Posted 3 years ago #
Okay, I think I'm 99% good... I need to mess with the weddng blog a little and tweek a few things on the proofing area to match the style of the site, but can I get some more eyes on this? Be super-picky!
Redheaded Ninja : State College Wedding Photographer
Also, you might be wondering why it's focused on weddings when I have other stuff on there... I used to live in TX and had more of a portrait-based site but since I moved here most of my business has been weddings.
Posted 3 years ago #
Lurkers... I see you looking... are you guys following the advice "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything?"
Posted 3 years ago #
Hi Redheadninja, I like your website. The layout is fresh and clean. Personally I would not use a welcome screen but then again maybe you have reason for this. ;-)
I like btw the pictures on your site. Good quality.
What is a "lurker"? O_o
Posted 3 years ago #
Hey Michelle,
I quite like the site and like how you've incorporated your galleries.
You asked us to be tough, so here's a little constructive criticism:
I like to use the HTML Validator plugin for Firefox, which validates pages on the fly and helps find the source of the error - http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/
Aside from these two things, I'm sold. :) Great job!
Posted 3 years ago #
First off: this is head-and-shoulders above 90% of the sites submitted here. So rejoice in that.
Quibbles: We don't discuss content here, but since that music playlist in the header is an image, I guess it's part of the design. Why? Nothing to do with photography, several of the artist and title names are spelled incorrectly, and you risk alienating potential clients/subscribers who don't particulary like Kiss or "Peter Gabrielle" (wtf?).
I'm not as adverse to the splash page as the other commenters; it loads quickly and is kinda special. Maybe it could have some more drill-down links other than "enter" and that would redeem it as a landing page.
Looks good overall. Good luck.
Posted 3 years ago #
Lurkers... I see you looking... are you guys following the advice "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything?"
Actually, you're paraphrasing Thumper Rabbit's rule from Bambi. Peace.
Posted 3 years ago #
lovin the splash..nice work
Posted 3 years ago #
Thanks, everyone!
I keep going back and forth about the splash page, the reason I have it currently is because it seems like people are accustomed to a splash for photography sites. I want people to know they are on a photography site. I have a graphic designer working on a flash game (linkbait) that ties in to the site. I thought I might link to it from that page as well, but I want people to have to come to the site also so perhaps I will have a page instead? What do you think? I just learned about Digg, I want people to be able to Digg it.
Do you think I should just kill the front page or have more stuff on it? Like maybe a link straight to the photography blog since usually a splash on a site like mine has a link that goes to the blog?
I am also thinking about having resources for locals that are planning a wedding, maybe I should have a link to that as well?
I really hate splash pages, too, but I am trying to keep in line with what people are used to when searching for a photographer.
sewmyheadon, I will definitely take a look at the validator, thank you so much!
crazytaxi, I will look for another image for that spot and yes I remember it's from Bambi now! Thanks!
Posted 3 years ago #
Is that header better??
Posted 3 years ago #
redheadedninja,
I really like how clean your menu is. Is this based on a standard theme or did you create it from scratch? I'm new to this and would like to develop something similar.
Thanks!
Posted 3 years ago #
Hey really nice!
Wouldn't have guessed it was WP if I just happened to land on the site. Clean, simple, pretty.
Not being very brutal, am I?
Barry
Posted 3 years ago #
nembradmin, I started with a standard theme and added what I needed, took out what I didn't. For the menu, I just have the list of pages I want in it instead of all.
Thanks Barry, this is my first WordPress. I am really enjoying it.
The site looks really great. It's not like the clinical business style sites you see so much. It's got personality and gives a sense of comfort that you're really passionate about what you do. Your writing style gives a good impression of the kind of person you are and showing a personal side creates a sense of trust. A very important thing to remember when writing things on a website is that you should address it to the individual, not the crowd, and be personal. That is exactly what you have done. So, my complements for getting that right. The design and the content are also in harmony. A lot of people don't get that right either.
