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 06/02/2006 07:19:31 PM · #1
I know how busy everyone is, but I have a request. I have just redesiged my website. It isn't 100% complete, but it was enough to launch.

Could some of you wonderfully talented people take a look at it and give me your honest opinion?

Thank you for your time in advance,

David

//www.davidshowers.com
 06/02/2006 07:38:43 PM · #2
David, I'll post my opinion, which doesn't mean it's right... just my personal taste :)

I don't like websites with music/audio. It annoys me... especially if I'm listening to something else on the computer.

The layout looks very clean. I like SimpleViewer (I also use it on my site), because it's easy to navigate, fast, and clean. I like the color combination.

My suggestion, though, is that you have a page that opens up before the other ones, instead of having it automatically open up on the PEOPLE portfolio. Maybe an intro, or your bio, or even just your name, I don't know.

Aside from that, you have very nice images. I just love your nature ones. (On a funny note, I actually have very similar categories on my site :) ).

Take care!

06/02/2006 07:40:25 PM · #3
I looked, it loaded fast, music was too loud and I couldn't turn it down, I liked the song/music chosen, and when I clicked on the Guest Book it took me to the "About Me" page again. Everything lined up nicely and I'm using Safari as a web browser.
 06/02/2006 07:43:21 PM · #4
Maria,

Thanks for the quick look.

I am working on the front page as we speak. I guess I just got excited and launched too soon! smile

As far as the music goes, I am adding a control to the site so that the user can control the volume or even turn it off.

The guest book is almost done!

Thanks again!
 06/02/2006 07:43:32 PM · #5
I agree, the music is too loud and no sound control.
Also there's a broken link. The guestbook link takes you to about.

Otherwise I like it a lot.
 06/02/2006 07:51:25 PM · #6
please please please loose the music...

Wen I hit sites that have music on the start page I navigate away as fast as I can get to the back button. Any music ... Any style...

06/02/2006 07:59:29 PM · #7
- Kill the music, default should be off if you must have it at all.
- Either hide the simpleviewer link or put it above the fold, it's half-half on FF 1.5.
- I think the PPA should be at the bottom, just the normal place for stuff like that.
- Don't put buttones that are not yet active, just remove the button.
- I think the first 4 photo categories should stand out from the admin stuff, about e.t.c.
- What do you plan with a guest book? IMO, if there is no point to an option it should not be there. If it was a get a quote or request brosure e.t.c. then fine.
- It's pretty sparce on my screen (more of us are using larger resolution now, so you deceide how many people with small screen visit a flash based site). It's obvious where the simpleviewer has 9 thumbs when I have space for a lot more. I know it's more complex to deal with this but it's annoying to scroll when I have ample space.

Edit to Add: Whatever the music - make sure it's license free or you have the right to use it. I know this is common right now but it's something to keep in mind as a business risk if you don't have the permission on the music.

Message edited by author 2006-06-02 20:06:15.
 06/02/2006 08:37:46 PM · #8
I own an ad agency and have a library of royalty free music that I have purchased.
 06/02/2006 08:51:48 PM · #9
David,

Would re-consider consistency of color. Black and light blue didn't work well with me. I would stick with black or blue but not both because it really exaggerates the framing.

Also a spelling mistake. You wrote: "All I ask is that I am aloud to use selected images for my personal portfolio"

It should be "All I ask is that I am allowed to use selected images for my personal portfolio"

But some nice photos. Deserve to have some comments and I know that the xml of simpleviewer allows for commenting.
 06/02/2006 08:56:58 PM · #10
There is a link below the photos that I can barely see the top of... It is cut off by your copyright bar.
 06/02/2006 09:45:08 PM · #11
Thank you for all of the great advice. I have tried to use all of the suggestions.

I still need to complete the guestbook, add volume control and complete my opening page (starting on the people page is temporary).

Thanks again everyone.
 06/02/2006 09:52:25 PM · #12
Originally posted by nomad469:
please please please loose the music...

Wen I hit sites that have music on the start page I navigate away as fast as I can get to the back button. Any music ... Any style...

I totally agree.
David, I can't stress enough just how important this is.

No matter WHICH piece of music, you will never please everybody, and even if you played my most favorite song at me, I'd still hate it.

Websites, unless they are ABOUT the music, have no business doing that to me.

