Yet another website re-design post

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

11/25/2006 08:52:41 PM · #1

Hiya fellow DPC'ers.

I just finished re-designing the good ole website today, and thought i'd share and get some feedback.

//www.brizphoto.com

My last iteration was met with less than enthusiastic support, but I did get a PM offering to help out. That didn't end up panning out :( ... But the other day I got off my keester and got to work, went through a couple of different designs and played a bit.

Not sure if anyone is interested, but if you have intermediate skills with html, CSS, and know what CHMOD means, you might try out the Mambo CMS system. A (very) little html/css coding, some photoshop, downloaded template, and an add-in Gallery plugin, and poof! It's a website :)

Apple iPhone 5

11/25/2006 08:58:41 PM · #2

I hate to mention this... But you've got a typo in your main banner; 'photograpy'

11/25/2006 09:02:34 PM · #3

Originally posted by jhonan:

I hate to mention this... But you've got a typo in your main banner; 'photograpy'

oops, I fixed that once, must have hit the back button on PS too many times for the final edit.

Thanks.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/25/2006 09:07:52 PM · #4

poof, is fixed. Anybody else have any comments/suggestions?

Elvis_L

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

11/25/2006 09:15:02 PM · #5

when i look at a photo it showed all and i mean ALL of the exif and metadata. is it possible to default that to of since most customers don't care about or understand that info.

Apple iPhone 5

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

11/25/2006 09:23:47 PM · #6

I'm not going to comment on the design elements, but looking at it more from a 'business/sales' viewpoint.

I think the homepage should have a bit of information about what you actually do. It's not until I get to the gallery page that it gives a clue about what you specialise in.

The types of questions that spring to mind are; what type of photography do you do? where are you based? how much does it cost? do you have a studio?

I can dig around the site a bit to answer some of these questions. But most people will leave the site if they can't find the answers on the main page. On the main page, the text reads like this: "Brisendine Photography... Welcome to Brisendine Photography... Written by Steve Brisendine... Welcome to the new web home of Brisendine Photography" There's too much of the 'welcome' stuff going on there. You don't need to keep reminding people what website they're on. And the 'under construction' message can also put people off.

People need reassurance that you're well-established and 'under construction' just give out the wrong image.

I'm curious about the login/password box. What's that for?

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

11/25/2006 09:53:03 PM · #7

Originally posted by Elvis_L:

when i look at a photo it showed all and i mean ALL of the exif and metadata. is it possible to default that to of since most customers don't care about or understand that info.

Yup, that's just an option in the gallery. easy to fix.

Originally posted by jhonan:

I think the homepage should have a bit of information about what you actually do. It's not until I get to the gallery page that it gives a clue about what you specialise in.

The types of questions that spring to mind are; what type of photography do you do? where are you based? how much does it cost? do you have a studio?

I dunno, most photography websites you have to click a link to get the pricing and location info anyways, I don't think that's that big of a deal.

I've been fiddling with trying to get the gallery on the main content section instead, which would solve your other problem.

Originally posted by johnan:

I can dig around the site a bit to answer some of these questions. But most people will leave the site if they can't find the answers on the main page. On the main page, the text reads like this: "Brisendine Photography... Welcome to Brisendine Photography... Written by Steve Brisendine... Welcome to the new web home of Brisendine Photography" There's too much of the 'welcome' stuff going on there. You don't need to keep reminding people what website they're on. And the 'under construction' message can also put people off.

People need reassurance that you're well-established and 'under construction' just give out the wrong image.

Since we run a pretty word of mouth operation, I don't give much cred to appearances here. People will know that we're a home-brew operation eventually, so I decided to keep the feel decidedly homey. Asking people for their input, telling them what's going on with us. I want a steady buildup of a quality clientell base, not a mass-market driven slick ad campaign.

Originally posted by johnan:

I'm curious about the login/password box. What's that for?

Me and my wife to log into the admin stuff, but others can sign up for personal galleries also if I choose not to use photoreflect ordering, I can just upload their pics here.

Canon EOS-20D

11/25/2006 10:19:15 PM · #8

Hey Steve...I think this looks much better and more professional than your previous version. A few little nitpicks based on my personal opinions...

- I think the little popup boxes that appear when you mouse over a photo/gallery are annoying and not really very useful.
- The mouseovers for the menu bar are kind of strange, too (moving from the left to the right).
- There's some goofy characters at the bottom where it says your url.
- Can you remove the "designed by" and "powered by" bits? I know sometimes you can't but I think it'd look more professional if you could.

Otherwise, nicely done! Was I the one who PMed that I'd help and then dropped the ball? Oops, if I was!