What do you think?

[marcotrov]

Hi everyone. It's been a while since i posted a topic as work, other projects and life's little unforseen treasures have held me back somewhat from contributing fully hopefully the middle to later parts of this year will begin to change that somewhat.
News at hand I have 2 new babies (NO! I'm indeed past those sort of babies ) a new D300 that i've had for a few weeks and hardly touched and a developing website hence the posting.

At the moment i'm working with a young website developer and programmer who has proved quite successful at producing a package that is 'Idiot proof" though from time to time I have been able to successfully challenge that tag

Despite my web management inadeqaucies he has managed to turn an open source system like Joomla(Bloody painful- to me anyway ) into a very user friendly and very easily customised and maintained website

Anyhow I am currently still working on it so he is currently hosting the site for me. Eventually(already have a commitment with Siteground) I will upload it to my host and domain.

I would really appreciate members giving me there opinions on any aspects of my site given the state of play. Perhaps I should have waited till i was a little further along the lines but the feedback on this forum i have found so useful in the past that i couldn't wait

I leave next week straight after Easter(this damned flu aside ) for about a 3 week holiday travelling through Nth Western NSW and around Brisbane and Jimna then on to the western part of Queensland (round Longreach) then back up to Cairns. Hopefully for some much needed R'nR and of course camping and photography (Yes! OnePutt a little of what you use to do too! )

Anyway here is the current web address - http://www.appys.jemisp.com

cheers
marco

[dawesy]

Page won't load for me I'm afraid. 'Cannot ind server'

[photohiker]

Try http://appys.jemisp.com

The temporary site seems to be missing the www delegation.

Michael

[photohiker]

Marco,

I had a quick look. Overall it looks great. I'm not a huge fan of flash intros, but everyone has got one these days, why should you miss out Anyway, the ability to skip it is welcome.

A couple of pages have a visible : "<!--content ---->" showing below the header (Prints -> Pricing, Prints -> Ordering, Information, etc) guessing that this is a placeholder for something.

Blog takes me to a new page without the navigation links below the header that are on all the other pages, as does Guestbook. No easy way to get back home apart from the back button.

Contact page, I'd consider placing the info in a graphic. It's too easy for spambots to trawl this stuff off your page.

All this using firefox/Mac Intel v2.0.0.12

Hope that helps.

Michael

[llubnrut]

Looks pretty good... like Michael not a big fan on flash intros, in fact I am not a big fan of Intro pages at all. There is also a script you might look at that will automatically detect users screen resolution and redirect accordingly ... http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex9/info3.htm

Cheers Craig

[marcotrov]

Thanks guys for your feedback.
Michael
I actually wanted the Menu items you mentioned to display Sub-menu for viewer choice when cursor rolls over eg Prints - Pricing ordering? Is this clumsy? Is there a better way?
Also I agree with Blog and Guestbook having no easy way back. Maybe Home button?
Not sure what you mean re- the Spam trawlers? Don't want them, they sound bad Is there or are there a site/s you can direct me to that avoids this issue and explains what you mean by embed in graphic and some of the other suggestions you mentioned? I find if i see it it will help my limited understanding
Craig thanks for the link i'll throw it across the designers bow and see if he can incorporate it. Would be good to avoid the that resolution page but i do like the intro but i'm bias
Thank you for your help really appreciate it. Any other suggestions please don't hesitate to let me know
cheers
marco

[photohiker]

Thanks guys for your feedback.
I actually wanted the Menu items you mentioned to display Sub-menu for viewer choice when cursor rolls over eg Prints - Pricing ordering? Is this clumsy? Is there a better way?

Menu items are fine, I was referring to the actual <!--content ----> text that appears in the body. Or is that associated with the submenu you speak of?

Also I agree with Blog and Guestbook having no easy way back. Maybe Home button?

Maybe ask your designer if the standard header can be incorporated across all pages? Failing that a home or return link would be a good idea.

Not sure what you mean re- the Spam trawlers? Don't want them, they sound bad Is there or are there a site/s you can direct me to that avoids this issue and explains what you mean by embed in graphic and some of the other suggestions you mentioned? I find if i see it it will help my limited understanding

Spam bots read text from just about any website, looking for email addresses. They then subscribe any addresses found to spam email lists and you get to find out all sorts of useless pharmaceutical information via your inbox The idea is to make your email address visible to your visitors, but not by a spam bot. Putting it in an image is reasonably effective. For instance, in photoshop, you can type your email address against a black background, save as jpg and insert that instead of the actual text. There are other solutions that hide the address from the bots, your web designer should have some ideas on this.

Michael

[marcotrov]

Michael
I think I know what you mean. The text immediately underneath the Showcase gallery on the main page was needed to direct anyone straight to the main gallery page as the Slideshow Pro for lightroom i purchased doesn't allow for a Gallery link that would take the viewer straight to the Album page. bummer. Apparently they (the designers of Slideshow Pro) haven't introduced that facility...yet. It's a real pain. I had intended to have a Gallery menu item that would forward the viewer straight to the main Album page that you get to when you click on the bottom left icon of the main page show case Slideshow viewer. If that makes sense.
cheers
marco