www.foundmyfocus.com - photography site

branduin · #1 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 04:30 PM

Hi,

I have designed a site for my friend who is an awesome (and just starting out) photographer. The site is not completely finished (have to add ordering information and such) but it is close enough that I would like to get some input or suggestions about anything that could make the site better.

www.foundmyfocus.com

Specifically, if anyone could comment about the gallery navigation that would be great. I think it works well but I would like to know what other people think who just coming to the site. Other comments are more than welcome as I want his site to be the best that I can make it.

Thanks!
Brandy

benico · #2 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 07:12 PM

This is just a suggestion, probably only a preference, but you may want to put a small thumbnail next to each of the Image Gallery links on the Image Gallery main page.

What program did you use to make the galleries? I like the simple functionality of them.

Also, an alternate way to present your navigation images on each page would be to have all of the images be black & white (instead of color) except for the image corresponding to the page the visitor is currently on. When visitors scroll over the nav images, the image the scroll over swaps to color also.

lutenegger · #3 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 07:48 PM

Guestbook link brings up the correct page in the popup but the main window goes 404 in Netscape 7 and 404 when you click it again after the popup is open in IE.

In the tag <a href=":;"

you need to remove the :; or put something like javascript:void(0); or # in it or move your action for the onMouseDown event directly into the href.

You might consider formatting the gallery pages so that they don't resize either by adjusting the images size or setting the row height explicitly. Its not bad but its a little distracting to have the footer and descriptions moving around when I click between images. Also consider offering an even larger view (watermarked) of the images, nothing print worthy but 150 to 200% larger than what's there now.

Nice clean looking, good work.

davebarnes · #4 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 07:57 PM

It is a very well designed site.

I think it needs more pictures in the galleries.

For more ideas, surf to http://www.kokias.com and steal ideas.

,dave

fmoten · #5 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 08:41 PM

I like the site a lot, hate to join the crowed but one more row or column of pics would help..

nice stuff!

bsmiffy · #6 (**permalink**) 11-06-2004, 08:43 AM

Site looks very good, your contact page however has a very unfriendly error page when required fields are ommitted, suggest you make it easier for people to return to the contact page.

chae · #7 (**permalink**) 11-06-2004, 02:19 PM

Yo Dave
Followed your link to the Kokias site ...
his art is awesome, but his site malfunctions !!! Clicked on gallery pages and each individual gallery option returned an error page!
Chae

ronbaker1 · #8 (**permalink**) 11-06-2004, 03:45 PM

Your web site gallery navigation is easy to use and I like it. Here is a web site, www.makehl.com, that I've designed with an alternate form of gallery navigation. You might want to take a look at it for some additional ideas.

One other point about your web site. All the images on the web site are available with a "right-click" copy action. You may want to restrict this browser action, using Javascript. There are many scripts available on the Internet - search using "disable right click copy" to find them.

You may also want to use a "transparent image" overlay with CSS, to prevent copying the real image when using browsers that don't support Javascript or when the user turns Javascript off.

For an expert, these techniques will not prevent copying your images. But, they do provide some protection and make it more difficult to get a copy of your images (especially for users who are not technology experts).

Ron Baker
www.apex-systems.net

davebarnes · #9 (**permalink**) 11-07-2004, 05:46 PM

chae,

Thanks for telling me that we had arror on the kokias.com site.

The site was over quota. Oops.

,dave

Brit · #10 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 03:25 PM

The domain name plus the design make for a really nice site. I like that the design is simple enough so as not to distract from the art.

VisionOfSuccess · #11 (**permalink**) 11-09-2004, 05:32 PM

Hi

I enjoyed the site design, and find it very easy to move around. I had no trouble loading the images.

My only comment would be to make the site more of a sales tool. Right now, it seems to be providing a lot of information, but little on why I should buy. Will you be incorporating more on that in the order section? You may also want to "sell" a little more on the home page.

Other than that, I think it looks great!

Lori

vwebworld · #12 (**permalink**) 11-09-2004, 05:37 PM

Brandy,

Well done site! I like that the default images
for the menu (photos) are in color and a mouseover
makes them gray. I see so many sites that do just
the opposite. showing a gray/B&W images first then
the color with a mouseover. I always think it
would be better to slow the full color image as he default.

The galleries work ok as they are, because there are
not a huge amount of images. However, the way it's
set up the viewer must browse through all the
galleries to find something. I might be better (and
certainly if you display more images) to have some
sort of "search" mechanism.

I also think it would be great to add alt image tags
to all the images. This could be a brief description
of the image which will eventually help with a search.
Adding alt image tags is a great way to
promote the photos.

~Roland

aperey · #13 (**permalink**) 11-11-2004, 12:26 PM

Viewing the website as a visitor, I felt this is a very good looking Web site. Excellent layout, easy navigation, fine photography.

branduin · #14 (**permalink**) 11-11-2004, 04:29 PM

I want to thank everyone for all of the helpful comments and suggestions. I am meeting with my friend tonight and we will be going over everything from this thread and decide which changes to make.

To answer a few questions...

benico: Love the idea for adding a small image next to each gallery link. I'm sure he will agree on this. I didn't use any program for making the galleries (which maybe is crazy?) I just setup tables and created them on my own in Dreamweaver. Then I just did a "save as" for each additional gallery. We actually had used b&w pics for the nav in the beginning like you suggest, but opted for the color to brighten up the site a bit since it's b&w already.

lutenegger: Thank you for telling me about the 404 problem with the guestbook, and for also telling me how to fix it! I just created the custom 404 page a day or two before my original post so that must be the cause. Thank you! Will check out the gallery row height as well.

davebarnes: Thanks :-) We're working on the more pictures part! We decided on 12 for each gallery to start and will most likely expand as he gets more shots that he wants to display.

bsmiffy: Thank you for the comment about the contact page error! I am very new to making any kind of forms and I used the one provided by the hosting company. Do you have any suggestions or resources for making this more friendly? I would really like to have maybe a popup window tell you to fill out fields when you click submit rather than loading the error page but I don't know how to do it.

ronbaker1: Thanks for the advice about image protection, we will be discussing that this evening.

VisionOfSuccess: Thank you! The sales part of the site is in the works right now as he picks sizes and pricing for his prints. I figured now would be a good time to get advice on the site before we actually start the selling!

vwebworld: Thank you for your advice. Alt tags are, of course, an excellent suggestion and I would love to have some kind of a search after he gets more images online. Do you have any suggestions about what to use for an image search? We thought of just dividing the photos into catergories after he gets a larger amount but a search would be very helpful too!

Thanks again everyone who looked at the site and took the time to post your thoughts for us!

Brandy

obuwebco · #15 (**permalink**) 11-11-2004, 05:19 PM

nice site.. i would suggest using somthing besides Times new roman.. Whenever i see Times it just shouts at me, I am a newbie designer.

jcopley · #16 (**permalink**) 11-11-2004, 06:33 PM

Nice site. The graphics above the navigation text should be clickable.

Joe
www.oldhouses.com

vwebworld · #17 (**permalink**) 11-12-2004, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandy

Do you have any suggestions about what to use for
an image search? We thought of just dividing the
photos into catergories after he gets a larger
amount but a search would be very helpful too!

There are a few alternatives to use. One Coppermine,
is available with my hosting packages. It allows you to upload
and manage all your photos as well as provide
for a search.

~Roland