Reviving my website

Hi

I've had a personal website for years. I use it to post galleries of my photos and the occasional review. However, I've left it to languish for the last 6 years (where does the time go).

I'm embarrassed enough by this to put some effort into fixing it.

I've tidied up the broken bits, uploaded some more recent web galleries with a new style and I'm planning a series of articles.

The first articles will be a diary series looking at the viability of bridge cameras for the serious photographer. I've acquired the venerable but still good Lumix FZ1000 as the basis of my diary.

I'm posting as fast as I can (there are currently intro posts). When I get to image quality there will some comparisons with my best Sigma (DP2 Merrill) included.

I'm going out today (Saturday) to do a first impressions of using the camera in the field and you can expect a post about this either this evening or tomorrow.

There's an index to the articles on the site homepage http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/

Wider pictures taken with a variety of cameras over the years are on the gallery page and there is a test DP2M gallery there as well which I will improve in due course

http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/home/galleries/

Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race

Slightly off topic, my boss will be participating in the Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race later this year with a couple of friends. This is a remarkable challenge for anyone to undertake but especially for 3 female office workers with just about zero experience of boats or the sea. They are doing this to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the sea.

I'll be posting some stuff about the challenge on the site as well including lots of pictures they've taken themselves.

I'd be grateful if you guys could take a look at the revived site. There is still plenty to improve so don't shirk on the criticisms

DMillier said:

Hi

I've had a personal website for years. I use it to post galleries of my photos and the occasional review. However, I've left it to languish for the last 6 years (where does the time go).

I'm embarrassed enough by this to put some effort into fixing it.

Click to expand...

No worries. I've let my sites languish before too, and I'm a webmaster. Sad, huh?

DavidMillier said:

I've tidied up the broken bits, uploaded some more recent web galleries with a new style and I'm planning a series of articles.

Click to expand...

Yay!

DavidMillier said:

The first articles will be a diary series looking at the viability of bridge cameras for the serious photographer. I've acquired the venerable but still good Lumix FZ1000 as the basis of my diary.

I'm posting as fast as I can (there are currently intro posts). When I get to image quality there will some comparisons with my best Sigma (DP2 Merrill) included.

I'm going out today (Saturday) to do a first impressions of using the camera in the field and you can expect a post about this either this evening or tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Cool.

DavidMillier said:

There's an index to the articles on the site homepage http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/

Wider pictures taken with a variety of cameras over the years are on the gallery page and there is a test DP2M gallery there as well which I will improve in due course

http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/home/galleries/

Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race

Slightly off topic, my boss will be participating in the Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race later this year with a couple of friends. This is a remarkable challenge for anyone to undertake but especially for 3 female office workers with just about zero experience of boats or the sea. They are doing this to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the sea.

Click to expand...

40 days of rowing?!? They're insane!

DavidMillier said:

I'll be posting some stuff about the challenge on the site as well including lots of pictures they've taken themselves.

Click to expand...

I look forward to seeing that. Are you going out into the Atlantic to shoot photos and videos of them?

DavidMillier said:

I'd be grateful if you guys could take a look at the revived site. There is still plenty to improve so don't shirk on the criticisms

Click to expand...

Will do.

EDIT:

The first thing I see wrong is the word PHOTOGRAPHY under your logo (or part of your logo) in the top left of the home page is being cut off by the tabs.

EDIT2:

I read one of your new articles. Interesting reading. I posted a comment. I guess you'll be getting it for review now.



EDIT3:

I had a look through one of your galleries. I noticed that when viewing the large photos the gallery stops at the last photo on the page of thumbnails, and doesn't continue to the next photo that would be available on the next page of thumbnails. Can you fix that? Otherwise I like the way your galleries work. I guess you could just switch to having just one long page of photos. Do you know how your site works with a smartphone? It need to be responsive these days. I think about half the Web's traffic is from smartphone users now.

