My New Site! Opinions please

nw scout

Hey

So, I am almost done with my new site. I will be adding a few more images and doing a few other small changes, but for the most part I think I am pretty close.
Just wanted to show it to you guys (and Gals) and see what you think before I publish it and put it out for everyone to see.
You can check it out here
http://dschelske1.photobiz.com/?preview=1 ***mod edit: site can now be found here: www.davidschelske.com ***

It will be under
davidschelskephotography.com when I am done.

Thanks everyone for looking and please let me know what you dont like, or if you feel there is something I maybe should change.

Dave

kdog

First of all, your photography is fantastic. So it really pains me to see it displayed on a gimmicky site like this. Flash sucks. Every click on one of your pages is followed by that whirling wheel as we wait for something to happen. Navigation is bizarre and unintuitive. All those popup menus and those moving bar-chart menu entries are a huge distraction. To me, a photographer's website should showcase the photography. It should be snappy and intuitive. I think you'd be much better served by sticking with an attractive HTML site. Smugmug is a good example of what can be done by sticking with HTML. They do have a Flash widget for displaying a slideshow if you must. But even that is tasteful, and doesn't require the entire site to be based on Flash.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. I guess in the end it's a subjective call, and I will admit to be biased heavily against Flash. I even have a Flashblocker installed on my browser which I disabled to see your site. So maybe you'd consider me to be a fringe-looney. However, the flash-blocker is a pretty popular browser plug-in, so I know I'm not alone. And of course, nobody has an HTML blocker on their browser. I'm also trained in Human factors and Usability Engineering and built user interfaces for many years, and your site does violate many of the principals that are taught in those disciplines. But you're far from alone. I know that overzealous website consultants have oversold the hell out of Flash over the years. Fortunately, it seems to be on the wane, rather than on the rise.

Respectfully submitted,
-joel

Zerodog

K Dog was being a bit rough on your. This dog likes it. It is a nice site. Flash can be slow on some systems, but it looks pretty smooth. Great looking photos too.

r3t1awr3yd

If I wasn't on this slow connection at work, I'd love your site all the more. Your shots are AMAZING.

nw scout

kdog wrote: »

First of all, your photography is fantastic. So it really pains me to see it displayed on a gimmicky site like this. Flash sucks. Every click on one of your pages is followed by that whirling wheel as we wait for something to happen. Navigation is bizarre and unintuitive. All those popup menus and those moving bar-chart menu entries are a huge distraction. To me, a photographer's website should showcase the photography. It should be snappy and intuitive. I think you'd be much better served by sticking with an attractive HTML site. Smugmug is a good example of what can be done by sticking with HTML. They do have a Flash widget for displaying a slideshow if you must. But even that is tasteful, and doesn't require the entire site to be based on Flash.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. I guess in the end it's a subjective call, and I will admit to be biased heavily against Flash. I even have a Flashblocker installed on my browser which I disabled to see your site. So maybe you'd consider me to be a fringe-looney. However, the flash-blocker is a pretty popular browser plug-in, so I know I'm not alone. And of course, nobody has an HTML blocker on their browser. I'm also trained in Human factors and Usability Engineering and built user interfaces for many years, and your site does violate many of the principals that are taught in those disciplines. But you're far from alone. I know that overzealous website consultants have oversold the hell out of Flash over the years. Fortunately, it seems to be on the wane, rather than on the rise.

Respectfully submitted,
-joel

Were you not able to view the site in HTML when you first opened it?

It is set up to open in flash but if the system dosent play flash it should open in HTML. I have viewed it on an ipad and iphone and it instantly opened in HTML.

I would really like to know if you cant see it with a flash blocker on.
Thanks

kdog

nw scout wrote: »

Were you not able to view the site in HTML when you first opened it?

It is set up to open in flash but if the system dosent play flash it should open in HTML. I have viewed it on an ipad and iphone and it instantly opened in HTML.

I would really like to know if you cant see it with a flash blocker on.
Thanks

This is exactly what I see when I open your site in Firefox with the Flashblocker plugin.

nw scout

kdog wrote: »

This is exactly what I see when I open your site in Firefox with the Flashblocker plugin.

Thanks for posting this.
I had never even heard of flashblocker before.

I will call the hosting company today and see what they can do.
I love the the fact it opens in HTML when on a phone or ipad but i wiil have to see if anything can be done with the flash blocker.

