Posted by Ryan Morgan on November 13, 2008 at 1:03 AM
Hello All!
I just started a website and I would like your input.
Check it out at: http://www.biologicalimages.com
Thank you!
Ryan
http://www.biologicalimages.com
Posted by Jim DeWitt on November 13, 2008 at 1:19 AM
I'm not sure if commenting on a outside website is approved critiquing at NPN. But I will note that it took 2:25 to load your home page; all of the web site studies say that for a casual viewer to have 10 seconds to load the page, and for someone who really wants to load the site, maybe 30 seconds. In particular, your navigation bars load last so the user can't even move on until the load process is complete. I'd try to seriously shorten the initial load time...
Posted by Varina Patel on November 13, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Hi Ryan - your site loaded in about two seconds for me. No problems there at all. You have some very nice images and they are showcased well. Navigation is easy to follow, and although I didn't have a lot of time to look, I didn't see any errors. Nice job - and good luck with your photography.
Posted by Jack Garrett on November 13, 2008 at 2:45 PM
It loaded for me almost immediately...a couple seconds...looks good to me
Jack
Posted by Lance Warley on November 13, 2008 at 3:22 PM
It loaded quickly for me. Your photos are great and it was easy to navigate.
Nice work.
Posted by Richard Hahn on November 13, 2008 at 7:19 PM
Ryan,
Good evening. Your site opened quickly. I like the site & pictures. My only issue, which is a pet peeve on other sites too is that when I view a photo and go to the next one, I hate having to move the cursor to find the "NEXT" button.
Posted by Brad Hill on November 14, 2008 at 12:02 AM
Hi Ryan,
Nice to chat with another Calgarian (tho' I'm a recent ex-pat now living in the East Kootenays). Anyway...your site also loaded very slowly on my system - over a minute until the home page was fully loaded. I have no idea who's hosting it (Telus??) but given the chaotic loading times described above I suspect the server it's sitting on can't handle much traffic.
Your website is a good first effort, but both the navigation and design are a bit dated - and reminiscent of those of websites a few generations back (maybe 4 or 5 years ago). I'm not sure if your pursuit of photography is a hobby or your profession (or, most likely somewhere in between those extremes), but I'd say that if you're looking at going pro you might want to consider a bit of a revamp. However, if you're on the amateur end of the spectrum, I'd say your site is absolutely fine and furthermore I'd say "have fun with it".
I'm sorry if some of my comments seem harsh, but I really feel I have to be honest (or say nothing at all, which really wouldn't help you). I do have extensive experience with web design, development, and construction in my life BP ("Before Photography") - I mention this ONLY so you don't think I'm just blowing smoke!
Good luck with your site...
Brad
Posted by Don George on November 14, 2008 at 3:43 PM
Loaded quickly and easy to navigate,,,good job! How do you plan to direct people to your site? I noticed my site activity picks up after every art show as I pass out cards with my web address.
Posted by Ryan Morgan on November 16, 2008 at 8:32 PM
I just would like to thank everyone for your comments and for taking the time to review the site. I appreciate all of your ideas and input. As for directing people to the site: I was planning on using forums, business cards and trying to link my site as much as possible. The marketing side of things is going to be the most difficult and time consuming, especially in such a competitive field. Anyone have any good marketing ideas?
Cheers,
Ryan
http://www.biologicalimages.com
Posted by Lon Overacker on November 17, 2008 at 5:08 PM
Ryan,
Nice work. Your site loads fine for me, although I did notice some inconsistency in loading various pages. The site is easy to navigate and looks good. I would agree somewhat with Brad's comments/suggestions. One little minor thing you could do would be to remove the "underline" feature from most of your navigational and gallery links. The fact that you have the color change with the mouse-over is plenty enough to indicate a link. The underline attribute kinda goes with what Brad was getting at in terms of being "dated." A minor thing, but an easy aesthetic improvement, IMO.
Although I like your header graphic, you may consider using something that perhaps rotates a number of images.
