Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 25, 2008, 11:34:32 pm

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 25, 2008, 11:34:32 pm
Hi all,

I have just completed a total remake of my own website. My intent is to make it simple, easy to navigate, and reasonably elegant. Oh, yes: and no "flash" required.

I created the actual galleries using BreezeBrowser Pro, with some custom templates derived from some of the ones that come with it. The rest of the site is hand-coded (that's how to teach yourself html, people.      )
Helpful critique is solicited.

-Eric

P.S. The url is the same. If you have ever visited my site, you might have to click "reload" if you get the old site (old has dark background; new is white).
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on November 26, 2008, 03:46:03 am
Quote from: EricM
Hi all,

I have just completed a total remake of my own website. My intent is to make it simple, easy to navigate, and reasonably elegant. Oh, yes: and no "flash" required.

I created the actual galleries using BreezeBrowser Pro, with some custom templates derived from some of the ones that come with it. The rest of the site is hand-coded (that's how to teach yourself html, people.      )
Helpful critique is solicited.

-Eric
Two initial thoughts: it's a shame that you can't navigate between large images using the arrow keys, and it would be nice to be able to get from large image view to the gallery overview in one step. OTOH, I'm happy that the "next" button doesn't jump around, so at least I don't have to move the mouse.

I do like your road tar shots, though!

Jeremy
Title: My new website is up
Post by: LoisWakeman on November 26, 2008, 07:16:15 am
Hi Eric,

Hope it doesn't count as 'nasty' to say that it doesn't work well in Firefox - scroll bars are visible in every frame, and only part of your featured image is visible "above the fold". See the attached screen shot - which is running full-screen at 1280x800 on my laptop (and I usually run at less than full screen so get horizontal scrollbars too).

I see you are open to getting your hands dirty using HTML, so may I suggest you might like to learn about liquid CSS-based layouts, rather than relying on frames, which are not very usable/accessible compared to all the techniques available these days? Especially as the layout changes once we get into the galleries or the blog, which is mildly disconcerting.

The photos themselves are wonderful and deserve not to be encumbered by the UI widget clutter from the frames
Title: My new website is up
Post by: joergen geerds on November 26, 2008, 09:21:17 am
Quote from: LoisWakeman
Hi Eric,

Hope it doesn't count as 'nasty' to say that it doesn't work well in Firefox - scroll bars are visible in every frame, and only part of your featured image is visible "above the fold". See the attached screen shot - which is running full-screen at 1280x800 on my laptop (and I usually run at less than full screen so get horizontal scrollbars too).

The photos themselves are wonderful and deserve not to be encumbered by the UI widget clutter from the frames

Hi Lois,

i think your comment about the fold is a bit unfair to eric. His website is pretty decent, and works for a multitude of resolutions. You have so much stuff in your firefox (4 rows of bookmarks, plus tabs, plus other stuff), that it's hardly worth calling "full screen." An iPhone has more screen real estate devoted to content than you have. You should turn off the visibility of that stuff before commenting that your stuff is pushing content below the fold.

Eric:

nice portfolio. I personally wouldn't mind if the left navigation would be tree-like and would stay in place, instead of replacing everything when one goes into the gallery. good work.


Title: My new website is up
Post by: deeyas on November 26, 2008, 10:31:04 am
Quote from: LoisWakeman
Hi Eric,

Hope it doesn't count as 'nasty' to say that it doesn't work well in Firefox - scroll bars are visible in every frame, and only part of your featured image is visible "above the fold". See the attached screen shot - which is running full-screen at 1280x800 on my laptop (and I usually run at less than full screen so get horizontal scrollbars too).

I see you are open to getting your hands dirty using HTML, so may I suggest you might like to learn about liquid CSS-based layouts, rather than relying on frames, which are not very usable/accessible compared to all the techniques available these days? Especially as the layout changes once we get into the galleries or the blog, which is mildly disconcerting.

The photos themselves are wonderful and deserve not to be encumbered by the UI widget clutter from the frames


Eric,

Your work is captivating, especially the Road Tar images. The website is simple, and it works! I see the same issue as Lois did on Firefox. I've attached screenshots from Firefox and Chrome.
One thing I would like to see on your site, is a "preview image" for the galleries, instead of a link. Maybe the Sand, Road Tar, etc. links can be replaced by one of the gallery images?
On the whole, its fairly simple to navigate and showcases your images well.

