My website

[Paulie]

hi all,
I'd appreciate some constructive criticism on my website. It's been up a while but i have just added a file upload page, & tweaked a few other bits n pieces.

Thanks.

http://www.eastkent-photographic.co.uk

[DigitalinDC]

Website critique

Paulie- Overall I think the concept and content of your site is good. The only complaint I would have would be the length of time it takes to upload your gallery to view. (I am on a dial-up) I'm sure it's much faster on a high speed connection... but as you build your site don't forget all of us still living in the dark ages on dial-up. I have to admit I never did finish viewing the gallery because of the time factor.

[Hunter]

hi all,
I'd appreciate some constructive criticism on my website. It's been up a while http://www.eastkent-photographic.co.uk

Paulie, on the opening page, at an 800x600 resolution, I get horizontal scrollbars. At 1024x768 I get absolutely no space from the edge of the window to your text... it makes it all feel very cramped. Looks like you may have a DIV out of whack or your margins are setup oddly because there's nothing on that page should scroll.

The mouseover colors on the text... the text moves with each rollover. I don't know if this is intentional or not, but on words like "Gallery" or "Contact" it makes it look like you've played with the kerning - i.e., the first letter seems to stay in place, yet all the other text expands and/or contracts depending on the mouseover state.

Your Gallery page also gives horizontal scrolls at 800x600 and at 1024x768 the images butt up right against the app window, again making it feel very cramped. Don't forget the value of negative space

These are minor things to tweak, but it would make it feel more professional.

[Paulie]

thanks for your replies.
1. Resolution. My own pc is set up at 1024x768, so the site is "set-up" for this resolution.
2. Paragraphs. Thanks for pointing this out. I have reset the indents for my paragraphs so that they are away from the edge of the screen.
3. Menu roll-overs. Again, it takes someone else to point out something that is clear as day!! I have now fixed the roll-overs so only the colour changes & not the whole text.
4. Gallery. Again, my fault for having broadband!!! I 4got how slow dial up is. The thumbnails are now fixed so that they load faster.

Thank you both for your comments!

[Hunter]

well, remember that if you force someone to view your site in a resolution higher than what they have (or want), you may be driving potential customers away. I know that if I go to a site where someone forces me to scroll horizontally to see what's there, I never go back. There's really no underlying reason to not have your site resize depending upon the end user's resolution. Remember, while it is "your" site, you're really building it for your potential customers. Yes, it will require you to rethink your existing layout (mainly redoing your menu and top "name"), but it could all be done fairly easily (for example, split them on to more than one line instead of making them so wide).

Looking at your gallery, some of the thumbnails are disproportionally resized, making the images look squashed or stretched. That can make things look somewhat amateurish, like you're not aware how to resize a picture (which we all know is not the case!). That can send a somewhat subliminal message to the potential customer that you tend to cut corners and may not follow through to the extent one needs to (again, something we here know is not true).

The gallery page has no "breathing room" at the bottom of the page, giving the impression that the thumbnails are being cut off - you might add a line break or a blank paragraph tag to give some space there.

Really, I'm not trying to rip on ya These are really more minor things that could make the site more user-friendly.

[Paulie]

Hunter, I have read your comments, & have taken them on board. Most of what you say has some truth, it's just the thought of having to change things i s'pose. But as you say, i gotta cater for the majority, so change things i must!! I really do appreciate your feedback, all of which i think as positive!!

[Hunter]

Yeah, change can be good, but it's always difficult to implement on your own site I know from personal experience. It's like designing your own logo - it's always hard to promote yourself and be objective about it. I'm trying to redesign my site (not photo related) and it's a long slow process for me... fixing things I did that I now no longer like or feel just don't work any more, trying to make it more interactive and user-friendly. It's not an easy thing to do

[nR1]

Hi,
Your website has a smooth classical touch wich combines well with your photographic work and content, i like it.
As for your photographic work, OMG you got SOME skills; very professional indeed. The "retouching" page is my favourite ( kinda laughed for 1 minute or two ); and the colourization stuff, very impressive.

best regards

[Paulie]

Thanks for your critique. I kinda like the retouching example too!

[Hunter]

Paulie, it's looking very nice! I do have one suggestion, though (and this is really pretty minor) On your Restoration page, at the very top... the three images doing the before, interim, and finished product... it looks like the order of the images is interim, before, final. Was that intentional? If so, that's cool - I was just expecting it to be before, interim, final is all. But really, you've tweaked it out very nicely!

Hunter