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Trying to make it easier...please look

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Steve Mitchell

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I see you've added a bunch of links up in the top of the frame. That's good (less clutter, and easier to find).

But some of your links are still buried down in the webpage. Those are harder to find. I'll bet many miss them if quickly looking at the page.

I've seen designs that are cleaner in this regard.

They must use Java or something to dynamically create drop-down boxes.

For example, you could have several tabs across the top of the page:

College Football / Pro Baseball / Pro Football / Racing / etc

Clicking on each of those could open up a drop-down box of events to view.

I'll see if I can find one of the sites I'm thinking of that has this format. I've never used it (so I don't know how much work it is), but it makes for a cleaner look.

Data management and presentation is going to be a tough issue for a site like yours.
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
For example, I've been having a hard time finding your cheerleader/dance shots. I just NOW found the link to those. It's a graphics button near the bottom on the left. Unlike all your text links.

The mix of different types of links makes the site hard to navigate, IMO.

GREAT pics, though.
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
DavidP said:
For example, I've been having a hard time finding your
cheerleader/dance shots. I just NOW found the link to those.
It's a graphics button near the bottom on the left. Unlike all
your text links.

The mix of different types of links makes the site hard to
navigate, IMO.

GREAT pics, though.
Click to expand...
Actually there is a link in the top grid as well "Firebird Flames"
DavidP #28649 said:
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
 
Thanks David...the issues are 1) the purpose of the site is displaying high quality images. 2) updates are daily, so updating must be relatively easy 3) the site is large (over 170 pages currently, adding about 10-15 per week.

--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
 
Steve,

You may want to start grouping your photo's into categories (i.e. Motor Sports, Cheerleading, Basketball, etc... ) and begin with your categories as the main menu then submenu's within each category. Also, if you are adding that many pages, you might want to do a site redesign now and incorporate features to make it more manageable and expandable in the future.

Good Luck,

Chris
steve mitchell said:
Thanks David...the issues are 1) the purpose of the site is
displaying high quality images. 2) updates are daily, so updating
must be relatively easy 3) the site is large (over 170 pages
currently, adding about 10-15 per week.

--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
 
This is very evident in the grid at the top. Besides that I find it very
easy to find things. And always... I want you job :-)



Steven Noyes
steve mitchell said:
DavidP said:
For example, I've been having a hard time finding your
cheerleader/dance shots. I just NOW found the link to those.
It's a graphics button near the bottom on the left. Unlike all
your text links.

The mix of different types of links makes the site hard to
navigate, IMO.

GREAT pics, though.
Click to expand...
Actually there is a link in the top grid as well "Firebird Flames"
Steve Mitchell said:
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
---
My really bad summer pictures:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/summer_travels
 
I totally miss an overview of things you added (not just the last two). Like some kind of a time-line. Something like: 2002-20-09 Added pictures from the basketball game between x and y in Dallas. You can get an impression about what I mean, on the main page of my site.

When I get back to your site in four weeks, I would have a hard time getting to the new images. I would have to check the flame page every-time, just to be able to see if there are new girls (the time-line could mention that you've added girl Julie to the flames page; with a link of-course). The thumbnailed flame page is much better now (you've asked about this page before).

I found the archive section to be a bit strange. I really didn't expect to get to Yahoo. This link shouldn't lead to a complete other site and layout, but show the 'what's new' that is outdated in your own layout.

Very important: Links to other sites (like the yahoo stories) should open in a NEW windows (target=" blank"), so people don't 'loose' your site when they start clicking on the opened new site. Many times you can't click 'Back' because of java-script tricks on the opened site.

Just my impression on some things. Don't want to sound negative.
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
Click to expand...
Marcel D.
The Netherlands
GC-S5 - 990 - G2 - D60 ( BG-ED3 - 28-135 - 70-200F4 - 550EX )
http://www.fotoexpo.tk
 
I kwnow its a lot of work, but I'd would make thumbnails and use smaller pics
as well .

That way you wont have to scroll so much and ppl with slow
connections could see it too without waiting for images to d/l.

Alfonso Bresciani
http://www.pompo.com
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Steven, actually I thought there might be some problems on some browsers, so I just changed it, hopefully it is better.
Steven Noyes said:
steve mitchell said:
DavidP said:
For example, I've been having a hard time finding your
cheerleader/dance shots. I just NOW found the link to those.
It's a graphics button near the bottom on the left. Unlike all
your text links.