--
Scott Barton Kennelly
http://www.bigprintphotos.com

DMillier said:

Hi

I've had a personal website for years. I use it to post galleries of my photos and the occasional review. However, I've left it to languish for the last 6 years (where does the time go).

I'd be grateful if you guys could take a look at the revived site. There is still plenty to improve so don't shirk on the criticisms

Click to expand...

I see you use WordPress.

Where it appears, the email address is only partially secure. The address is easily harvested by robots ...

<a href="mailto:[email protected]">Email David</a>

I could advise but I don't know if WP lets you write any actual code ...

Here's a contact page from a site that I manage:


here's the code for one address:

<dt>Alarcon, Jos&eacute;</dt><dd style="color:red">alarconjose&#64;<span class="hidden">del.</span>hotmail.com</dd>

it adds a string "del." into the address thereby fooling robots (theoretically) ...

Problem there on your Photo News page:

$(document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({"containerId":"embeddedSampleGallery_9794331079","galleryId":"9794331079","isEmbeddedWidget":true,

CallMeAlan said:

Problem there on your Photo News page:

$(document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({"containerId":"embeddedSampleGallery_9794331079","galleryId":"9794331079","isEmbeddedWidget":true,

Click to expand...

Yes, I was analyzing the code, looking for a problem in the code . . . not understanding that you were just quoting some of the text on the page.

At the bottom of the white part of the page that code text is visible, but shouldn't be. That is indeed a problem . . . a weird one.

CallMeAlan said:

Problem there on your Photo News page:

$(document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({"containerId":"embeddedSampleGallery_9794331079","galleryId":"9794331079","isEmbeddedWidget":true,

Click to expand...

It's in the page source code but it is neither HTML nor is it JavaScript.

I'd say it's some sort of WordPress script not under Dave's direct control.

Got that from Fox's "view page source" ...

Wow...I haven't heard anything about that race in ages.

Brings back memories of an old joke when I was a kid:

Kid: Mommy mommy why do we have to go to Europe

Mom: Shut up and keep rowing

--
http://www.lightreflection.com
http://www.silveroaksranch.com

CallMeAlan said:

Problem there on your Photo News page:

$(document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({"containerId":"embeddedSampleGallery_9794331079","galleryId":"9794331079","isEmbeddedWidget":true,

Click to expand...

I saw this today, it wasn't there yesterday and I don't understand why. Maybe something wrong with the data coming from the source site?

rick decker said:

Wow...I haven't heard anything about that race in ages.

Brings back memories of an old joke when I was a kid:

Kid: Mommy mommy why do we have to go to Europe

Mom: Shut up and keep rowing

Click to expand...

Dad, dad, are we nearly there yet?

Just 3000 miles to go...

xpatUSA said:

CallMeAlan said:

Problem there on your Photo News page:

$(document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({"containerId":"embeddedSampleGallery_9794331079","galleryId":"9794331079","isEmbeddedWidget":true,

Click to expand...

It's in the page source code but it is neither HTML nor is it JavaScript.

I'd say it's some sort of WordPress script not under Dave's direct control.

Got that from Fox's "view page source" ...

Click to expand...

Page is populated by RSS feeds. It's been so long I can't remember how it works!

Scottelly said:

DMillier said:

Hi

I've had a personal website for years. I use it to post galleries of my photos and the occasional review. However, I've left it to languish for the last 6 years (where does the time go).

I'm embarrassed enough by this to put some effort into fixing it.

Click to expand...

No worries. I've let my sites languish before too, and I'm a webmaster. Sad, huh?

Click to expand...

Goes with the trade - like the car mechanic who drives a clapped out rust bucket.

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

I've tidied up the broken bits, uploaded some more recent web galleries with a new style and I'm planning a series of articles.

Click to expand...

Yay!

Scottelly said:

The first articles will be a diary series looking at the viability of bridge cameras for the serious photographer. I've acquired the venerable but still good Lumix FZ1000 as the basis of my diary.

