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    • CommentAuthorvarland
    • CommentTimeApr 11th 2007
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    I've recently finished a website for a photographer. There are a few things I don't like, but I'd like to get a few more opinions. I think this photographer is quite talented, but some of the pictures she's chosen for the website leave something to be desired. My specific question, I guess, is this: would you hire this photographer if you stumbled upon this website while looking for a photographer?
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      CommentAuthorenvisean
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007
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    no link?
    • CommentAuthorvarland
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007
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    Sorry. I'm an idiot. It's http://daphnephotostudio.com.
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    Nice and easy to navigate around, don't like the middle photograph on the home page, too washed out and doesn't do the photographer justice. Apart from that there are some nice shots and I would consider them. BTW I am unable to see all the logo (top left) on Firefox.
    • CommentAuthorJmz
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007
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    I agree with creativeclicks, the middle picture is too washed out. Also I'm not sure if I would go with a black and white picture on the homepage, I like the way the colours on the picture on the right contrast with the background but I don't really think the black and white one works.

    Overall I do like the site though.
    • CommentAuthormista3
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007
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    I can't believe how low the photographers rates are, how do they make any money!?!?
    • CommentAuthorvarland
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007
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    Does anybody have any comments on the site's design and structure? Here are a few things I tried to accomplish:



    • Accessibility. The site requires images, but the CSS doesn't have any hacks, and there's no JavaScript or Flash, which is rare for a photography site.

    • Cleanliness. A few of you have noted that the site is fairly clean, which I'm glad to hear. It's supposed to be minimal to highlight the photos, which I think it does a decent job of. I reiterated to the photographer that she needs to replace the image on the homepage, and she's working on coming up with a few other images for me. She's going to create about 5 images, and I'll display a random image each time the site is loaded.

    • Clean URLs. It's not necessarily super important for this site, but I absolutely hate seeing file extensions on URLs. I think it's tacky. This site doesn't show them.


    Again, any and all comments are welcomed.

  2.  permalink
    I have an isue with site navigation. Its a little unusual to have the MAIN navigation all the way down the bottom of the screen. I would suggest moving it to the same location but on top of the main image/s. Accessibility states to try and display main navigation in areas that a user would be used to seeing, either along the top or down left/right hand side. I had my window open quite small and was unable to actually see that navigation at all.

    Only a suggestion though :)
    • CommentAuthorMatheus
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007
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    it's a nice website.
    if you choose to display no style in the website, the title shows up in text..very cleaver

    If there is something that needs change it's the size of the pictures at the front
    • CommentAuthorPettyRider
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2007 edited
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    My main criticisms:

    1. Main nav at bottom. Takes a while to discover, but it's fairly easy to adapt to.

    2. The text needs more spacing on the right. It almost seems to run off the edge. I constantly have to pull my eyes out of the background on each new line.

    3. Linking the logo to the home page would match user expectation. Otherwise, they go to the logo for a direct path to "start over" but find themselves lost and confused. I see it a lot in usability testing.

    4. I like how you've given the photographs more importance. I think some animation effects would go along way on a site like this (fading images, paging text instead of scrolling, etc). Just some nice touches though, no crazy shit. Especially on the home page, it would be great to have those images changing/fading in random order at random times. Or you could orchestrate it to be fluid and natural.

    • CommentAuthorvarland
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2007 edited
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    I've made a few changes to the site in response to the suggestions here, and I'd love more feedback. Specifically I've:

    • Moved the navigation to the top of the page and changed its background to set it apart from the content,
    • Added more spacing on the right side of the text so it doesn't get quite so close to the edge of the page,
    • Changed the homepage so that instead of displaying the collage that was there before it chooses a random image out of a pre-selected bunch, and
    • Changed the logo at the top of all the pages to link back to the home page (unless the user is already on the home page).

    I'm also considering adding some javascript (there is absolutely none now) to add a fade-in effect to the images (as suggested by PettyRider). Do others agree that this would be an improvement?

    Can you all think of anything else that needs to be changed?

    • CommentAuthorNanimo
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2007
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    Just a quick note to say that I like what you've done, but I'd like the logo on the homepage to be linked too. Mainly because you have a random image loaded each time you go to the home-page, and I'm sure there are some people (like me) who would click the logo or home button a couple of times just to see what other pictures there are.

    The other thing is that I'm not keen on the scroll bars inside the box, it's personal opinion, but it kind of grates on me, especially sideways scrolling. I agree with a previous poster who said paging would be preferable, or, just let your page stretch vertically.

    Lovely photos, by the way.
    • CommentAuthorPettyRider
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2007
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    Love the changes,Varland. Pat yourself on the back. I think it has really come together.
    • CommentAuthorMatheus
    • CommentTimeApr 16th 2007
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    very nice changes, the random image at the front is much better then a static set of some.
    I still miss some rollovers at the navigation to help clicking in the correct link.
    anyway, it's a great site for a photographer, good job
  3.  permalink
    All in all, nice job. A few notes:

    No hover or active state in the navigation makes me work harder than I should have to to figure out what I'm clicking on and where I am within the website.

    The amount of primary navigation choices seems excessive for such a small website.

    There is a ton of about and bio content; it's a bit self-important and really...who's going to take the time to read all of it?

    With regard to hierarchy - everything on the page tends to blur together. The colors are fairly monochromatic and muted. The font is generally small (especially the main nav). The only content that really pops are the rates (nice job) and the block quotes. Try to use less content and better typography to get the message across. Up the amount of whitespace as well to give the content some breathing room.

    I'm also not a fan of the internal scroll-bar. I won't go so far as to say don't do it, but I would challenge you to provide a good reason for doing it.

    Again - overall, nice work. Those are just some nitpicky points that could help the usability of the site.
    • CommentAuthorXux
    • CommentTimeApr 20th 2007
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    Hi, I´m new in this site. I´m start to work with some "Flash experts". and I'm trying to learn diferents technologies to avoid flash as much as I can.... ...
    Visiting your site I feel I'm in the correct place.. You said didn't use JS or Flash.. WOOOOWWW. amazing!.
    Congrats.. is a fantastic site.
  4.  permalink
    As a designer and photographer I will address this from 2 perspectives...

    As a web design, I think the navigation and layout is nice and simple to follow, which is imperative for any photography website. I think that main photo image without anything else is a huge waste of real estate. I am all for having large splash photos... but make it interactive with some smaller thumbnails that a user could click on.

    as far as the photography... the person's content is very limited and weak and I know that anyone coming to a photographer's site wants to see a diverse or at least multiple photos.. This photographer seems to only have a small handful of "ok" photos.
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