Lastly, and this is just a personal preference of mine, is that for the individual display of images, I prefer to see the title and image info below the image. In other words, the image is what's on display and I like to see that first and perhaps more importantly for the vertical images, there is less scrolling if the image is placed higher on the page - or at least the text goes below it. Also, I would drop the print/shopping cart info/links lower to the bottom/right instead of the middle AND lose the $5 shipping. That should be on the prints page and honestly the less info on the page with your image, the better. In fact, you may even want to consider putting the shopping cart links at the very bottom. The images should be the thing that is showcased and if people are interested in purchasing prints, they'll figure out where the links are and should be obvious even if the info is below the image.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I see this is done in .asp and I'm assuming you're doing your own coding? It's pretty time consuming, but has always been rewarding to me when you've got a finished site that you did yourself.
Marketing? The $64,000 question. I'm not one that can offer much in the way of marketing tips since I pretty much suck at marketing. You might want to Google "SEO" or search engine optimization. You could spend the rest of your life following links, reading and paying other people to market your site for you... :-)
Discussion
9 repliesI just started a website and I would like your input.
Check it out at: http://www.biologicalimages.com
Thank you!
Ryan
http://www.biologicalimages.com
Varina Patel
www.photographybyvarina.com
My Blog
Jack
Nice work.
Good evening. Your site opened quickly. I like the site & pictures. My only issue, which is a pet peeve on other sites too is that when I view a photo and go to the next one, I hate having to move the cursor to find the "NEXT" button.
Nice to chat with another Calgarian (tho' I'm a recent ex-pat now living in the East Kootenays). Anyway...your site also loaded very slowly on my system - over a minute until the home page was fully loaded. I have no idea who's hosting it (Telus??) but given the chaotic loading times described above I suspect the server it's sitting on can't handle much traffic.
Your website is a good first effort, but both the navigation and design are a bit dated - and reminiscent of those of websites a few generations back (maybe 4 or 5 years ago). I'm not sure if your pursuit of photography is a hobby or your profession (or, most likely somewhere in between those extremes), but I'd say that if you're looking at going pro you might want to consider a bit of a revamp. However, if you're on the amateur end of the spectrum, I'd say your site is absolutely fine and furthermore I'd say "have fun with it".
I'm sorry if some of my comments seem harsh, but I really feel I have to be honest (or say nothing at all, which really wouldn't help you). I do have extensive experience with web design, development, and construction in my life BP ("Before Photography") - I mention this ONLY so you don't think I'm just blowing smoke!
Good luck with your site...
Brad
Cheers,
Ryan
http://www.biologicalimages.com
Nice work. Your site loads fine for me, although I did notice some inconsistency in loading various pages. The site is easy to navigate and looks good. I would agree somewhat with Brad's comments/suggestions. One little minor thing you could do would be to remove the "underline" feature from most of your navigational and gallery links. The fact that you have the color change with the mouse-over is plenty enough to indicate a link. The underline attribute kinda goes with what Brad was getting at in terms of being "dated." A minor thing, but an easy aesthetic improvement, IMO.
Although I like your header graphic, you may consider using something that perhaps rotates a number of images.
Lastly, and this is just a personal preference of mine, is that for the individual display of images, I prefer to see the title and image info below the image. In other words, the image is what's on display and I like to see that first and perhaps more importantly for the vertical images, there is less scrolling if the image is placed higher on the page - or at least the text goes below it. Also, I would drop the print/shopping cart info/links lower to the bottom/right instead of the middle AND lose the $5 shipping. That should be on the prints page and honestly the less info on the page with your image, the better. In fact, you may even want to consider putting the shopping cart links at the very bottom. The images should be the thing that is showcased and if people are interested in purchasing prints, they'll figure out where the links are and should be obvious even if the info is below the image.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I see this is done in .asp and I'm assuming you're doing your own coding? It's pretty time consuming, but has always been rewarding to me when you've got a finished site that you did yourself.
Marketing? The $64,000 question. I'm not one that can offer much in the way of marketing tips since I pretty much suck at marketing. You might want to Google "SEO" or search engine optimization. You could spend the rest of your life following links, reading and paying other people to market your site for you... :-)
Lon