My Site opinions please

Hi Matt

Had a look.
Most looks good.
Small considerations you may want to think about :

1. Your name design font at top is difficult to read - maybe just me.

2. In some portrait thumbnails the models head is chopped off - doesn't look good.

3. A word missing - "I am still learning when it comes to photography but I currently moving more into..."

Good luck with your project.
 
Front end looks good, but no Keywords nor Description in code. How will search engines find you?
 
Hi Matt

Had a look.
Most looks good.
Small considerations you may want to think about :

1. Your name design font at top is difficult to read - maybe just me.

2. In some portrait thumbnails the models head is chopped off - doesn't look good.

3. A word missing - "I am still learning when it comes to photography but I currently moving more into..."

Good luck with your project.

1. I quite like that as it is atm may get changed futher down the line but for the time being i like it.

2. I dont know how i can get that to stop happening :(

3. thanks for that :LOL: didnt notice, will get it changed as soon as possible :LOL:

Front end looks good, but no Keywords nor Description in code. How will search engines find you?

thats getting sorted soon, like i say its not totally there yet but its just the basics.

hopefully i will get chance to sort out some gifs or something on the main gallery selection page so that it isnt just the same picture showing constantly and it rolls through a few.
 
Home:

Nice simple homepage here. Nothing majorly wrong but could probably do with a bit of jazzing up. I'm not madly keen on the font used in the logo, but if that's what you want to go with it might be worth seeing if you could implement the same font throughout the site. Compared with the logo the menu text seems a bit bland.

I love the photo in the centre of the page and it's extremely striking, although the black background does slightly bleed into the darker areas of the image itself. My only suggestion for the photo itself would be a bit of PHP image rotation to keep it looking fresh every time you visit.

Last point would be the slightly wasted space on the edges of the frame. There's a lot of black there and it feels a bit overpowering, what with everything being in the middle.

Gallery:

I love the way the menu and the logo stay in exactly the same place when I click on the Gallery. I had feared everything would move around so that's great to see.

Not so keen on the way all the gallery thumbnails are aligned to the left, but that's an easy thing to sort. I do really like the two thumbnails for the Portraits and Motoring, but I'm getting a blank white square for Places. And while I can see the Miscellaneous thumbnail, I'd prefer that to be the same size as the other three.

And again, I'd really like to see a smarter font introduced for the text. Even if that means making buttons so you can incorporate the font used in the logo.

Galleries:

Ah. Now we've got a light movement of the logo and the menu to the left. Only a small one but as it's white on black it's immediately noticeable.

The gallery is nicely implemented but I've got a couple of issues with how Simpleviewer works. On my 'regular' sized browser window the first image is cut off and I'd need to scroll down in order to see it. But when I scroll my mouse wheel I start to scroll through the various thumbnails. It's not your fault but it is bloody annoying.

There's another little problem here, although not a major one, in that there's no real 'easy' way to get back to the four galleries. Of course I can click on 'Galleries' at the top, but I'd like a way to be able to jump in-between the four at will. Perhaps a sub-menu under the main one?

About:

Again we've got a slight shift in the alignment of the logo and the menu, but this time it's somewhere in-between the other two.

I've got an issue with your wording on this page. You say:
Matt Lindop said:
Firstly welcome to my site, my name is Matt Lindop I am 20 years old and based in Staffordshire.
But this isn't the first page your visitors will come to. I'd rework that sentence and drop the 'Firstly' bit.

And all of the second paragraph has no place on a portfolio site. Don't tell people you are learning, don't sell yourself short and don't give your potential customers more information that they really need to know.

Also forget about the equipment as it's of no interest to potential customers and a nice advert to potential thieves. And don't include links to other websites as all you're doing is encouraging people to leave yours.

Contact:

Alignment of the logo and menu is back to that of the homepage, so a decision needs to be made about where it's going to sit on all of them.

No major issues here, but a couple of moans. If you are going to forgo a Contact Form and force people into opening their own email client, at least give them a hyperlinked mailto address to work with. I really don't appreciate having to be copy and paste your email address. Secondly, keep facebook as far away from your website as you possibly can. You do not want potential customers visiting your page and possibly seeing something about you that they really don't want to.

Overall:

A fine effort in spite of a few little mistakes here and there and certainly a sound basis from which to work from. The galleries need a little more work and a bit more content but the photography itself is very nice and a credit to your quite professional-looking website.
 
From quick look I like what I see, clean simple. I did notice one i instead of I also in your 'about' section I would try and lose some of the 'and' word also taking lessons from would sound better to me than 'off ' Paolo Laroso.

Good luck
 
Home:

Nice simple homepage here. Nothing majorly wrong but could probably do with a bit of jazzing up. I'm not madly keen on the font used in the logo, but if that's what you want to go with it might be worth seeing if you could implement the same font throughout the site. Compared with the logo the menu text seems a bit bland.