Title: My new website is up
Post by: BlasR on November 26, 2008, 10:46:19 am
EricM,

I have a problem too

I just call  M.I.T to removed your photos from Brockton.

You must be a champion to be around here.

Only the Champion can be orund



BTW your site, is much better.



BlasR
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Ray on November 26, 2008, 11:04:26 am
No problem at all, Eric, viewing your photos on my computer. You've got some lovely shots there. I'm thinking of designing my own website (or getting someone to design it for me), but I'm a bit lazy. Your arrangement seems fine. But what the heck is road tar? I thought for a moment I was viewing Chinese characters. How did those designs get into the tar? What's all that about?
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Lisa Nikodym on November 26, 2008, 12:12:12 pm
I really admire your work, Eric.  I especially loved the Italian doors and "urban canyons".

It's also a relief to see a web site that's simple and efficient.

Lisa
Title: My new website is up
Post by: DarkPenguin on November 26, 2008, 12:47:28 pm
Very nice.

How do you pronounce "Myrvaagnes"?
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 26, 2008, 12:57:25 pm
Wow! Thank you all for the helpful and supportive comments.

@Jeremy:   The arrow keys and one-step-to-gallery page seem easily doable. I'll hope to fix those soon.

@Lois:   I have no problem with Firefox (no scroll bars at all), but I am using a pair of 21" monitors, and I admit I have a prejudice that "real photographers don't use laptops". But I also realize that many others do use them, and when I tried the site on my wife's laptop, I got the cramped, ugly look. So yes: I've got to do something about that. I have been avoiding learning about CSS, but my experience putting this site together has indeed taught me why I need to learn it. So I will look for a copy of "The Complete Imbecile's Guide to CSS".

@jeorgen:   I suspect that once I master CSS, as Lois suggests, that making the left navigation panels consistent throughout will be much easier. The harder trick for me at my present state of web-knowledge is how to make the pages look good on both big and small screens.

@deeyas:   A preview image for each gallery is a great idea, and it should be easy to implement.

@Blas:   Where's your website? I need to steal it!    

@Ray:   You asked "What the heck is road tar?" In parts of the U.S., and certainly in many cities and towns around Boston, our asphalt-paved roads develop cracks after a few New England winters. Back when there were fewer cars on the road and asphalt and tar were in (seemingly) infinite supply, many roads were regularly resurfaced with a second, third, or fourth layer of asphalt. In recent years, in order to prolong the life of the road surface a few more years, the cracks are sometimes filled with a thin stream of tar. A tank truck with a load of heated tar drives slowly along the road, and a worker walks behind it operating a nozzle very much like a giant version of a cake-decorating nozzle. The worker just dribbles tar wherever he (or she, to be P.C.) sees a crack. Some years ago while driving along a road treated this way, I saw the scene in the late afternoon that became the first of my "Road Tar" series. The late day sunlight was backlighting the scene, making the shiny tar drips glow, while the older asphalt stayed dark. I have gone looking for scenes like that ever since. For the image to work, the sun needs to be in the right place, and any shadows or street gizmos (drains, etc.) need to "belong" in the image. I'm planning soon to try some night shots, using streetlights and headlights for the light source, especially on streets that don't run in the best direction for sunlight. So the "artist" is really the guy who puts down the tar; I just record it.

@Lisa:   You know I visit your website often when I want to explore places -- especially mountains -- that I'm not likely to get to myself.

@ Everybody:    Again, thanks for your help and comments. I will report in again when I've made some of the changes suggested. But don't hold your breath; I've got to get out and play with my new G10 and my old 5D, too.

Cheers,

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 26, 2008, 01:05:49 pm
Quote from: DarkPenguin
Very nice.

How do you pronounce "Myrvaagnes"?
Hi Dark,

1.   I generally answer to anything that starts with "M" and goes on for several syllables. When someone seems to be struggling mightily with it, I often wait and wait and let them struggle.

