Website v3 - Comments Please!

electrolyte · 20-07-2008, 8:38 PM

As some of you will recall on this thread here, I had sorted out my website v2 just how I wanted it. It was created using a Lightroom plugin called Lightroomgalleries. Everything was great until my website hosting company, fasthosts.co.uk, decided to upgrade PHP to v5 last week. This prevented my website from loading. This was bad and after much searching and fiddling I decided that the problem was Lightroomgalleries.

So I ditched LRG and created v3 of my website using a new series of plugins for Lightroom from the Turning GATE.

I love the simplicity of my new site but I am a bit concerned with the galleries. They look very flash but I am worried that visitors may get lost in them. Please could you do me a favour and try them out here? www.simonbutlerphotography.com.

Cheers

Simon

stevegreen · 20-07-2008, 9:01 PM

I think that works nicely Simon, nice and simple and very effective.

denno75uk · 20-07-2008, 9:03 PM

Seems fine to me Simon. Easy to navigate. Gallery loading is smooth and not complicated.
Blog's coming along nicely, but a pain you can't comment without a being another blogger or having a Google account.
So, watched Top Gun yet?

Paulie-W · 20-07-2008, 9:06 PM

That is soooo much nicer than the old one mate. Nice job

Liquid101 · 20-07-2008, 9:12 PM

Nice and simple - I'm not a big fan of black background websites, but thats a purely personal thing.

Also, your gallery titles are appearing twice - is this intentional?

electrolyte · 20-07-2008, 9:22 PM

Thanks guys, glad you like it. And I'm also glad you didn't get lost when you looked through the individual galleries.

Quote:

Originally Posted by denno75uk

Blog's coming along nicely, but a pain you can't comment without a being another blogger or having a Google account.
So, watched Top Gun yet?

Shame, you should have registered (or created your own blog!).

No, I haven't watched it yet! I have a feeling that it will be like a lot of films I sky+ because I fancy watching but don't get round to it. It will stay on my planner for 6 months and then when sky+ been filled up with Yu-Gi-Oh and other such rubbish I will be forced to delete it. But I am determined to make the time to watch it soon...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Nice and simple - I'm not a big fan of black background websites, but thats a purely personal thing.

Also, your gallery titles are appearing twice - is this intentional?

Thanks Scott. No, that wasn't intentional, wasn't intentional. They should be different - a title and a description for each photo. I will have to look into that.

Pieeater · 20-07-2008, 9:24 PM

Hi Simon,

Great website. I did notice that there was no 'Next' button to scroll through the children's portraits.

GaryK26 · 20-07-2008, 9:28 PM

Simon - I agree with all of the above, v3 is very nice and load times are minimal. You've made good use of the TTG plugins.

BTW - There is a typo on the on About, Awards Won page...
I have won four photo of the month competitions overe at avforums.com.

Regards
Gary

konastab01 · 20-07-2008, 9:32 PM

Simply to navigate,looks good.
Althought I would change how some of the stuff is worded

Tobers · 20-07-2008, 9:44 PM

Looks nice and simple but I found it a bit difficult to find my way back once I was in a gallery. There's no "home" link or an indicator to tell you what level of the hierarchy you are in. "Previous" and "Next" are a bit confusing. I though it would take me to the next photo but it takes me to the next gallery instead until you notice that the previous and next are "nested" when you are looking at a full-sized version of a photo.

Is there a way to put a link on the top right to get you back to the home page, or even better put your home page nav bar in.

Also, I suggest that you put a link to the photo site right at the top of your blog as similarly there isn't a link back to it.

Simplicity is all - people are used to seeing something like...

Simon Butler Photography > Galleries > People

...at the top of a page so they can figure out where they are and how to get back.

Good progress though. Get these tweaks sorted and you'll be laughing.

electrolyte · 20-07-2008, 9:52 PM

Thanks again guys - you're brilliant, you're spotting all my mistakes and bugs for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pieeater

Hi Simon,

Great website. I did notice that there was no 'Next' button to scroll through the children's portraits.

Hmm, there should be, something has gone wrong here. I think I will need to upload the gallery again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryK26

Simon - I agree with all of the above, v3 is very nice and load times are minimal. You've made good use of the TTG plugins.

BTW - There is a typo on the on About, Awards Won page...
I have won four photo of the month competitions overe at avforums.com.

Regards
Gary

Doh! My fat fingers strike again. Thanks for pointing that one out; will change it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by konastab01

Simply to navigate,looks good.
Althought I would change how some of the stuff is worded

Thanks mate. How would you change it?

bowenjones · 20-07-2008, 9:52 PM

Very nice and easy to navigate layout Simon. As has been mentioned, loading times are very quick which adds to the professional look of the site. I like it

konastab01 · 20-07-2008, 10:08 PM

1st off
"Welcome to Simon Butler Photography

Welcome to Simon Butler Photography, the website of award winning Sheffield based photographer Simon Butler.

