Photographers new websites

KIPAX

KIPAX

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KIPAX Lancashire UK
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I like looking at new websites and offering advice (Or used to). We get a lot on TP in various sections including the business section.. people asking if we will check there website out..

its starting to get depressing clicking on the link only to be presented with the same website as the last person.. There nearly all wordpress and all look about the same.. same layout different pictures..

Its depressing.. And yes I know.. dont click.. but if I dont click then I dont know :)
 
i also like looking at new sites and also building them myself , im not the best but have basic knowledge on html and uploading sites and making basic sites in dreamweaver etc it has all been self taught , what i like to see is creativity something diffrent or never done before

wordpress bores me and i find it too limited for what i want / need i would rather create a site where i can adjust everything

i can create unlimited sites and resell web hopsting if i need to but to be honest i dont have the energy to work at it , i might in the future but not at this time but i love messing with sites of my own changing them making mistakes and learning some are jsut dead space but i use them as test sites

i have just created a tutorial on pointing the dns server names to the url - is in the tutorials on here , will be making some more on here soon on how to build basic word press sites and other such things like gallery3 (image site ) add on very easy to use and control

im currently changing my own site , not sure what or where im going with it but i was going to go into buisness now i decided for what it is worth i would rather enjoy photography as a hobby , i had a bad year so far
 
wegotitugetit said:
wordpress bores me and i find it too limited for what i want / need i would rather create a site where i can adjust everything
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There isn't a single aspect of wordpress(.org), appearance or functionality that can't be changed or altered. It's an incredibly powerful and adaptable piece of software.
 
The thing with Wordpress. I work in the industry. We build websites for people. And then we charge them about 5k for the priveledge. Which sounds a lot of money, but that's the amount of work that goes into a bespoke system.

Anyone can set up wordpress. No matter their knowledge of computers. It costs them nothing. And yes it may look similar to the last website, or the next website, but 5k or 0k? Giving that most of these people are just starting out or doing a bit on the side...wordpress works pretty darn well, and generally looks good...if not familiar.

And of course, if you do have a little knowledge, it can easily be tweaked however much you like.

Yeah...I agree with the original sentiment. It can get a little tiresome, but we've came leaps and bounds since Geocities.

Then again, I desperately miss Geocities, and all that chaotic mess that filled the world wide web in days gone by. Ironically, it's that lack of uniformity I miss the most. I get quite nostalgic about it :'(
 
Drewpyfz6 said:
Isn't a photography website about the pictures?

Not the website design...:thinking:
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Good photos on a crap site won't get looked at and it will present an amateurish impression.

I've gone to look at some well known photographers sites and given up because they were so slow to load the home page. Others are so full of gimmicks you can't be arsed working out how to find your way round them. They look great but are a pain to use.

Fast loading, clean looking and simple to navigate. That's all any site has ever needed to be.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Good photos on a crap site won't get looked at and it will present an amateurish impression.

I've gone to look at some well known photographers sites and given up because they were so slow to load the home page. Others are so full of gimmicks you can't be arsed working out how to find your way round them. They look great but are a pain to use.

Fast loading, clean looking and simple to navigate. That's all any site has ever needed to be.
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I have to agree - I must admit I dont hang around on slow loading websites...
 
My website may be lacking in flair, but it does load quite quickly for most people and work on most browsers. No large scrolling photos, flash animations etc. Just some simple html using the free gallery3 software (with a few tweaks) to match colours etc.
 
Urban Grimshaw said:
but we've came leaps and bounds since Geocities.
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OMG I had forgotton all about geocities hahaha

I started when the WWW started so there where no WYSIWYG editors available.. I had to learn HTML and to be fair its quite easy.. Its when you start adding javascript and now CSS that it will trip up the newbie..

Anyone wanting to learn HTML itself and just use notepad or somehting to make there website can learn very quickly.. I am talking a day.. A good understand of simple HTML will hold you in good stead if you then want to use one of these toys they call web page makers :)
 
Wordpress is only as limiting as the person using it. As has already been said it can be used by someone with little to no web experience what so ever to create a site, BUT if you have good knowledge of web design it can be made to look how ever you want but in less time than it would take to build a site from scratch.