Thanks for all the info.

ian408

I'm not a huge Flash fan. I don't like how much time it takes to load.

My comments

1. "Other stuff" in Galleries should go on the bottom of the list (for me, it's at the top).
2. A hint for image navigation should be available.
3. The introduction reads a bit rough.
4. Images are stunning.
5. In addition to the navigation hint, I might add a filmstrip so that a client gets an overview for each gallery.
6. Add some of your videos. They're awesome!

Overall, I like the look and this is nicely done.

Photogbiker

I agree with previous comments. Not a big Flash fan, although this one worked smoother than many. I too would like the filmstrip navigation to see what is there.

Navigation was not obvious. Arrows are too faint a color, I looked around for a minute before I noticed them superimposed on the image.

About Us is fairly short. Some people want to know a bit more about your background, awards, etc.

In your Contact Us you don't have the old fashioned phone and address and fax. Sometimes people will go to the site just to get your address, or want to call and talk to a human (better sales conversion with a personal chat vs. email)

Photos are outstanding. Every one of them is a sale/publishable shot and very inspiring.

bitwise95

Very nice site. I found the navigation to be simple and initiative. The images are fantastic, love the dunes and the sleds. Great job.

2whlrcr

I'm going to sell all my camera stuff, because guys like you make guys like me look bad. That is really beautiful photography.

digger2

I liked it, pretty simple and straight forward.
Some areas need a bit of work. The about me page was vague. I also found the contact us page pretty poor. Too much to fill out and no phone number

nw scout

Thanks for the input guys.

Most issues it seems are the same I had but in looking at all the different templates they had, this one seemed the most stright forward and easiest to view.

I will be adding and revising the about page and the client list.
The contact page is blank because I have not registered the domain name, so I dont have the info to put in the contact page. That will be comming soon.
I just wanted to get everything else done before is register it and put it out for the world to see.

I will also be adding a few more images over the next few days and hope to have it done by the end of next week.

nw scout

Well im just about done
I changed the contact page and added some more info the intro section.

I also changed some of the galleries and added some shots.

Please let me know if you see anything weird or something I may have missed.

Just need to add a few more pics and finnish the video reel then I should be done.

Thanks again for all your input.

Oh, I also registered the domain name so you can find me here
www.davidschelske.com




Dave

beetle8

Are you still accepting opinions?

Your photography is outstanding!

I don't think this site does it justice. Of course that's just my opinion, and like most of the other people here I've looked at thousands of other photographers sites. (mine's not perfect either). This site comes of as old tech to me, the navigation is nowhere near as elegant as your work. Where your photography comes off crisp and clean the navigation is rough.
Customers who don't view websites as often probably wont know right off the bat that it was built with "PhotoBiz" or other similar "SquareSpace" type hosting service. The only one I've seen that pulls it off is "ShowIt" Their sites look like you paid a designer. But they are more than the others, but it's woth it.

Anyway,

Regarding things that don't have to do with the flash based web site.
I agree with the above post about lowering "Other Stuff" in the menu, just by nature of its name it implies that it comes after everything else. Maybe rename it to just "other" or "more".
I would think about renaming "products" to "Comercial" or "Advertising" the excellent shots you have in there seem bigger than "Products"
Use a form for contact rather than an email link, you can put the email address their but not with a mailto: link, this is something I just learned, more and more people are using web based mail clients, some have never even configured a local client like Outlook or MacMail so an email link is a hurdle for them.
One picture doesn't fit, the shot with the mom and baby and window. It's a beautiful shot but it doesn't fit with everything else on the site, it looks like a great shot that anyone could take, while all of your other pictures clearly say "I am a professional photographer".
You mentioned above that you were adding images, the info pages without picture feel like they need pictures to me, like "About Us" and so on.
Honestly, excellent photography, and the site isn't bad, it's just not as good as your photography.
I'd love to talk with you more about photography than websites some day.

nw scout

beetle8 wrote: »

Are you still accepting opinions?

Your photography is outstanding!

I don't think this site does it justice. Of course that's just my opinion, and like most of the other people here I've looked at thousands of other photographers sites. (mine's not perfect either). This site comes of as old tech to me, the navigation is nowhere near as elegant as your work. Where your photography comes off crisp and clean the navigation is rough.
Customers who don't view websites as often probably wont know right off the bat that it was built with "PhotoBiz" or other similar "SquareSpace" type hosting service. The only one I've seen that pulls it off is "ShowIt" Their sites look like you paid a designer. But they are more than the others, but it's woth it.

