(Another) New Website

[honestfool84]

So I know it hasn't been even two months since my last website... but I'm always looking to get a better website, and this idea (CSS) popped into my head last week, and I just couldn't resist. :lol I have a feeling I'm gonna stick with this one for a while.

Along with the new website, i made a new "logo" or design...I got tired of the serif font fast.

I was going for very modern, and very simple, with absolutely no learning curve. As simple as I thought the last website was, people had trouble navigating the portfolio section. This shouldn't be a problem this time.

Also, this site is "SEO" (search engine optimization) friendly, which means HOPEFULLY i'll be showing up on the first page of google within a few weeks.

Here (http://michaelmurtaughphoto.com/) was my inspiration. obviously mine leaves a bit to be desired, but I honestly couldn't afford $1500 to make the site, and then another $37 a month just to host it. (I just flew off a bridge the other day in an accident...so my money is going to a new car :lol)

I am proud to say that I wrote the entire code for my website all by myself...something that I don't know too many photographers do...so if it sucks, you know why.

I know I can get honest opinions here, as I have in the past. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

http://www.davidteran.com/


On a side note: I am going to New York in about a month or two, and I am looking to finish out my physical portfolio, to take to show to a few editors and newspapers. If by any chance you'd be interested in helping me out, let me know. I can't pay you, but I can give you a pretty sweet (biased opinion here) picture.

[PakiDan]

Dude... still a fan... and good job! Awesome site.

[Pistons < Spurs]

Love it. Huge improvement over the last one IMO. It does a a far better job of actually showing off your photos. And I'm glad to see you kept a clean and simple design to it.

[Pistons < Spurs]

regarding the new logo/branding design, I like the 'david teran -- photography" part of it. I love the font for you name, and it contrasts well w/ the other font. Simple and clean.

But the "portrait & commercial photographer" portion of it seems too heavy to me. And I think I'd choose to center it or align it to the right hand side. I'd also drop it down a bit, it's just too clunky and too close to your brand name.

Again just my opinion.

[Suicidal Jack]

Where are all the Mouse, Ashbeigh and angel_luv types? Were all of these photos taken in 90210? Do you charge more to photograph teh ugly?

[CuckingFunt]

I like this website better overall. By a lot. I would make a couple minor tweaks, though.

For one thing, it's somewhat confusing that the "portfolio" link is still in place when you're browsing the portfolio. I like that the logo information and everything remains, but would suggest making just that word disappear, similar to the way "home" disappears when you're on the home page. With that link still there, it took me a few seconds to figure out that I was even in the right place.

Additionally, I like that the images in the portfolio feel more substantial in the amount of screen they take up, and totally understand why you'd want the size/dimensions to match for all the images, but the way some of the images are cropped feels odd. It detracts from the overall composition in many cases, even cutting off heads in a few images, and if I were considering hiring you the thought that it might be intentional could be enough to scare me away. If you're really married to the idea of keeping all of the images within the same viewing frame (which, again, I think is a good one), I would be really thoughtful in cropping/sizing those images to fully fit within that frame. I might even consider eliminating some of the images from the portfolio if necessary, rather than have it displayed as a full body portrait in which only half of the body is visible.

[honestfool84]

Dude... still a fan... and good job! Awesome site.

thank you. :D


regarding the new logo/branding design, I like the 'david teran -- photography" part of it. I love the font for you name, and it contrasts well w/ the other font. Simple and clean.

But the "portrait & commercial photographer" portion of it seems too heavy to me. And I think I'd choose to center it or align it to the right hand side. I'd also drop it down a bit, it's just too clunky and too close to your brand name.

Again just my opinion.



the "portrait & commercial photographer" portion, if it were up to me, would be completely gone... sadly, that's part of the "SEO". that <h1> tag is EXTREMELY important. the font is just a matter of what fonts are loaded onto a browser.

the logo/branding portion isn't a font that is loaded onto any browser, or else i'd use the same font for the "portrait & commercial photographer" section.

thanks for the tip - i'll down that portion a bit. it looks different depending how big or small your browser is stretched.

[honestfool84]

I like this website better overall. By a lot. I would make a couple minor tweaks, though.

For one thing, it's somewhat confusing that the "portfolio" link is still in place when you're browsing the portfolio. I like that the logo information and everything remains, but would suggest making just that word disappear, similar to the way "home" disappears when you're on the home page. With that link still there, it took me a few seconds to figure out that I was even in the right place.

Additionally, I like that the images in the portfolio feel more substantial in the amount of screen they take up, and totally understand why you'd want the size/dimensions to match for all the images, but the way some of the images are cropped feels odd. It detracts from the overall composition in many cases, even cutting off heads in a few images, and if I were considering hiring you the thought that it might be intentional could be enough to scare me away. If you're really married to the idea of keeping all of the images within the same viewing frame (which, again, I think is a good one), I would be really thoughtful in cropping/sizing those images to fully fit within that frame. I might even consider eliminating some of the images from the portfolio if necessary, rather than have it displayed as a full body portrait in which only half of the body is visible.

try resizing your browser... the full screen CSS code that i'm using doesn't fix that problem, it's just weird. i can't find a fix for it..

even if you go to a flash site like this one (http://michaelmurtaughphoto.com/), you'll still get the same problem if you have your browser resized differently.

that's a good point, though, and i'll look into taking out a few images.

[honestfool84]

Were all of these photos taken in 90210? Do you charge more to photograph teh ugly?


what's that supposed to mean? :lol

[JamStone]

Huge, huge upgrade over that simplistic one you had. I like all the changes you made.

Only issue is with that many pictures, your portfolio takes quite a bit of time to get through, so I still am in favor of you adding a side slideshow where the viewer can access a picture they think they might want to see more quickly.

