Trash the website

Just looks a bit cheap and amateurish, the buttons aren't very nice, you have a number of different colours of text and it just doesn't grab me as somewhere I would go to, need to make it look more professional, try thinning out the text to get to the point, change the buttons for something smaller and slicker, take your number off the title and put them on the contact page. Pick a colour for the text and stick with it all the way through, like Grey for titles and white for text, make the body text a bit smaller and try to keep a similar layout on each page so it connects together better.

Hope that's not too harsh :)
 
Seeing as you are open to harsh criticism (and you admit you don't like your site)...

1 - It looks very 1990's, the colour layout etc
2 - Do I see frames? They were replaced by tables years back (and tables have now been replaced by CSS).
3 - Links to other sites, other than your Alamy try to keep people in your site.
4 - The animated logo is very cheesy.
5 - Music on galleries = instant turn off
6 - A big advert for someone else's company on the galleries
7 - Wedding galleries are not in the same style as the rest of the site, different watermarks etc
8 - Most of the time the key information on each page is off the bottom of the screen, you should try to make sure that the viewer doesn't need to scroll down to see the key information.
9 - There is a lot of dead space on the homepage
10 - The colour scheme with text doesn't seem very consistent...
 
Also tidy the prices up so the framed price is the total and so the user doesn't have to add things up, makes it upfront and clear what prices people will pay.

Try adding a picture or something to add to the wedding, band gig pages and also a back button to go back to the main price pages
 
Home:

Oh my good God, is it the 90's all over again? An animated logo? Rounded buttons? Huge, garishly coloured text all over the place? The complete clash of colours? If this really is a business website it looks like it was coded by a teenager in Microsoft Word.

The best thing about the page is the image rotation, the worst is pretty much everything else. You're about 10 years behind in terms of web-design and it shows. I couldn't take it seriously if this was a business approaching me to use their photographic services.

About:

The positive aspect to this page is that all the elements at the top remain in place. That's crucial when you're trying to maintain a thoroughly professional air throughout the site. Alas it's the content and the way that's presented that lets it down. I have no issue with the text itself, just the sheer size of the font and the way it is spaced.

Not overly keen on the logo above the text, but that's your call.

Images:

I could level the same criticisms as before for the way the initial choice of the galleries are presented, but the actual mechanics behind them are fine. You just need to sort out the design as it lacks sheen and looks amateurish, which is in distinct contrast to the photographic content.

The Customer Photos section is okay, but as soon as you click into each gallery there's another garish graduated graphic that appears, smack across the top of the page and not nicely spaced between the menu buttons and the images themselves. All I can think of is my poor eyes.

No issues with how the galleries work, but it's everything up the top that's making me think this site is something of a wind-up. It's just such a mish-mash of styles that you can't take it seriously.

The Examples section works nicely and I'm a fan of the implementation of Fotoplayer in the Gallery section, but turn the music off, please? It's toe-curlingly bad. Makes me look at the photography in a totally different light.

Not sure what's going on with the Tear Sheets, but if there's supposed to be something there it's not working.

Prices:

I'm not going to comment on the actual figures, but is this designed for people with seeing difficulties? It's all so big and garish and clunky. Where's the sheen? Where's the polish? Why does it look like I'm zoomed in?!

And as for the magenta font on the Portrait & Studio Prices page, the less said about it the better.

Feedback:

Sorry, but I have to laugh here. This couldn't look more fake if you tried. Because it's so shoddily put together it looks like you've made everything up on this page and I now really don't trust anything the site has to tell me. Which is a shame, as the photography is of a decent standard.

Links:

My eyes! Why is there massive blue text on a black background? Why are you inviting me to leave your site? About all you could say is that some of the other sites make yours look relatively professional in comparison.

Contact Us:

More overly-large text, more cheap and cheerful design and yet again I'm left wondering if this whole site is for real or just a wind-up.

Overall:

Have you ever heard of the phrase "a curate's egg"? Because that's the best way I could describe this site. It looks like it was put together by someone who'd been reading a book of web-design from the mid-nineties and thought it might be a good idea to try and incorporate every single thing in one site. It looks absolutely awful and it's got so many examples of things that you just should never, ever do. But ultimately I can't fault the underlying mechanics, nor the quality of your photography. I just don't think you've got the faintest idea about how to design a website or what colours work well together.