Anyway,

Regarding things that don't have to do with the flash based web site.
I agree with the above post about lowering "Other Stuff" in the menu, just by nature of its name it implies that it comes after everything else. Maybe rename it to just "other" or "more".
I would think about renaming "products" to "Comercial" or "Advertising" the excellent shots you have in there seem bigger than "Products"
Use a form for contact rather than an email link, you can put the email address their but not with a mailto: link, this is something I just learned, more and more people are using web based mail clients, some have never even configured a local client like Outlook or MacMail so an email link is a hurdle for them.
One picture doesn't fit, the shot with the mom and baby and window. It's a beautiful shot but it doesn't fit with everything else on the site, it looks like a great shot that anyone could take, while all of your other pictures clearly say "I am a professional photographer".
You mentioned above that you were adding images, the info pages without picture feel like they need pictures to me, like "About Us" and so on.
Honestly, excellent photography, and the site isn't bad, it's just not as good as your photography.
I'd love to talk with you more about photography than websites some day.

Thanks for the ideas.
I noticed a few people mention lowering the "other stuff" section?
Just wondering why? I put it on top because its the last thing you scroll up to after you open up the photography section. I had it on the bottom but it was the first thing you scroll over to get to the others. I had the motorsports at the top but it made more sense to me to put it on the bottom because it would be the first to open.
Am I making any sense?
What do you think about a production shot in the intro section? I was going to leave pics out of that area but have had many friends and people her mention adding a shot to it. I have some pretty funny pics of me on location that may fit well.

puzzledpaul

Had a quick look when you first posted - and thought - re photos - 'great stuff'

However, had another look yesterday and whilst above thoughts haven't changed concerning content, there's (imo) a few minor issues that maybe need re-visiting.

Intro page reads slightly odd (to me, anyway) - as it starts off plural, switches to singular, then back to plural ...' about us/we are ... I have/ my clients ... our new' etc ... left me wondering just exactly what sort of setup it is / you have?

Centre justification here, just doesn't do it for me - it doesn't 'tie in' with LHS justification as used in Contact Us and is more difficult to read compared with LHS - the eye has to deal with a shifting LH reference / datum.

If you still want to keep the centre arranged layout, then maybe re-work to not have single / few words on their own lines - eg 'companies'.
Also, with a centre aligned layout, shouldn't the heading / title be aligned with the main text block?

Spelling ... 'excitining mages' ... and 'Tiddings' (on client page) ... personally, I'd also expand Mt to mountains.

Whilst all are fairly minor nitpicks - if a pillock like me noticed, then maybe someone more important (to you) like a prospective client might also - and negatively influence them - which'd be a shame

pp

Pixpop

Noob comment
1. Disclaimer - I am a total site noob and an amateur photographer but I review and sometimes hire creative talent in my business.
2. Some great shots - I particularly like the people work.
3. Motorsports (personal interest) section has some great content but I get the impression of a repeating theme. I would remove some of the repeated format images.
4. Navigation and site overview is efficient but too "regular." Images always centered, mostly framed (I liked to unframed tulip).

Anyway - just trying to help - comments from an untrained eye.

beetle8

nw scout wrote: »

Thanks for the ideas.
I noticed a few people mention lowering the "other stuff" section?
Just wondering why? I put it on top because its the last thing you scroll up to after you open up the photography section. I had it on the bottom but it was the first thing you scroll over to get to the others. I had the motorsports at the top but it made more sense to me to put it on the bottom because it would be the first to open.
Am I making any sense?
What do you think about a production shot in the intro section? I was going to leave pics out of that area but have had many friends and people her mention adding a shot to it. I have some pretty funny pics of me on location that may fit well.

I get your point about the order in that tab, and it makes sense, so I guess it's a perception thing, and may affect each visitor differently. As for "Why" I guess it's just how it hit me, I see "Other Stuff" as being on top and that equals first, and it shouldn't be first.
I think a BTS shot of you for that page would be great.

rstwohee

I get an "Invalid address" and nothing else when trying to go to the website.

beetle8

rstwohee wrote: »

I get an "Invalid address" and nothing else when trying to go to the website.

go to the new address posted later in the thread, www.davidschelske.com

rstwohee

beetle8 wrote: »

go to the new address posted later in the thread, www.davidschelske.com

That's what I get for surfing dgrin when I was supposed to be working. Multiple screens up at the same time working a couple overlapping projects...

