Please Comment On My New Website Design

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

03/06/2005 10:01:25 PM · #1

I have been busy the last few weeks redoing the complete design on my website. There are a few things left to do yet but I would like to hear your comments. I have added a new Theme, A small forum and set it for visitors to resgister.

Feel free to register (free) and check out the small forum I added. In the future I plan on having more Photoshop info and etc.

I have installed the lastest software for Nuke, PHPMyAdmin, and PHP Gallery and etc. There are a few bugs to work out but mostly I like the way it is operating which it is much faster.

We have tweaked the MySql database and etc and it now loads in most cases under 2 seconds. You can check the load time at the very bottom of the page.

I Plan to:

Remove the prints menu entirely. It will have just the main gallery with all the various images. My son is helping me rewrite the code for the cart which will allow me to set various prices within each gallery (5x7, 8x10, 8x12 and so on) At present the module is not that flexible. The cart allows for payment by check or secure PayPal payments.

I also plan to look at some other block and module options for the menus to improve their operation and looks. Like drop down menus for the links and etc.

The logo at the top is just one I created real quick to replace the previous logo. I did not take time to emboss the text or use any other special effects.

I'm still not a code guru but I do what I can to get by :)

I'm also looking at making maybe one or two other themes available for those that do not like the dark theme. This is changeable to registered users.

Let me know what your thoughts and or suggestions are.

Holden Photography

dacrazyrn

Nikon D300

03/07/2005 12:15:41 AM · #2

Did you use PHP Nuke for the site? I am redesigning my site also and that seems to have most of the things I was looking into. I am learning php but if this does it...I'm in. I have the design and how I want it to look done....just need to figure out all the coding in GoLive.

animes2k

03/07/2005 12:51:54 AM · #3

My main problem is lack of focus - all the stuff up and down the sides requires a lot of scrolling and reading to figure out what's going on. I appreciate the flexibility of Nuke, but would like to see some of this stuff hidden in a menu with an obvious central focus.

Nice start tho.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

03/07/2005 01:27:00 AM · #4

I'm headed down the same lines myself; got a port setting on MegaBBS ASP version. Trying to keep the front clean and tidy yet provide information. It is though finding a happy medium.

Are your pics large and being resized? They seem a bit slow moving between shots. I'm on a 3M pipe and they seemed to drag a bit even with just 19 guests at the time...

Andy

03/07/2005 01:34:57 AM · #5

I updated to PHPNuke 7.5
I have PHPNuke 7.6 but I read that 7.6 had some bugs and I did not want to have to deal with them at this time. 7.5 had it's own share of bugs.

I also updated to PHP Gallery 1.4.4pl4. Gallery can be set up to be embedded with PHPNuke so they basically operate as one.

The shopping cart is called Jenado cart Mod 2 and was downloaded from the Gallery forum. It is a module/addon so to speak for Gallery. I have modified it some and will be modifing it some more shortly.

PHP MyAdmin manages your Sql Database. The new version is very nice and come with it's own themes.

I love the flexibility of PHPNuke and Gallery. You can basically do some nice design with it. There are numerous themes available all over the Internet that are either free or paid.

A great place to start if you want to use open source apps and etc is SourceForge.net

Originally posted by dacrazyrn:

03/07/2005 01:39:37 AM · #6

That is why as I mentioned above I'm looking at the new menu/block options. They have some that are now collapseable and work great. The visitor can open and close them just by a click.

I also will be looking for a flash type script to do a image presentation in the center of the home page. Just have not found one I like yet.

Originally posted by animes2k:

03/07/2005 01:45:53 AM · #7

They are uploaded at 640 max then Gallery creates the various thumbs for the differnet size galleries. It seems fine from my connection less than .5 to .7 seconds max reload time? I'm using comcast broadband.

I will take a look at all the various size galleries it produces and check the load time again.

Thanks for all the great comments and ideas keep them coming.

Originally posted by awpollard:

Are your pics large and being resized? They seem a bit slow moving between shots. I'm on a 3M pipe and they seemed to drag a bit even with just 19 guests at the time...

Andy

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

03/07/2005 10:50:04 AM · #8

I would love to hear any additional comments and or suggestions :)

gloda

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

03/07/2005 11:44:03 AM · #9

Your website has a very professional feeling to it. The PHP is put to good use here, although the two calendars might be overkill. And why do you need functions like 'who's online'? Do you expect a community as large as DPC? I think a counter would do fine.
I also find the constant reminding of your copyright very distracting. Isn't it sufficient to have it all disclaimed at one place instead of under every single picture? I understand you want that nobody violates your rights, but I almost feel like a criminal just because I look at them. It's somewhat intimidating.
I hope this is constructive. Any suggestions for gloda.net? Okay, okay, I'm not gonna steal your thread ;)

PollyBean

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/07/2005 12:17:18 PM · #10

Personally, I find black BG with white text hard on the eye.
(Example of how it could be improved: This photographers' website has an option to choose the BG that suits the viewer Background example. See top nav bar [B G W] I think it's pretty clever, in terms of usability.)

I like the top bar that tells you where you are. (well designed)

The site seems to have lots of interesting content, but may be a bit "busy". Perhaps you could have the start page with top menu showing(and not the submenus).

Eg:.................................
Start page menu:
(>) Gallery
(>) Prints

Click on Gallery....
(V) Gallery
Â· About Images
Â· Antelope Canyon
Â· Bryce Canyon
(>) Prints

Message edited by author 2005-03-08 09:44:13.

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

03/07/2005 12:22:28 PM · #11

I don't know anything at all about website design but I think it's really nice and easy to navigate. :o)

pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

03/07/2005 12:26:19 PM · #12

My first immediate impression was that it seemed a bit cold. Somewhere in the scheme you might want to include some softer colors.

