website design

Kev M

Kev M

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I know this is a photography forum but I know a few of you have your own sites and I could do with explanations from photographers, not computer nerds that will talk way over my head:bang: . Basically I'm using JAlbum to create the galleries and the skin I'm going with uses frames. I vaguely remember hearing something derogatory about frames before but can't remember what:shrug: . I really like a skin that uses frames but I want an equal balance between style and functionality and not just one of them. Are frames a problem in general or is it just for the front page that they cause problems? If so the front page will more than likely be a normal page not containing frames. At least this time it looks like my gallery will display alright in firefox which my current one doesn't.

Also, what's peoples opinions on flash intros. Worth the effort or the devils work?

Thanks all
Kev
 
Hi Kev,

Frames can look very strange on small screens. I used to have a website that had a frame with a menu accross the top. It looked fine on my PC as the bar menu was quite small. My mother still uses a 800x600 screen and it looked awful with a quarter of the page being taken up by the menu. If I were you I'd avoid them where possible.
 
Actually its computer geeks, and I'm one of them (as well as a budding photographer). You'll find the nerds are the mathematician related side of things, its cool to be a geeks these days.

Geeks who are good enough know how to convey things to normal people so that they can understand them without bombarding them with technical buzzwords and the like.

Frames and websites are funny things, some people love them, some people hate them. I have used them in the past but nowadays I use tables instead - it almost looks like I have three frames in that the left hand side of the site where the links are stays the same as does the bar at the top but the content on the right changes when you click on a link.

The best thing to do is set up your site exactly how you want it and then preview it in Internet Explorer and firefox too, if it looks okay - great, there shouldn't be too many people with smaller monitors and resolutions but there will be occasions where certain people can't view them - what you have to think about is are the people who you want to be able to look at it. Who will be looking at your site? what kind of systems will they be running? - photographers will run their pcs in higher resolutions anyway but joe public might still like 800x600 on their brand new 19" dell flatscreen.

In regards to flash animations it depends if they server a purpose, if you really want one there then add a skip button below it so that the people who aren't interested can get straight to the site - I know that I click that button each time.

A flash animation adds loading times to sites and they aren't all that special nowadays - everyone has one. In my humble opinion - a site needs to look clean, tidy, uncluttered and easy to navigate without having glaring colours and things.

www.mattcharlton.co.uk

I just adapted a dreamweaver entertainment template and changed a few bits and pieces around, the design side of things has never been my forte.

And next time, less of the bad mouthing computer geeky types ;) we're not all bad.
 
Yeah DVDs, my first love. Bloody expensive hobby and they don't half devalue quick, unless you have limited edition tin disney box sets imported from the USA of course ;)

Thanks for the comments :)
 
At the moment the new site is being built on my new laptop which is one of those widescreen jobbies so I'll try it on the home PC tomorrow to see if it displays any different.

Apologies for referring to your type as nerds instead of geeks, I sit corrected.;)
 
I used xhtml with tables and css for my site.
The tables are useful to keep the layout in check when different browsers are used.
Keep it as simple as possible, and you shouldn't have to much of a problem moving away from frames.

I quite enjoy science, maths and computers, so does that make me a 'tifal headed geek nerd'? :D
 
Matt said:
I quite enjoy science, maths and computers
Click to expand...

I bet you get invited to a lot of parties :LOL:

I always tell the kids that Maths is a beautiful subject (fractals etc). Love Science but had a crap teacher at school. We used to sit at the back of the class and mess around with those 12V convertors....hook up the leads and hey presto....instant burning of wooden desks.
As for computers....well, I remember back in 1977 a teacher telling me...."computers are the future"....my reply....."what's a computer"!!

Back on topic...I avoid Flash intros....i find I usually get arrested :LOL:
 
I used to love science and maths. The pure logicality of it inspired me (I'm that sort of person who loves being logical :D)
Although I hated school, so didn't really get more into it.
I still love maths, science, and my lifelong interest, computers.

I've always considered myself quite geeky. :D And proud of it too....

As for the topic. I beleive frames are a no-no.

I designed my site from scratch :D in HTML and CSS .Using something similar to tables.
Completely customisable, and cross browser compatible.
 
I can (use) Flash (& dreamweaver but really don't like it much) but all of that extra mad programming stuff is just way out of my depth - I can write some quite advanced actionscript though which is a little wierd considering I cannot stand programming of any sort (I hate nerds :razz: :D ).
Am working on building my own site at the moment, actually got quite far into it & had all of the ideas sorted when all of my work kicked off & I haven't had time to get back to it since (homepage is in progress but nothing up on the net until I've ironed out the bugs).
I also dislike flash intro's (well, in most cases :naughty: :LOL: ) unless a "skip" button is available & they are well done, not overdone.
Often a simple, looping slideshow of images is enough to give a good impression & is verrry simple to do. If you are still working on your site when my works calmed down a bit (if that ever happens), I'll see if I can put an example of what I mean together for you. (y)
Good luck with the site design.
 
I'd thought about a slideshow for the front page but wouldn't know where to start. The gallery layout is pretty much sorted I think so I'll post a link to the trial version later and you can tell me what you think if that's ok. Now I need to work on the front pages.
 
SW4peter said:
What's the easiest way of doing this then? I keep meaning to add one to the villa website
Click to expand...

Just a simple slideshow of images in flash with a motion and/or opacity tween between the images. If you could send me the dimensions of the banner for your site, I may be able to find a few mins today to show you what I mean.(y)
Cheers,
Mike.
 
Brains said:
Yep. I have now switched to CMS (joomla.com) for a lot of my sites. It's quick and very powerful with a lot of addons/templates etc. It's also free. Good community support. Multi-national corporations use it.
Click to expand...

Whats ya url? I never got on with joomla/mambo. Just too many options for my liking, what with me being simple an all. ;)
 
Yeah I always find they have too many options too Brummie, seems like overkill for what I want to do :(
 
Done some work on mine today :D the www.scham.be one

Thats a CMS but has just what i need. There are loads to choose from dont give up on them ;)
 
Joomla can have a bit of a steep learning curve for the novice but I find that it gives me more time for content.

I still produce the odd quick template site (i.e. php template in Dreamweaver) such as www.orang-utan.info (If anyone would like their Orang-Utan photos featured let me know). Hey, maybe I could run a little competition :)

Loads of other sites but most a little dated now.... www.automart.co.uk still my main breadwinner but in need of a graphical update.

www.drawme.co.uk is a busy site too. Discount for any forum members. ;)

www.weddingdepot.co.uk needs some more content and working on cross browser issues but is getting there.

www.kidables.co.uk is a very basic affiliate portal.
www.funnybox.co.uk is a basic clone of the above.

www.indonesiawalk.org - for a sponsored walk earlier in the year.

...+ loads of others. Most of the sites I own took less than a day to produce. Most are fairly simple HTML/PHP

For those that say CMS is beyond them or HTML is too difficult I would say stick at it. You have to start somewhere and there are plenty of places where you can find support.
 
Right it's pretty much done for now. Need to change one of the buttons and get a decent pic of myself and the main bit is done. Would appreciate your comments especially with regards to the layout of the gallery and it's ease of use. The most up to date stuff is under cars>Auto-X>ANECCC Rd13.

Cheers
Kev

www.roostphotography.co.uk
 
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