I've gone and looked now. While the photography is stunning, the use of flash is not. I'm with the others on this. I run a script blocker so the website came up as totally blank when I went to it. NoScript is another fairly popular plugin and as mentioned by another poster - it doesn't block HTML. I didn't really see anything on the site that couldn't be done with some nice HTML+javascript+CSS.

One of the reasons that Flash blockers are becoming more popular has to do with the flash "cookies" left outside the traditional directory structure. Flash cookies are routinely used to circumvent a user's browser cookie settings. It's a privacy thing.

I like the use of colors but I found the bottom navigation a bit odd. That's a personal preference thing though so take it with a grain of salt. The centered text was a bit odd to read as well. In the About Us -> Intro, you start off with 'we' but then the bulk of the section is 'I' and then ends with 'our'. You should consider picking a voice and sticking with it throughout the text. Also in that section you reference "various many" should that be "many studios" or "various studios"? The combination is clunky otherwise. The 'Links' section - kinda passe - either fill it with really interesting stuff or remove it all together. Right now it's empty so it feels like an "under construction" site.

Betsy

nw scout

Many thank everyone.

I cant believe I missed those spelling errors :bash

I like the idea of non centering as many people mentioned, and I changed a few other things also.
I still need to work on the wording in the intro section. Ian408 sent me a great PM with some good copy I will play a little with

Thanks again everyone. This is still a work in progress and I hope to have the video reel done in a few weeks and by then I will have the rest done and will be ready to get it out there.

Dave

kdog

Well, you've had several folks chime in now and advise against Flash, and you don't even respond to those comments now. That means right from the get-go, there will be people visiting your site who will leave before they even get in. If you'd stuck to HTML, EVERYBODY would get to see your site, period. End of story. As Betsy astutely pointed out, you don't even need flash for your purposes. Frankly, I don't understand your choice. But to each their own.

ivar

kdog wrote: »

This is exactly what I see when I open your site in Firefox with the Flashblocker plugin.

using flashblocker is not the same as not having a flash plugin installed/not having the ability to play flash (like the ipad, ipod, iphone).

If you open a flash site on a computer using flashblocker it means that flash is recognized but blocked by the flashblocker plugin. --> When a site checks for whether or not a flashplayer is installed and having a flash plugin as well as the flashblocker installed, a signal will go back saying "yes, you can play flash" however it is blocked by the flashblocker plugin.

If you don't have the flash plugin (also ipad, etc...) a signal will go back saying "no, no flash here" resulting in the HTML page being loaded.

Unless you are specifically blocking flash, the site loads just fine (as opposed to my site, which is still flash only at this point and doesn't load unless you can play flash :hide)

nw scout

kdog wrote: »

Well, you've had several folks chime in now and advise against Flash, and you don't even respond to those comments now. That means right from the get-go, there will be people visiting your site who will leave before they even get in. If you'd stuck to HTML, EVERYBODY would get to see your site, period. End of story. As Betsy astutely pointed out, you don't even need flash for your purposes. Frankly, I don't understand your choice. But to each their own.

Well, this site is set up 100% for art buyers, art directors and ad agencies so there is no chance that the people hiring me will have a flash blocker. If they did they would be blocking 90% of the advertising photography sites.
Its not that i'm not listing, I just know my target audience and i'm using the other helpful info to help build the site

beetle8

nw scout wrote: »

Well, this site is set up 100% for art buyers, art directors and ad agencies so there is no chance that the people hiring me will have a flash blocker. If they did they would be blocking 90% of the advertising photography sites.
Its not that i'm not listing, I just know my target audience and i'm using the other helpful info to help build the site

I don't mind flash, I just think the implementation on this "cookie Cutter" site builder you are using comes off clunky and cheap. So while I also dissagree with your assumption that art buyers are resigned to using flash it doesn't matter if they are all in love with flash, the site just comes off as old, not fresh, not creative, and anything but unique.
It's not that you are not listening, my guess is that you've already bought into the service, and so now regardless of the opinions here you are locked in to trying to make the $14.95 per month work for you. (I don't know what the subscription fee is, but it doesn't matter)

ripbob

If you could make the menus more visible by moving it closer to the center of the screen or nearby the flash image, I think it'd look better. Other than that, I liked the content.

Tracker

not a big fan of bottom navigation because if the end user has a smaller monitor, they won't see it by default.
great photography.