Just curious why you chose to put an email address on your watermark next to a copyright symbol... the copyright is owned by you, not by your email addess. Seems a bit odd to me.
I'd also recommend removing the smugmug header and footer.
I agree with the previous poster who suggested rethinking both your font and your text color choice. The font is more than a little fussy looking.
on my 27" screen the slideshow on the right is smaller than the one on the left. On smaller screens it seems to resize to match so you may not have noticed.
Also, realized you are from RI when I looked through your pics, I was down at Beavertail last week! Love that place.
I don't have a 27" monitor so I could not test it with that size. Not sure what I can do about this issue. Yes, Beavertail is one great spot.
Thanks
Regards
Steve www.slipkid.com
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money". -- Margaret Thatcher
I had them sized in "auto", I just tried a "fixed" size of 350px. Look fine on my laptop, I will research this a bit more.
They match now obviously, but now on the larger screen they look small. Auto (and matching of course) would be preferred. But at least they match now till you figure it out.
...I came up with a two slide show look, not sure if having two small slide shows is a bit too much.
I find the two slideshows in addition to the photos on your home page to be quite distracting. I can't focus on either slideshow. I'd recommend a single slideshow or just the photo images. You could try two slideshows without any additional images but I suspect that two moving objects won't work for many viewers.
Nothing fancy, and I think I have most of the kinks out now. Would love some feedback if anyone has a moment. Many thanks! (I started my Smugmug account at the basic level, and upgraded last year, but can't figure out how to upgrade the URL...)
I like the simple but effective presentation. I especially like your eagle shots. Here are just a few recommendations which I think will help bring out the images a bit more.
* If you can remove the neon green smugmug logo in the upper left I would do so. It detracts for your content. In fact that whole top banner is unnecessary as this same info is repeated twice at the top and bottom.
* I am really intrigued by your in flight close-ups and who love to see the image info provided. I know that is more of a preference. But still with so many great distance shots it would be cool to see what settings you used.
I find the two slideshows in addition to the photos on your home page to be quite distracting. I can't focus on either slideshow. I'd recommend a single slideshow or just the photo images. You could try two slideshows without any additional images but I suspect that two moving objects won't work for many viewers.
--- Denise
I agree, Denise. Its like a presentation with two different subjects which are constantly changing. Hard to know what to focus on.
Its official I finally hit that unveil button. After a long process I got my site looks almost exactly like my old Smugmug. Good thing is I can also work on a new design in the back end as well thanks to the new smugmug. Feel free to go check it out www.k-ophotography.com
P.S. Thank you to Mike, Denise, Allen, and probably a few others I might have forgotten to mention for your continue help in Digital Grin. With out you my site wouldn't be looking the way to does now, thanks again!
Another new one
I unvieled yesterday. Would apprecaite any testing and feedback. Nothing fancy here, just a site for family and friends.
Major mods were rounded corners on all thumbs, plus adding text lables to the small icons in lightbox. Please let me know if the corners stay rounded and left or right images don't get truncated on your browser and screen size. That seemed to be a particular challenge. All I have to test with are Firefox, IE and Chrome.
Its official I finally hit that unveil button. After a long process I got my site looks almost exactly like my old Smugmug. Good thing is I can also work on a new design in the back end as well thanks to the new smugmug. Feel free to go check it out www.k-ophotography.com
P.S. Thank you to Mike, Denise, Allen, and probably a few others I might have forgotten to mention for your continue help in Digital Grin. With out you my site wouldn't be looking the way to does now, thanks again!
On your Smugmug style galleries, when a landscape format image is selected it hugs close to the right edge. I'd try to add a little margin in there.
And why Smugmug style on some galleries and collage on others?
When you scroll a page it creeps into your header block. Not much on the Smugmug style galleries because there's not much to scroll. But quite funky looking on the Blog and Testimonials pages.
The logo-over-menu format results in a lot of wasted space on the top. You might consider a logo-left, menu-right format.
Its official I finally hit that unveil button. After a long process I got my site looks almost exactly like my old Smugmug. Good thing is I can also work on a new design in the back end as well thanks to the new smugmug. Feel free to go check it out www.k-ophotography.com
P.S. Thank you to Mike, Denise, Allen, and probably a few others I might have forgotten to mention for your continue help in Digital Grin. With out you my site wouldn't be looking the way to does now, thanks again!
Keith, I really like what you've done overall with the site. You've got some awesome images.
The one thing I recommend changing is allowing your logo and menu to scroll down on top of all the images. In viewing your home page that means I have to scroll down to view the slideshow. The result is I have your logo and menu smack dab in the middle of the photos. Same thing for galleries, blog, etc... It just looks out of place. This is on a 1920 x 1080 HD 17" notebook. I can only imagine what it does on lower resolutions.
