A first for me . . .

[gahspidy]

This is a first in a few ways. I never posted in this forum before as I had zero knowledge of building a site or even interest in one until a few months ago.
I built my first website with Frontpage 2003, and basically fooled around with it until I got familiar with the idea behind it. I discovered some glitches, and smoothed most , hopefully all, of them out.
What do you think about the ease of use, layout, professional looking or not, time to load,etc.
Thanks,
www.gahspidy.com

[Peter_AUS]

First off, get rid of the red text, it is generally hard to read.

On the menu on the left, what does "singles" mean I don't know, I thought Single People looking for a date.

In the photo navigation make gahspidy.com "Home" most people are used to that on the net.

Also make links to allow to go to other galleries, not having to go back to the home page and hitting that low music you have with the index page.

Too much blank space between the top menu when viewing images makes the larger image cut in half of the window so a person has to scroll to view the images, so going up and down too much (for me anyway and I am using a 22" monitor.

About your work page takes a while to load up, first it is 50% transparent and then suddenly back to how you want it I take it.

Music is a bit monotimous.

With the writing, especially about me page, it is too jagged and looks terrible to read. Put some space between each of the Paragraphs like you normally would with writing.

Consistency is the key I think to go web design.

[Asylum Steve]

Gary, let me start with what should be obvious: your work looks great. Sometimes that gets lost when critiquing web sites...

I agree with Peter on most all his points, but also think these are fairly simple things to work out. Trust me, that's what one does with a web site; you get something out there, then constantly tweak it based on either viewer feedback or your own creative choices...

IMO, the single biggest problem with the site is the layout of your galleries. As Peter mentioned, the gallery heading text, description, and thumbs take up more than 1/2 of the browser screen, leaving the image itself chopped off.

To have vertical scrolling on certain pages is no crime, but to have to do it just to see every image can be a royal pain. Better to have a seperate thumb page with images that open in a new window (see my fashion pages for examples of this), or place the thumbs along the side of the page.

Sorry, but that heading type is not only WAY too big, but rather generic in its shading and 3-D effect. That's kind of the mark of an amateur site. And yes, each page in a major site section should have links to the other pages in that section (or at least a section menu page). Having to go back to the homepage to see each individual gallery gets old in a hurry...

I think the music on your home page fits the feel of the site as well as your images, but you should always offer the viewer (listener?) an option of turning it off. BTW, music on the other pages is great...

I have no trouble reading the red text on my LCD monitor, but on my main CRT one yes it is a bit muddy. The white text on your other pages looks fine. Yes, it probably could be formatted a bit better, but to me that's a minor thing.

I think if you make an effort to simply change a few of the weak elements we've pointed out, this site will rock. After that, it's all fine tuning...

[mtbbrian]

First off Gary...
It's about time you did a website! ;)
I must say this is one of the better sites I have seen done with "Front Page"...
And for a first effort, I think you did a great job!

I for one am not for the music. I like a site to be about one thing, the photographs and not creating a mood or expreince.

I find the contact me and feedback links a little redudnant.

I know that when you link back to gahspidy.com, you mean "home", it might be better to say "home", especially since your site involves just one window. If you had a new window pop up, going back to "gahspidy.com" would be OK.
I also think that you might want to do something about the photographs on the "About Me"and the A'bout My Work", so they aren't tiled, on my screen, I see the photograph the second time, partially along the bottom.

As for the links...
If you are interested, let's exchange links! I have three or four people from here on mine!
Brian

[gahspidy]

First off, Peter,Steve, Brian. . . .thanks very much for taking the time that is involved in browsing ones web pages, and then spending the time to convey your thoughts and suggestions. extremely helpful. ( which is why I consider PR my most valuable site on the web, and thus have included it's link in my site)
Peter, your points on the consistency and other things, such as the jagged text format and the red letters on some pages ( which was not completely intentional but rather an oversight on the color settings) are right on, and i have since tried to improve on these things.
Both Steve and you have mentioned about the gallery pages and having to scroll too much. Agreed. I have gotten rid of the tacky logos on the galleries and moved the images up near the top page. also included links to the other galleries from each gallery. I will soon add these gallery links to the other pages as well.
Brian, as you and they have suggested to call the gahspidy.com Home, I agree and made the changes. Also, you memtioned the tiling of the About me and the about my work pages. I have since adjusted that, and although the tiling is gone ( it seems to me) I have some rather larger borders than i would like, but have not figured out how to cut that down. You also reffered to the contact and feedback pages as redundant. Is that to mean that just having one, say "contact me" and have that link to the feedback page. Thus eliminating another link called Feedback. There would just be a Contact Me link. I think I prefer that and will work it, but I'm not certain if that was what you were meaning.
So, up now is the revised version, and thanks to your help I think it is stronger.

