre-fab (expect my part) from Blu. I'll have work on it a bit more or ditch it. Didn't want to ditch it, b/c you'll loose the web searches and flashless people.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by brad

Actually, if it doesn't work for them, they probably won't care at all... they will just move on to a site that works.

Yep, if the browser won't automatically download the plugin that'd be my guess as well.

Glad you said it.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

Believe it or not - the last portal page was uglier. I'll add the phone number but no email. We get 20+ spam messages per day as it is. The contact form page seems to weed that a bit.

I don't like that there isnt continuity b/t the site and the portal page. The portal page is pre-fab (expect my part) from Blu. I'll have work on it a bit more or ditch it. Didn't want to ditch it, b/c you'll loose the web searches and flashless people.

Please don't do it because I opened my trap. Most (all) the responses have been favorable toward your entry page. I'm the only loudmouth.

_/oe

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by Joe_Lorenzini

Yep, if the browser won't automatically download the plugin that'd be my guess as well.

Glad you said it.

Thats the issue with flash. It looks a lot nicer (imho) but yea. We were one of the last studios in town to switch to flash for that reason - afraid of loosing clients who don't have flash/ computer issues. It didn't happen. Web referrals picked up. That may be in part, b/c the competition it town all have flash - so same issue all around. Or our demographic usually has nice computers with high speed connections. Anyway, my main concern now is not getting bumped off the web searches totally. Without the portal page, there is no text on the site. Any suggestions in lieu of a portal page to maintain text on a flash site?