Website critique?

JohnR · October 27, 2005

Is this the right place? If not, please feel free to move.

I'm working on my website and was wondering if you all could check it out and give me your opinions please. I welcome and appreciate all comments.

Thanks.

http://www.jbrphotos.com/

Eric&Susan · October 27, 2005

Simple yet well designed and organized

Easy to navigate and well laid out. The only thing I would want would be more examples of your work. As I just got married and had to find a photographer I can tell you that it would take more than the ten pics you have on there to convince me to use you.

Maybe make those ten rotate every thirty or so seconds so prospective clients get a better idea of the quality photos you are capable of.

My humble, I don't even have a website .02

Eric

LiquidOps · October 27, 2005

John,

I am usually a little more of a "Critic" when it comes to commenting on websites and the design and such. So if you feel this is too harsh, my apologies a head of time. I do this for a living (well, side living) so i tend to notice things others may not.

First of all, the roll overs you have for your menu bar are great, except for the fact that when I roll over one, it seems to dissapear... your "Home" has a black box behind it... maybe add that same affect to the roll over effect on the other menu options.

Second... The background image you have, I would not make it repeating... having this repeat, makes for a scroll bar at the bottom of the page (people hate scrolling when not needed) unless i see part of the "repeated" image.

Third... The text on the "Contracting" section doesn't "wrap" the way i'm sure you intended it to. Check the third paragraph and you will see what i'm talking about.

I like your little "method" of when you click on the header image it tries to email you.... very clever... but could turn a lot of people away. Not everyone uses email interfaces that will automatically launch an email box when clicked. If anything, have it link to your home page.

Again, like I said, it's what I do, so if this is too harsh, i'm sorry, but I don't think you're looking for the "Hey awesome site it's perfect" response.

If you need any help at all, feel free to contact me via email, or any of the messenger services you see under my name.

I'm here to help.

Steven

JohnR · October 28, 2005

Thanks guys!

Eric&Susan,
yes, I agree. I need more photos. Question is, do I use more examples of the ones I have on there? (I have only done 6 total)

LiquidOps,
thanks for the input...that's exactly what I need.

:

JohnR · October 28, 2005

LiquidOps wrote:

First of all, the roll overs you have for your menu bar are great, except for the fact that when I roll over one, it seems to dissapear... your "Home" has a black box behind it... maybe add that same affect to the roll over effect on the other menu options.

Second... The background image you have, I would not make it repeating... having this repeat, makes for a scroll bar at the bottom of the page (people hate scrolling when not needed) unless i see part of the "repeated" image.

Third... The text on the "Contracting" section doesn't "wrap" the way i'm sure you intended it to. Check the third paragraph and you will see what i'm talking about.

I like your little "method" of when you click on the header image it tries to email you.... very clever... but could turn a lot of people away. Not everyone uses email interfaces that will automatically launch an email box when clicked. If anything, have it link to your home page.

Hey Steven,

#1 and disappearing text: I changed it so that it's all grey. The black box you mention should appear for each link as you click on it (And disappear off the old link as you switch). Let me know if it does that for you now.

#2. It's not repeating now

:

#3. I *think* I got that by deleting a space. Let me know if it's still there.

and I turned off the "mail me" on the top!

Thanks again and I really do appreciate your input. I was hoping for others too..since we have so many people here, but I guess not.

Andy · October 28, 2005

john,

i'd like to see your other backgrounds - this one is a bit "spooky" to me, sort of like an alien movie or something - initially that's my first reaction - i'd like to see a happier image in the bg.

more later

LiquidOps · October 28, 2005

Sure looks a lot better John...

one more thing...

the wording on the bottom... doesn't seem centered to me... if it is, something else is throwing off the alignment

Awesome job,

Steven

JohnR · October 28, 2005

andy wrote:

john,

i'd like to see your other backgrounds - this one is a bit "spooky" to me, sort of like an alien movie or something - initially that's my first reaction - i'd like to see a happier image in the bg.

more later

What about this? I'm not sure if I can do it with the software that I used to make my site.

JohnR · October 28, 2005

LiquidOps wrote:

Sure looks a lot better John...

one more thing...

the wording on the bottom... doesn't seem centered to me... if it is, something else is throwing off the alignment

Awesome job,

Steven

Thanks!

I fixed the bottom wording.

LiquidOps · October 28, 2005

JohnR wrote:

What about this? I'm not sure if I can do it with the software that I used to make my site.

now that looks awesome... go with it

What software are you using? Dreamweaver? Try Fireworks... it's awesome for creating the initial design and then exporting into DW

W.W. Webster · October 28, 2005

Is the background image necessary?

JohnR wrote:

I welcome and appreciate all comments.http://www.jbrphotos.com/

Personally I find the background detracts from the page design. In all other respects your design looks professional and elegant. IMHO the background drags the design down, looking more like the low/no budget personal web sites you see everywhere. Have you tried simply graduating the/a background colour from dark at the top to white at the bottom, which is, in effect what the present background is doing, but without the image which can't be distinguished anyway? Just a thought.

JohnR · October 28, 2005

LiquidOps wrote:

now that looks awesome... go with it

What software are you using? Dreamweaver? Try Fireworks... it's awesome for creating the initial design and then exporting into DW

I'm using new software called Shutterbug, that's being written by a guy I know.

http://www.xtralean.com/

I sent him an email asking if I can add that to shutterbug.

I don't have time to learn Dreamweaver.

JohnR · November 5, 2005

I added more photos. How does this look?

Website critique?

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