I unvieled yesterday. Would apprecaite any testing and feedback. Nothing fancy here, just a site for family and friends.
Major mods were rounded corners on all thumbs, plus adding text lables to the small icons in lightbox. Please let me know if the corners stay rounded and left or right images don't get truncated on your browser and screen size. That seemed to be a particular challenge. All I have to test with are Firefox, IE and Chrome.
Your site is very well done. Its clean and inviting. I enjoyed your images. You have a real gift for portraiture. I love how sharp, detailed and natural the subjects looked. I was surprised that you take no commercial projects. As a serious hobbiest myself I would be interested in your photo info, though I know that is a personal preference.
I unvieled yesterday. Would apprecaite any testing and feedback. Nothing fancy here, just a site for family and friends.
Major mods were rounded corners on all thumbs, plus adding text lables to the small icons in lightbox. Please let me know if the corners stay rounded and left or right images don't get truncated on your browser and screen size. That seemed to be a particular challenge. All I have to test with are Firefox, IE and Chrome.
Very clean site, I have one suggestion though, limit the maximum size of your photos, allowing people to view them at xxlarge or full size is basically giving them away. The right click protection doesn't do a whole lot other than annoy people Just a though. Nice work otherwise.
Keith, I really like what you've done overall with the site. You've got some awesome images.
The one thing I recommend changing is allowing your logo and menu to scroll down on top of all the images. In viewing your home page that means I have to scroll down to view the slideshow. The result is I have your logo and menu smack dab in the middle of the photos. Same thing for galleries, blog, etc... It just looks out of place. This is on a 1920 x 1080 HD 17" notebook. I can only imagine what it does on lower resolutions.
I agree with you 100% though I can't seem to figure out how to change this. I have a custom nav bar at the top and a nav bar black at the bottom so what would I have to do to make it stick like you were saying. Any suggestions?
Your logo and menu combination is too tall. On my large screen monitor it uses 1/3 of the visible space; on a laptop it use more. See The purpose (and size) of a banner image.
I don't like the effect of the pinned header. It might be ok if the background for your header was not transparent but now you see the photos behind the header. Making the background opaque means that your viewer really won't be able to get past the too tall header though.
I agree with you 100% though I can't seem to figure out how to change this. I have a custom nav bar at the top and a nav bar black at the bottom so what would I have to do to make it stick like you were saying. Any suggestions?
A couple of comments though... the photo on your about page is too dark. The impression it gives is that of a silhouette. I also find the text on that page to be difficult to read; changing the level of contrast between the text color and the background would help.
Your stock photos link opens a new browser tab. I understand why you did that since that page doesn't offer any way to return to your home page, but opening a new browser tab without my explicitly asking for one is a trigger for me to close the web site. Have you ever watched user's behavior when a site opens tabs like this? Yes, I know, people who are heavy computer users won't have a problem. But I have seen people just end up reopening the main site because they don't realize that there is another tab that still contains your content.
Two of my builds
Hello,
here is the site I use for my family stuff, mostly animals for the public part : http://nspz-73.smugmug.com/
(Nothing special but with this I could play with the new Smugmug)
And here is the build I made for a Smugmuger that couldn't handle the new Smugmug by himself : http://klempner69.smugmug.com/
(At first he wanted to only have all his galleries thumbnails on the homepage and nothing else ...
Here we are today. He will work on the "All galleries" page on the coming day to learn how to manage this himself.
In this version the menus are kept minimal because we're still working on it.)
In both site I tried to make it usable not only on desktop or laptop but on iOs tablets and phones as well as Android smartphones and tablets.
Some nice features of the new Smugmug bring some unwanted collateral damage on mobile view ...
Getting my new site into an acceptable state has been a nightmare, but after several weeks of solid work it now looks like this.
My main difficulty has been climbing the steep learning curve to get to a stage where the new site design and management paradigm became intuitive for me so that I could exploit the tools and functions confidently and efficiently. I expected this to be a challenge but not quite as difficult and time consuming as it turned out.
I now find I can navigate, manage and enhance my site without undue confusion or risk of getting unwelcome surprises, and my experience is improving day by day. However this is the result of investing a massive amount of time both to understand and experiment with how things work, and to adapt my content (for example, every gallery title) to display correctly in the new template formats.
We have no choice as to whether we unveil in New SmugMug - it's just a matter of when, and whether this is at our prerogative or SmugMug's. I have more work to do, but I'm pleased most of this is now behind me!
I do like your site, the overall design, the work is wonderful. But there is one thing that bothers me when i land on the hompage and that is the color of the sidebar. It's like a cool grey whereas the greys in the image are warmer. Maybe try selecting a grey in the image ( you may need to use some kind of a tool that can help you identify the color number; if clueless let me know and i can send you a link, I would now except it is on my desktop and i'm on the laptop) and use that color number for the sidebar.
