Website Design

[Mike S40523]

An accepted rule of thumb by professional designers ( yes I am a professional designer) is NEVER design for more than 800 X 600 resolution the vast majority of wen site viewers ( i have the statistics to back this up ) use 800 x 600 to force the majority to scroll side to side is very bad practice

Peter,

My current site, NOT my new site, which you are commenting on, is
not designed for you, a salesman. I checked with my clients,
current and future, and they are almost exclusively on Macs using
IE 5.x and have monitors larger than 17", with fast broadband
connections. Not your average DSL. Most view their browsers
full-screen. So if you are on a PC with the default resolution of
800x600, you won't see the navigation. There are also buttons at
the lower right for navigation. It is absolutely not designed for
the average guy. I agree that the current design isn't where I want
it to be, that's why I'm having it redesigned.

-Tony

--
Michael Stone
http://www.pbase.com/mbstone
C2100
There are no strangers. Only friends we haven't met.

 

[Chad D]

Aloha

I would have to say that more and more are going to 1000 wide over 800 now almost 40/40
especially in the area of personal and art type sites

Peter,

My current site, NOT my new site, which you are commenting on, is
not designed for you, a salesman. I checked with my clients,
current and future, and they are almost exclusively on Macs using
IE 5.x and have monitors larger than 17", with fast broadband
connections. Not your average DSL. Most view their browsers
full-screen. So if you are on a PC with the default resolution of
800x600, you won't see the navigation. There are also buttons at
the lower right for navigation. It is absolutely not designed for
the average guy. I agree that the current design isn't where I want
it to be, that's why I'm having it redesigned.

-Tony

--
Michael Stone
http://www.pbase.com/mbstone
C2100
There are no strangers. Only friends we haven't met.

--
Chad D
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

 

[Chad D]

Aloha should have added though read the above thread really both sizes or sites that will work to any size browser etc... much more dynamic at this point in the game

Peter,

My current site, NOT my new site, which you are commenting on, is
not designed for you, a salesman. I checked with my clients,
current and future, and they are almost exclusively on Macs using
IE 5.x and have monitors larger than 17", with fast broadband
connections. Not your average DSL. Most view their browsers
full-screen. So if you are on a PC with the default resolution of
800x600, you won't see the navigation. There are also buttons at
the lower right for navigation. It is absolutely not designed for
the average guy. I agree that the current design isn't where I want
it to be, that's why I'm having it redesigned.

-Tony

--
Michael Stone
http://www.pbase.com/mbstone
C2100
There are no strangers. Only friends we haven't met.

--
Chad D
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

--
Chad D
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

 

[rams]

Just curious.

I am looking to develp a pro photography website.

Flash intro and about ten pages; one hundred thumbnailed photos
from a CD.

Willing to pay $ 500.

Please e-maill me at [email protected] if interested.

Thanks.

Mark

 

[Joe Farrugia]

Greetings from Malta!

Joe .... I found your post confrontational and offensive.

WHY? Can't you take (constructive) criticism?
I think you need to consider the very famous statement:

"accept criticism with self-EXAMINATION, not self-defence"

After thinking about it ... it is offensive because it offers your
negative opinion without explaining your position and suggesting a
solution.

I did, my friend, I did. Go back & read my post.

One should never let design get in the way of content when designing a website. Look at sites from large companies such as IBM, Yahoo! etc. Easy to navigate, easy to load sites.

But then Mr. Donaldson says he knows his clients have very fast connections & the exact configuration of their monitors etc.
But what about new, prospective agencies - ie, would-be clients?

regards from Malta,

--
JF

http://www.jfphotostudio.com
[email protected]

 

[Joe Farrugia]

Dear Mr. Donaldson

Joe, Before you flame me like this,

WHY do you think I'm flaming you? Can't you accept (constructive) criticism? Allow me to remind you of the very famous saying:

"Accept criticism with self-EXAMINATION, not self-defence."

Pity you're reacting so violently like this.

It was NOT my intention to offend, just to give feedback.

Oh, and please don't insult me by calling me illiterate.

Regards,

--
JF

http://www.jfphotostudio.com
[email protected]

 

[Joe Farrugia]

Aloha
well I must say your site in my eyes is screaming of help needed

Honu, you seem to be a proficient in your job. Can you be constructive, &
take your own advice:

better to say this is why I do not like it

As regards to:

or something rather than saying it sucks period ???

Oh, one last piece of advice, Honu: please go back & read carefully again MY post.

I NEVER said that. If you, like some others on this thread, can't accept criticism, let me remind you of that famous statement:

"Accept criticism with self-EXAMINATION, not self-defence"

--
JF

http://www.jfphotostudio.com
[email protected]

 

[mdante99]

Hi:
Thanks for asking.

I have received some very good responses; I have not decided yet.

I have a domain http://www.afineimage.com .

Mark

I am looking to develp a pro photography website.

Flash intro and about ten pages; one hundred thumbnailed photos
from a CD.

Willing to pay $ 500.