Contact me at simon@simonbutlerphotography.com"

I would have
Welcome to Simon Butler Photography

The website of award winning sheffield based photographer simon butler

If yu have any questions/queries contact me at blablabla.

2nd
Gallery index.No
I would have just gallery.
On both parts that it says

3rd I would make the writing on the website a bit bigger
Throught out it all.
I would say its just a bit small

Maybe make the heading of the site a good bit bigger so it sticks out more.

Also maybe move it over to the left hand site or the middle but I think it would look better on the left.

sorry to sound picky but apart from them it does look good.
clean and simply
Plus everyone else seems to have picked out the other flaws

electrolyte · 20-07-2008, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobers

Looks nice and simple but I found it a bit difficult to find my way back once I was in a gallery. There's no "home" link or an indicator to tell you what level of the hierarchy you are in. "Previous" and "Next" are a bit confusing. I though it would take me to the next photo but it takes me to the next gallery instead until you notice that the previous and next are "nested" when you are looking at a full-sized version of a photo.

Is there a way to put a link on the top right to get you back to the home page, or even better put your home page nav bar in.

Also, I suggest that you put a link to the photo site right at the top of your blog as similarly there isn't a link back to it.

Simplicity is all - people are used to seeing something like...

Simon Butler Photography > Galleries > People

...at the top of a page so they can figure out where they are and how to get back.

Good progress though. Get these tweaks sorted and you'll be laughing.

Thanks Andy - I didn't spot your reply while i was writing my earlier one. You've raised some excellent points.

This was what I was afraid of - it could be possible for less web-savvy people to get lost in the galleries. I also would prefer the traditional "Simon Butler Photography > Galleries > People" structure too but I don't think it's possible with that particular template.

I did try to put a "home" link into each gallery but that then loaded my home page within the gallery window; it was then possible to create another gallery window within the 1st which was even more confusing!

It doesn't appear to be possible to have the menu bar ontop of the gallery either which is a pain. I think I'll have to investigate this a bit more and perhaps find a site that uses this template and see how they do it...

Great point about my blog and having a link to my website prominently positioned - I hadn't thought of that. Will change my blog as well!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowenjones

Very nice and easy to navigate layout Simon. As has been mentioned, loading times are very quick which adds to the professional look of the site. I like it

Thanks Bowen, glad you liked it.

electrolyte · 20-07-2008, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by konastab01

1st off
"Welcome to Simon Butler Photography

Welcome to Simon Butler Photography, the website of award winning Sheffield based photographer Simon Butler.

Contact me at simon@simonbutlerphotography.com"

I would have
Welcome to Simon Butler Photography

The website of award winning sheffield based photographer simon butler

If yu have any questions/queries contact me at blablabla.

2nd
Gallery index.No
I would have just gallery.
On both parts that it says

3rd I would make the writing on the website a bit bigger
Throught out it all.
I would say its just a bit small

Maybe make the heading of the site a good bit bigger so it sticks out more.

Also maybe move it over to the left hand site or the middle but I think it would look better on the left.

sorry to sound picky but apart from them it does look good.
clean and simply
Plus everyone else seems to have picked out the other flaws

Not picky at all; really brilliant feedback! Your changes all sound great although i quite like the right hand side positioning of the menus so I think I'll keep them. But I'll make those other changes as they make perfect sense!

Thanks again mate, really useful.

konastab01 · 20-07-2008, 10:26 PM

No bother mate,
When I done my site I got the letters on the left.
I prefer it myself.
But if you like it that all that matter.
As long as you do the same for me when I have photos up/website for criticism/improvement

electrolyte · 22-07-2008, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by konastab01

As long as you do the same for me when I have photos up/website for criticism/improvement

No problem mate, will be happy to.

electrolyte · 22-07-2008, 10:19 PM

Thanks for all the comments, suggestions and feedback everyone. I've taken most on board and now www.simonbutlerphotography.com looks all the better for them so thanks!

Pieeater · 22-07-2008, 10:27 PM

Hi Simon,

The first thing that I notice is this line:

"This is the website of award winning Sheffield based photographer Simon Butler."

It runs over two lines and, personally speaking, I think it would be better on one.

I would take out 'This is' so it reads:

"The website of award winning Sheffield based photographer, Simon Butler." (note the comma!)

Just a thought.

Paulie-W · 22-07-2008, 11:15 PM

Just a quick note.

All the titles in the Gallery section are doubled up. You have one in bold and a normal one of the same underneath. Also you have two "Panaramas" galleries.

Viewing from FF 3.0.1 Windows XP (if that makes any difference).