Here and there there's a little "oops" so bare with me, I didn't build you up with my complements to tear you down, I just want to give you a few pointers to polish it up to a shine.
The splash page, oh, what to do? It took a while for me to realize that there's actually quite some text at the bottom of it. So... that makes it actually more than just a splash page. I keep questioning why you chose to do it that way. Is it content you actually want people to read or are you hoping Google will index you more to the top when people search for a photographer in the State College PA area? If you really want people to read it, place a link named "skip down to content" or something, to an anchor at the top of the text. If it's for Google, eh... don't. There is enough there for an Info page or you could call the page "Hiring" In any case there are other more effective ways to get good Google karma. You've done such a good job making your site valid XHTML and CSS, and then you go and put a splash page in front of it in HTML with inline CSS and using HTML tags & attributes like <font> , <center> and tables for layout which we all agreed we weren't going to do anymore ;) If you really want a splash page, it would be so much cooler to use flash. Quite honestly the current one doesn't do the rest of the site justice.
On the post pages, the text is hiked up behind the title.
If you go to your stylesheet and change this:
.contenttitle {
float : left;
width : 500px;
margin : 0;
padding : 0 0 0 10px;
}to this:
.contenttitle {
margin : 0;
padding : 0 0 0 10px;
}it should take care of it.
The Nextgen Gallery slideshows have the default setting of 10 sec. between pictures. Which is okay but some people aren't so patient. If you go in your wp-admin menu to gallery -> Options -> Slideshow, you can tick the box behind "Show navigation bar" And then a little button bar will appear when you hover with the mouse over the slideshow with next and previous buttons. You can go ahead and tick the "Show loading icon" just below it as well since some slideshows take a while to start after the page goes blank. The loading icon will tell the viewer the page is actually doing something.
If you find some pages with pictures are getting too long, you can use the <!--nextpage--> code in your posts. this subdivides the post over several pages. You can use the <!--nextpage--> as often as you want in a post or Page. Each instance creates a new page. It took me a while to discover that option in WP. I was real happy when I did.
That's all I got for you.
The pictures on your site are really good. If I ever get married in your area I'll be sure to hire you. ;)
-John
Posted 3 years ago #
Thanks, how about now?
Posted 3 years ago #
Okay, I scrapped the splash and moved WP into the main directory...
Looks great!! I still managed to catch the *new* splash screen before you removed it and it didn't look bad at all. It was a great improvement on the original one. But I agree with you, your site doesn't really need one.
I also saw you did both, cut the slideshow time down and added the button bar. Looks really good.
If I would be a really fussy perfectionist (which of coarse I'm not!) I could say something in the lines of suggesting you to add the same amount of padding to your post titles as you did to the text below it, so they line up too. (only visible on long 2 line titles)
But I'm not the kind of guy who would look at a site that closely so I'm not even gonna mention it. ;-)
Posted 3 years ago #
Doh! Fixed that, thanks!
Ok, here is a question I have not found the answer to:
I switched domains when I made the new site. The old site was http://www.myaphoto.com. So now that is parked on top of the old one, so clients can still find their proofs and such. If you Google "State College Wedding Photographer and look about 5 down, you'll see my new page listed... but under the old URL. Google has picked up the new URL, it's on page 2. How can I fix that? I can't just kill the old URL, people will be looking for me that way.
Posted 3 years ago #
Actually, I *THINK* I may have just found the answer. Instead of parking it, I should have it as an additional domain in another folder and then do a 301 redirect to the main folder/URL. Is that right? I'm gonna try that.
You could also add it as an alias, if your webhost provides you with that option.
Or you could put your splash page @ that domain informing visitors that your domain name has changed and that they need to update their bookmarks. Add some JavaScript that auto forwards the page to the new site after 10sec. and add a no-index meta tag to the splash page so Google won't index it anymore
Posted 3 years ago #
What does that do?
