RATE my website!

Photolistic

Does my website look professional?
Does it have good info?
Anything I should change?


PLEASE DISMISS my "about" page... it is under construction.

Elaine

I hesitate to give input here, as my own site is a work in progress, but I wanted to at least say HI to another Oregonian!

Here are some things I noticed, and I understand these may already be on your radar screen.

• The initial slideshow is too short, IMO, and there are two pics in a row that are the same. Maybe include some people pics too, since you do portraits and weddings?
• The grey border around your entire slideshow page (and some of the other pages) has a break in it near the bottom on both sides. Not sure if it was intentional, but it caught my eye.
• You have an easy to find Contact button...do you think the phone number at the top of the page is necessary?
• IMO, it looks cleaner when the thumbnails for categories and galleries are all squares. Same goes for the thumbs inside the galleries.
• Same thing applies to the wedding slideshow. I think it looks cleaner when the filmstrip across the top has pics all the same size.
• Personally, I'm not a big fan of being forced to watch a slideshow within a gallery, but that's just me. Your wedding page looks like it's a slideshow, but it doesn't slideshow...you still have to click next or pick from the filmstrip above. If I get to chose which picture to view, I'd rather they not be in a filmstrip. Also...why have a filmstrip that isn't moving at least slowly?
• The filmstrip is a bit counter-intuitive to some folks, including me. The arrow on the right actually scrolls it to the right (which seems correct), but it reveals new pictures coming up on the left end, where your eyes are not looking - confusing! I know there is a code fix for this somewhere, as others have wanted to reverse this as well. Of course, this could be a right/left brain issue and makes more sense to other people the way you have it!
• In your weddings price box, I would put more space between the package listings. It's kinda hard to tell where one stops and another begins because they are spaced the same. The portraits pricing list could maybe be squared up a bit somehow...sizes justified to the right and prices justified to the left maybe?

OK...those are some details that jumped out to me. Hope those are helpful and taken as constructive criticism. They are just my opinion and I'm certainly not a website designer! Overall, I think the site looks good. It's easy to navigate, which is a big plus, and it's not overly cluttered.

All the best...

jdryan3

I noticed the banner about having temporary difficulty. Is that related to the very long time for the site to load? At 30 secs the banner loaded; pictures /slideshow at 45-50 secs and the final element at 1min 16 secs

~Jan~

Your homepage images are so similar, that at first I thought it was just blinking when in fact the image was changing.

In your portfolio, when I clicked on "portraits", there was then another gallery called "portraits" within. I noticed this in a couple of other galleries--I had to click twice to get where I wanted to go. Also, I like consistancy--add slideshows to all galleries or remove it from the ones that do have it. I think you are off to a good start, though!

Photolistic

All good comments!!! Keep em coming!!!

BradfordBenn

You have a grammar error, at least it appears so to me, "Some of my services I provide" Seems redundant and repetative. I also agree with the comments on the slideshow issues. I also think that the gallery formats should be the same so it is a consistent navigation and use for the user.

I personally think that the copyright mark looks nicer than writing out the entire word.

Also I had a line called "Log out" on the bottom line.

I also think that if one clicks on the slideshow it should take one someplace.

Justiceiro

I like to peruse people's photography sites and see all sorts of things that they do. That's because I am generally interested in photography. If this website is principally to share your stuf with other cameraphiles, then the meta-design is not a bad idea (microfeatures of the design need work, such as mentioned before, like the speed of the slide show. I can't really look at your photos in less than 2 seconds). If the website is to sel Art photography, it isn't bad either- though it could use some organizational cleanup (keep a grain of salt handy, as my own website is rather trainwreckish as well).

If the purpose of this is to sell your wedding photography or event photography services, then the website's meta-design is all wrong. The website functions as an ad in this circumstance, and you must follow basic advertising principles- hone in on your audience (those seeking a photographer for the aforementioned purposes), keep it short, keep it focused, keep it simple. the goal is to convince them to carry out a particular type of economic transaction with you rather than someone else.


The website should contain no information extraneous to whatever it is that you are trying to sell.

If I am getting married, I am really not interested in, say, model airplanes.
I am not going to think that your skill at photographing airplanes or landscapes will make you a great wedding photog. I want to see cool wedding shots with beautiful people in them, so I can look young and beautiful too, forever. Also, I want to be thinner, smarter, and keep my hair. Make it happen.

The inclusion of extraneous subject matter makes you appear to be something other than a professional- a talented amatuer, an advanced amatuer, whatever- the point about people who are other than professional is that they don't get paid. Or at the very least, they don't get paid much.

If your just putting the website out to try and sell people stuff who want "fine art", or to share your stuff with your friends, then ignore all previous comments.

If you are in business, you must be mercenary. Business is war. The army with the biggest baggage train loses. I think Clausewitz said that, and he knew a lot about photography.

Photolistic

I have fixed most of these things. Thanks guys....


Anything else???

Icebear

Oh, in one place you have architecture mis-spelled.

ivar

Hello I love the fact that you used the white theme as your basis; It is still one of the favorites I made.

A few (very) small things:
The drop shadow on the top-left/right sides are a little off:


The light-grey background on your portfolio page in relation with the position of your galleries looks a little off to me; There is hardly any room near the top, and quite a bit near the bottom.

Also, I personally like consistency; I would probably make all the thumbs the same ratio (square or not).

Photolistic

OK I have made all the adjustments I can at this time.... any other suggestions?