Please e-maill me at [email protected] if interested.

Thanks.

Mark

 

[Chad D]

Aloha
Sorry
didnt intentd to come off this way
I guess it is one of those years I am having

If you are serious I would do with your site (only cause you asked

would be to focus on say 3 of your nice photos for the front (I tend to use odd numbers if you can for display this is in general ??)
anyway make them a bit larger and try to do a collage of them maybe > ??
but put the focus on that (then have those in your galleries again)

as far as colors go I wold ditch the black and yellow text boxes and the blue and yellow text in the phot galleries box
and the yellow and blue text box for the main body etc..
basically find one color of text and one background color to use

I would try to cut down the block look of text and put a bit more about yourself on a page and if you have a pic of yourself put that on there to webcruisers like knowing who the site belongs to

agian getting back to text I would again choose one color of text (black is always best in my book

and also you have a odd mix of sans and sans serif fonts I tend to like sans for body and use serifs for callouts or to make text larger and make it stand out

http://www.hawaiicanines.org did this a bit ago was a quick site so not 100% yet but pretty close to give you an idea it took us 2 days to do
agian nothing special just clean and gets the point across

I would also try to come up with a set menu system say on the left side where most people will be looking for it and when you jump to the galleries page I would try to stick with the same background color and layout look etc.. so a user doesn't feel thrown off balance and again I would limit the fotns to one color

also the idea of BOLD is to make something stand out so if bold is used here and there and not in a set manner say just headings then it looses its impact

also on the galleries page if you notice the colored fonts do take away fomr focus on the images

I tend to like subdued colors low in hue for photogrpahy type sites if Iuse black or white as a background you will get two dif feelings

now another thought if you want to use more color use it like the canines site where each color is used for a certain region or division but you then have to carry that theme throughout also make sure that the colors look good together (a lot of info on color theory out there)

also remember a consistent theme (such as the paw prints and totem the guide dog in each corner (one note on fonts we used 3 on this site which I usually would not but there mail out material is done in the comic font so the owner wanted the top titles of the pages to have some feeling of the printed material)

Chad D
OH I did not proof read my post so sorry if punctuation is bad

Aloha
well I must say your site in my eyes is screaming of help needed

Honu, you seem to be a proficient in your job. Can you be
constructive, &
take your own advice:

better to say this is why I do not like it

As regards to:

or something rather than saying it sucks period ???

Oh, one last piece of advice, Honu: please go back & read carefully
again MY post.

I NEVER said that. If you, like some others on this thread, can't
accept criticism, let me remind you of that famous statement:

"Accept criticism with self-EXAMINATION, not self-defence"

--
JF

http://www.jfphotostudio.com
[email protected]

--
Chad D
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

 

[Nils Haeck]

Hi Mark,

Once you have a design you need to maintain it. Creating everything manually (thumbnail, image html, etc) after each change of photosets will be cumbersome at least.

Best to let the site "architecture" be built once, then use a website generator utility to do the muscle work.

Many of these generators allow for "templates" that are made by the user, and these templates are then filled in with thumbnails and images as the generator works. Find a student or neighbour boy that makes the template Finding someone here means that you are often too far apart to do the neccesary running back 'n forth to check the progress and make changes.

Nils

I am looking to develp a pro photography website.

Flash intro and about ten pages; one hundred thumbnailed photos
from a CD.

Willing to pay $ 500.

Please e-maill me at [email protected] if interested.

Thanks.

Mark

--
Nils Haeck
Developer of ABC-View Manager (image management software)
http://www.abc-view.com

 

[Karl H. Timmerman M.A.J.D.]

One should never let design get in the way of content when
designing a website.

Very good point! Think I'll look at my site again
Warmest Regards
Karl
Karl H. Timmerman M.A.,J.D.
http://www.karltimmerman.com

 

[Johnny Apertureseed]

Greetings from Malta!

You should go by the nickname "Falcon".

My current site isnt' very considerate, my new one will be more considerate of those on dialup. So perhaps when it is up you will find it in your Maltese heart to stop poking at me, Joe, I merely posted something here for reference for the original poster, you've apparently taken it for something it was not.

-Tony

 

[Joe Farrugia]

Greetings from Malta!

You should go by the nickname "Falcon".

My current site isnt' very considerate, my new one will be more
considerate of those on dialup. So perhaps when it is up you will
find it in your Maltese heart to stop poking at me, Joe, I merely
posted something here for reference for the original poster, you've
apparently taken it for something it was not.

-Tony

Tony:

If you consider honest, constructive, criticism as "poking", then maybe you shouldn't contribute to these forums at all - or to ANY forums for that matter.

If you do NOT wish others to respond to your post, why post the message in the first place?

So perhaps when it is up you will
find it in your Maltese heart to stop poking at me, Joe,

It seems that YOU are constantly poking provoking (=flaming....) me, Tony. If you think the above sentence is polite, then I don't think I have anything more to say other than I do find it harsh & offensive.

Hey Tony, why are we keeping this (thread) on a personal level - rather than on a professional level?