Posted 3 years ago #
Oh, just saw your second answer. Would that be better? That will get the old domain dropped pretty quickly, right?
The JavaScript would look like this:
Add this to the head
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function delayer(){
window.location = "http://www.redheadedninja.com/"
}
//-->
</script>and change the <body> tag to:
<body onLoad="setTimeout('delayer()', 10000)">Add some text to the page that says they should update their bookmarks and that the page will take them to the new site in 10sec.
also add a link to the new site in case they have JavaScript disabled.
Add this meta tag to stop Google indexing your old domain name
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />Usually Google will index your site once every one to two weeks
Posted 3 years ago #
Super picky? Okay. But that means just saying what I see.
What stands out is that the site is unnecessarily cluttered. Unless that's the look you were going for, simplify. I never saw the splash page, but you need something simpler than this. How about a page with no pix in the header, just a menu on the bottom and several large icons, one for each menu item, a text description, and some of those delicious pix. I would arrange the pix you do have in two horizontal rows six pix wide and avoid dividing the page into columns. So, from the top, name, text, icons, pix, menu.
The gray background coloring does not make your pictures "pop." Find a "nearly neutral" to use, perhaps something just a touch warmer. The white where the text is is just a touch warm, but not enough. How about a lacquered rosewoood or header and trim color with parchment in the background. I'm not a website designer, so I can't say how to do that.
Just some thoughts.
Malcolm
@malcolmjames - I'd really like to know what you mean with "unnecessarily cluttered." In any case I disagree with you. The fact that she's a photographer, makes it a very illogical suggestion to have a page without pictures. The fact that redheadedninja uses a neutral gray and white background provides her with the freedom to post pictures displaying a variety of different moods. This actually does make the pictures pop because neutrality of the design doesn't distract you from the content of the pictures. Just imagine how bad a rosewood header would clash with baby pictures where the main color in the picture is baby blue or pink.
The design of the site is carried by the quality of the pictures, and that's her product.
Posted 3 years ago #
JBerghem,
By "unnecessarily cluttered," I mean that the page has too much information on it to be easily and quickly understood by viewers. Successful webpages should be easy to access visually not only for high-level readers who aren't intimidated by text, but by the masses who want to know what a page is all about without having to do a lot of reading. I'm sure that you are an above-average reader, but there are a lot of people out there who are not strong readers and who would prefer a simpler front page. Those people deserve good photography, too.
I didn't suggest that she eliminate pix from the front page, merely from the header. They are distracting there. And grey is not the best neutral to make other colors "pop." I'm sure she could choose another neutral that isn't colorless against which her photos would pop.
The pictures ARE her product, and that is exactly why they shouldn't be overwhelmed by all of the text on that page.
Posted 3 years ago #
Wow, I turn my head for a day and look what happens!
Thanks for the input, malcolmjames, I am definitely sticking with grey tho. My old site was grey and I got lots of compliments on it. I think the text is definitely necessary for me as well. The header? Well, I can't imagine what else I would put there except for pictures! I really do appreciate your feedback.
An update: The 301 redirect worked great, Google has dropped the old url completely and this new site is now ranking #1 in a search for "state college wedding photographer." Thanks for all of your help with that. I just installed All In One SEO Pack and hopefully tonite will have all the page titles changed and descriptions & keywords added. This is taking a lot of time, but so far it has been worth it!! I am still very open to hearing more feedback, even if I disagree it helps me! Thank you!!
Posted 3 years ago #
Also I want to say that it took a lot of courage for me to make the leap to WordPress from a site that I coded by hand and relied on for years, but the last couple weeks have proven to me that I should have done this long ago. WordPress rocks!!
Posted 3 years ago #
Redheadedninja, could you give me a hint as to how you created a login section for your proofs? I'm looking for something similar but am coming up blank for wordpress stuff that works like this. Love your site by the way.
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