Website suggestions

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The membership of Bradford Photographic Society is on the increase again, after it bottomed-out a few years ago. A poster campaign over the last three summers has helped significantly. The society got a 2-page spread in the local newspaper in September. It will also run an exhibition in December/January. So increasing its profile is working well for us.

I was wondering if anything should be done about the society's website, and I am seeking polite, constructive criticism (and praise), together with any suggestions for improvement with respect to attracting more members.

- No longer operational -

And, if you think it's fine as it is, please say so too!
Thank you in advance.
 
Hi Keith

The website is looking a bit dated now in style, but hey if it get the punters in, its doing its job well.

I'd move over to a content management system such as e107 or Joomla

Heres one of out local ones done in Joomla

http://www.kinrosscameraclub.org.uk/

Hope this helps

Trev
 
The address is a little long winded and not easy to remember so I'd look at getting a dedicated domain name and I'm not too sure about the background to the pages, some of the text (mainly pink) is lost.

On a brighter note, it quick and smooth at loading so no problems there.
 
It's got all the information there, but it does look like it was designed in the mid 90's and there's nothing to really grab my attention on the first page.

I also agree that a more memorable URL would go a long way towards helping promote the site. Perhaps a blog on there which members contribute towards with some of their work, or upcoming events?
 
I am sorry to be critical but if I have to be honest I am not a fan. Whilst I don't think many people expect a local camera club to be state of the art, a decent site design would encourage users to explore the site fully, in turn learning more about the club and hopefully increasing the membership!

First and foremost, the overall design and style of the site (as mentioned by others) really does look incredibly dated. As a first port of call for potential members I don't feel this does you any favours. The navigation menu is very badly placed requiring me to scroll through a rather long list of names to get to (which in itself would probably be better placed in a separate dedicated page, reserving the front page for a short introduction to the club). I would suggest a more conventional top or side based navigation bar.

Another note is in regards to the navigation, generally speaking I would suggest trying to reduce the length of some of the pages by splitting them up into their own pages, e.g. the Trophies and Competitions page. This could easily be under its own section with a brief introduction then a sub page for the different types of competition. The navigation should also be consistent from page to page and there should be a quick and easy way to return to the home page - this is highlighted in the gallery pages whereby there is no quick method to navigate to another section of the site.

Usability on different devices and accessibility don't seem to have been considered although for a site of this type and size this may not be an issue.

On the positive side, the site seems to have a lot of information on it - with some changes in the design I feel it could be a very good camera club website.
 
It seems to very out dates and rather un-appealing :( As someone who was actually looking at local photography societies the site certainly put me off. It gives the impression that the whole club is out dated to be honest.

Design wise having to scroll to the bottom to navigate is a pretty big pain in the arse and must loose a lot of visitors, as said above the domain names is also very hard to remember. I also find some of the text hard to read against that background....

...only first thought, will think some more when I am more awake :)
 
Well,

Its definately old school! :)

1: A better domain is essential

2: A dedicated navigation bar would really help

3: A warm and welcoming image / selection of images on the homepage could really drive home the "photographic" message

4: Not keen on the custard coloured background

I think in short, the best advice, would be to look around at other photography related web sites, draw up a shortlist of the best and then start again with a fresh and modern focus.

Hope this helps,

Gary.
 
I have to agree with all the above. The nav bar should be at the top either vertical or horizontal, but at the top.

Yes it does look very very dated, if fact it's so bad it looks like the site has been abandoned.
 
Many thanks to everybody for taking the time to reply. It's much appreciated!
 
The good news is you have all the info written down and in a .html file, so a huge improvement would be made by just changing the layout and style, without all the hard work of gathering and typing the pages from scratch.

I'd do a lot of it using a cascading style sheet, saves so much time and typing
 
Got to say I agree with all the above comments, it surprises me just how many Photographic societies have these dated web pages when surely they have some creative members who could fix the problem for free in a couple of evening work. I looked around for a sheffield based society and was put off alot of them by the stuffy image the web page portrayed. the drab 90's design instantly made me think of a room full of old men with a slide projector shunning anything that has been invented since auto focus became popular.
 
Well, thanks for everybody's feedback! It's been very enlightening.

In the light of everything that's been said, I've put together a prototype website in an attempt to promote the club online, and present a more modern image. It's looking a bit sparse at the moment, but that's because I can't really start adding more content without club approval.

If you have the time, please give constructive critique on the prototype. All suggestions are very welcome. I also added a poll to the website for honest feedback.

***Website closed down.***
 
its very obviously using the default joomla theme. Have you found any others which give it a less generic feel?

For the forum pages and the gallery pages, turn off or relocate the RH column and it will expand to full screen width. These pages look cluttered.
 
To be honest, I haven't spent much time looking through the themes. Maybe I ought to try a few out.
 
Can you recommend a source of decent templates? All the ones I've looked at have a wheel coming off.
 
Anyway, besides the template, what about content? Any suggestions for additional sections? I thought about some tutorials, written by members, might be a cool thing for attracting visitors.
 
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