The logo will probably change futher down the line but atm i like it so going to leave it, and yes i do agree with the rest of the writting i need to look into fonts that dont look boring but are still easily read.

I love the photo in the centre of the page and it's extremely striking, although the black background does slightly bleed into the darker areas of the image itself. My only suggestion for the photo itself would be a bit of PHP image rotation to keep it looking fresh every time you visit.

yeh i need to do that at some point to have it scrolling, i like they way it does slightly blend in with the back ground, i need to find some similar pictures as i know it sounds weird but i dont want it to jump out when you first go on to it if that makes sense,

Last point would be the slightly wasted space on the edges of the frame. There's a lot of black there and it feels a bit overpowering, what with everything being in the middle.

Yeh again i agree but i dont know what i can do to cure this.
Gallery:

I love the way the menu and the logo stay in exactly the same place when I click on the Gallery. I had feared everything would move around so that's great to see.

Not so keen on the way all the gallery thumbnails are aligned to the left, but that's an easy thing to sort. I do really like the two thumbnails for the Portraits and Motoring, but I'm getting a blank white square for Places. And while I can see the Miscellaneous thumbnail, I'd prefer that to be the same size as the other three.

places is a blank sqaure atm as i have no suitable picture (i want to find a road/street with 'place' in the name and get that. but i i am going to create something so that it scrolls through a few images like the main screen will at some point.)

where would you prefer the thumbnails to be? as i can put them to the right and im sure below.


And again, I'd really like to see a smarter font introduced for the text. Even if that means making buttons so you can incorporate the font used in the logo.

Galleries:

Ah. Now we've got a light movement of the logo and the menu to the left. Only a small one but as it's white on black it's immediately noticeable.

tbh i had never noticed that so thanks for pointing it out

The gallery is nicely implemented but I've got a couple of issues with how Simpleviewer works. On my 'regular' sized browser window the first image is cut off and I'd need to scroll down in order to see it. But when I scroll my mouse wheel I start to scroll through the various thumbnails. It's not your fault but it is bloody annoying.

Yeh i hate the fact it scrolls like that aswell :( but i dont think that can be solved simply :LOL:

There's another little problem here, although not a major one, in that there's no real 'easy' way to get back to the four galleries. Of course I can click on 'Galleries' at the top, but I'd like a way to be able to jump in-between the four at will. Perhaps a sub-menu under the main one?

will see how possible that is

About:

Again we've got a slight shift in the alignment of the logo and the menu, but this time it's somewhere in-between the other two.

will have a look into this issue

I've got an issue with your wording on this page. You say:
But this isn't the first page your visitors will come to. I'd rework that sentence and drop the 'Firstly' bit.

And all of the second paragraph has no place on a portfolio site. Don't tell people you are learning, don't sell yourself short and don't give your potential customers more information that they really need to know.

Also forget about the equipment as it's of no interest to potential customers and a nice advert to potential thieves. And don't include links to other websites as all you're doing is encouraging people to leave yours.

i may get rid of the whole page or find something else to put on there

Contact:

Alignment of the logo and menu is back to that of the homepage, so a decision needs to be made about where it's going to sit on all of them.

will all be the same as home page

No major issues here, but a couple of moans. If you are going to forgo a Contact Form and force people into opening their own email client, at least give them a hyperlinked mailto address to work with. I really don't appreciate having to be copy and paste your email address. Secondly, keep facebook as far away from your website as you possibly can. You do not want potential customers visiting your page and possibly seeing something about you that they really don't want to.

yeh my mate said the same about facebook, will take the link down or start up a new facebook for my photography specifically. and yeh i decided not to hyperlink the site as in my opwn experiences it opened outlook which most people dont have set up (which always annoyed me when i was doing it :LOL: but i will get it to hyperlink

Overall:

A fine effort in spite of a few little mistakes here and there and certainly a sound basis from which to work from. The galleries need a little more work and a bit more content but the photography itself is very nice and a credit to your quite professional-looking website.

thanks for the comments all very much appreciated. and yeh i need to actually get using my camera to come up with pictures that are good enough to show :LOL:
 
Hey Matt,

Your website is quite good. I especially like the presentation of your albums. Nice flash part.

I have a couple of suggestion though:

Try making it fixed width, i.e. 800px. If someone’s screen is wide all the content is going in one line across the screen. If you make it fixed the design will be consistent throughout and easier to read and look at.

Navigation: maybe add a background (i.e. dark grey) to the whole nav bit and make font bold. And play around with the fonts, I especially like Georgia. It will defiantly stand out more.

I would take your contact details out and have a form instead or make an image from your email at least. By leaving your email like this the auto bots will pick it up and you will end up receiving a lot of SPAM.

Maybe add a links section. Other photographers or relevant sites will be able to exchange links with you to help with traffic and SEO.

Maybe add a guest book or some form of comments, so people can leave feedback.

Hope it helps

Dmitri
 
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