2.   JanI can give you the authentic Norwegian pronunciation, which would put the accent on the first syllable and roll the "R", coming out something like this: "MEERRRR-vogue-ness". My father came from Norway.

3.   The usual anglicised pronunciation puts the accent on the second syllable, and is something like this: "meer-VOG-ness".

4.   I sometimes tell people simply to break it into three parts (Myr   vaag   nes) and say whatever seems to fit.

The "aa" in present-day Norwegian is usually represented by one "A" with a small circle over it: "å".

Now repeat it 500 times.    

Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: BlasR on November 26, 2008, 04:29:18 pm


@Blas:   Where's your website? I need to steal it!    

Here is my website.    BMRworldPhotos.com



The more to come on the country. Front page may me change to dreamweaver, So now I need to start all over again.

BlasR
Title: My new website is up
Post by: DarkPenguin on November 26, 2008, 05:46:37 pm
Quote from: EricM
Now repeat it 500 times.    

Eric

It's pronounced Smith, got it.

Title: My new website is up
Post by: DarkPenguin on November 26, 2008, 11:50:04 pm
I love this ....

http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/bluehillcrw_0004bl.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/bluehillcrw_0004bl.htm)

.... and this ....

http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/stainspipecw2estretch2l.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/stainspipecw2estretch2l.htm)

I can stare at those like I'm trying to figure out a Rothko.

Might have to get me one of those.  How does one go about ordering the December print o d month?

As an aside my Ctein prints arrived.  Those were the ones offered through the Online Photographer.  I was going to give one of them as an xmas gift but after seeing them I'm keeping them.  They can have them when I'm dead.  My cat has already tried to destroy them twice.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: francois on November 27, 2008, 06:14:38 am
Eric,
I very much like the simplicity of your website, to goes directly to the essential, IOW your photos. I must say that your Road Tar gallery is fantastic. I also like a lot the Urban Canyons and Doors photos.

By the way, I browsed your website using an iPhone and navigation works very very well.


Title: My new website is up
Post by: mahleu on November 27, 2008, 06:52:10 am
A line break above the "site last updated" would probably help as would using a smaller font for that.

Otherwise very nice and spacious.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: LoisWakeman on November 27, 2008, 12:10:03 pm
Quote from: joergen geerds
Hi Lois,

i think your comment about the fold is a bit unfair to eric. His website is pretty decent, and works for a multitude of resolutions. You have so much stuff in your firefox (4 rows of bookmarks, plus tabs, plus other stuff), that it's hardly worth calling "full screen." An iPhone has more screen real estate devoted to content than you have. You should turn off the visibility of that stuff before commenting that your stuff is pushing content below the fold.
Fair enough point, Joergen. But a CSS liquid layout would accommodate everyone - iphone, gooseberry, blackberry, chrome, IE, firefox, favourites pane open or closed, toobars enabled or disabled, full screen, widescreen, laptop, designer's huge screen...
Anyway, Eric was very gracious in his reply so I hope my quickly dashed off post was mildly helpful.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: LoisWakeman on November 27, 2008, 12:17:08 pm
Quote from: BlasR
Here is my website.    BMRworldPhotos.com
Tricky to actually view your site without breaking the copyright restriction straight off  

"Images may not be downloaded, copied, linked to, printed or used in any way without written permission from the photographers. All rights reserved"

- you do know the browser automatically downloads the images when you open the page?
Title: My new website is up
Post by: BlasR on November 27, 2008, 01:54:15 pm
Quote from: LoisWakeman
Tricky to actually view your site without breaking the copyright restriction straight off  

"Images may not be downloaded, copied, linked to, printed or used in any way without written permission from the photographers. All rights reserved"

- you do know the browser automatically downloads the images when you open the page?



Ya, but what do you going to do, with small image?

Plus I have my dog washing after you  

Anyway, how it look?,,,two weeks to do it


BlasR
Title: My new website is up
Post by: LoisWakeman on November 28, 2008, 12:50:25 pm
Quote from: BlasR
Ya, but what do you going to do, with small image?