I'm posting as fast as I can (there are currently intro posts). When I get to image quality there will some comparisons with my best Sigma (DP2 Merrill) included.

I'm going out today (Saturday) to do a first impressions of using the camera in the field and you can expect a post about this either this evening or tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Cool.

Scottelly said:

There's an index to the articles on the site homepage http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/

Wider pictures taken with a variety of cameras over the years are on the gallery page and there is a test DP2M gallery there as well which I will improve in due course

http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/home/galleries/

Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race

Slightly off topic, my boss will be participating in the Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race later this year with a couple of friends. This is a remarkable challenge for anyone to undertake but especially for 3 female office workers with just about zero experience of boats or the sea. They are doing this to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the sea.

Click to expand...

40 days of rowing?!? They're insane!

Scottelly said:

I'll be posting some stuff about the challenge on the site as well including lots of pictures they've taken themselves.

Click to expand...

I look forward to seeing that. Are you going out into the Atlantic to shoot photos and videos of them?

Click to expand...

Not bloody likely!

She brought the boat to work yesterday and parked it in the car park. It's 7m long but looks puny - like an oversized canoe with a hen house at either end. It's practically flat bottomed. I kept looking underneath but there is no downstairs on this boat.

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

I'd be grateful if you guys could take a look at the revived site. There is still plenty to improve so don't shirk on the criticisms

Click to expand...

Will do.

EDIT:

The first thing I see wrong is the word PHOTOGRAPHY under your logo (or part of your logo) in the top left of the home page is being cut off by the tabs.

Click to expand...

I'm not seeing that. What browser/screen rez are you using?

Scottelly said:

EDIT2:

I read one of your new articles. Interesting reading. I posted a comment. I guess you'll be getting it for review now.



EDIT3:

I had a look through one of your galleries. I noticed that when viewing the large photos the gallery stops at the last photo on the page of thumbnails, and doesn't continue to the next photo that would be available on the next page of thumbnails. Can you fix that? Otherwise I like the way your galleries work. I guess you could just switch to having just one long page of photos.

Click to expand...

The LR web gallery I'm using only seems to show each page automatically. You have to click the big "Next page" button. Are you seeing that?

Scottelly said:

Do you know how your site works with a smartphone? It need to be responsive these days. I think about half the Web's traffic is from smartphone users now.

Click to expand...

Home made wordpress theme based loosely on some free framework I've long forgotten about. I thought it has some responsiveness but I may have confused it with a different theme elsewhere. I can stick some @media queries in to give at least basic responsiveness.

DMillier said:

Scottelly said:

DMillier said:

Hi

I've had a personal website for years. I use it to post galleries of my photos and the occasional review. However, I've left it to languish for the last 6 years (where does the time go).

I'm embarrassed enough by this to put some effort into fixing it.

Click to expand...

No worries. I've let my sites languish before too, and I'm a webmaster. Sad, huh?

Click to expand...

Goes with the trade - like the car mechanic who drives a clapped out rust bucket.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess.

DavidMillier said:

DavidMillier said:

DavidMillier said:

I've tidied up the broken bits, uploaded some more recent web galleries with a new style and I'm planning a series of articles.

Click to expand...

Yay!

DavidMillier said:

The first articles will be a diary series looking at the viability of bridge cameras for the serious photographer. I've acquired the venerable but still good Lumix FZ1000 as the basis of my diary.

I'm posting as fast as I can (there are currently intro posts). When I get to image quality there will some comparisons with my best Sigma (DP2 Merrill) included.

I'm going out today (Saturday) to do a first impressions of using the camera in the field and you can expect a post about this either this evening or tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Cool.

DavidMillier said:

There's an index to the articles on the site homepage http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/

Wider pictures taken with a variety of cameras over the years are on the gallery page and there is a test DP2M gallery there as well which I will improve in due course

http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/home/galleries/

Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race

Slightly off topic, my boss will be participating in the Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race later this year with a couple of friends. This is a remarkable challenge for anyone to undertake but especially for 3 female office workers with just about zero experience of boats or the sea. They are doing this to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the sea.