Other than that, great job on making improvements on the site.

[honestfool84]

Huge, huge upgrade over that simplistic one you had. I like all the changes you made.

Only issue is with that many pictures, your portfolio takes quite a bit of time to get through, so I still am in favor of you adding a side slideshow where the viewer can access a picture they think they might want to see more quickly.

Other than that, great job on making improvements on the site.

thank you. i wanted something extremely simplistic, yet something that looked great. i think i achieved that.

totally agree with you on the thumbnails, but i'm trying to think of a way to implement it into the website without clustering up the site, and making it look cheesy.

what would be perfect would be some sort of "mouseover" effect, with a little bar/tab/"thumbnails" link on the bottom that opened up whenever you moved the mouse over... but i'm still working on trying to get any js (mootools) to work properly.

[honestfool84]

oh come on, anybody?

thispego? :lol

[TDMVPDPOY]

add porn links to ur site to increase traffic man, advertising pays ur hosting

[thispego]

oh come on, anybody?

thispego? :lol

rofl! i'll check out the new site when i'm in a worse mood :lol

[honestfool84]

add porn links to ur site to increase traffic man, advertising pays ur hosting

lol, half of me thinks you're kidding... but if you're not, i'd rather not be associated with sleezy photography.

photographers get a bad name as it is, i don't need to add to it and make everyone think i'm a pervert. lol, that's not the genre i'm aiming for.


rofl! i'll check out the new site when i'm in a worse mood :lol


oh come on, i want a critique when you're in a good mood!

[thispego]

lol, half of me thinks you're kidding... but if you're not, i'd rather not be associated with sleezy photography.

photographers get a bad name as it is, i don't need to add to it and make everyone think i'm a pervert. lol, that's not the genre i'm aiming for.

nice disclaimer :tu


oh come on, i want a critique when you're in a good mood!

geez, ok, ome sec

[thispego]

meh, my monitor is probably too small but the tops of the pictures are obstructed by the menu boxes

[Bukefal]

Nice! I like this one better. Simple, clean and clear. Good job!

[sabar]

I love how the images utilize my over-abundance of screen-space. Great job.

[honestfool84]

I love how the images utilize my over-abundance of screen-space. Great job.

:toast yess!

how big is your monitor? i only have 22-inch monitor screen...images are set to 1500x1000, so i'm wondering how it looks on a bigger screen, say a 30-inch.

[honestfool84]

meh, my monitor is probably too small but the tops of the pictures are obstructed by the menu boxes

what is your resolution set to? i tried to make it look alright even to 1024x768... without using flash, it's difficult to make it look great.




Nice! I like this one better. Simple, clean and clear. Good job!


thank you. :downspin:

[honestfool84]

just for reference, this is how i HOPE most viewers see my site.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3716/picture2gy.png

this is how i see it myself...except a few times bigger. everything is visible, or at least cropped correctly.

without using flash, i'm not sure how to make it look perfect for every single monitor.

[fraga]

Visually it's much better because you can see more of your pictures...functionality wise...it's confusing...you should seperate your logo along with your Nav buttons...right now they are floating on each picture...which kind of detracts from the pictures themselves...good direction though...

And since you're already utilizing CSS...I would look into Jquery...Image Carrousel...

[honestfool84]

Visually it's much better because you can see more of your pictures...functionality wise...it's confusing...you should seperate your logo along with your Nav buttons...right now they are floating on each picture...which kind of detracts from the pictures themselves...good direction though...

And since you're already utilizing CSS...I would look into Jquery...Image Carrousel...

i'm confused..

how is it confusing functionality wise? my goal is to make it as simple as possible.

and i'll look into that image carousel that you mention.

[Cry Havoc]

Love the site.

Love the HUGE photos.

If I'm going to nitpick, I'd say there is a fair amount of aliasing with the font in the upper right. It can be occasionally distracting.

I'm on a 22" display @ 1680x1050.

Also, I'm sure it's intentional, but I don't really like the lack of capitalization on the "ABOUT" page. Looks a little amateurish.

[honestfool84]

Love the site.

Love the HUGE photos.

If I'm going to nitpick, I'd say there is a fair amount of aliasing with the font in the upper right. It can be occasionally distracting.

I'm on a 22" display @ 1680x1050.

Also, I'm sure it's intentional, but I don't really like the lack of capitalization on the "ABOUT" page. Looks a little amateurish.


alright, fixed the capitalization on the about page. that was intentional, actually. i see what you mean, though, so i changed it.

i am currently having a friend write up a new one for me...something with a shade of comedy, but nothing untruthful. i want to convey that i can do my job, take it seriously, but not be a pain in the butt to work with.

and the font in the upper right hand corner are actually images. the font i chose to use (NimbusSanPUltLig) wasn't installed on any browsers i know of...so i had to use an image to pull it off and make it look like it belonged with the logo on the left. not sure how to fix that.

[atxrocker]

Much improved. Not sure how SEO friendly the site is though to be honest. I would strongly recommend submission to online directories/blogs as well as establishing and managing a Google local account if you have not already done so. Google first page placement in a metropolitan as large as San Antonio can be quite competitive.

[honestfool84]

Much improved. Not sure how SEO friendly the site is though to be honest. I would strongly recommend submission to online directories/blogs as well as establishing and managing a Google local account if you have not already done so. Google first page placement in a metropolitan as large as San Antonio can be quite competitive.

i'm monitoring it with Google Analytics... hopefully it works out.

my boss (who i intern with) comes up first on google here in san antonio... maybe i'm just being really hopefully. lol.

i wish there was a rating meter, i'd honestly like to know how good/bad of a photographer i am compared to other san antonio photographers who shoot the same genre...