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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Who Wants to be a Critic ????
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04/03/2008 08:40:09 PM · #1
I have recently overhauled my website to integrate better galleries and navigation. It is simple and clean. Does anybody want to check it out and give me feedback? I am particularly interested in how it looks on different monitors, the navigability and ease of use and overall impression. Thanks to anyone that takes the time.....

www.beautography.com
04/03/2008 08:50:10 PM · #2
i love it!

i think it looks pretty cool, i tried it in explorer and firefox and it works just fine.

my only comments, is that the picture load a little bit slow , although i have a cable connection,i am not sure if you can actually fix that (smaller file sizes maybe?).

another thing is it would be great to allow the visitor to see thumbnails of the shot as it gives them a reference point , especially if they see a shot they like, it will be easier for them to locate where it was or to go straight to it than just counting the squares at the bottom of the picture.

Oh and the shots are superb;)

Message edited by author 2008-04-03 20:50:34.
04/03/2008 08:50:35 PM · #3
Just checked it out. Very nice , simple to navigate. Looks great on my monitor (saturation is just right)
04/03/2008 08:58:09 PM · #4
You are correct about the thumbnail reference. I decided intentionally to go the other direction so they can't discriminate based on small thumbnail. The load time shouldn't be too bad if you use the thumbnail navigation. If you go hands off, the slideshow overrides and begins automatically.

Oh and that is great news about firefox...haven't checked it on that yet. So that's good.

So far, so good. Helpful guys thanks.
04/03/2008 09:13:13 PM · #5
Hey, It looks fantastic. I'd echo the comments above about the long load times, particularly considering the impatience of most people shopping on the web. Thumbnails would indeed ad a nice touch and some visitor control.

I'd warn against roll-overs on the price page (aka mystery meat navigation). Roll-overs are notoriously frustrating for average to inexperienced web users. Hell, I make web pages and I looked at the first thing that popped up (weddings after I accidently rolled over it) and wondered to myself where the rest was. A moment later I accidently rolled over one of the other categoies. It's also very annoying to accidentally roll over something like that while you're looking at a page and have it suddenly change.

The Studio Pricing page says, "****Click here for print pricing" but does not link anywhere.

Overall you have an awesome site and your photos are sure to reel in the customers. Good luck!

(edited to correct weedings :)

Message edited by author 2008-04-03 21:14:44.
04/03/2008 09:13:30 PM · #6
You have a spelling mistake on your about page. It is spelled through, not thru. And dont use words like awesome to describe your photos.
Everything else is excellent!

Good luck!

P.S. You should charge more for real estate photos. 200 I would say.
04/03/2008 09:23:35 PM · #7
You have a splendid portfolio with a nice variety. I like the simple easy to navigate layout. Loading times are pretty good, not so slow as to prevent me from enjoying the site. Only nitpick is with the UI , the button index display at the bottom. Wish they where small thumbnails of the images, I do like that they work nicely as a visual index showing the viewer where they are. If replacing the empty boxes with small images, a little arrow at the bottom could be the visual index. Cherry picking from a visual index, they might see an image they where specifically looking for or really zoomed in on. Not everyone wants to go through all the images, so they might check a few out, quit and miss out on images.
Also, if people randomly click those empty boxes, thumbnails do help keep score of what images they've seen.

Message edited by author 2008-04-03 21:26:09.
04/03/2008 09:27:04 PM · #8
Good point on the rollovers....although I like em', I suppose I could have a simple click-through navigation of the subcategories vertically along the side of the price page. Will get to that soon.

Maybe I have fast internet living in a big city, but the load times for me take about 1 second per image at most when using the thumbnail nav.

The "click here for print pricing" is also a good point. Haven't done that yet.

Thru is a personal choice..but good catch.

Awesome is an overused word in incorrect settings. I didn't apply it to my images, but instead to the world itself. To me at least, the world and the beauty that lies within is truly awesome. But i know what you mean. And you are right about charging more for non-commercial properties. I am trying to steal business and it quite simply doesn't take me long at all to shoot and deliver them....
04/03/2008 09:30:45 PM · #9
Originally posted by Techo:

You have a splendid portfolio with a nice variety. I like the simple easy to navigate layout. Loading times are pretty good, not so slow as to prevent me from enjoying the site. Only nitpick is with the UI , the button index display at the bottom. Wish they where small thumbnails of the images, I do like that they work nicely as a visual index showing the viewer where they are. If replacing the empty boxes with small images, a little arrow at the bottom could be the visual index. Cherry picking from a visual index, they might see an image they where specifically looking for or really zoomed in on. Not everyone wants to go through all the images, so they might check a few out, quit and miss out on images.
Also, if people randomly click those empty boxes, thumbnails do help keep score of what images they've seen.


Insightful....hmm. To be honest, I will need to really work deeper into my flash .swf to see how to make the boxes display thumbnails, but it seems everyone agrees. I simply didn't want the cherry picking - we all know about that from DPC. But I suppose the benefit outweighs my personal squabble. Will need to learn more flash coding to figure that one out.
04/03/2008 09:32:14 PM · #10
I did not read others comments before looking at the site and my impression was it is way too slow. I gave up looking at images because I wasn't willing to click then wait. Perhaps you should consider caching the images in the background while they are looking at the current image. That would solve the problem since once the images were all loaded it was plenty fast.
04/03/2008 09:38:08 PM · #11
Looks great on Mac/Safari. Color, sat, and other tech about how the images look is right on target, load times less than 3 sec with DSL. I didn't go all over the site, but what I visited worked nicely. I like the "no thumbs," as each click is a surprise.
04/03/2008 10:35:53 PM · #12
I'd have a slide show option, or at least a Next button to view the next photo.
04/03/2008 11:27:08 PM · #13
Browser Shots

You're going to love this site for testing webpages.
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