MadManMike Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 'sup, I'm working on a new site, here's a link: http://www.jollygoodphotography.co.uk Ignoring some of the photos, as they're just fillers for now, any feedback on the layout / design in general? It's a hundred times better than my last one, but I think it lacks something... ????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Quick 30 second look: Seems pretty smart to me mate. One thing I would say from flicking around very briefly is that whilst looking at, for example, your "Automotive Photography" page you have to scroll through each photo to get to the next with no idea what's there. As much as you don't want hundreds of thumbnails cluttering up the nice clean look you've got going on, it'd be nice to have some way of being able to skip straight through somehow (ie. if I'd seen a photo there a few months back and wanted to view it again, I don't really want to be clicking "next" repeatedly to find out if it's still there or not) Other than that, I like Edit: Scratch that. Who the f**k still uses Yahoo mail?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 If you mean design wise, it's not my strong point, but it lacks anything to section it out in my opinion. I think that a slideshow of the galleries is the wrong option – I'd prefer to see a group of thumbnails, paged if necessary, so that I could zoom on the ones that most represented the style I was looking for. When you say get in touch, make sure it's possible. The main thing you want to happen from your site is an email or a phone call – both should be on every page, and especially when you're specifically mentioning 'get in touch'. You're not alone there, the biggest mistake I see people making is in being embarrassed to make sure it's front and centre: CONTACT ME. Don't be embarrassed, it's what they're there to do. If you want the technical side, you might be interested in running a few pages through my Page Grader. There's not much you can do about it in when using SquareSpace except giving your images Alt tags and linking to somewhere externally (FB page will do). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikeperson45 Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Personally I'd close the gap between your contact details and the name on the home page to make it look a bit more 'placed' (I feel like that makes sense). Also the text under Automotive says that your details are at the top of the page when they're not, not sure if you intended the email and phone to be in the same position as the home page? And like JD said, personally I'm not a fan of slideshows (or really anything that changes unless I click it) and think the sizing as now with scroll through thumbnails along the bottom would smarten it a little with the benefits of picking and choosing more. There's my unprofessional opinions It is nice as it is though, that's me looking for improvements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Some points, based on comments above: The title is temporary, my brother is doing a proper logo design. I agree that the contact details will look better with less of a gap, once the logo is in place I'll sort that. Yes, Yahoo mail is pretty old skool, I'm going to set up a custom address that redirects to my Yahoo mail address. The reason I still use it is because after 13 odd years of using it, EVERYTHING goes there. My internet life is sent to that mailbox! I changed the images to carousel, auto-next in 5 seconds. As a default it was a standard gallery with thumbs, which I think I'll go back to as you all make very valid points. JD - I can add a contact me page, but I was hoping the details at the top of each page would be good enough. No? When you mention alt tags linking to external stuff like FB, how do you mean? I don't want to divert people away from my site (Apart from on the automotive page), or have I misunderstood your point? (Most likely) Thanks for the initial feedback chaps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Just sorted the email address so it's a wee bit more pro... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 13 minutes ago, MadManMike said: Yes, Yahoo mail is pretty old skool, I'm going to set up a custom address that redirects to my Yahoo mail address. The reason I still use it is because after 13 odd years of using it, EVERYTHING goes there. My internet life is sent to that mailbox! Sounds swell, but if you're setting up the mailbox I'd suggest getting used to using two email addresses. The difference in professionalism when your email comes from mike@jollygoodphotography as well as being the destination address is large enough to warrant remembering to check two addresses. 13 minutes ago, MadManMike said: JD - I can add a contact me page, but I was hoping the details at the top of each page would be good enough. No? At the moment it's not at the top of every page, so that's what made me bring it up. No harm in also making the word "Get in touch" on, for instance, the Portraiture page link to your email as well. (<a href="mailto:your@emailaddress.co.uk">Get in touch</a> in case you didn't know – apologies if you did!) 13 minutes ago, MadManMike said: When you mention alt tags linking to external stuff like FB, how do you mean? I don't want to divert people away from my site (Apart from on the automotive page), or have I misunderstood your point? (Most likely) My mistake – that's two different points. Alt tags are what are used to describe an image, they're used for screen readers for the blind amongst other uses. One of those uses is that search engines love that you ticked the box – well worth doing. SquareSpace should have an option for putting them in for each image, you'll want to make sure every <img> tag you can see when you view the source on your page has an "alt='description of image'" attribute. Separate point was about having external links to other sides, it's just another thing that search engines like to see. Worth just sticking a link in to somewhere else like the FB page to tick the box. Hope that all makes sense and helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewEH1 Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 (edited) You're using Squarespace yeah? There is an option to have icon links to external sites like FB, Twitter etc under 'Settings' 'Connected Accounts' Also the 'Avenue' template is a very popular one, I use it too! The issue with SquareSpace is a lack of templates that seem to be available! Edited February 11, 2016 by AndrewEH1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 17 minutes ago, JD™ said: Sounds swell, but if you're setting up the mailbox I'd suggest getting used to using two email addresses. The difference in professionalism when your email comes from mike@jollygoodphotography as well as being the destination address is large enough to warrant remembering to check two addresses. At the moment it's not at the top of every page, so that's what made me bring it up. No harm in also making the word "Get in touch" on, for instance, the Portraiture page link to your email as well. (<a href="mailto:your@emailaddress.co.uk">Get in touch</a> in case you didn't know – apologies if you did!) My mistake – that's two different points. Alt tags are what are used to describe an image, they're used for screen readers for the blind amongst other uses. One of those uses is that search engines love that you ticked the box – well worth doing. SquareSpace should have an option