But it has given me a good laugh and for that I am very grateful.
 
Well you did say you can take criticism!

To be honest though, Glitch also did the same with mine and it's much better for it :)

It may seem harsh but I figured it was best to get it right at the start rather than continue to add to and build onto a website that was not good to start with.

Build your house on a firm foundation :)
 
All gratefully accepted!!! I mean that.

Yes its frames, yes it looks like the 1990's, and I really appreciate the crit as it points to all the things i can see, but couldn't (if you see what i mean!)

All my experience with websites has been using frames, and buttons. So where should i be? CSS seems to be little more than this but in a slightly different way, flash seems frowned upon. Any pointers,

Thanks

Allan
 
Keltic Ice Man said:
All my experience with websites has been using frames, and buttons. So where should i be? CSS seems to be little more than this but in a slightly different way, flash seems frowned upon. Any pointers,
Click to expand...

Who is your host and do they provide templates? I ask because I built my own website from scratch with zero training and within a couple of days, using Microsoft's Office Live site as host and utilising one of their standard templates. It's here Now I'm not holding it up as a great example or anything, but their choice of templates was reasonably extensive. There are other hosts who provide templates like ukreg for example. Might be the way to go? I believe that a transfer of host is free.
 
everything is too big, blue writing doesn't work and bridge/lightroom will make an embeddable css gallery for you ;)

for your portfolio pics I would cull them a little, show just the one from each shoot You will have a smaller portfolio but it will look more varied. Also I don't like the gallery you use, tricky to navigate and looks a it too much like windows explorer

sorry to be harsh, loved the piccies ***
 
Despite what everyone seems to be saying about frames, CSS, templates and suchlike, I don't think there's anything really badly wrong with the underlying code. Okay, what you've done might not be deemed acceptable in terms of modern web-design, but it seems to work okay. And ultimately, who cares if it's a bit outdated? Your customers don't see the code.

Your biggest problem, as I stated, is the design of the site itself. Your use of colours, shapes, fonts, etc. Nothing that someone with a practised eye for design and an understanding of what works together couldn't fix for you.

Re-design the logo, replace the buttons, change the font, it's size and it's colour and bring everything into the 21st Century and you'd instantly have a huge change on your hands. And one that would then allow you to think about a redesign of the coding while you allow your current site to evolve a little.
 
glitch said:
Despite what everyone seems to be saying about frames, CSS, templates and suchlike, I don't think there's anything really badly wrong with the underlying code. Okay, what you've done might not be deemed acceptable in terms of modern web-design, but it seems to work okay. And ultimately, who cares if it's a bit outdated? Your customers don't see the code.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the underlying code? The underlying code is completely to blame for the purple text and frames! It works ok if you want a site with a gazillion different colours and frames :) It's a little like saying "There's nothing wrong with the underlying composition of this this turd, it just stinks".

No offense meant, Allan.

I don't want to go over what people have already said but suffice to say.. the colours (all 800 of them) plus the ugly buttons and animated title just don't really work together.

Could I suggest taking a look at http://www.oswd.org/designs/favorites/ - Open Source Web Design. While that site has a load of junk, it's got a few good, usable designs too. If you're not a designer, which I'm going to hazard a guess of you not being, you'll find some useful templates, which are a good starting point, that you can customise. If you're trying to make some money from your site, then you wouldn't go far wrong finding a graphic design student, or if you've got the money to stump up for a professional graphic designer, and getting them to build you a design, template or even an entire site.

After all, unless you were a builder, you probably wouldn't try and build your own extension or conservatory.
 
Your probably all glad to hear I'm starting again, the old site... is looking old, as you have all pointed out.

So a brief taster http://www.kelticrose.co.uk/newcss/index.html The hard bit I can see is going to be getting the jalbum chameleon that i use to merge with my site. Any thoughts or ideas on this greatfully accepted

Allan
 
New site looks good already. :)
 
The photos & the website don't run smoothly with each other in terms of looks, ie. the photos are nice, smart, classy etc, and the website looks like something a 15yr old kid would have to show some of his myspace photos on.

New website = much better. :)
 
Yeah, million times better. Nice one, Allan. :thumbs:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top