Can you critique my site?

thortate

Hello again,

though I'm not with Smugmug (like Pyrtek) I see by Andy's responses I'll get the usual welcoming Dgrin response by posting here concerning my website.

http://www.thortate.com

I try to look at my site the way Johnny / Janey Webperson would see it but that isn't so easy, so I put it to you guys - with your photographer's eye for detail - what do you think of my site?

Everyone in Dgrin seems quite fair in their evaluations in the past, so can you give me some constructive pointers to see what can be improved / tweaked / obliterated!
many thanks, :thumb

Allen

thortate wrote:

Hello again,

though I'm not with Smugmug (like Pyrtek) I see by Andy's responses I'll get the usual welcoming Dgrin response by posting here concerning my website.

http://www.thortate.com

I try to look at my site the way Johnny / Janey Webperson would see it but that isn't so easy, so I put it to you guys - with your photographer's eye for detail - what do you think of my site?

Everyone in Dgrin seems quite fair in their evaluations in the past, so can you give me some constructive pointers to see what can be improved / tweaked / obliterated!
many thanks,

The text is all the way across the page when switching galleries. Might set
a text box width so it's all more in the center.

thortate

Thanks for this input, I hadn't seen an issue here before, but I see what you mean.

I like your site, it's very comprehensive, well stocked with quality images,

thanks again,
Thor

Allen wrote:

The text is all the way across the page when switching galleries. Might set
a text box width so it's all more in the center.

Cason

Thor, I'll start with what I see first.

The image of the trees\snow\fence is very large and pixilated making the image hard to view and the type hard to read. I could be wrong in saying this; however, I think when you set your width to 100% it blew up the image way too much.

If you go to http://www.thortate.com/Images/LEICHTMANNHOW850PIX%20V3.jpg the image looks fine.

thortate

RTP wrote:

Thor, I'll start with what I see first.

The image of the trees\snow\fence is very large and pixilated making the image hard to view and the type hard to read. I could be wrong in saying this; however, I think when you set your width to 100% it blew up the image way too much.

If you go to http://www.thortate.com/Images/LEICHTMANNHOW850PIX%20V3.jpg the image looks fine.

Thanks for that, first impressions are very important in cyberspace just like in real life.
I had some trouble with the image filling the screen - any screen, on different monitors it had looked completely different, I'll try that again,

it's true, it doesn't do the picture justice at all there is a very fine graduation of light and shadow in the original:cry

quark

You might want to work on the navigation bits. As a viewer when I click on a photo I expect to go to a either a bigger version or a second page/gallery.

Your pictures also load very slowly for me, I am not sure how you are hosting but you might check bandwidth.

bham

I didn't see and/or couldn't find anyway to contact you, inquire about prints, services, etc.

You have a copyright in the bottom right corner that says 2006, it is 2007. You may also want to consider putting something like 2004-2007 to cover the years of the creation of the images.

I don't really like the fact that I have when I click on landscape, etc I go to a text page first and then have to click on another link to actually see pictures. Couldn't you incorporate both on the same page so you can read the text at the bottom as they look at the images.

thortate

Wow - thanks for both these replies they have very interesting observations - there is a contact page but according to my stats no one has visited it, now I know why - it is at the end of the navigation bar that people find tricky...

I'm just finding my feet in web design - in fact I'm still learning to crawl! So all these comments will help steer the site in a brand new direction,

thanks again for your input
Thor

bham wrote:

I didn't see and/or couldn't find anyway to contact you, inquire about prints, services, etc.

You have a copyright ... 2007

... I go to a text page first and then have to click on another link to actually see pictures...

You might want to work on the navigation bits....

Your pictures also load very slowly for me...

chrisc

Hi, here is some constructive feedback. I hope it's not too harsh. I really enjoyed your landscape and panoramic shots.

1. Image on front page/splash screen is too large and pixelated. I have a 1680 x 1050 widescreen LCD and I had to scroll down to click the enter button. Why not link the whole picture as an "enter" button.

