my website... please let me know what you think

positivenote

hi guys,
ive never posted up my ork here before but have been a lurker/partial poster for a while. Anyhow heres a link to my site. let me know what you reckon constructive criticism as always is welcome...

thanks a million

ps. i know florence is spelt wrong as are numerous other typos...

http://www.glenndoylephotography.com

xshayx

Some outstanding images in there Glenn.

I'd add a contact link in the main menu or in the footer, not just the link from the home page.

When I click thru the sections, and their pages, the numbers are bolded fine, but the section to section font change isnt as obvious - same for the main menu (Mac, Firefox)

conorgriff

Hi Glenn, some nice pics. Site looks well but one thing which jumps out at me is your use of images as links. Since your images are just black backgrounds with white writing, why didn't you just use white text on a black background?

Maybe it's because you're using a table layout or something to position these images which may be making life easier. I'd recommend using actual text in place of those images or else adjust the images so their borders aren't so close to the bottom of the text. It's a little easy to mis-click a link in my opinion.

Otherwise it looks good. Might be cool to add a subtle splash of colour to the design somewhere to the page template, just to set off the black and white theme. Just a suggestion, not a criticism. Great photos though ;o)

challengemaster

It's nice, because its simple. I like that. Only thing I have against it is you've centered all the text, so it starts forming a trianle/pyramid structure if your sentences get shorter.. Apart from that, I like it

finnykid

Ordinary computer user here, looks good and very easy to use.
Although the white print on the links could be in bolder letters to see it better,
but nice site and greta pics, best of luck

Kbeg3

I agree with the posts above

I would make the text on the links to the galleries bigger!

Isar

I must say I find the photographs interesting, and the site was easy to use.

murpho999

Ok, here's my tuppence worth, whilst I find the general layout to be ok I really don't find that you are getting constructive criticism from the posters above.

Below are my observations which may come across as harsh but they are meant as help so please do not take them as personal.

Firstly, the home page, I find it strange that as a photography website that there are no pictures and only text on the page. I really feel you should have pictures in some form on that page to give the message that it is a photography website rather than a text one.

After the home page you are led to click on 'places', again you get a text page with no photos and you get a list of cities.

When you click on 'Barcelona' , you get an image along with list of cities and '1' appears beside 'Barcelona'.

Then when you click on New York the cities are numbered from 1-8, along with a blank 9. Then you click on 'Dublin' and you get a list of the same cities and only numbered 1 & 2. Very inconsistent.

I assume it's work in progress, so maybe you're going to correct them.

Now, you comment that you know that 'Florance' is a typo, which I can understand, but I do find that there are a lot of errors that show a lack of grammar understanding rather than typos. Below is a list of errors that I found.

Firstly, your use of 'I'. If used as a subject, then 'I' should always be capitilized, there are no exceptions, your use of 'I' is inconsistent throughout the site. It appears to be in capitals if 'I' starts the sentence but lower case if anywhere else. This is wrong

On places 'New York' page it should be 'Brooklyn' instead of 'broklyn, 'purposely' instead of 'puposly' and 'silhouette' instead of 'sihoute'.

On 'Dublin', Temple Bar shot, 'sunday' should be capitalized and 'before's' instead of 'befores'.

On Sydney, 'July' should be capitilized.

Venice, it should read 'Venice Gondolas' instead of 'venice gondolas'.

When you click on 'people' page. 'In to' should be 'into', and I would suggest using a comma between ''Street Life' and 'Whereas' instead of using 'Whereas' as a start to a new sentence.
Clicking through to 'street life' it should be 'to' instead of 'top' and 'opposite' instead of 'oposite'

In 'Documentaries Wheels in Motion' , it should be 'kept' instead of 'kepth' , 'involved' instead of 'envolved' and 'opposed' instead of 'oposed'.

On 'Bigger Issue' it should be 'started' instead of 'start'.

Sorry, if I come across as a spelling Nazi, but I am pointing them out in case you don't realise that they are wrong.

I also think that you should have your logo linked to your home page.

Finally, I wonder if I am the only one who finds a lot of your images to be overexposed with a lot of burned out areas?

I fully expect to get flamed for this for being over critical, but I do genuinely hope it helps you.

You have the makings of a great site there and it clearly shows a great talent for taking photos.

Best of luck with your site.

Thoie

Just to add my tuppence-worth to murpho's comments above.

A single striking image on the right hand side of the home page, with the text right justified beside it might work.

The numbers down the right hand sides of the "places" might be better along the bottom of the page instead with a "forward/back arrow" instead.

On the home page, I'd consider making the entire sentence "click here for further purchasing details" a hyperlink, rather than just the word "here".

As you're selling the prints, you might want to consider adding a copyright watermark discreetly to each web image.

It's a difficult call to make, but think about resizing the images a bit smaller, so that people don't have to scroll for the explanatory text.

Fajitas!

Couldn't agree more with the two comments above.

I'd also add, it might be handy to have a series of thumbnails in each gallery - There are times you don't want to go through each photo, and a thumbnail might grab attention, more than a series of numbers.

Dodgykeeper

On a more positive note Positivenote I think its a great site, I took your advice and pressed f11 and was very happy with the result!


Well Done and keep up the good work!


p.s. Are you from Tallaght?

Fajitas!

Oh, and f11 on my Mac turns the sound down...

Dodgykeeper

Fajitas! wrote: »

Oh, and f11 on my Mac turns the sound down...

I refer you to this site! ;););)

Fajitas!

Lol!

Hey - There's a lot of Mac users in the creative industry!

Hell, if Macs made me skinny, I'd have my Windows desktop & laptop replaced by now!!!

(And for a smart assed ending link...) ;);););)

:pac:

forbairt

Basically I was about to give most of the same advice that murpho999 and Thoie above gave. So that saved me a long post (I probably wouldn't have corrected spellings)

As was said its strange to come to a photography site and not get hit with a few stunning images. A bit of movement might go down nicely as well (as in a fade from one photo to another) Maybe investigate a bit of JQuery

The numbers for the photos actually confused me (the column on the right) I wasn't until I went through a few groups that it became obvious to me that yes there are a number of photos on the page.

Apart from that your logo lettering looks a bit strange .. the way your full name is underneath it but kinda just so its fitting onto the P ... maybe thats just a personal thing. I would maybe use a slightly lighter GDP as well as it comes out a bit strong on the page ?

I'd replace all your image links as well by something like css links

a { color: #EFEFEF; }
a:hover { color: #FFFFFF; }

positivenote

thanks for the constructive feedback guys. regarding the grammer, it will be addressed... i was moreso interested on getting feedback on the images aswell as the site to try and gage what kind of standard was achieving. i have strt shooting on digital recently aswell as with film. anyway, once again thanks for the c&c.

forbairt

in terms of your photos. There are some great shots in there. But as was said the contrast in a few of them seems a bit high

positivenote

thanks, thats a fair comment

thefizz

Fajitas! wrote: »

Couldn't agree more with the two comments above.

I'd also add, it might be handy to have a series of thumbnails in each gallery - There are times you don't want to go through each photo, and a thumbnail might grab attention, more than a series of numbers.

I like the site but agree with Fajitas regarding the numbers, thumbnails would be much better.