Plus I have my dog washing after you  

Anyway, how it look?,,,two weeks to do it


BlasR
Looks fine - and sorry for pulling your leg!
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 28, 2008, 08:59:34 pm
Quote from: DarkPenguin
I love this ....

http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/bluehillcrw_0004bl.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/bluehillcrw_0004bl.htm)

.... and this ....

http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/stainspipecw2estretch2l.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/GWalls/stainspipecw2estretch2l.htm)

I can stare at those like I'm trying to figure out a Rothko.

Might have to get me one of those.  How does one go about ordering the December print o d month?

As an aside my Ctein prints arrived.  Those were the ones offered through the Online Photographer.  I was going to give one of them as an xmas gift but after seeing them I'm keeping them.  They can have them when I'm dead.  My cat has already tried to destroy them twice.
If you go to the "Print of the Month" (http://myrvaagnes.com/printofmonth.htm) link on my website, it says to contact me, which can be by LuLa Personal Message or email (see my  "Contact Me" (http://myrvaagnes.com/contactme.htm) page.

Where are you located? Penguins should be in Antarctica, of course, but I'm not sure of the postal rates to McMurdo Station yet. If you are considering the print as apresent to your cat (to distract him from your Ctein Dye Transfer prints), I can arrange to include some catnip in the package. I am currently charging $5 for shipping in the U.S., and I will determine actual costs to other places (McMurdo, Canada, Tahiti, etc.). I can only accept personal checks at the moment. When business picks up enough I will add credit cards and/or PayPal. Send me an email or PM for more details.

Finally, if you wait a bit I just might make one of the images you mentioned a future Print of the Month. I'm also considering some of the Tar pix, which have been popular.

Thanks for your kind comments.

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 28, 2008, 09:01:51 pm
Quote from: francois
Eric,
I very much like the simplicity of your website, to goes directly to the essential, IOW your photos. I must say that your Road Tar gallery is fantastic. I also like a lot the Urban Canyons and Doors photos.

By the way, I browsed your website using an iPhone and navigation works very very well.
Francois:

Thanks for your comments. I do plan to implement as many of the suggestions that have been made here as possible.

Regards,

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 28, 2008, 09:03:31 pm
Quote from: mahleu
A line break above the "site last updated" would probably help as would using a smaller font for that.

Otherwise very nice and spacious.
Mahleu:

Thanks for the suggestion. That, too, is certainly within my powers to implement. It's on the list, real soon now.

Best,

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 28, 2008, 09:08:54 pm
Quote from: LoisWakeman
Fair enough point, Joergen. But a CSS liquid layout would accommodate everyone - iphone, gooseberry, blackberry, chrome, IE, firefox, favourites pane open or closed, toobars enabled or disabled, full screen, widescreen, laptop, designer's huge screen...
Anyway, Eric was very gracious in his reply so I hope my quickly dashed off post was mildly helpful.
Lois,

Since your earlier suggestion I have started looking into CSS and I'm finding it much less daunting than I had expected. My wife's laptop shows the same problems you mentioned, so that gives me motivation to try to do it right. I'm setting a personal target date for January 1 for redoing it with CSS. So your post was indeed very helpful (at least it will prove to have been helpful if I do manage to do the CSS thing.)    

Thanks for the nudge.

Regards,

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 28, 2008, 09:10:35 pm
Quote from: LoisWakeman
Tricky to actually view your site without breaking the copyright restriction straight off  

"Images may not be downloaded, copied, linked to, printed or used in any way without written permission from the photographers. All rights reserved"

- you do know the browser automatically downloads the images when you open the page?
Lois (and Blas):

Here's the simple solution to Blas's website. Just close your eyes while viewing and clear the cache immediately after.    

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on November 28, 2008, 09:17:10 pm
In addition to all who have posted in this thread, I must also thank Chris_T and the others who have made many helpful posts about usability issues in websites in earlier threads on LuLa. I tried to keep a lot of their ideas in mind while going through this redesign, and I am, of couse, delighted that the results have gotten such good and helpful responses.

So again, thank you all!

And now I've got to get out and do a little photography.