"I agree with Peter on most all his points, but also think these are fairly simple things to work out. Trust me, that's what one does with a web site; you get something out there, then constantly tweak it based on either viewer feedback or your own creative choices..."
thanks Steve, that comment was very encouraging.
Brian, sure, links it is!

[Peter_AUS]

Looking just at page one, that is much better, but refer to attached image. Remember to move the side of the browser when you are viewing the image and look how the elements on the page move from left to right and vice versa.

[Peter_AUS]

The rest of it, much better, still hate the music, the info under neath in canscapes is centred text yes. I think I am going to hive your site and have a good look at it.

[mtbbrian]

Gary,
As Peter and Steve have mentioned, being consistent is important.
I am glad you feel the same about me to link me as I have you on my site.
But..
I noticed that the font you used for the link to my site, is different than the others.

On the link note, I LOVE how you fade from your link site to the other site.
DIFFERENT! COOL!
Brian

[gahspidy]

Brian, the different font was not intended and glad you pointed it out, I will correct it.
Peter, I had only been viewing the site on my screen resolution of 1024x768. When I stretched the window all the way out i notice it shifts, but does not go over the bg picture. At the higher resolution, I can see how it would. Is there any way to stop the inserts from shifting, or is this neccessary? After setting the bg picture, I simply inserted the logo and applied text on the page. Should I have set up cells to place these text and inserts in?
What do you think about the galleries now and the scrolling issue.
Thanks

[gahspidy]

Peter,
I figured out how to keep the logo and text on the page from shifting when the window is stretched open. I had some of the Table properties set up wrong. It does not look to shift any more when stretching out the window. Hopefully, you can confirm this.
Brian, fonts on Links corrected. ( but didn't you feel special? )

[mtbbrian]

Brian, fonts on Links corrected. ( but didn't you feel special? )

I did for a minute Gary!
But then I thought your site would look a lot better if the font to my site was the same as all the others...
I am here for you Gary!
;)
Brian

[Peter_AUS]

Works well now Gary, I sent you the email as discussed.

[CB Photo]

Gary

First let me say I think you did a great job with Frontpage 2003.

I like the music and how you have the pages designed with the thumbnails at the top.

The music is okay with me but it may not appeal to everyone.?.? The way the pages fade in is also a nice touch.

The other guys here have said enough about the technical aspects and I am a just learning web page design so I have no input on that stuff.


Good Job

[gahspidy]

Thanks Brian.
Peter, I already replied to you in an email, but I thought it appropriate to address you in "public"about the help you have been. you sent me the homepage index file with changes you felt made it stronger, and by my installing it and viewing those changes really helped me to understand, at the very least, how you went about designing it. I may not have agreed completely with your idea for the layout, but there are elements to the design that i feel i will include in my next tweaking. Also, by seeing how you did what you did, I will go at it differently than before.
thanks again, for your time and generosity of your knowledge.
Chris, I'm glad to hear you like how it has come along thus far. With the help from this forum, it has been tweaked and altered to look better than it did originally.

[Peter_AUS]

Gary as I said in a reply, you are welcome and anytime, my advice and help is free.

[shutterman]

Gary, I love the work as you know.

the site looks great too!

What I would be concerned with is that anyone can download your pictures and save them to their harddrive. Since you don't have them watermarked it is easy to take them and use them without you know.

You may want to try a flash program and viewer like

http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/
http://www.stegmann.dk/mikkel/porta/

Andy Armstrong uses it on his site and I used it on my site

http://www.photosbyjw.com/Portrait%20Album/index.html

It is very easy to use!.

BTW I will bookmark your site and check on it from time to time - like I said I love the work.

[gahspidy]

Wes, thanks for the good words and the time to look. That is an excellent viewer and I would consider using it. Being this is a Flash viewer, I take it I could not integrate it in my Frontpage website?

