Critique my Website

jmphotocraft

PLEASE note, I am a part-time photographer. I have a "day job" in software.

That said, here it is. I just overhauled it last night:

www.jmphotocraft.com

Thanks!

Dan7312

The site looks good!

The pre-load thing is just way too long. I'm on DSL and it took way over 10 seconds or so. Don't want to guess what it would be like on dialup. You initial page should just pop up.

You don't have an "About Us" that says something about your business and you. That helps people feel a connection to you.

Your contact button tries to pop up the configured email program, but on a lot of systems that won't work as expected because it won't be configured properly. For example on a lot of systems where the user uses gmail and never touchs outlook, it will pop up outlook, which won't be usable because the user never config'd it. Best to have you email address on a Contact Us page and/or your About Us page. You might include both a form and an email button along with the address.

denisegoldberg

The "please be patient" message... if I hadn't been heading to your site to critique it at your request I would have closed the browser window. It shouldn't take that long to load a few photos.

Do you really only have a single photo in each category shown on your home page? For someone looking for a particular type of photographer, you're not giving enough of a sample to make a decision.

Your "Gallery" link to smug opens a new browser window. In my mind that is poor behavior. The choice on opening a new window / tab belongs to the viewer, not to the website. Extra windows / tabs are another signal to me to close the site.

If you're going to use two different sites, you should attempt to make them look like they belong together. Your smugmug site has no customization other than adding a banner. At the very least the banners of the two sites should match, as should the backgrounds. I would copy the banner image from your new site to your smug site; it's much more professional looking. Your new site does have a black edge, but the white center background is what draws the eye. That means that there is a noticeable visible jump when switching from one to the other.

--- Denise

jmphotocraft

Good feedback, thank you. I am on cable and the preload is like 2-3 seconds. I can resave those images at a lower quality, right now they're Photoshop 12. What do you think is a good number of photos to show in a slideshow in each category?

Photog4Christ

I agree with everything Denise said.

BTW... I was at a hotel earlier and viewed your site and it took forever for the image preload. I just viewed your site right now at home (DSL) and it loaded quickly.

I just wanted to add.... Don't make me scroll! In your "Weddings" section, I had to scroll to read all the text. Unless it's a blog, I shouldn't be scrolling and even on a blog, don't make me scroll more than necessary.

WildThing

I used a cable connection and it loaded fast. Did like the the initial design but was surprised when I clicked on different photos and was not taken in to see more of the type. Then I discovered your Gallery Section. I first viewed it using windows internet explorer and it opened a tiny little window that was a bit annoying. The second time I was running on firefox and that opened a full sized new window. I was not a fan of this new window and just like the ones before me said your other site is so very different it is really not a smooth transition. Once I was focusing on your gallery and was really looking forward to see some of your photos I ended up going into sub galleries down to two or three levels. I am not sure if you had to separate them for your clients, in which case you could have a client viewing area, or just did not want to give us lots of unrelated pictures, but by the time I reached the photos I almost lost interest. I did hang in there though and I really like them. I also noticed that on some items like weddings and portraits you mention the price while on the others you don't. I think you should either not list prices at all, list it on all or have a separate pricing list.

chrisjohnson

It works very fast for me and I like the set-up - crisp and clear. The link to Smugmug works well, but it should be easy to link back. The facebook link brought to me MY wall. I also could not get back to your home page easily.

I would be much more economical with your text. An About Me page is a good idea.

jmphotocraft

Thanks everyone. I agree on my banners at SM and my site. I will have to work on integrating the look of the two sites more. I did away with the preload page, and put the preload script in my home page with the girl on the beach. The "Jack Michaud photography" banner is a link back to my home page from the category pages. I will add slideshows to each category, and an "about" page. It's a work in progress and I'm doing it in my spare time. I code it by hand in vi.

Man, I did not know that about the facebook link, of course for me and my wife and my friends it works. Jeez I hate facebook! Anyone know how to link to my like/fan "page"??

jmphotocraft

On scrolling - which is worse, rolling your scroll wheel back half a turn, or having to click a link to get to the pricing?

jmphotocraft

Any comments on rev 2 would be most appreciated:

http://www.jmphotocraft.com/site2

I haven't implemented all the suggestions yet, but this is a start.

Hikin' Mike

jmphotocraft wrote: »

Any comments on rev 2 would be most appreciated:

http://www.jmphotocraft.com/site2

I haven't implemented all the suggestions yet, but this is a start.

I like this one. I don't like having a new window open on your Gallery page though. Just remove the target="top" and your good to go.

denisegoldberg

jmphotocraft wrote: »

Any comments on rev 2 would be most appreciated:
http://www.jmphotocraft.com/site2

It's an improvement over the first site in maintaining the same background - but I actually preferred the white on the first site over the black. I just didn't like the switch between the sites.

Your banner text wraps on your smug site on IE8 (the d is on a second line), looks ok on Firefox. But you really haven't accomplished a match - centered banner on one site, to the left on the other, just doesn't work for me.

In addition, you need to support your user's going back and forth between the two sites. A common navbar would allow that.

And as I said in my previous post, opening your galleries page in another window / tab is not good web design, and it something that would make me never open your site again. It's up to me as a viewer to propagate tabs, not your decision.

--- Denise

jmphotocraft

denisegoldberg wrote: »

It's an improvement over the first site in maintaining the same background - but I actually preferred the white on the first site over the black. I just didn't like the switch between the sites.

Umm, well, what do you recommend then? I haven't the foggiest as to how to customize SM to look like my white on black site. I think my site2 looks nearly identical to the SM Black Arts theme.

Your banner text wraps on your smug site on IE8 (the d is on a second line), looks ok on Firefox. But you really haven't accomplished a match - centered banner on one site, to the left on the other, just doesn't work for me.

fixed, thanks.

In addition, you need to support your user's going back and forth between the two sites. A common navbar would allow that.

And as I said in my previous post, opening your galleries page in another window / tab is not good web design, and it something that would make me never open your site again. It's up to me as a viewer to propagate tabs, not your decision.

--- Denise

Yes, that is on the to-do list. Ran out of time. The banner in SM is now a link back to my site. I think that's pretty standard. When I remove the target="top" from my site, this will work better.