Sonifo

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

03/07/2005 01:33:33 PM · #13

I like your website. Everyone has their own oppinion on what a website should look like. If you like it, keep it.

I want to get into something like this. How did you get started? Who is your host?

Why is everyone so secretive about their websites?

I use yahoo right now, but can't put up a gallery. I would love to have a gallery and paypal.

jemison

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/07/2005 01:35:02 PM · #14

I liked the overall look and function of your site. I did find it frustrating, however, to have to scroll down with each new image. Very slightly, but I couldn't quite see all the image without scrolling. I use 1280x1024 screen. Perhaps if your header was just a couple of lines less high the whole image would fit.

dacrazyrn

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

03/07/2005 05:00:05 PM · #15

by the way...where did you get the calendar module? seen a few, not sure on their functions when looking for info.
Finally got all this stuff up and working on my website...now to figure out how to integrate all my "design" ideas, and find where they go.

SteveJ

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

03/07/2005 05:10:12 PM · #16

Looking good, for an old fart like me...will be easy to navigate. Look forward to seeing the whole site up and running.

Keep at it.

Steve

gwphoto

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

03/07/2005 05:28:31 PM · #17

Looks great. Love the Dallas Sky Line header you got there...

Tranquil

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro for Canon

03/07/2005 05:31:52 PM · #18

Reminds me a lot of CrabAppl3's site. Looks good tho!

maxj

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

03/07/2005 05:37:55 PM · #19

a couple of thoughts I had...

In the "Events for This Month" section, i think it would be pretty helpful to be able to hold the mouse over the date and see whats going on.

With the Poll, I think it might be in your best interest to withhold the number of votes until it reaches a certain number, your site looks very professional, then you get the feeling that no one really uses your services.

...just my thoughts

TechnoShroom

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

03/07/2005 06:17:55 PM · #20

I'm not sure of the purpose of your site so my comments may not apply but here is my 2 cents...

PHPNuke sites scream unprofessional. If your main goal is to sell photos, you may want to consider another CMS that doesn't have as canned a look or see if you can further modify your current installation. PHPNuke sites also have the reputation of being very insecure. Whether or not this is the case with your site, people will still be hesitant to make online sales from a site where they feel their information isn't secure.

Clicking on links in the prints menu brings up the images centered vertically. Which, at least on my screen, means you don't see the image unless you scroll down. I would hurry to remove this since you plan to anyway.

Too many ads and fluff. They clutter the page and stretch it without enough content to fill the empty space. Again, it looks unprofessional. Instead of having all the calendars and links on every page I would move them off to their own pages so they are less of a distraction. Other items like hit counters, surveys, and the vote for my site stuff should just be ditched all together.

It might be nice for the gallery links to go to a gallery rather than the first image in the gallery. You may also want to heavily modify gallery. It comes stock with a very cluttered look. Lots of lines and links and whatnot that take away from the viewing experience.

I also see that there is a view cart button on every page but no button to add an image to the cart. Makes it impossible to buy something. When you do get to the cart though it looks nothing like the rest of the site. When you get finished with your site it should look seamless.

Message edited by author 2005-03-07 18:18:24.

PhilipDyer

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/07/2005 06:45:38 PM · #21

Congratulations on getting started with your own web site, Robin! It's looking good so far and I hope it generates a lot of attention and income for you.

My 2 comments are:

1. You seem to have your images divided into pictures that we can look at and pictures that we can buy. I don't think people go to a site thinking that they really want an 8x12 image, but they might go to a site thinking that they want a nice Bryce Canyon photo. You probably should have your photos organized primarily by type or subject and then have an "Add To Cart" button on every single image. It's not a bad idea to allow people to sort or search by image size in case someone has a certain space or fame that they want to fill, but otherwise I think you should just organize and sell your photos by subject.

2. Charge more for your pictures. They're pretty good. :-)

Good luck with the site!

03/07/2005 09:53:22 PM · #22

Ok I have been very busy today I'm trying to get ceiling fans installed and a garage door opener installed. My helper did not show up today so I could not finish the installation of the garage door opener. Boring....

As for the calendar I am looking for something that tells visitors, friends or family who is online. If I'm online and they need to send me a PM they can do so. Right now you have to register (free) to send private messages and etc.

As for the copyright there is a location in PHPNuke to add this for the website design and also the PHP Gallery has a place for it. Unfortunately Gallery does show the copyright on everypage. I will make note of your comment and look at it in due time.

I did look at your site and it looks very nice. It has a nice layout and the functions seem to be quick. I can only comment on the basic looks and feel because I can not read the content :)

One other comment I can make on your site is I do not care for the bright white layout. I prefer to have a dark gray or black for viewing images. But that is just a matter of personal taste :)

Originally posted by gloda:

03/07/2005 09:58:03 PM · #23

I am looking at using some collapseable and drop down menus which will help some. Also I am looking at other interesting ways to put content on the front page.

Originally posted by PollyBean:

Personally, I find black BG with white text hard on the eye.
(Example of how it could be improved: This photographers' website has an option to choose the BG that suits the viewer Background example. See top nav bar [B G W] I think it's pretty clever, in terms of usability.)

I like the top bar that tells you where you are. (well designed)

The site seems to have lots of interesting content, but may be a bit "busy". Perhaps you could have the start page with top menu showing(and not the submenus).

Eg:.................................
Start page menu:
() Gallery
() Prints

Click on Gallery....
(V) Gallery
Â· About Images
Â· Antelope Canyon
Â· Bryce Canyon
() Prints

03/07/2005 09:58:54 PM · #24

Laurie thanks for taking the time to check out my site and commenting.

Originally posted by laurielblack:

I don't know anything at all about website design but I think it's really nice and easy to navigate. :o)