New website

Dr.Louis

Hey everyone-

Every now and then I pop in here and ask advice... or dare I say chip in with my own. But I see a few of you have your own websites. I just started making my own and would like to hear some feedback. Not necessarily on the photographs themselves but on layout, usability etc...

I still have more sontent to up load but would like to know if I'm going in the right direction etc... Cheers Louis!

http://www.louishaughportfolio.com

oshead

Hi Louis
The page won't load....

Dave OS

AnimalRights

Uploading fine here but I know nothing about designing or passing C&C on websites.:o

Dr.Louis

Won't load? hmm...

It's loading for me maybe just try louishaughportfolio.com

Cheers

oshead

Hi Louis
Looks like it is working now. I see you have gone for much the same design principals as most other sited of this kind. A bit more polish and it should look up to scratch. It could do with a banner. Something with your name on it. Maybe across the top or the top left. The text on the front page is a bit large and glarie. You could try it with an off white. The front page could also do with a more personable image of yourself or something. The messaging system needs to be changed to be the same colour as the rest of the site.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Dave OS

Dr.Louis

Cheers! I'm actually working on a banner at the mo!

You're right about the text colour though, I'll have to change it and the message box!

ttcomet

There a few things that could help:

1) The home page looks different to the other ones. The central column goes to the bottom while on the picture pages there is space at the bottom.

2) I think there should be space at the top as well as the sides and bottom.

3) As Oshead says the contact pages is a different colour.

4) I personally think it is to dark, I tend to prefer lighter brighter backgrounds.

5) Due to a recent vulnerability in flash that affects all but the most recent version you should make sure that what ever the back end is, is up to date.

6) I am to lazy to check but make sure you have any relevant meta tags filled in on the site so as to help get traffic.

7) The "I will evaluate your needs on an indivual basis." sounds peculiar to me. Tell them you will get back to them within 24 hours to discuss their individual requirements or something like that. It gives them a time frame for a reply and makes you sound a bit more business like.
If nothing else you spelled “individual” wrong. Make sure you spell check the whole thing before you put it fully live. Spelling mistakes can give an unprofessional air to your site.

8) Although I like the image of the rose does it indicate what you are trying to sell? Maybe put an image of what it is you want to shoot/sell there. You need something to really grab there attention. With a lot of people the front page is all they will see, if they don’t like it they will just go off somewhere else.

Overall though I like the site it is clean and simple. Good luck with it.

Dr.Louis

Thanks for that- just what I'm looking for.

I agree mostly with what you said although its annoying me- i can't change the colour of the message box

Fenster

Drop the "Uber" and add more white to the body; you need more contrast between the content text and the background.

Dr.Louis

Do you know if I can drop the 'uber'? I've been looking for a way, but no luck so far... I guess free hosting has its drawbacks too hehe...

TiM_rEAPeR

My two cents... Just from my knowledge in studying design. Its petty but we look into things with laser perfection.

I think the main text in the home page should be 'justified' as in aligned and not left ragged. And maybe move it up and decrease the font size so that you have a nice grid effect axis feel.

General rule.. Empty space is your friend.
Also the "Hi and welcome to my website" intro kinda gives a bit of an amateur vibe to your website that doesn't lend itself to the quality and professionalism you put into your photography.

Otherwise, great work.

challengemaster

Very dark imo

brav

Looks clean, but too dark, it puts me off reading anything

FreeAnd..

agree with the others on removing the amateurish references...also personally, would change still lives to still life...unless you were trying to be ironic Black text doesnt really work too well either - also the borders on some of the portraiture give an unbalanced and inconsistent feel but overall it looks well...

OctoberFall

It's slow to load and has a horrible colour scheme, personally speaking.