for putting them in for each image, you'll want to make sure every <img> tag you can see when you view the source on your page has an "alt='description of image'" attribute. Separate point was about having external links to other sides, it's just another thing that search engines like to see. Worth just sticking a link in to somewhere else like the FB page to tick the box. Hope that all makes sense and helps... Yep, that all makes sense. Cheers for the tips mate - I'm finished for the night, but will make these changes tomorrow. Appreciate your time, I shall owe you a beer or two 7 minutes ago, AndrewEH1 said: You're using Squarespace yeah? There is an option to have icon links to external sites like FB, Twitter etc under 'Settings' 'Connected Accounts' Also the 'Avenue' template is a very popular one, I use it too! The issue with SquareSpace is a lack of templates that seem to be available! Yep, using SS. The template doesn't matter too much, in terms of being unique, as it's really the content that makes it different. Thanks for the tip, I'll check out the FB linking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrEvil270183 Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Haven't read what anyone else said as I'm lazy but as clean as it is, I think it lacks personality. There is no impact when you arrive and throughout it, you don't get a feel about you. I'd also get some prices up but this is personal. Having prices up weeds out the chaff, stops enquiries that are price fishing etc. So get more personality in, more impact on arrival and prices (optional.) Just my opinion of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Harrison Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Looks quite clean, but I'd be thinking how can I make it stand out from every other somethingphotography.co.uk website.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann2707 Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Personally I wouldn't have two photos on the about me and contact. It's a bit too much. Even though you're a good looking guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 I did think that, but then I couldn't think of a suitable photo for the contact me page... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ooo Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 The site looks cool design wise. If you google 'call to action' it may help make your site more effective at actually getting customers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff costello Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 this is how your "portraiture" gallery looks like without javascript. (the other two galleries are better - all pictures in a row) you probably should add a "please activate your js" <noscript> alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann2707 Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 52 minutes ago, MadManMike said: I did think that, but then I couldn't think of a suitable photo for the contact me page... I'd say a photo you've taken of something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 32 minutes ago, jeff costello said: this is how your "portraiture" gallery looks like without javascript. (the other two galleries are better - all pictures in a row) you probably should add a "please activate your js" <noscript> alternative. Looks great, lol. Who doesn't have JavaScript on though? I wasn't aware that people didn't use JS... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 1 minute ago, dann2707 said: I'd say a photo you've taken of something I thought that, but a car or a landscape doesn't really work. Perhaps I could take a photo of a mobile phone with my business card underneath it or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff costello Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 i usually browse with the noscript-addon and only turn it on when i really want to. i think the no-javascript-alternative is just good practice for all eventualities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 I set up tracking of non-JS views of a site I run which gets around 25,000 sessions a week. Not major, but taking the past 3 months of just under 300,000 sessions, less than half a percent were from non-JS users. Personally, I wouldn't worry about that Mike – if you were going to worry about stuff like that you'd be writing a site from scratch rather than using a pre-existing platform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff costello Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 i thought he was mostly doing it himself - then just adding the noscript tags is pretty easy. if working with templates, ignore it indeed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncy H Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Funnily enough I've just built myself a site on squarepace with a similar target. I really like your site, I don't think there's much more I can add to what others have said. Your photos are great, but if there was one thing I'd have to say I think it would be beneficial to add some shots that are a bit experimental or a bit different. Hopefully what I mean to say comes across right, trying to be constructive here. Feel free to have a look at my site and rip it apart https://duncan-hague-photography.squarespace.com I'm not happy with it at all, I'm going to start again with it I think, it's just something I built in a few hours. My aim was just to have a site with my kind of portfolio on which will come in handy for me applying for jobs when I'm in Canada and also so that when I get offered work here in the UK I can show them my site rather than saying check out my insta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted February 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Consider it ignored then, haha - cheers chaps! Dunc - yours looks good, I think it has the personality that mine lacks. Mine is clean and straight forward, but like others have said I do feel like it's missing something. Don't focus too much on the photos that are on there (Excuse the pun), many of them are just fillers to get the site off the ground. I do need to add more, better ones, but for now I'm just getting the structure and design where I want it. Other than a few posts like this, I'm not actively promoting it yet, I want to get it right before I start spamming the link all over the place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManxTrialSpaz Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 14 hours ago, MadManMike said: I changed the images to carousel, auto-next in 5 seconds. As a default it was a standard gallery with thumbs, which I think I'll go back to as you all make very valid points. I don't know how much control you have over the web design, but I like the current carousel implementation. As a browsing customer if I was flicking through a number of people, the carousel is a nice, easy way to flick through a couple of pictures and see what you're about. But then, if you do want a more in depth look, you're very very stuck. What I was looking for was a button to expand the carousel into a thumbnail gallery, which could be a nice compromise between the two ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 I know its probably part of her dress but the picture of the bride from the thumbnail it looks like her dress is see-through and she's wearing big knickers lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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