Refreshed my site...

DeanPhoto

DeanPhoto

Messages
332
Name
Dean Smith
Edit My Images
No
I recently refreshed the look of my site. I was hoping for some feedback if possible?

http://deanphoto.co.uk

It's probably the least interactive site out there, but have I pulled it off? Is it too simple? I'd like to be able to have the portfolio images resizable to the screen (I'd like larger res images but I've stuck to 1200pix max) and also a strip of thumbnails however, I can't seem to find any software/scripts that can pull this off.

All the info needed by an art ed is on the site: I'm a freelance photographer, I have a mobile phone and an email address. Is this too little though? Should I consider a Client list/tear sheet's, an about me etc?

I've seen what I'd like in a site, but I have no idea how to do it and therefore I'd have to pay to get it done. I've had an estimate for the work involved, it may be worth it in the future but for now I can't justify the cost.

Any thoughts would be great.

Thanks

//Dean
 
Stunning images, plain and simple site which the images carry. Enjoyed my visit ;)
 
Nice looking but instantly frustrated with the way the portfolio works, and on my MacBook it's just too damned big!

I do like the overall look/idea though :D
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. So in a nutshell, the content is ok however, the Portfolio would be much improved if the images were resizeable to the browser and you could choose from thumbnails?
 
Aargh the scroll bar :D it would be better if the images resized to the browser. I'm on a 19" monitor and having to scroll down on websites like that bugs me!

Pretty good apart from that though, very simple.
 
Fantastic shots which carry the site - and they need to since there's not much else. Although if that's all the details your clients will need then that's great. I certainly think it's worth adding some navigation control, if only a strip of thumbnails like you say. Also might be worth making the images scalable to fit smaller screens (y)

Seriously great images though :)
 
Found the site a little too slow to load, if i was genuinely looking for a freelance tog to take some shots of my car I'm not sure I'd wait that long before moving onto the next.

Oh and as above, definitely add some navigation of the images and ability to use different sizes for different people's res's
 
MichaelPlace said:
Found the site a little too slow to load, if i was genuinely looking for a freelance tog to take some shots of my car I'm not sure I'd wait that long before moving onto the next.
Click to expand...

That's interesting IIt's the first time speed has been mentioned, anyone else?

:ty:
 
I like it, it's refreshing. I'd maybe speed up the slideshow a little bit. The photography definitely does all the talking on this. I did sort of thing it felt more like a holding page, but actually, it's not too bad.
 
I'm not too sure, on my internet, the first thing I noticed is that it is slower to load then others, but no biggie as my internet is slow.

Next thing is that pictures didn't fit my 1024x768 screen, quite annoying..

Finally, the pictures could maybe do with a forward arrow, a back arrow and maybe a pause arrow at the bottom and very small text below the pause to say how long there is between every slide.

just my 2 pence :)
 
I use simpleviewer (free online) for serving photos and thumbnails. The photos will automatically scale for monitor size etc. so using that you could add the functionality of thumbnails and scrolling through the portfolio with relative ease. I think you should be able to click on your name/phone number and be taken to a contact page which might also have a list of your clients etc. - you need to sell yourself in a number of ways - showing your portfolio is one, showing your clients is another... You can still keep it simple - which is good in my opinion...
 
Yep, fantastic site, Easy to use, fast loading and stunning images, however i do feel that it would benefit from a nice unwashed, 07 plate, silver VW Sharan! What do you recon? :LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Very cool indeed, I like the portfolio layout. Only thing that would be good on the services and client list pages is a back button, to return to the home screen rather than pressing back on my browser ;)
 
MikeeB said:
Very cool indeed, I like the portfolio layout. Only thing that would be good on the services and client list pages is a back button, to return to the home screen rather than pressing back on my browser ;)
Click to expand...

I did think about that and instead made the '//deanphoto.' logo clickable, maybe I'll put a link to 'Home' instead?
 
Yeah that works better (y)
 
Not sure if anyone else is having the same issue, but your Portfolio page won't even load in Firefox. It's fine on IE7 but in FF I just get the BananAlbum logo and then a black page.

And when I am in the gallery I've got no easy way to get back to your homepage. I'd expect to be able to click the '//deanphoto.' logo and head back there, but all it does is move me to the next image.
 
I really like this!

Dean, have you thought about using Simpleviewer and change the code slightly? Like I have done on my site. Click (photographs are no where near as good as yours! :) lol)
 
glitch said:
Not sure if anyone else is having the same issue, but your Portfolio page won't even load in Firefox. It's fine on IE7 but in FF I just get the BananAlbum logo and then a black page.

And when I am in the gallery I've got no easy way to get back to your homepage. I'd expect to be able to click the '//deanphoto.' logo and head back there, but all it does is move me to the next image.
Click to expand...

You're not the first to mention it not working in Firefox (You should be using a proper browser like Safari anyway :D). I wonder if this is an issue with JAlbum??

I can't edit the code in JAlbum so I can't add a 'home' link, unfortunately.
 
DeanPhoto said:
You're not the first to mention it not working in Firefox (You should be using a proper browser like Safari anyway :D)
Click to expand...
Well, if you're going to limit yourself to Safari users then you're losing a hefty share of your potential customers, with FF having around 25.5% of the market share at last count.

Although I seem to recall Safari was doing okay and increasing its market share to around the 8.2% mark.

DeanPhoto said:
I wonder if this is an issue with JAlbum??
Click to expand...
Not with JAlbum, as I've been toying with it myself recently. And doesn't seem to be BananAlbum as I've just tested it with their demo galleries and few other installations on various sites.

DeanPhoto said:
I can't edit the code in JAlbum so I can't add a 'home' link, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Boo, hiss. What about the paid-for version?
 
glitch said:
Well, if you're going to limit yourself to Safari users then you're losing a hefty share of your potential customers, with FF having around 25.5% of the market share at last count.

Although I seem to recall Safari was doing okay and increasing its market share to around the 8.2% mark.

Not with JAlbum, as I've been toying with it myself recently. And doesn't seem to be BananAlbum as I've just tested it with their demo galleries and few other installations on various sites.

Boo, hiss. What about the paid-for version?
Click to expand...

I was kidding about the browsers :D I'll have a look at it over the weekend but I can't fathom why it's not working as it's just jalbum, no editing of the code etc etc??

I don't really want to spend money on jalabum in all honesty. I'm currently saving to have someone design the site properly, it'll cost big bucks but it sure is going to be pretty :)
 
DeanPhoto said:
I was kidding about the browsers :D I'll have a look at it over the weekend but I can't fathom why it's not working as it's just jalbum, no editing of the code etc etc??
Click to expand...
That's okay, so was I.

And if you need a FF tester I'll be happy to help out.

DeanPhoto said:
I don't really want to spend money on jalabum in all honesty. I'm currently saving to have someone design the site properly, it'll cost big bucks but it sure is going to be pretty :)
Click to expand...
What, prettier than it is now? That'll be worth seeing.
 
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