Hello,
here is the site I use for my family stuff, mostly animals for the public part : http://nspz-73.smugmug.com/
(Nothing special but with this I could play with the new Smugmug)
And here is the build I made for a Smugmuger that couldn't handle the new Smugmug by himself : http://klempner69.smugmug.com/
(At first he wanted to only have all his galleries thumbnails on the homepage and nothing else ...
Here we are today. He will work on the "All galleries" page on the coming day to learn how to manage this himself.
In this version the menus are kept minimal because we're still working on it.)
In both site I tried to make it usable not only on desktop or laptop but on iOs tablets and phones as well as Android smartphones and tablets.
Some nice features of the new Smugmug bring some unwanted collateral damage on mobile view ...
Nice one .....are there a lot of smugmuger in the French alps ( 73 ) ?
Your logo and menu combination is too tall. On my large screen monitor it uses 1/3 of the visible space; on a laptop it use more. See The purpose (and size) of a banner image.
I don't like the effect of the pinned header. It might be ok if the background for your header was not transparent but now you see the photos behind the header. Making the background opaque means that your viewer really won't be able to get past the too tall header though.
Denise as always you have great insight and I appreciate your thoughts. I will work on these things later. Though one thing is my header being pinned I don't know how it got like that so I don't know how to fix it. Any suggestions on this would be great, knowing me its probably something simple. Thanks again!
My New Portfolio Website - Hidden Valley PhotoWorks
I'm a new SM customer and this is my first DG post.
After 2 weeks banging away during the Trial Period, having particular challenges getting the Navigation of the site to follow the Organizer view file structure and flow, I eventually prevailed with various SM Hero's weighing in. I used the Moss design and launched it on August 17th. Some may think my categorization labels for the galleries are somewhat gimmicky - but it worked for me and I went with it. I'm now proud to announce my amateur portfolio site:
Still need to add captions to the remaining photos, potentially will add the geotag mapping feature to my Search page, and will of course modify/add content over time. Let me know what ya think!
Comments
I'd also recommend removing the smugmug header and footer.
I agree with the previous poster who suggested rethinking both your font and your text color choice. The font is more than a little fussy looking.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I tried to check your site on two browsers but for some reason couldn't get in. Is everything correct in your spelling?
I've fixed the URL in his post, should work now.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
It worked for me (XP, Firefox).
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
I don't have a 27" monitor so I could not test it with that size. Not sure what I can do about this issue. Yes, Beavertail is one great spot.
Thanks
Steve
www.slipkid.com
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money". -- Margaret Thatcher
so strange, I tried both, then tried another link and that worked. Oh well.
Denise fixed the link as I was checking the site.
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
I have a hunch that the maximum size setting on that particular gallery may be set smaller than the other gallery.
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
I had them sized in "auto", I just tried a "fixed" size of 350px. Look fine on my laptop, I will research this a bit more.
Steve
www.slipkid.com
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money". -- Margaret Thatcher
They match now obviously, but now on the larger screen they look small. Auto (and matching of course) would be preferred. But at least they match now till you figure it out.
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Peargrin,
I like the simple but effective presentation. I especially like your eagle shots. Here are just a few recommendations which I think will help bring out the images a bit more.
* If you can remove the neon green smugmug logo in the upper left I would do so. It detracts for your content. In fact that whole top banner is unnecessary as this same info is repeated twice at the top and bottom.
* I am really intrigued by your in flight close-ups and who love to see the image info provided. I know that is more of a preference. But still with so many great distance shots it would be cool to see what settings you used.
My Smugmug Gallery
I agree, Denise. Its like a presentation with two different subjects which are constantly changing. Hard to know what to focus on.
My Smugmug Gallery
P.S. Thank you to Mike, Denise, Allen, and probably a few others I might have forgotten to mention for your continue help in Digital Grin. With out you my site wouldn't be looking the way to does now, thanks again!
http://www.k-ophotography.com/
I unvieled yesterday. Would apprecaite any testing and feedback. Nothing fancy here, just a site for family and friends.
Major mods were rounded corners on all thumbs, plus adding text lables to the small icons in lightbox. Please let me know if the corners stay rounded and left or right images don't get truncated on your browser and screen size. That seemed to be a particular challenge. All I have to test with are Firefox, IE and Chrome.
http://kellyphoto.smugmug.com/
On your Smugmug style galleries, when a landscape format image is selected it hugs close to the right edge. I'd try to add a little margin in there.
And why Smugmug style on some galleries and collage on others?
When you scroll a page it creeps into your header block. Not much on the Smugmug style galleries because there's not much to scroll. But quite funky looking on the Blog and Testimonials pages.
The logo-over-menu format results in a lot of wasted space on the top. You might consider a logo-left, menu-right format.
Keith, I really like what you've done overall with the site. You've got some awesome images.
