My new web site - comments, faults

[blwnhr]

I've just finished my new website and thought I would share it here. It has been up a week, but finished it today. I've got a proper logo, bit more of a professional image.

If anyone finds anything that doesn't work, particularly the portfolio pages, let me know.

I've got a calender of events that I'll keep updating and recent events will remain as links down the side to make it easier for everyone to find the galleries too.

Cheers!

The NEW AGS Photos.

[Marc Langille]

Hey Adam,

Tight, compact and most important - black!!! Sounds familiar hey?

The last comment aside, I do think you're on the right track. The only thing I didn't do is specify my gear on my home page, and that may simply be a layout issue. The only reason I don't make it so obvious is that I prefer to let my images do the talking, and then surprise them with the camera system I use... sort like shock therapy... that it doesn't take the "big two" as a requirement to capture high quality images...

If you want, you can check out my comments on equipment and I hope it makes sense:
Marc Langille Photography - Adventure. Nature. Wildlife.- powered by SmugMug

Back to your website: Response times show a slight lag on my broadband connection (7 mbps) - are you hosting somewhere on your side of the globe? If so, that explains a lot.

More important to me: I see nothing that stands out as a fault, only a clean, tight package. Simple has always been my style in terms of web pages, and it avoids clutter, navigation issues, etc. Your site only shows room to grow... and it's a professional looking layout.

Well done!

Regards,
Marc

[roentarre]

This version is better than your original site set up. It is more sleek and the presentation is more sophisticated.

Your site is definitely maturing better to meet your high standard portfolio

[maxwell1295]

Very impressive! I may have to hire you to do mine.

Did you build from scratch or was that done with a template. I agree with Marc....the design is clean, simple, and classy. The layout is appelaing to the eye and very easy to navigate.

[mithrandir]

When I go to the CircleWork link under Gallery, I can hardly read the captions under the pictures. They are extremely faint (on my monitor) and blend in with the background.

[Gooshin]

- the spacing below the pricing blurb and the image of magaziens is too much, it creates an empty space where one would think another image should load... but it never does


- the image of the stacked magazines... do you work for magazines? do you like magazines? whats the deal here, its most definetly not eye catching at all

- "© AGSPhotos.com | Designed by AGSPhotos.com" just sounds tacky


- the side bulletins seem to end/wrap before the vertical line that would have fromed at the end of the word "CONTACT", this disproportionate black space results in a feeling of non linearity

- your home page has no captivating image worked into the html code, very dull

- your home page has a slight blurb about you and then it goes straight into pricing, makes it sound like all you care about is taking peoples money

- "A full price list is available for download by clicking here. " your word "here" is not bolded or in italics, and its not underlines, and unless someone is smart enough to actualy hover their mouse over it they will not know what to do! Rule #1 about building websites (especially for profit ones), assume everyone that will log is a total internet idiot.

- your future events column takes up nearly a quarter of the page, yet you cant "click" anything, thats wasted real estate since people can only assume so much from 3-4 word sentances, consider building a seperate "future" page with more detailed explanations of whats going to happen in the future, or maybe even an intricate calander style section


- your "INFO" link leads back... to your home page! thats a waste of a link and a waste of webspace (only 5kb i know but still)

- your "© AGSPhotos.com | Designed by AGSPhotos.com" link does the same thing, just leads back to the home page...

- your portfolio page has 4 frames in it that are dim and only light up when you mouseover, making the initial view.. dull

- your portfolio page is titled "port.html", i'm not going to into a lecture here but just take my word for it, that it would be better if you actually named it "portfolio.html", or even "ags_portfolio.html" might be even better

- ditto for "cont" and "gall"

(a quick explanation is that web search engines use algorithms that might make your site pop up when someone searches for "sea port" or "pretty gall", while it might never show up if someone is looking for "photography portfolio"


this is just some quick observations, more code investigation might reveal other things...

use this information as you will.

