Opinions on my new site template

Ricky91t

Hi all,
Just made this in a combination of photoshop cs3 and dreamweaver cs3 trial .I basically created it in photoshop sliced the important bits and opened it in dreamweaver and added url from tabs etc.Im thinking i will do a different image on each page:about,contact etc but what do you think?

New site
Old Site

Thanks all

(btw ignore all writing on old site its badly spelt total rubbish an just put in there so it isnt empty)




Edit: PLease only take notice of the page("new page")any links from it are too my old site and links that dont works are still neede to be uploaded i want comments more on the design than the links etc.

Shiny

Home tab doesn't work.
No links from other pages back to homepage, must use back button.
Gallery doesn't work.
Maybe center the image on the homepage as opposed to loads of
space beneath it.

Edit
Oh wait, there is a home link (tiny at the side)

Ricky91t

Sorry forgot to mention that iv only stuck it up to really ask for opininions on it design i know links etc dont work and they are only linking to my old site!It will all be updated shortly Thanks though

deegs

Too be honest there is not much design, remove the photo and you have not got much.

I dont like the buttons they look very clip arty, as a photographer you need to prove to readers you have an eye for design, composition, caption and beauty. The new look is a bit bland.

I would suggest cropping the Image and using it as a logo, incorporate a theme (motorbikes) into the buttons somehow, and keeping the background fresh.

sineadw

Hey Richard I'm running out to a picnic but I'll have a look later

Ricky91t

deegs wrote: »

Too be honest there is not much design, remove the photo and you have not got much.

I dont like the buttons they look very clip arty, as a photographer you need to prove to readers you have an eye for design, composition, caption and beauty. The new look is a bit bland.

I would suggest cropping the Image and using it as a logo, incorporate a theme (motorbikes) into the buttons somehow, and keeping the background fresh.

Cheers Deegs i agree with you and i was trying to think what to do
Ill give that a shot and post back when its sorted

And Thanks Sinead hope the weather stays nice

ttcomet

I would recommend making it shorter, although there is nothing at the bottom a scroll bar still appears on the right of firefox and ie. Try get it all to just appear on one screen height.
The font used in the box with the "contact me" looks all jagged, try switching to something else, Verdana is usually very popular.

The large font "Welcome" looks kinda amateurish where it is. Maybe left align it and put the box of text up close to it. Or even better make the bike smaller left align it and put the text down the side of it.

And I know it is not the live page but when you make the final version make sure you put a title on the page and lots and lots of meta keywords.

On a side note the picture is pretty awesome.

Ricky91t

Btw people you'll have to bare with me as im totally new to making sites using this process my knowledge goes as far as watching about 5 mins of a 20 mins tutorial.So i will take everything into account but it may take me a while to figure out how to do it

challengemaster

It's fine until the point it says 'Welcome'

after that, imo, its just rubbish-y. Infact if I were you, I'd get rid of everything after the 'Welcome' and just leave the top as the home page.

Fenster

It looks hideous TBH and it completely fails standards validation. That's my first knee-jerk reaction to it.

Moving beyond those two complaints, you have a bad layout with inconsistent fonts and spelling (see here). Worse, these mistakes are in embedded images, so you cannot easily go back and correct the mistakes unless you've saved the layered images.

Your description of yourself and your photographic abilities (''Iv been interested in photography for about 3 years.'') does not inspire confidence. Be arrogant: You're selling yourself and you need to leave no doubt in a potential customer's mind that you are the photographer that they need.

What are you planning to use as a CMS for any dynamic content (blog, images, etcetera)?

Deliverance XXV

You have the right idea but...

You should change the menu buttons... Are you sure you want a image as background for the menu button? If so, you should consider CSS rollover buttons. Tutorial Link
If not you should consider plain rollover text links as this makes the navigation/menu bar look far better.

I recommend you consider having a white border around the main layout and around the main pic. It would break up the design nicely.

It's be nice if you changed the size (smaller) and font of the writing on the right-hand side DIV.

As said earlier, it would be nice if you could make the page slightly smaller.

Ricky91t

Fenster wrote: »

It looks hideous TBH and it completely fails standards validation. That's my first knee-jerk reaction to it.

Moving beyond those two complaints, you have a bad layout with inconsistent fonts and spelling (see here). Worse, these mistakes are in embedded images, so you cannot easily go back and correct the mistakes unless you've saved the layered images.

Your description of yourself and your photographic abilities (''Iv been interested in photography for about 3 years.'') does not inspire confidence. Be arrogant: You're selling yourself and you need to leave no doubt in a potential customer's mind that you are the photographer that they need.

What are you planning to use as a CMS for any dynamic content (blog, images, etcetera)?

What the hell is a standards validation?

By the time i reach the typing bit im not very interested and just wanna stick something in there and get it uploaded :P
The about page isnt meant to be up as i wanted to check would any images clash i was meant to do it as about test or something

Deliverance XXV

Oh just to let you know, you probably have overwritten your old about.html with the new one. I was checking your old website and the accessed about.html was the one from the new website.