I do agree though that alot of sites do look very similar to each other which can become a bind when your looking through them and I was a bit sceptical about it myself at first but the ease of use for seting up, designing and updating etc is where the real pull of Wordpress comes in for most people.

Each to there own though...
 
I use wordpress, while perfectly capable of writing my own I haven't. Basically I am no designer so the templates are a god send, and also why reinvent the wheel?

Using WP gives you a pretty decent back end infrastructure and content serving engine, then all I need to do to get a new look is throw a new theme at it*.

In fact I am even using the stock theme (Twenty Eleven, albeit with a tiny tweak to hide the Home heading on the home page) right now as I found it gave some nice features with out overly cluttering it all up. That plus a few choice plugins for things like social media, backup and the follow me icons and I have a pretty professional looking site that owes me nothing but I can expand very easily if needed.

* and then optimise the theme which can be simple, or complex as hell experience shows.
 
Drewpyfz6 said:
Isn't a photography website about the pictures?

Not the website design...:thinking:
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A good website is no different to a decent actual printed portfolio. You have to present your images in a clear and professional way. As others have said, the 2 biggest issues I have with photographers websites are use of flash, and page loading speed.

In fact i would say my website is actually better than photos that are on it! but I'm getting there....

:)
 
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I think your knowledge of Wordpress and web design is possibly limited hence your feeling of them being limited and the same.

I have designed many many websites based on pure compliant html and although this method offers unlimited possibilities they are time consuming to make and update. Wordpress can now be almost totally customised and offers an interactive web site which can be quickly updated. As photographers we don't want to spend all our time updating our site. We just want it as a canvas for showing our images.

Here is my site which is far from complete or perfect but shows a little of what can be done. It can be updated and new content added very quickly. Its also interactive and many modules can be added with a simple upload. Start with a good template and then modify it to suit your taste.

www.TheDigitalView.co.uk
 
CarloUK said:
I think your knowledge of Wordpress and web design is possibly limited hence your feeling of them being limited and the same.

I have designed many many websites based on pure compliant html and although this method offers unlimited possibilities they are time consuming to make and update. Wordpress can now be almost totally customised and offers an interactive web site which can be quickly updated. As photographers we don't want to spend all our time updating our site. We just want it as a canvas for showing our images.

Here is my site which is far from complete or perfect but shows a little of what can be done. It can be updated and new content added very quickly. Its also interactive and many modules can be added with a simple upload. Start with a good template and then modify it to suit your taste.

www.TheDigitalView.co.uk
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Cracking site you have there, and a prime example of what can be done on WP with some imagination and know how.
 
CarloUK said:
I think your knowledge of Wordpress and web design is possibly limited hence your feeling of them being limited and the same.

I have designed many many websites based on pure compliant html and although this method offers unlimited possibilities they are time consuming to make and update. Wordpress can now be almost totally customised and offers an interactive web site which can be quickly updated. As photographers we don't want to spend all our time updating our site. We just want it as a canvas for showing our images.

Here is my site which is far from complete or perfect but shows a little of what can be done. It can be updated and new content added very quickly. Its also interactive and many modules can be added with a simple upload. Start with a good template and then modify it to suit your taste.

www.TheDigitalView.co.uk
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Nice site you have there.

But I think maybe you missed the OP's point. He was complaining about WP sites all 'looking' the same.

Your softpages site is very similar to you digital view site.

A template, is a template, is a template.
 
I don't have a website as such but at a quick glance I can see there are plenty of Wordpress templates you can choose from - maybe people just like to go with a style they have seen to be effective

I'm like a couple of others in that I can build a website so may do if I ever get good enough to showcase my photographs :)

Mark - I don't like the top 2 inches of your website. I think the content layout is fine but personally I think the banner and links could be cleaner.
 
mattyh said:
You can buy it for $60 :)

http://www.wpthemes.com/church-wordpress-theme-40-updated/
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Yes you can but its more than that because as you can see a lot of its functions are not available in the church theme. Its a hybrid of a theme, my own html, photocrati and the 500px portfolio theme. Also its hosted on my own VPS server. Additionally the tutorials i have started to upload are based on watching hundreds of hours of video and reading about 5 maga a month.