[MRRiley]

I am mostly confused by you having a "Portfolio" and a "Gallery." The two are generally the same things but in your site go to different layouts containing many of the same photos. Having two routes to images is unnecessary and confusing. I'd suggest you dump the "Gallery" and place a link to your older or contextual work at the bottom of your Portfolio page (or something like that).

Also, maybe I am being dense here, but I do not understand your red graphic/icon/symbol/logo... ???

[blwnhr]

Originally Posted by Marc Langille

Back to your website: Response times show a slight lag on my broadband connection (7 mbps) - are you hosting somewhere on your side of the globe? If so, that explains a lot.

Thanks Marc. Yes the web site is hosted in Australia. The connection is not the fastest, but I have unlimited space and bandwidth for free so I deal with it.

Originally Posted by roentarre

Your site is definitely maturing better to meet your high standard portfolio

Thankyou very much James.

Originally Posted by maxwell1295

Very impressive! I may have to hire you to do mine.

Did you build from scratch or was that done with a template.

I built it all from scratch. The source could be a bit messy, but it functions. I do have a friend who owns his own web-design and hosting company who I hit up for help when I got stuck.

Originally Posted by mithrandir

When I go to the CircleWork link under Gallery, I can hardly read the captions under the pictures. They are extremely faint (on my monitor) and blend in with the background.

No problems on my monitor or laptop. This is the gallery of the group I shoot for and I don't have any control over the layout of this page unfortunately.


Gooshin, I am shocked I have made something with absolutely no positive attributes. You've taken quite some time to compile this list, I will investigate your points in the future.

To address a few points:

Originally Posted by Gooshin

1 - the spacing below the pricing blurb and the image of magazines is too much, it creates an empty space where one would think another image should load... but it never does


2 - the image of the stacked magazines... do you work for magazines? do you like magazines? whats the deal here, its most definetly not eye catching at all

3 - the side bulletins seem to end/wrap before the vertical line that would have fromed at the end of the word "CONTACT", this disproportionate black space results in a feeling of non linearity

4 - your future events column takes up nearly a quarter of the page, yet you cant "click" anything, thats wasted real estate since people can only assume so much from 3-4 word sentances, consider building a seperate "future" page with more detailed explanations of whats going to happen in the future, or maybe even an intricate calander style section

5 - your "INFO" link leads back... to your home page! thats a waste of a link and a waste of webspace (only 5kb i know but still)

1. This is a formatting problem, this was meant to centre in the space from the bottom of the test to the bottom of the page. I will investigate.

2. I've regularly shoot for these magazines and have cover shots on all of them.

3. The distance from the edge of the text on the right to the end of contact is equal to the distance from the left justification of the text to the edge of the logo.

4. This is not wasted real-estate in the slightest. After conducting my own 'market research' of the people who's events I shot and visit my site, they wanted a way to quickly see what events I was going to be going to and a way to find the photographs of the events without too much navigation. More than 80% of the people said they wanted this information to be on the main page so they didn't have to dig to find it (this includes clicking one more page to a calender or diary).

5. I do not see this as a waste of a link. I hate the work 'Home' and how else would you navigate back to the main page without it?

Originally Posted by MRRiley

I am mostly confused by you having a "Portfolio" and a "Gallery." The two are generally the same things <snip>

Also, maybe I am being dense here, but I do not understand your red graphic/icon/symbol/logo... ???

To me a portfolio is an example of work, the gallery covers all photographs from the events I cover. Events are my mainstay and a typical event contains around 150 photographs, far to many to be condensed into the portfolio. I didn't realise this could cause confusion and will elaborate on this on the main page.

The logo is just a bit of graphic design fun. I run my own drafting company which I needed a logo designed for. My graphic designer and I decided to create one 'brand image' to cover both my business as there is a certain overlap. The logo represents geometry and lines as part in it's drafting use and rays of light and abstract-ness (is that a word? ) in the photography side of things.



Thankyou all for you time taken to respond.