Help and advice required for site re-design

weirdo109

weirdo109

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Edit My Images
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I have attempted to redesign my site in the hope to make it easier to navigate and update.

My redesigned site is here http://www.cmorephotos.co.uk

I have used a program called WYSIWYG Web Builder 5 which I have to say is by far the best program I have come across for me as it has allowed me to layout the site in a way I was unable to do using programs which require knowledge of coding html.

I've stuck to making the site 800 x 600 and would like to know if this is the optimum size or should aim for a larger area.
Textual content is lacking on the front page as I am trying to think of what to put.

My old site is here http://www.cmorephotos.co.uk/before

Created this site by using Porta and including some basic html inside the program and the use of a graphical image with hotspots to create the gallery index.



I would appreciate some constructive criticism and advice on all aspects of the site.

I've tried to keep it simple and following some basic design layout rules.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to your help.

Regards

Ricky

PS if anyone would like me to add them to my link page please say so in your post.
 
I'd bin the tiltviewer :thumbsdown:
 
menu buttons at the bottom doesn't work for me. My browser window opened up with them out of sight and I thought were's the rest of the site. Have you considered putting them in the grey horizontal bar at the top?
 
admirable said:
I'd bin the tiltviewer :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

I've notice this commented on a few other posts, how does the album viewer fair with you.

hepburn said:
menu buttons at the bottom doesn't work for me. My browser window opened up with them out of sight and I thought were's the rest of the site. Have you considered putting them in the grey horizontal bar at the top?
Click to expand...

I've tried it in IE7 and FF and the menu bar shows as is in both browsers, what browser are tou using so I can try this end. They are a navigationbar created by the program so not sure why they are not showing for you. Could you email me a screen grab.
 
weirdo109 said:
I've tried it in IE7 and FF and the menu bar shows as is in both browsers, what browser are tou using so I can try this end. They are a navigationbar created by the program so not sure why they are not showing for you. Could you email me a screen grab.
Click to expand...

I didn't say they don't show, just out of sight - meaning I had to scroll down to see them.

Unless you force a window size for your site (not recommended) you have to accept people will have browser windows sized to suit their needs. I did, and when I opened your site I had to scroll to see a menu. It's not a big deal but a point i thought worth mentioning.
 
Have put menu bar at the top now.

I've tried to use 800x600 but I imagine with the browser menus and buttons the viewing area is much less. It's difficult to judge as my screen res is 1680x1050.

Will remove the tilt and change to another method.

In general is the layout easy on the eye and useable.
 
I am no expert, look at my site and it`ll prove that.........:lol:............but the tileview is simply annoying........:thumbsdown:
 
I personally prefer the galleries that are using SimpleViewer ie Nature and some of the Motor Sport.
The autoviewer does not give any thumbnail options and PostCard viewer is a bit disconcerting! The Tiltviewer is seriously irritating and I chose to go back long before the previews/thumbnails were available.

Overall it looks a good, clean site with good navigation. Helped of course by some good shots.

All the above is just my opinion. I'm using a 19" monitor set 1280x1024 using Firefox 2.0.0.15

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Have put all galleries back to simpleviewer

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Thanks "engeew" for the comments about the photos.

Any other comments and pointers more than welcome.
 
Virtually no one uses 800x600
1024x768 would be acceptable but most new pcs are widescreen so you need to allow for this.
 
Tiltviewer is OK in the right place but I think it's a bit too gimmicky for viewing quality pictures. I would stick with simpleviewer or albumviewer as long as it is consistant throughout the website. One good thing about simpleviewer is it auto resizes to any screen size when indtalled on it's own but you have it within a page hence losing this feature.

I think the mods you have done this afternoon have improved your site immensely
 
admirable said:
I would stick with simpleviewer or albumviewer as long as it is consistant throughout the website. One good thing about simpleviewer is it auto resizes to any screen size when indtalled on it's own but you have it within a page hence losing this feature.
Click to expand...

Could you expand on that please, my website looks pants on widescreen, is this something I could install?
 
hepburn said:
So I see. Do you have a way of making those buttons smaller? Perhaps integrate them with the bar itself?
Click to expand...

The buttons are a set size but I'm sure I could do something, also when you say intergrate them with the bar do you mean the line under the red. I will see what it looks like but the reason for the lines at the top and bottom was a bit of design so I like them as they are.

PsiFox said:
Virtually no one uses 800x600
1024x768 would be acceptable but most new pcs are widescreen so you need to allow for this.
Click to expand...

I often see posts on many site about people using all sorts of resolutions, but wanted to set a minimum. I do use a hi res at work where I view a screen all day. But at home I have a 15" flatscreen and although its at 1024x768 the page fits on perfectly and requires no scrolling. "hepburn" said he had to scroll down to see the navbar menu so he may be using a lower res or it may be the way his browser is set.
I appreciate I can't make it to suit all and have to go for the general average screen setup. I think simple viewer has a max of 800x600 but not totally sure.
 
1024x768 is the industry standard now and has been for about 3 years. Time to make use of that new real estate to show off your photography.
 
weirdo109 said:
"hepburn" said he had to scroll down to see the navbar menu so he may be using a lower res or it may be the way his browser is set.
Click to expand...

I have a number of screen resolutions on various computers, but my main laptop uses something like 1280x800. Because I run many apps at once I tend to not have my browser set full screen so the chances are I will typically end up with a browser window size of 900x600 pixels.

On my own website I recommend 1024x768 for the best viewing experience, but it will view at far lower resolutions and still be navigable even though scrolling is then needed. I also ensure I position the most important bits of the site from a top left starting point.
 
Some random comments.

"Gallery's"?
"Architechture"?

The SimpleViewer thingy works well, but it doesn't re-size gracefully if the browser window is re-sized. Your site seems to insist on a certain screen resolution, which I think is undesirable.

Why do you bother watermarking images that are only 400 pixels across?

I personally find the brown/grey background colur scheme unnecessary and distracting.

Hope this helps.
 
sorry bit i gotta to say it: you have done it wrong, like everything :(

the size should be 720 x 1000 thats the website size

use dreamweaver, MUCH easier!

the colour is all wrong, read colour theory (google it) make sure you have the correct complementary colours, you could find it on : http://www.worqx.com/color/complements.htm

any problem, ask me :)
 
StewartR said:
Some random comments.

"Gallery's"?
"Architechture"?

The SimpleViewer thingy works well, but it doesn't re-size gracefully if the browser window is re-sized. Your site seems to insist on a certain screen resolution, which I think is undesirable.

Why do you bother watermarking images that are only 400 pixels across?

I personally find the brown/grey background colur scheme unnecessary and distracting.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Have changed the spelling of Gallery's the Galleries, although both work in the spell checker, maybe should just go for Gallery. Silly mistake with Architecture which is now correct.

I'm still looking into the framing of the simpleviewer pages. I can of course make the album open on it's own but would loose the site navigation aspects.

As far as the colour scheme goes, in what way does it distract?.


d_pipa said:
sorry bit i gotta to say it: you have done it wrong, like everything :(

the size should be 720 x 1000 thats the website size

use dreamweaver, MUCH easier!

the colour is all wrong, read colour theory (google it) make sure you have the correct complementary colours, you could find it on : http://www.worqx.com/color/complements.htm

any problem, ask me :)
Click to expand...

Have resized the pages now.
Have tried dreamweaver and just couldn't get the time to figure it out.
Checked the site regarding colour theory out and have followed the shades of one colour theme. I prefer the red myself but would like to make the site clean and formal.
 
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