New Web Sites - Looking for Feedback

[kschulz]

My wife and I went "live" with our web sites on July 1. We are looking for feedback as we strive to get our business ready for prime time. We're working now on getting more examples up there for all services. Much of our drive and inspiration has come from RetouchPro - your comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Photo restoration, retouch, artistic effects, and slide shows:

http://www.preservingfamilies.com/photo

For those interested in the many facets of genealogy:

http://www.preservingfamilies.com

Thanks,

- Kurt

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Kurt,

Haven't heard from you in a while. (With all the work on your sites I can see why).

Didn't have time to look at both sites, but I'm impressed by the photo restoration site.

It's got a nice straightforward style, easy to navigate, and containing all the information you'd need to make a decision. Congratulations, many could learn from this how not to "Clutter up their sites with elaborate unnecessary graphics".

As a "Dial Up" user, I really appreciate it.

All success to you with your business.

Gary.

[Jaime]

I'm impressed too by your web site for restoration. Clean design, informative and an easy way to navigate. Well done and my best wishes for your business.

Just one question about which method (if any) is better to display before and after pictures on these types of sites devoted to retouching and restoration:

1) Two pictures side by side (as this site do).
2) Only one picture which changes when the mouse roll on.

Any opinon on this issue?

[Kraellin]

kurt,

nice looking site.

the only thing i could see needed on the front page is a little blurb telling folks about the rollover on the images. i found it just fine, but if my dad were to go there he'd prolly miss it without something to tell him to do it.

Craig

[kschulz]

Gary - it has been a while. Yes, I have been quite busy with this. Thanks for the comments...I'm happy to hear it wasn't too painful via a dial-up connection.

Originally Posted by Jaime

Just one question about which method (if any) is better to display before and after pictures on these types of sites devoted to retouching and restoration:

1) Two pictures side by side (as this site do).
2) Only one picture which changes when the mouse roll on.

Any opinon on this issue?

Jaime, you might be interested in this poll Vikki posted a while back:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...highlight=side

Seems side-by-side is preferred, although in many instances rollover can be quite impressive if the aspect ratios match, etc. I chose to use mainly side-by-side, with a bit of rollover where it made sense.

Good suggestion for the rollover hint on the Home page, Kraellin. I had considered it, but felt those pics were primarily eye candy anyways. Not a biggy if the rollover feature goes unnoticed. There are more rollover examples within the site, with a line of text saying so. Still, not opposed to adding a line on the home page...

Thanks again all,
- Kurt

[Kraellin]

cool beans

Craig

[Jaime]

Originally Posted by kschulz

Jaime, you might be interested in this poll Vikki posted a while back:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...highlight=side

Seems side-by-side is preferred, although in many instances rollover can be quite impressive if the aspect ratios match, etc. I chose to use mainly side-by-side, with a bit of rollover where it made sense.

- Kurt

Thanks Kurt for the link about this issue.

[Jeff L]

I looked at your restoration site and it is very well done man! Nice work there.
I could only hope to come up with pages like that when I grow up

[kschulz]

Thanks for the comments Jeff - glad you like it!

[Larbear]

I've been admiring your web page for the last couple of days and I must say I'm extremely impressed. Would you mind telling me what software you used to design it, or did you have it designed by someone else. I'm in the process of putting a similiar web page together for a business my wife and I are hoping to get going in our area.

Thanks,

Larry

[Legacy~Art]

Very good website, you should be proud!!!

[kschulz]

Originally Posted by Larbear

I've been admiring your web page for the last couple of days and I must say I'm extremely impressed. Would you mind telling me what software you used to design it, or did you have it designed by someone else. I'm in the process of putting a similiar web page together for a business my wife and I are hoping to get going in our area.

Thanks,

Larry

Thank you for your nice comments Larry. My wife and I created the website ourselves, and basically "hand coded" the HTML. I designed the layout of each page in Photoshop, from which we pulled the graphics, and then we split the coding between us. My wife uses a package from Macromedia called "Homesite" (http://www.macromedia.com/software/homesite/) to help with the hand coding; I prefer a simple text editor and use a program called "Textpad" (http://www.textpad.com/). She also designed and created all of the backend database code for the quoting, account management, order entry, etc. For the PhotoMovie slide show examples I used ProShow Producer from Photodex (http://www.photodex.com/) and Windows Media Encoder (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...r/default.aspx), a freebie. Please feel free to ask any time if you have questions as you create your own site - I'd be happy to help if I can.

Legacy~Art, thank you too...we appreciate the feedback!

- Kurt