The one thing I recommend changing is allowing your logo and menu to scroll down on top of all the images. In viewing your home page that means I have to scroll down to view the slideshow. The result is I have your logo and menu smack dab in the middle of the photos. Same thing for galleries, blog, etc... It just looks out of place. This is on a 1920 x 1080 HD 17" notebook. I can only imagine what it does on lower resolutions.
My Smugmug Gallery
Kelly,
Your site is very well done. Its clean and inviting. I enjoyed your images. You have a real gift for portraiture. I love how sharp, detailed and natural the subjects looked. I was surprised that you take no commercial projects. As a serious hobbiest myself I would be interested in your photo info, though I know that is a personal preference.
My Smugmug Gallery
Digi-Scapes | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
Nikon D800 & D850 | Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VR II | Nikkor 16-35 f/4 | Nikon TC-20E-III | Nikkor 70-300mm VR | Nikkor 50mm f1.8 | Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED VR | Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G
I agree with you 100% though I can't seem to figure out how to change this. I have a custom nav bar at the top and a nav bar black at the bottom so what would I have to do to make it stick like you were saying. Any suggestions?
http://www.k-ophotography.com/
Your logo and menu combination is too tall. On my large screen monitor it uses 1/3 of the visible space; on a laptop it use more. See The purpose (and size) of a banner image.
I don't like the effect of the pinned header. It might be ok if the background for your header was not transparent but now you see the photos behind the header. Making the background opaque means that your viewer really won't be able to get past the too tall header though.
You've removed the breadcrumb from your site without replacing it with something else. This leaves your viewer without a clue as to what they are viewing. See Are you really sure you want to hide the breadcrumb? Think of your viewers!. You need to unpin your header.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
A couple of comments though... the photo on your about page is too dark. The impression it gives is that of a silhouette. I also find the text on that page to be difficult to read; changing the level of contrast between the text color and the background would help.
Your stock photos link opens a new browser tab. I understand why you did that since that page doesn't offer any way to return to your home page, but opening a new browser tab without my explicitly asking for one is a trigger for me to close the web site. Have you ever watched user's behavior when a site opens tabs like this? Yes, I know, people who are heavy computer users won't have a problem. But I have seen people just end up reopening the main site because they don't realize that there is another tab that still contains your content.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Hello,
here is the site I use for my family stuff, mostly animals for the public part :
http://nspz-73.smugmug.com/
(Nothing special but with this I could play with the new Smugmug)
And here is the build I made for a Smugmuger that couldn't handle the new Smugmug by himself :
http://klempner69.smugmug.com/
(At first he wanted to only have all his galleries thumbnails on the homepage and nothing else ...
Here we are today. He will work on the "All galleries" page on the coming day to learn how to manage this himself.
In this version the menus are kept minimal because we're still working on it.)
In both site I tried to make it usable not only on desktop or laptop but on iOs tablets and phones as well as Android smartphones and tablets.
Some nice features of the new Smugmug bring some unwanted collateral damage on mobile view ...
I do like your site, the overall design, the work is wonderful. But there is one thing that bothers me when i land on the hompage and that is the color of the sidebar. It's like a cool grey whereas the greys in the image are warmer. Maybe try selecting a grey in the image ( you may need to use some kind of a tool that can help you identify the color number; if clueless let me know and i can send you a link, I would now except it is on my desktop and i'm on the laptop) and use that color number for the sidebar.
My Fine Art Photography
My Infrared Photography
www.CynthiaMerzerPhotography.com
Nice one .....are there a lot of smugmuger in the French alps ( 73 ) ?
http://www.menbrial.com/
MPRUNER? The MPruner of the Conejo? Site looks great. Check out mine. Anyone else care to comment. The help has been great.
www.glenndcohen.com
Very well done and your photos of Dubai are insane!
My Website
Facebook | Twitter | | VSCOgrid | Instagram |
Denise as always you have great insight and I appreciate your thoughts. I will work on these things later. Though one thing is my header being pinned I don't know how it got like that so I don't know how to fix it. Any suggestions on this would be great, knowing me its probably something simple. Thanks again!
Ko
http://www.k-ophotography.com/
I'm a new SM customer and this is my first DG post.
After 2 weeks banging away during the Trial Period, having particular challenges getting the Navigation of the site to follow the Organizer view file structure and flow, I eventually prevailed with various SM Hero's weighing in. I used the Moss design and launched it on August 17th. Some may think my categorization labels for the galleries are somewhat gimmicky - but it worked for me and I went with it. I'm now proud to announce my amateur portfolio site:
Hidden Valley PhotoWorks at http://hvphotoworks.smugmug.com/.
Still need to add captions to the remaining photos, potentially will add the geotag mapping feature to my Search page, and will of course modify/add content over time. Let me know what ya think!
-Stephen