Creamy Goodness

ricky91t wrote: »

What the hell is a standards validation?

By the time i reach the typing bit im not very interested and just wanna stick something in there and get it uploaded :P
The about page isnt meant to be up as i wanted to check would any images clash i was meant to do it as about test or something

standards validation is a set of rules for designing websites so that they look the same on many different permutations of web browsers and operating systems.

it's pretty important that your site passes this.

Ricky91t

Yeah i know about over writing the old one
Wasnt any good anyway just a black page with bit of writing

conkeroo

Being honest, and thats all im doing as an objective viewer ,the design is, well, gawdy and smacks of unprofessionalism. And ive looked at your shots and the design completely undermines your standard of work. For someone first encountering your site and work, I dont think they're gonna get past the look of your site and see your photography. If designs not your forte, get someone to help you out or rethink exactly what it is you want to portray. Not being bad at all, its just what I see and it belittles your high standard of photography.

Fenster

I find your lack of standards awareness disturbing. It's like wiring a house to the standards code in that it precludes any nasty surprises later on.

Ricky91t

Fenster wrote: »

I find your lack of standards awareness disturbing. It's like wiring a house to the standards code in that it precludes any nasty surprises later on.

How am i meant to know about this?Iv only been messing with sites for about 3 monthes this is the first time iv asked for c&c on it.We dont learn it at school iv never spoke to a web designer before i dont do much searching on things about websites so there isnt many ways for me to find out

conkeroo

ricky91t wrote: »

How am i meant to know about this?Iv only been messing with sites for about 3 monthes this is the first time iv asked for c&c on it.We dont learn it at school iv never spoke to a web designer before i dont do much searching on things about websites so there isnt many ways for me to find out

When you open Dreamweaver just make sure say, for eg, the xhtml transitional option is picked. That way your doc. will be made xhtml transitional compliant. Complying to the standards not only means the page will show correctly across different browsers but search engines "appreciate" the correct formatting of the code. As for the design, just take your time drawing it in PS and really consider does it look good as a page. Have a look at a ton of other sites and you'll recognise what works and what doesn't. We all start somewhere so you'll get there, and even though the comments here do seem a bit harsh, it's just to try and help you.

Ricky91t

I dont mind about the harsh ness cause at the end of the day the comments will help me and im allready back to the drawing boards re desigingin the site

sheesh

I think it is ok and really it is pretty good for some one who has not designed a site before

the only thing i have a problem is the buttons I think you need to have less of the 3d effect it is way too pronounced at the moment.

as for validation don't worry about it for the moment try and get the design right first then code it for standards.

Fenster

I taught myself to use CSS in the course of modifying elements on my site. Just looking at PHP files clued me in on standards.

tricky D

Hi Richard,

You seem to be operating in a vacuum, so here's some suggestions on how to get moving in the right direction.

Take some time to learn some web stuff. Go to http://www.w3schools.com and learn how to do sites properly in html, xhtml and css. Go to other sites (simple ones first), view the source, figure out how they work and do some exercises in replicating them. Bear in mind the learning the html bit is just to give you an idea. xhtml with css is what you'll really want to use as the web has moved on from html (well kinda). Avoid using tables for layouts and fonts in the xhtml for typography - that's css's job. Also learn about validation. Writing pages properly from the start is a good idea on all fronts.

General tips:
- Most text should be text not graphical. Users should be able to copy and paste, search engines basically can't see graphic info, easier to change, etc...
- Have a contact page with a form and your address and other details in text form so they can be copied easily. An email link doesn't cut it and also you should be using something like richard@toolan.co.uk for all your email, not an unprofessional yahoo address.

Take some time to look at other photography sites for ideas and approaches. There are plenty of other similar website critiques in this forum and the web design/dev
one, find and read them.

On homepages (often the point of first contact):
One way I would suggest you approach your homepage is logo/name at the top aligned left, navigation the right or line below. Have 3 blocks of content with each of your main strengths (sport, nature/landscape and animals). Have a main pic if you want but allow space for other content. In these blocks have a sample image aligned to the left and linked to gallery subsection and to the right of that have some text around 30 words long. This text needs to be a call to action e.g. 'Looking for quality coverage of your sporting events, get in touch and we'll ensure the very best shots of all the action'. As previously mentioned don't be afraid of arrogance here, just don't overdo it. Avoid writing crap like, 'I am...., I do...., I like....' which is just you talking about yourself (and it sounds childish and like bad chatting up). Address what the potential customer wants and talk about that. Also stuff like 'Welcome' is unnecessary.

You need to develop a better logo, again surf around to get some ideas.

I could go on but must work for food

hth
\r

deegs

Richard, As a developer speaking.

Focus on the design advice coming from here. When you and everyone is happy with the look and you feel you want structural/validating advice head on over to the "web development" forum.

For a beginner you've done great so far, keep listening to the feedback and you'll have a great site.