Click to expand...

40 days of rowing?!? They're insane!

DavidMillier said:

I'll be posting some stuff about the challenge on the site as well including lots of pictures they've taken themselves.

Click to expand...

I look forward to seeing that. Are you going out into the Atlantic to shoot photos and videos of them?

Click to expand...

Not bloody likely!

She brought the boat to work yesterday and parked it in the car park. It's 7m long but looks puny - like an oversized canoe with a hen house at either end. It's practically flat bottomed. I kept looking underneath but there is no downstairs on this boat.

Click to expand...

Weird. I'll be interested to see the photos.

DavidMillier said:

DavidMillier said:

DavidMillier said:

I'd be grateful if you guys could take a look at the revived site. There is still plenty to improve so don't shirk on the criticisms

Click to expand...

Will do.

EDIT:

The first thing I see wrong is the word PHOTOGRAPHY under your logo (or part of your logo) in the top left of the home page is being cut off by the tabs.

Click to expand...

I'm not seeing that. What browser/screen rez are you using?

Click to expand...

I'm using an old version of Firefox (version 48) on OSX 10.7.5 Lion on a 13" MacBook Air at 1440 x 900 resolution.

DavidMillier said:

DavidMillier said:

EDIT2:

I read one of your new articles. Interesting reading. I posted a comment. I guess you'll be getting it for review now.



EDIT3:

I had a look through one of your galleries. I noticed that when viewing the large photos the gallery stops at the last photo on the page of thumbnails, and doesn't continue to the next photo that would be available on the next page of thumbnails. Can you fix that? Otherwise I like the way your galleries work. I guess you could just switch to having just one long page of photos.

Click to expand...

The LR web gallery I'm using only seems to show each page automatically. You have to click the big "Next page" button. Are you seeing that?

Click to expand...

Yes, I see that in most of the galleries - maybe all of them. I don't remember seeing it in one of them from the last page. Maybe it was that I expected the gallery to "roll" around to the first photo, but it didn't. I forget.

DavidMillier said:

DavidMillier said:

Do you know how your site works with a smartphone? It need to be responsive these days. I think about half the Web's traffic is from smartphone users now.

Click to expand...

Home made wordpress theme based loosely on some free framework I've long forgotten about. I thought it has some responsiveness but I may have confused it with a different theme elsewhere. I can stick some @media queries in to give at least basic responsiveness.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about it. Responsiveness can be a nightmare, and how many people really expect to be able to see a photographer's website properly on a smartphone screen anyway, right?

EDIT:

O.K. I tried it on my smartphone, and it seems to work fine and look fine. Nice!

--
Scott Barton Kennelly
http://www.bigprintphotos.com

DMillier said:

xpatUSA said:

CallMeAlan said:

Problem there on your Photo News page:

$(document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({"containerId":"embeddedSampleGallery_9794331079","galleryId":"9794331079","isEmbeddedWidget":true,

Click to expand...

It's in the page source code but it is neither HTML nor is it JavaScript.

I'd say it's some sort of WordPress script not under Dave's direct control.

Got that from Fox's "view page source" ...

Click to expand...

Page is populated by RSS feeds. It's been so long I can't remember how it works!

Click to expand...

That would explain it; source site definitely at fault. :-D

As promised

http://whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/artic...ield-handling-first-impressions-at-dungeness/

Scottelly said:

DMillier said:

Scottelly said:

DMillier said:

Hi

I've had a personal website for years. I use it to post galleries of my photos and the occasional review. However, I've left it to languish for the last 6 years (where does the time go).

I'm embarrassed enough by this to put some effort into fixing it.

Click to expand...

No worries. I've let my sites languish before too, and I'm a webmaster. Sad, huh?

Click to expand...

