New photography website , W.I.P - critique appreciated

gizzymo

Hi guys

I'm a professional photographer and I have been working on my new website.
I have built it on expression engine.
Its not finished yet, so I'd appreciate any constructive thoughts..

This is only a temp URL while the site is in development (I'm not totally finished the layout for the front page, hence the state of the boxes along the bottom and the poor logos of clients etc, thats all going to be refreshed):

http://peterneill.ehclients.com


Thanks!

Peter

RoadKillTs

Hi Peter,

I really like it. Surprised its built on expression engine. Looks really well.
Very clean, easy to navigate and loads prity quick.

There is a guide here from Google on some SEO basics. Might be worth a read.

gizzymo

Thats for that! Especially for the SEO link, thats my reading for this afternoon!!

P

p

Well done. I'm a bit wary of photographers doing their own site, but you've done a much better job than most.

The main thing I would change is the background. It's both too blurry or not blurrd enough and just doesn't look right. Also, the gradient in the main 'about samples ...contact' navbar looks strange. I think you should stick with strong solid colours as that fits in more with the rest of your site. I would avoid gradients or 'gloss' effects seen on other sites as that doesn't suit your style.


Since you're asking for a critique, and it's still a work in progress, here's some things to consider.

• The 3 areas at the bottom, blog, twitter, enquiry need a bit more attention to them. They look put there, not designed.
• Also, as a general rule, I would always avoid using the font Verdana for headings. It's great for general text but not for headings, especially when you seem to be using Arial/Helvetica elswhere.
• You have no header to your site. I think having your name up teh top left would be a better place for it. When you click samples, you don't have any branding on the site at all.
• The logos you have in the bottom of the homepage. They look horrible with the white boxes around them. I would try fade out the background to black just before them and have them all white on black. They currently look a bit plonked there, if you know what I mean.
• The background image ends sharply at the bottom left, you shouldn't be able to see such a harsh edge like that. Attention to detail on little things like this really make a site go to the next level.
• I'm not sure about the video. I see the thinking behind it, but video is low quality, whereas your photos are beautiful, i'm not sure it does them justice. I would've thought a slideshow showcasing your best stuff may be a better idea.
• Read this:
  http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2009/archives/7577
• One final thing is the wording. Especially in the blog, could be better. It's hard to write text for yourself, but it currently doesn't sound strong and professional. You're over explaining yourself, and sound like you'd be happy for people's business, rather than they'd be lucky to get you. I'd have someone with a knack for writing read over your text with you. Irish people are very bad at selling themselves in a good way, so I think that'd be a good thing to address

Overall though, the site is really good. The suggestions there would really just help take it to a higher level. Good luck with the site, let us know how it progresses.

RoadKillTs wrote: »

I really like it. Surprised its built on expression engine.

Out of interest, why are you surprised it's built with EE?

ninalucy1985

gizzymo wrote: »

Hi guys

I'm a professional photographer and I have been working on my new website.
I have built it on expression engine.
Its not finished yet, so I'd appreciate any constructive thoughts..

This is only a temp URL while the site is in development (I'm not totally finished the layout for the front page, hence the state of the boxes along the bottom and the poor logos of clients etc, thats all going to be refreshed):

http://peterneill.ehclients.com


Thanks!

Peter

Hi Peter,
I have worked with alot of photographers and this is a fab site
well done

RoadKillTs

Out of interest, why are you surprised it's built with EE?

It just doesn't look like your typical site built with EE.

gizzymo

Thanks all, and especially p for the feedback.


Its really useful, and I have already implemented some changes based on it.

The link to the article by Scott Kelby was particularly useful and as such I am going to trim down the sample galleries to a reasonable amount of page 1 images so to speak!

I have removed the footer logos for now, they in their current state were just a throw back from the photoshop prototyping stage and are not useful in their current form! In relation to the bottom boxes, I have actually removed the background from them, i think visually this may work, once a stronger footer logo area is in place?

until next time and thanks!

Pete

p

RoadKillTs wrote: »

It just doesn't look like your typical site built with EE.

Weird, I don't really see there being a 'typically EE' look, since it's aimed at designers who can build anything they like with. Different designers will use it in different ways. It's not like Drupal, which is more of a publishing system.
Just looking through the EE showcase and you can see vastly different sites:
http://expressionengine.com/showcase/websites/


Peter - glad the feedback was useful to you!

dory

I agree with what P said about wording 'You'll find me easy to deal' with and that makes it sound less professional. Just my thoughts.

gizzymo

Thanks dory,

I have changed the text now, I think it sounds better. Lots still to do in general, but its taking shape.

Pete

loloray

p wrote: »

The main thing I would change is the background. It's both too blurry or not blurrd enough and just doesn't look right.

I agree!
Great website, but please please get rid of the background, it's wrong for so many reasons.
Also, I would make the font in the logo (Peter Neill photography) bigger than the other font on the page, and maybe use a more exciting font.

gizzymo

Right, better late than never, I finally changed the background, I think its more fitting!

P.S The website is now live on http://www.peterneill.eu

p

gizzymo wrote: »

Right, better late than never, I finally changed the background, I think its more fitting!

It's much better. I think something that naturall fades to dark at the edges would work better, because then you're not fighting the picture when you're trying to edit it, but that aside it's much better, and overall the site has made some good progress.

tricky D

Your logo doesn't stand out enough for me. Perhaps a bit bigger. It should link to homepage.

Not sure if I like the way the header image views with the background image. Can't quite put my finger on it, but it's like the bg interferes/interacts badly in spots despite the down and to the right drop shadow. The b+w seems overpowered by its bordering photos.

Most of the text in MainPanel isn't great. A lot of it is valueless content: Welcome to, Thanks for visiting, can easily be omitted and replaced with higher value content. You shouldn't and don't need to tell people where the navigation is or view the gallery or video or how to use the galleries. It's obvious enough what to do. What you should do here use that real estate it more to address your target markets: Need a reliable Wedding photographer anywhere in Ireland, view the Wedding Gallery and get in touch.

Video is not displaying at all in Firefox 3.6.3

The 3 content boxes at the bottom are slightly out of position to the right. I.e. the blog posts are indented slightly left and the Follow me box extends a bit beyond the MainPanel blur on the right.

The form elements should be aligned to the top of the box. The css id naming of these boxes is a bit mixed up - the facebook one is called InquiryPanel and the inquiry box is called TwitterUpdates.

I'd put a footer on all pages with text links, contact, copyright and other info.

Some pages aren't long enough to have a scroll bar and this results in the layout jumping horizontally when going from short or long pages.

The Galleries are done in Flash when something friendlier would be better. Something like highslide or lightbox would be better and enable you to get some SEO text in.

The page titles in general could have more SEO juice - Peter Neill Wedding Photography on the wedding samples would be much better than just Samples.

The form on the contact page is pushed down unnecessarily.

gl/hth

gizzymo

Thanks guys, and thanks Tricky D for the time you took to give me feedback, it really is appreciated, and all of its useful I'll work on that over the coming days.

Peter

Zascar

Peter, a quick one: I only looked at your site for a few seconds, and what immediately struck me, was how unimpressive the 4 photos at the top are. First impressions last and you should have your best most impressive work there staring them in the face inviting them to come look at more. I took a quick look into the galleries and there were loads of very nice shots far more deserved to be on the front page.

If I was looking for a photographer for a wedding/event etc - if I was not immediately impressed by what was on the homepage I'd have my doubts. Sorry to be critical but i hope you see where I'm coming from.

Might be worth asking in the photography forum also for feedback