The mix of different types of links makes the site hard to
navigate, IMO.

GREAT pics, though.
Click to expand...
Actually there is a link in the top grid as well "Firebird Flames"
Steven Noyes said:
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
--
---
My really bad summer pictures:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/summer_travels
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
 
Thank you Marcel. you have some good suggestions. I may incoporate a "what's new" section...something changes on the site almost daily.
Marcel D. said:
When I get back to your site in four weeks, I would have a hard
time getting to the new images. I would have to check the flame
page every-time, just to be able to see if there are new girls (the
time-line could mention that you've added girl Julie to the flames
page; with a link of-course). The thumbnailed flame page is much
better now (you've asked about this page before).

I found the archive section to be a bit strange. I really didn't
expect to get to Yahoo. This link shouldn't lead to a complete
other site and layout, but show the 'what's new' that is outdated
in your own layout.

Very important: Links to other sites (like the yahoo stories)
should open in a NEW windows (target=" blank"), so people don't
'loose' your site when they start clicking on the opened new site.
Many times you can't click 'Back' because of java-script tricks on
the opened site.

Just my impression on some things. Don't want to sound negative.
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
Click to expand...
Marcel D.
The Netherlands
GC-S5 - 990 - G2 - D60 ( BG-ED3 - 28-135 - 70-200F4 - 550EX )
http://www.fotoexpo.tk
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
 
Thanks for the suggestion Alfonso...the reason I'm not using smaller pics, is that what makes it different than any other sports site. In action shots, it's very difficult for a 200x300 pixel shot to look decent if you have head to toe action...something I will consider in the future is variation in the size of shots. That's something I've been trying to do more of... Thanks for your taking the time to look and to comment.
Alfonso Bresciani said:
That way you wont have to scroll so much and ppl with slow
connections could see it too without waiting for images to d/l.

Alfonso Bresciani
http://www.pompo.com
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
 
Steve, just thought I'd pass on that statistically speaking, most internet users are still currently using 800x600 as a default resolution. 1024x768 is the second most widely used resolution. Given that, your site is too large for a majority of users. That is a common error that people designing sites make, is to base it on the resolution they use (which most designers prefer 1024 and higher) instead of the user. We did some comprehensive logging with some of the sites my company (i co-owned) produced and found that most users just weren't utilizing higher resolutions yet.

Just some thoughts.

Josef
steve mitchell said:
Alfonso Bresciani said:
That way you wont have to scroll so much and ppl with slow
connections could see it too without waiting for images to d/l.

Alfonso Bresciani
http://www.pompo.com
steve mitchell said:
I've been trying to come up with an easier way to navigate
http://www.digisportspix.com without a full redesign. I would appreciate
comments on whether the changes made make it easier to navigate.
Thanks in advance for looking.
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
Click to expand...
 
The 800x600 resolution needs to go the way of the 5-1/4" floppy drive.

I won't design for higher than 1024x768, though.
josef armendariz said:
Steve, just thought I'd pass on that statistically speaking, most
internet users are still currently using 800x600 as a default
resolution. 1024x768 is the second most widely used resolution.
Given that, your site is too large for a majority of users. That
is a common error that people designing sites make, is to base it
on the resolution they use (which most designers prefer 1024 and
higher) instead of the user. We did some comprehensive logging
with some of the sites my company (i co-owned) produced and found
that most users just weren't utilizing higher resolutions yet.
Click to expand...
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise
 
josef armendariz said:
Steve, just thought I'd pass on that statistically speaking, most
internet users are still currently using 800x600 as a default
resolution. 1024x768 is the second most widely used resolution.
Given that, your site is too large for a majority of users. That
is a common error that people designing sites make, is to base it
on the resolution they use (which most designers prefer 1024 and
higher) instead of the user. We did some comprehensive logging
with some of the sites my company (i co-owned) produced and found
that most users just weren't utilizing higher resolutions yet.

Just some thoughts.

Josef
Click to expand...
Thanks for your thoughts....my stats show on visitors to Digisportspix only 18.2% have resolution set at 800 x 600. The width inside the white border is 800 pixels, so I tryed to account for those with lower resolution screens.

--
Steve Mitchell
http://Digisportspix.com
 
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