Hey everyone, I am still populating a lot of the text fields and galleries today but while I'm working on everything, I'd love to get some of your feedback as to what you like and don't like about my site. As you can see, I've gone with the blog site option. I'll be adding galleries and more photos later today as well. I just wish Prophoto would offer just a little bit bigger slideshows. Very much appreciated everyone!
This will take a while, so bear with me. I'm typing in my thoughts as I progress through the site, so maybe this helps you see how a user would progress:
1. I don't like the blue bar at the top of the content area, I think it's distracting for the home page.
2. I don't like the font change on the mouse rollover for the menu
3. I dislike even more that the sub-menus also change font on rollover, this is very annoying for me because it changes widths based on the fonts
4. I think that the social network icons are spaced out too far, bring them in a little tighter to each other.
5. The logo is nice, but I don't like seeing it in a big brown box.
Overall I think its a clean layout, different than most photographers sites too. I think it's a little 'flat', in that it seems very two-dimensional and generic. If I were to describe your business & work (in a few words) based on its presentation the, it would be professional, middle-level and reliable.
I started writing the read what Spencer said. I had written almost the same.
Can you get rid of the pop up thumbnails on the slidehsow?
Enclosed post, don't do it. You lose a percentage of viewers for every extra click they have to make. No one want to scroll through and endless page of photos either so maybe three post a page but keep them open.
It is alright but I feel like the design and execution could be a little nicer if you went with a designer. Their are so many things that you just don't realize are available when you do it on your own. My time with my site designer (it is still in the works) has been eye opening. So many options and things I had never considered that will make the experience that much better.
For me the colors are only OK. The pastels of it etc. are a little to vibrant and give it a mid-level feeling like Spencer said. Looks a lot like a standard midwest photography site that many "traditional" shooters are still using.
It is not bad but no where near its potential.
Spencer and Marcus said it all. The only thing I would add is to consider changing the slogan. You state "Capturing Real Emotion" which insinuates a more journalistic approach but only a small number of the shots on the site look spontaneous capturing candid moments. You might change it to "Capturing the Romance" or something to the effect of capturing what's beautiful. Or you might eliminate the slogan altogether. Good luck with your site.
I love when Spencer beats me to a thread. It makes my reply easier...
sboerup wrote:
1. I don't like the blue bar at the top of the content area, I think it's distracting for the home page.
2. I don't like the font change on the mouse rollover for the menu
3. I dislike even more that the sub-menus also change font on rollover, this is very annoying for me because it changes widths based on the fonts
4. I think that the social network icons are spaced out too far, bring them in a little tighter to each other.
5. The logo is nice, but I don't like seeing it in a big brown box.
Overall I think its a clean layout, different than most photographers sites too. I think it's a little 'flat', in that it seems very two-dimensional and generic....Show more →
I'll just add...
6. The striped lines in the blog titles are an eye magnet. Dump 'em.
7. Gallery title bars. (Spencer mentioned as "blue bars") Dump 'em. People know what they clicked.
Yes, I think sboerup sums up my initial thoughts pretty well too. If you tidy these elements up you can then begin to look at making the design elements have more impact (nothing I can advise on sadly).
-easy to navigate
-easy on the eye as far as background colors
-layouts are clean cut
things to think about:
-pro photo has an option to protect your images..... please use it! its in our best interest as photographers to use this option.
-if you are going to have a full screen option to view your portfolio, set the resolution of the images a bit higher...... they get a pixelated in full screen..
On Chrome on my Macbook your logo is cut off on the left side of the screen, not sure if you are just in the process of uploading or what, but it is hanging off the left side and only 20% is visible.
Sweet! Thanks so much everyone. All really really good points here. I'm going to make a list and start addressing some of the issues. I did in fact go with a designer, but I guess there is always going to be something better. Overall, I'm happy with the consistency throughout. I guess thats why I decided to go with a blog/site.
I'll bump it once I've made a few changes. Thanks again everyone.
site looks nice, I like the design, logo looks nice too but it's like the too parts of it (the signature and your name) doesn't really work together for me like two different logos especially the way it is displayed in the site, different color, font and background is just too much for me.
the images in your homepage gallery are amazing, I really love them but I think the first image, although very nice is not your best there for should not be first, also I would probably have called one or two more images keeping only the wow ones in there and I'm only saying this because I think most of the images are really wow.
Lee
btw I'm a woman if that matters to you (it's a women name here).
The logo is off the left side because the page seems to be centering in the browser window rather than left-justifying to keep the logo on-page. When I opened it, the logo was off the side as well on a 1280px-wide screen with the browser opened about 2/3 of the width; when I widened the browser, the contents moved and I could get the whole page on the screen at once.
(it's a women name here).