[gahspidy]

Wes, I downloaded the simpleviewer and found it to be extremely easy to set up. The only problem is everytime I want to edit an existing gallery I made, it wipes out all my captions and I have to rename all the images. I will have the galleries up soon with the simpleviewer and see how it runs.

[swmdrayfan]

Gary,

Excellent site. I found it pretty easy to navigate, and the work is outstanding.
John

[Asylum Steve]

What I would be concerned with is that anyone can download your pictures and save them to their harddrive...

...is how big a deal this is. I agree with Photo John's philosophy that there is really little we can do to prevent image copying, and so am not concerned at all about it.

It's like getting upset because someone tore off a magazine cover you shot and taped it up on their wall.

As for the Flash programs and galleries, I would have no trouble copying the images in the links you posted to my HD. Just takes a bit more time, that's all.

In fact, one time I came across an image protection site (that charged a large fee, btw) with a sample of a photo that "they said" could not be copied. It also had a large, clearly viewed watermark across the middle.

It took me all of five minutes to copy the shot to my pc and ps out the watermark. The result was a clean, full size copy of the original. I emailed it back to the site explaining what I did, but funny, never heard back from them.... ;)

IMO, the best way to protect your online images is to make sure the size is not too big, your logo is very visible somewhere in the shot, and to make it clear that you will deal with any unauthorized commercial use of the pic.

As John has said in the past, I see anyone copying my work and sharing it with others free advertising...

[gahspidy]

I agree with you on that , Steve. I'm not worried about the copying too much. The files are very small size, averaging 70kb, so there would be no printing them for any real usage.
I'm going to try using the new simpleviewer. I would like your feedback as to whether you feel it is easier , and a better gallery. seems to me that it is faster to look through the images, which would help someones viewing experience.
I would like anyones input as to the newer viewer.
Thanks

[CLKunst]

Gary I think that is a great improvement! I'm going to go download and play with that myself now. Thanks for forging ahead for me! ;)

[Peter_AUS]

Gary,

In each of the new galleries when you go to the galleries home page, it is all text, there is a huge gap between the main paragraph and the last two lines, with the >> there to show the way. The link back to the Home page and the Galleries, is too low in the page, had to hunt for it. I would keep all links regarding navigation to top as you have in the Index page of your site or maybe the left hand side to make it easier to navigate.

You need to make it more obvious about the fact your images are copywrighted and not to be used without permission and include as Steve said that all images found used commercially that are yours will be dealt with by Legal Action or words to that effect.

Faster loading of images is good, having problems with captions having to be redone each time you make a change is a hassle. How does one leave a comment on your or about your images. This is always one of the inherent problems of website design and one of the reasons I have gone with coppermine as my gallery software. People can join if they want, they can leave comments on the images, uploading of images isn't a hassle at all, it is much like in the galleries here. Photos can be rated as well.

On the Admin side of things I can even see what IP's people come from etc as well and I like that idea too.

Web Design is always a very personal thing and getting a site to look the way you want is always the best. What functions easiest for people browsing your site is always the most important thing as people will always leave if things take too long and aren't easy to navigate through and is uninsteresting as well.

[gahspidy]

John, thanks for commenting on the site. glad to know you felt it was easy to nav.
CLK, I am just starting to really get the hang of this viewer and can help you if you need anything.
Peter, the links at the bottom are part of the program and all I can do is change what it says and where it directs. The opening page, however, works html and I learned a few codes to place my home link and a contact me link. The forward arrows should now be closer to the text and more obvious. I may even eventually code in a link to each gallery on the opening pages to bypass the homepage click. I also figured out how to edit everything in simpleviewer without losing the previous info. So, alls well on that front.
Also Peter, I reorganized and renamed some of the files in my website folder. It's a much cleaner house now.
Thanks everyone for the great help.

[opus]

My very first thought on looking at your site is that your main page is very stunning, graphically and compositionally, then when I click on a link all I get on the next page is boring text, before I actually get to see more visually appealing work on the third click.

It's my opinion that you need some graphical elements on your "second" pages too ... if only to stimulate your viewer to keep clicking through. The presentation of a large block of text against a grey background is rather offputting, IMO. And not only that, the only suggestion of "more to come" is simply a double arrow at the bottom. Your links to your email and back to the home page are much more dominant visually than the means to go on through your site. Some people may click away from your site after only two clicks because of it.