2. http://www.thortate.com/main.html - there is no textual content, no image captions, images are not linked. This is supposed to be the home page. If you are selling something you need to entice the customer with this page. To be honest, if I were a potential customer I would give up and back to google at this point to look for someone else. Not trying to be harsh, but I'm being honest with you.

3. Navigation. Your landscape/portrait/pano links bring you to an "overview" page before showing any actual picture. You make the customer click again to see images. This is too many clicks. Put the overview information somplace on the page that has the actual pictures.

4. The general typography of the site is not appealing as someone noted earlier. Text spans across the page, is all bold, etc.

5. No contact info, bio, etc. How about a self portrait and a list of your accomplishments. The title bar says "Award Winning". If it is a real award you should provide details on it. If it is award that nobody has ever heard of then you might not want to mention it at all. "Award Winning" is becoming a calling card for hacks in every industry, because every blogger and their brother are giving out awards. If it is not a credible award then you might not want to mention it, as it will cheapen the site. If it is an award that you are proud of then provide details of your award someplace on your site.

6. In your navigation you have a link for "Pano". Will non-photgraphers (potential customers) know what you mean there? Why not just list Panoramics.

7. I like the image display pages, but you may want to add a little caption next to each image. You at least want to provide some text on the top of the images pages.

thortate wrote:

Hello again,

though I'm not with Smugmug (like Pyrtek) I see by Andy's responses I'll get the usual welcoming Dgrin response by posting here concerning my website.

http://www.thortate.com

I try to look at my site the way Johnny / Janey Webperson would see it but that isn't so easy, so I put it to you guys - with your photographer's eye for detail - what do you think of my site?

Everyone in Dgrin seems quite fair in their evaluations in the past, so can you give me some constructive pointers to see what can be improved / tweaked / obliterated!
many thanks,

thortate

Harsh? - not at all... in the words of the writer Chinua Achebe ... "Suffering should be creative should give birth to something good and lovely", some healthy criticism will do wonders!

these comments are very welcome, I shyed away from text as I thought the pictures should be able to speak for themselves - and people will add their own text, but some detail would add a lot to the site.

I have to check out the technical elements like screen size, and linking techniques- I''ve just got a copy of Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability yesterday, he is spells out some fundamental principles and rights & wrongs in a language even I can grasp, and combined with comments from dgrinners like these ones I'm really getting an eye-opener!

I've just read a little about the concept of branding (myself & the images too) - it is a science in itself!

I'm adding these observations to my list, it will be a moment before I can get to work on them.

Many thanks once again, I do appreciate the depth & quality of the feedback.

Thor

chrisc wrote:

Hi, here is some constructive feedback. I hope it's not too harsh. I really enjoyed your landscape and panoramic shots.

1. Image on front page/splash screen is too large and pixelated. I have a 1680 x 1050 widescreen LCD and I had to scroll down to click the enter button. Why not link the whole picture as an "enter" button.

2. http://www.thortate.com/main.html - there is no textual content, no image captions, images are not linked. This is supposed to be the home page. If you are selling something you need to entice the customer with this page. To be honest, if I were a potential customer I would give up and back to google at this point to look for someone else. Not trying to be harsh, but I'm being honest with you.

3. Navigation. Your landscape/portrait/pano links bring you to an "overview" page before showing any actual picture. You make the customer click again to see images. This is too many clicks. Put the overview information somplace on the page that has the actual pictures.

4. The general typography of the site is not appealing as someone noted earlier. Text spans across the page, is all bold, etc.

5. No contact info, bio, etc. How about a self portrait and a list of your accomplishments. The title bar says "Award Winning". If it is a real award you should provide details on it. If it is award that nobody has ever heard of then you might not want to mention it at all. "Award Winning" is becoming a calling card for hacks in every industry, because every blogger and their brother are giving out awards. If it is not a credible award then you might not want to mention it, as it will cheapen the site. If it is an award that you are proud of then provide details of your award someplace on your site.

6. In your navigation you have a link for "Pano". Will non-photgraphers (potential customers) know what you mean there? Why not just list Panoramics.

7. I like the image display pages, but you may want to add a little caption next to each image. You at least want to provide some text on the top of the images pages.