Time for an Upgrade.....Opinions? Suggestions?

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

03/27/2007 01:57:40 PM · #1

Penrod Studios

So about once a year I find myself rebuilding or upgrading my website. I am working through that process now and would love some input.

I host with Smugmug so am stuck with certain "quirks" of their system, but am trying to make it look as unsmugmugized as I can. Does it look smugmugized?

I also changed the logo / header -- too much?

What about navigation? Simple enough? I like simple.

The Proofs area is VERY smugmugized, but I don't know how to fix that -- James? Any smugmuggers?

Thanks for your time, guys, I appreciate your opinions.

Cindi

Edit: Oh yeah, and I still need to put some intelligent sounding blah blah on the bio page.

Message edited by author 2007-03-27 14:00:51.

Ben

Canon EOS-30D

03/27/2007 02:02:04 PM · #2

No offence, and don't take this the wrong way, but i think the whole thing is terrible.
I'd advise to get away from your host and start from scratch if that's possible.

Being brutal here, but at least i'm clear. :P

Message edited by author 2007-03-27 14:02:26.

shanelighter

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

03/27/2007 02:13:53 PM · #3

Wow, I didn't think it was that bad. It's not great, maybe not even that good, but I've seen much worse.

I really hate the red and blue faces in the header on the homepage, and you shouldn't put galleries up that are password protected; either let everyone see, or get rid of them.

digitalpins

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

03/27/2007 02:14:45 PM · #4

hi Cindi...

Your site is not bad at all, fellow Smugmugger here you can take a look at my site //www.lamontphotography.com, now I dont know css at all but from reading alot and asking a bunch of questions I made my site pretty clean and simple. I got rid of some of the smugmug footers. Made my header a little smaller than yours and got rid of the slideshow buttons among some other things. Some of the smugmug features or smugmug look you cant change but you can change quite alot from reading the dgrin.com website.

let me know if ya have any questions :-)

Message edited by author 2007-03-27 14:19:21.

03/27/2007 02:15:44 PM · #5

Thanks for the opinion, Ben. I'm not interested in changing my host right now. It is important to me to have online fulfillment for clients and smugmug is by far the best I've seen so far. Also, I have over 5,000 images uploaded with them right now and I REALLY don't want to migrate all of that. That's why I'm trying to make the most I can with what I have already paid for.

Could you say specifically what bothers you about it? The whole thing is terrible isn't very constructive, perhaps its something I can fix.

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

03/27/2007 02:36:01 PM · #6

Originally posted by shanelighter:

I changed the header. The password protected galleries are for clients - some don't want their images viewable by public.

Louis

Nikon D800

03/27/2007 02:39:23 PM · #7

It's a good site. The only thing I didn't like was the scrolling thumbnails at galleries, as here, for example. Yes, the scrolling stops on hovering, but it's extremely distracting, and drags my eyes away from the main picture I'm viewing. If you like the scrolling and don't want to get rid of it, what about putting the thumbs below the image you're viewing, like a filmstrip?

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

03/27/2007 02:51:45 PM · #8

Originally posted by Louis:

I don't know how to move that :( I'll check dgrin.

crazedfost78

Nikon D300

03/27/2007 04:11:44 PM · #9

Dunno I thought your site was fine. Lord if they dislike yours I am sure mine would get blasted lolol but I wouldn't care anyway :)

Valdo

Canon EOS-40D

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

03/27/2007 04:46:04 PM · #10

Hi Cindi,

I find the rotating bar really annoying, Ryan's solution is very neat ;)

03/27/2007 05:01:36 PM · #11

I couldn't move the scrolling bars, so I killed them instead. :)

rex

Canon PowerShot SD780

03/27/2007 05:05:00 PM · #12

Cindi I will look up a few of your ideas on //www.dgrin.com sometime soon for you.

I need to update mine as well so what better way to learn than by helping you with yours and redoing mine. If you have time look around at

//www.digitalgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

and see if there is any info in there you can use. Also ask questions.

03/27/2007 05:15:55 PM · #13

Originally posted by rex:

Thanks, James! I've been reading the forums there all afternoon. I'm really trying to understand this stuff! lol

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/27/2007 08:34:24 PM · #14

Rex helped me to make many of the changes that bugged me most. The site (imo) looks much more fresh now and I like the navigation. Thanks again, James. :D

thegrandwazoo

Nikon D750

03/27/2007 08:36:19 PM · #15

Yeah much better! Looks good! The only thing I would say is the header banner is a touch big. But that is just me. :-P

Keep on Truckin'!

:-D

Sigma 10- 20mm f/3.5 EX-DC HSM

03/27/2007 08:40:17 PM · #16

Originally posted by thegrandwazoo:

Yeah much better! Looks good! The only thing I would say is the header banner is a touch big. But that is just me. :-P

Keep on Truckin'!

:-D

Thanks, Erick! I agree about the banner being a bit oversized. I'll fix that. :)

Shadowi6

Nikon D200

03/27/2007 09:38:54 PM · #17

Just a thought with your site (looks great btw)

I know you have disabled right clicking to stop downloading, but there is a save this photo button that alowed me to download the full 3.6mb photo. Is that something that you realy want?

Steve

Message edited by author 2007-03-27 21:42:59.

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

03/27/2007 09:39:52 PM · #18

Originally posted by Shadowi6:

Just a thought with your site (looks great btw)

I know you have disabled right clicking to stop downloading, but their is a save this photo button that alowed me to download the full 3.6mb photo. Is that something that you realy want?

Steve

Well now. Excellent observation! lol Will find the solution to that.

rex

Canon PowerShot SD780

03/28/2007 07:32:21 PM · #19

Cindi to fix the Save photo problem you need to go in to customize the certain gallery. Make sure the Yes is selected under the Protected category. Let me know.

Nikon D200

03/28/2007 07:36:22 PM · #20

Originally posted by rex:

Cindi to fix the Save photo problem you need to go in to customize the certain gallery. Make sure the Yes is selected under the Protected category. Let me know.

Rex, I think the Protect refers to the right-click protect, which is marked.

Idnic, I think what you need to do is go into the Customize Gallery and click "Originals - No" and then save the customization. Larges should be set to "yes" as that is the size used for the slideshows, and mediums usually aren't big enough for the slideshows.

HTH

03/28/2007 08:46:24 PM · #21

Originally posted by L2:

Originally posted by rex:
Cindi to fix the Save photo problem you need to go in to customize the certain gallery. Make sure the Yes is selected under the Protected category. Let me know.

Rex, I think the Protect refers to the right-click protect, which is marked.

Idnic, I think what you need to do is go into the Customize Gallery and click "Originals - No" and then save the customization. Larges should be set to "yes" as that is the size used for the slideshows, and mediums usually aren't big enough for the slideshows.

HTH

Did this. Thanks, Laurie! :D

rex

Canon PowerShot SD780

03/28/2007 09:12:24 PM · #22

I guess sometimes Mr. Badass is wrong.