Forcing noise/music on me means you have lost me before anything else on that site had a chance to impress me.

Judging by many other responses I have read (not only in this thread, either), many people feel this way.

If you MUST have music, make it an opt IN thing.
 06/02/2006 10:50:10 PM · #13
David,

If you want music, perhaps you want to integrate an mp3 flash player so the user can control the volume and track.

Take a look at my site which is designed as a Cuba portfolio (and hence using the music) and if you want the flash player I can send you more details of how to get it.

//www.samchadwickphoto.com/cuba/

Sam
 06/02/2006 11:13:18 PM · #14
cool site, nice and easy to navigate, you should have a volume control
 06/03/2006 01:10:10 AM · #15
Another vote for nice site but the music should default to off, if for no other reason than some people look at this stuff at work. The music makes it really obvious to everyone its not a work related site, and often by the time it starts the user is on another page and can't find the off button in a hurry - very annoying!
 06/03/2006 02:29:38 AM · #16
I like your use of iframes here, I think I'll have to check that out in more detail, normal frames seem to mess up the layout of Simpleviewer.
 06/03/2006 02:45:50 AM · #17
The music Kills ME... The second I loged into your site I totaly heard the music and completely hit the mute button. And why should I have to change my volume settings to go to a photo web site or any website in general? Just my Personal Opion.
 06/03/2006 11:59:13 AM · #18
The music is gone.

I was just trying to create a mood of sorts. I think music does add an extra depth to the expereince of viewing photography (this is why we put music on slide shows and videos for clients) However, I can now also see there is a time and place for everything. I didn't realize that in my attempt to create a dynamic and rich presentation of my work I would be forcing the viewer into an expereince that may not be welcome. This has been an eye opener. I appreceate all of the feedback.

I think I will make the first page of my site a gateway of sorts. The opening page would give the viewer a choice of a full feature site with sounds and flash or a more conservative choice.

It's interesting - on DPC it seems that most people are not in favor of music, but in other places people seem to like it. The other site I have asked for input from is NOT a photgraphy community.

I truly value the opinion of everyone here. Thank you.

Now - back to my drawing board. I am now armed with all of your wonderful suggestions and will return with a better site.

Thank you.

David
 06/03/2006 07:00:09 PM · #19
New front page and guestbook are now working.

Any better?
 06/03/2006 11:38:39 PM · #20
Originally posted by davidcara:
New front page and guestbook are now working.

Any better?

Yesssssssss, that front page is great!
 06/04/2006 12:12:14 AM · #21
I just saw your webpage approx 10:11 Mountain Time and I really like the front page!
 06/04/2006 12:13:22 AM · #22
looks a lot better. But I kinda liked it before too though. But very cool opener.
 06/04/2006 01:43:32 PM · #23
Very nice opening page!! :)
 06/04/2006 01:56:40 PM · #24
The site is really nice... my only suggestion would be to make the photo come up with a mouse-over rather than having to click it... its the little things that make me happy ;-P
 06/04/2006 02:53:10 PM · #25
I really like the home page. It seems like there's a few too many frames looking at the pictures (HTML gallery) though (blue frame at the top, black for the page, then grey, and finaly a border around the img element itself--the inner grey border just makes it seem to cluttered in my opinion.). Similarly I'm just a big fan of space around images in flowed text, and would appreciate a bit bigger margin-left on the about page (personal taste).
I actually do like the blue-black layout, but I'm just a big fan of those colours in general.

I can't seen the bottom of the contact page (768 vertical resolution on the screen, giving me a viewport of 569 pixels) which isn't scrolling, I presume because of the outer frame? If this isn't repeatable for you, let me know and I'll look into it more. Also, the left column of the tables on both that page and the guestbook look very cramped. I'm not really sure what size it's supposed to be because it looks like you create a column of width 729, and then stick a table of width 749 inside of it which doesn't make sense so it's probably confusing my renderer (Gecko/20060417).

It's minor, given that some web browsers are notoriously bad about it anyway, and I don't know if you have the ability to do this with your site, but you should use the ``Accept'' header to determine if somebody supports application/x-shockwave-flash and sending them either the HTML or the shockwave flash version as appropriate. Also, if you want me to pick apart your HTML itself, let me know :)
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