Point being its not just a novice theme. It takes a lot of hard work to to put up a decent site and you wont make any money from it :)

A pure HtML site you would need to pay for and host. They are better for seo but have to be designed in something like Adobe Fireworks. Then coded and uploaded using Dreamweaver. Then every update is again edited in Fireworks then coded. To much time for us Photographers. Thats why Wordpress is a good option. I used to build web sites for buisnesses on the side once but takes to much time and too little money
 
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Database driven website using MYSQL and PHP. Layout controlled by CSS . hand coded in notepad is my preferred way.
 
My website is handcrafted from free range electrons, whilst it may appear oldfashioned Paintings are arranged in basic genres, with a page of thumnails which when clicked take you to a larger version. A lot of ISP's provide webspace so why not learn some HTML and build your own. http://www.artyman.co.uk
 
I also work in the industry, and believe wordpress is one of the most powerful tools available to a web designer. The benefit of wordpress is it often allows you to add core functionality, without the need to spend hours and hours coding it.

As for the "look of wordpress"...well, there isn't one... Give me any 'coded by hand' site, and I could replicate it entirely as far as visuals are concerned, but built on wordpress, and probably in less time than the original took to build.

I used to write every line of code, for every website I built once upon a time, but in recent years wordpress has developed so much, I struggle to find instances where a hand-built website would be better suited than a wordpress website. Don't get me wrong, even with wordpress I still spend many hours writing code, but not as many as I used to.

However, I do get what the OP is saying, most people see wordpress as a quick and easy option i.e 'Install -> Add a Theme -> Done :)' and it does get a bit monotonous.
 
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CarloUK said:
Yes you can but its more than that because as you can see a lot of its functions are not available in the church theme. Its a hybrid of a theme, my own html, photocrati and the 500px portfolio theme. Also its hosted on my own VPS server. Additionally the tutorials i have started to upload are based on watching hundreds of hours of video and reading about 5 maga a month.

Point being its not just a novice theme. It takes a lot of hard work to to put up a decent site and you wont make any money from it :)

A pure HtML site you would need to pay for and host. They are better for seo but have to be designed in something like Adobe Fireworks. Then coded and uploaded using Dreamweaver. Then every update is again edited in Fireworks then coded. To much time for us Photographers. Thats why Wordpress is a good option. I used to build web sites for buisnesses on the side once but takes to much time and too little money
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You waited two years to reply to that???????????????????????
 
What makes me laugh is that many on here bang on about people not valuing photography, and knocking the Uncle Bobs and those charging £70 for a CD of 20 images... yet make their own websites!!! And yes, I am guilty of this as I use a template for mine!
 
cambsno said:
What makes me laugh is that many on here bang on about people not valuing photography, and knocking the Uncle Bobs and those charging £70 for a CD of 20 images... yet make their own websites!!! And yes, I am guilty of this as I use a template for mine!
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:lol: well despite the age of this thread, same here, mine is a tweaked theme too, but if they look clean, are quick to load, easy to navigate and show off your photos well, then job done, whether you paid £70 or £700 I guess.... :shrug:
 
I put a website together for photos just to give me motivation to get using the camera, giving me something to update pushes me to take more shots.

Saying that, we've been so busy since I set it up, that it's just got the random shots I put on there, and a load of holiday photos (just there so I can easily share them with the family).

I stuck a premium theme on wordpress though, to make it look pretty, and it's a great theme.

Work in progress and yes, the photos are rubbish. Like I said, it's for motivation for myself and Liz and nothing else. But when Wordpress themes are capable of things like this, I don't really see what's to criticise - http://lizandandyphotography.co.uk/
 
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