Goes with the trade - like the car mechanic who drives a clapped out rust bucket.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess.

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

I've tidied up the broken bits, uploaded some more recent web galleries with a new style and I'm planning a series of articles.

Click to expand...

Yay!

Scottelly said:

The first articles will be a diary series looking at the viability of bridge cameras for the serious photographer. I've acquired the venerable but still good Lumix FZ1000 as the basis of my diary.

I'm posting as fast as I can (there are currently intro posts). When I get to image quality there will some comparisons with my best Sigma (DP2 Merrill) included.

I'm going out today (Saturday) to do a first impressions of using the camera in the field and you can expect a post about this either this evening or tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Cool.

Scottelly said:

There's an index to the articles on the site homepage http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/

Wider pictures taken with a variety of cameras over the years are on the gallery page and there is a test DP2M gallery there as well which I will improve in due course

http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/home/galleries/

Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race

Slightly off topic, my boss will be participating in the Talisker Trans-Atlantic Rowing race later this year with a couple of friends. This is a remarkable challenge for anyone to undertake but especially for 3 female office workers with just about zero experience of boats or the sea. They are doing this to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the sea.

Click to expand...

40 days of rowing?!? They're insane!

Scottelly said:

I'll be posting some stuff about the challenge on the site as well including lots of pictures they've taken themselves.

Click to expand...

I look forward to seeing that. Are you going out into the Atlantic to shoot photos and videos of them?

Click to expand...

Not bloody likely!

She brought the boat to work yesterday and parked it in the car park. It's 7m long but looks puny - like an oversized canoe with a hen house at either end. It's practically flat bottomed. I kept looking underneath but there is no downstairs on this boat.

Click to expand...

Weird. I'll be interested to see the photos.

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

I'd be grateful if you guys could take a look at the revived site. There is still plenty to improve so don't shirk on the criticisms

Click to expand...

Will do.

EDIT:

The first thing I see wrong is the word PHOTOGRAPHY under your logo (or part of your logo) in the top left of the home page is being cut off by the tabs.

Click to expand...

I'm not seeing that. What browser/screen rez are you using?

Click to expand...

I'm using an old version of Firefox (version 48) on OSX 10.7.5 Lion on a 13" MacBook Air at 1440 x 900 resolution.

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

EDIT2:

I read one of your new articles. Interesting reading. I posted a comment. I guess you'll be getting it for review now.



EDIT3:

I had a look through one of your galleries. I noticed that when viewing the large photos the gallery stops at the last photo on the page of thumbnails, and doesn't continue to the next photo that would be available on the next page of thumbnails. Can you fix that? Otherwise I like the way your galleries work. I guess you could just switch to having just one long page of photos.

Click to expand...

The LR web gallery I'm using only seems to show each page automatically. You have to click the big "Next page" button. Are you seeing that?

Click to expand...

Yes, I see that in most of the galleries - maybe all of them. I don't remember seeing it in one of them from the last page. Maybe it was that I expected the gallery to "roll" around to the first photo, but it didn't. I forget.

Scottelly said:

Scottelly said:

Do you know how your site works with a smartphone? It need to be responsive these days. I think about half the Web's traffic is from smartphone users now.

Click to expand...

Home made wordpress theme based loosely on some free framework I've long forgotten about. I thought it has some responsiveness but I may have confused it with a different theme elsewhere. I can stick some @media queries in to give at least basic responsiveness.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about it. Responsiveness can be a nightmare, and how many people really expect to be able to see a photographer's website properly on a smartphone screen anyway, right?

EDIT:

O.K. I tried it on my smartphone, and it seems to work fine and look fine. Nice!

Click to expand...

I've made some updates to the templates to add some responsiveness. It seems to work ok on my phone and tablet (android); be interested to know how it fares on other devices. The goal is not to make it beautiful, just usable.

Also posted some more articles in the FZ1000 diary with another to come tomorrow.