Tony, let's concentrate on the original purpose of this thread; which is, just in case anyone forgot:

WEBSITE DESIGN

Maybe that way we will get somewhere.

Regards,
--
JF

http://www.jfphotostudio.com
[email protected]

"Before you can taste my tea, you must empty your cup"

 

[Johnny Apertureseed]

Joe,

I'm fine with criticism. I won't offer any of my own. And I'm also happy to get this back to the discussion it originally started with, my intention in the first place. I participate here, like anyone else, as I have found this to be a helpful and informative forum. If you dislike my comments, feel free to note my name next to any post and avoid it.

Sincerely,

Tony

 

[Joe Farrugia]

What cheek!

 

[Karl H. Timmerman M.A.J.D.]

What cheek!

(chuckling) ... Joe ... I read this whole thread ... including your responses. I mean no ill will nor disrespect, (but even if I did ... who cares). You seem to have a need to have the "final" say. So ... I will let you have it as a response to this post. The formost sign of "intellect" .. is the ability to acknowledge the validity of dissenting opinion: because of the possibility of increasing one's awareness of reality, by experiencing someone else's. Another sign of "intellect" is the ability to accept differing solutions. Your standard response to posts, is to attack the speaker ... rather than the message. One can only conclude that you lack sufficient "intellectual" horsepower to power an ant's motor scooter around the inside of a cheereo. Persons of good will, disagree without becoming disagreeable .... on that note .. I wish you my warmest ..
Regards
Karl
Karl H. Timmerman M.A.,J.D.
http://www.karltimmerman.com

 

[Azh]

I don't know if you have made up your mind yet, but a tip is to get someone who have a content managent system thats easy to change.

Then you get a good "shell" for your site and can add all the content by yourself, it's cheaper in the long run too since you can update it by yourself.

Talking about images you can do some good scripts that shows the images automaticlly, without having to change html code and such.

I have made these that work really good for me:

Shows images from a folder using flash MX.
http://www.pixelpushers.nu/david/test/

and this one.
http://www.pixelpushers.nu/bildarkiv

Good luck!
David

 

[Iris Richardson]

Better yet take that $500 and learn to create your own site. You will benefit by knowing how much time and knowlege is required. You also can now up keep your own site. A good photographers web site needs constand maintenance. You need to be able to upload new work. It gets pretty costly if you need another person everytime you want a change.

My experience has been that people who do not understand the whole process of developing a site can not even begin to put a fair price on the project.

Moreover how picky you are can determine the final cost? If you want to make a change, each change can take another hour. Would you put the sweat equity in and prepare/size all your images. Come up with an design and layout? I never would consider anything in the $500 range. Even a cooky cutter site takes time.

To be fair to web developer and students shop around and see what a site as the one you describes would cost in the going market. Do your home work.

As photographers we try not to be insultat when a client comes to us and offeres us $50 per image or in general tells us what we should charge. I try to remember that when I need creative work done by other artists. I try to educate my clients. But I find it sad that I would have to educate my fellow artist about the value of our work.

Just think how much would you charge for 100 images shot digitally, color corrected and prepped and delivered. Without a layout. Would you do it for $500?
Iris

 

[Iris Richardson]

There is a great book out there which can help you figure out the rates as well as the time investment developing web pages.

"Pricing Guide for Web Services" By Robert Brenner, Second Edition http://www.brennerbooks.com

Iris

PS. I just don't think anybody should work for free. I thought we are past the slave trade.

If you had charged for this work what sort of approximate cost
would it have worked out at? As a UK public sector
webmaster/intranet developer on a civil service salary, I'm
interested frankly because I have absolutely no idea of what the
going rate is for the kind of work I do. I can see an opportunity
for some negotiations with my employer...

 

[Joe Farrugia]

(chuckling) ... Joe ... I read this whole thread ... including
your responses. I mean no ill will nor disrespect,

Really? From what you wrote further down, you only "attack the speaker ... rather than the message."

You seem to have a need to have the "final" say.

I have a right, like anybody else, to respond anytime I deem fit.

As regards to:

The
formost sign of "intellect" .. is the ability to acknowledge the
validity of dissenting opinion: because of the possibility of
increasing one's awareness of reality, by experiencing someone
else's. Another sign of "intellect" is the ability to accept
differing solutions.

TELL THAT to Mr. Donaldson! It is HE who reacted violently to honest feedback on his site.

Your standard response to posts, is to attack
the speaker ... rather than the message.

What Cheek! Where have I done this?

One can only conclude
that you lack sufficient "intellectual" horsepower to power an
ant's motor scooter around the inside of a cheereo.

Who's being offensive? In the same post that you're accusing me of attacking people, you have the cheek to offend me in this way. GROW UP, mate.

Oh, and learn to read while you're at it.
Persons of good

on that note .. I wish you my warmest ..

Sorry KHT, I don't accept any of your wishes, warm or cold.....

--
JF

http://www.jfphotostudio.com
[email protected]