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: LoisWakeman on December 02, 2008, 04:29:17 am
Quote from: EricM
Since your earlier suggestion I have started looking into CSS and I'm finding it much less daunting than I had expected. My wife's laptop shows the same problems you mentioned, so that gives me motivation to try to do it right. I'm setting a personal target date for January 1 for redoing it with CSS. So your post was indeed very helpful (at least it will prove to have been helpful if I do manage to do the CSS thing.)    

Thanks for the nudge.
You are more than welcome. May I recommend one of my other haunts, The DTP Forum (http://www.desktoppublishingforum.com/bb/), as an invaluable source of helpful and polite discourse on all things web-related - despite the name, there are several knowledgeable CSS experts there who should be able to help with any CSS problems you might come across.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on December 31, 2008, 03:09:11 pm
Well, folks, I'm back again.

I have just uploaded the newest incarnation of my website, and once again I invite comments and critiques (in the high-minded and sensitive way that LuLa members are famous for -- except in certain threads). Thanks to Lois, I have immersed myself in CSS (ouch -- I'd really rather be out photographing, but then, learning PhotoShop was no picnic either), and I think the site works a good bit better now.

I am aware that I have still not implemented a few of the good suggestions I received from you kind people, but I do plan to make more tweaks in the future. Here are some items on my to-do list:

1.   Put links back to the main Galleries page on each individual large image page (perhaps just add the navigation sidebar that now appears everywhere else), as Jeremy suggested.

2.   Let the arrow keys (left, right, and up) navigate between "previous image", "index", and "next image". The problem is that So far I don't know a simple and foolproof way to do that. From what I've heard, the use of the arrow keys is highly browser- and even OS-dependent, which is a bummer.

3.   Eventually I would like to bring my blog page inhouse. Currently it is one blogger.com, and my link to it opens in a new window. But I don't want to build my own blog system right now (I'd really rather be out photographing).

4.   Take a look at the DTP Forum. But only after I've really been out photographing for a bit.


Cheers,

Eric

P.S. Those of you who made suggestions get a free mention on my "Credits and Links" page.

[attachment=10653:Sand3_copy.jpg]
Title: My new website is up
Post by: francois on December 31, 2008, 03:29:54 pm
I'll have a look tomorrow morning - desert is waiting for me    . Thanks for keeping us posted.
Happy New Year, Eric!
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on December 31, 2008, 03:43:47 pm
Quote from: francois
I'll have a look tomorrow morning - desert is waiting for me    . Thanks for keeping us posted.
Happy New Year, Eric!
Thanks, and a very Happy New year to you, too.

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: LoisWakeman on January 02, 2009, 09:54:48 am
A big improvement - and sorry I took you away from the camera for so long  

I enjoyed the rock portfolio (both as a graduate geologist and photographer!)

Happy new year.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on January 02, 2009, 06:33:46 pm
Quote from: EricM
I think the site works a good bit better now.

I am aware that I have still not implemented a few of the good suggestions I received from you kind people, but I do plan to make more tweaks in the future. Here are some items on my to-do list:

1.   Put links back to the main Galleries page on each individual large image page (perhaps just add the navigation sidebar that now appears everywhere else), as Jeremy suggested.

2.   Let the arrow keys (left, right, and up) navigate between "previous image", "index", and "next image". The problem is that So far I don't know a simple and foolproof way to do that. From what I've heard, the use of the arrow keys is highly browser- and even OS-dependent, which is a bummer.

P.S. Those of you who made suggestions get a free mention on my "Credits and Links" page.
Eric,

I agree that it works better. But...

The navigation sidebar looks horrible! I assume you must work on a much wider monitor than I have on my laptop (a 15" MacBook Pro), because I'm sure you'd agree that a link which looks like this:

[blockquote]Blog
(Opens
in
a
new
window)
[/blockquote]

isn't, perhaps, as good as it might be! The other links in that pane don't look particularly good either. There's a lot of wasted white space to the left of the navigation pane, which could be put to better use.

I hadn't realised that navigation using keystrokes was so tricky. It has been fairly widely implemented (SimpleViewer, for example), so it's obviously possible. I've not done any Web programming, so I can't actually help - sorry (my wife reacts in a curious way when she's gardening and I make really helpful suggestions from my lounger: I hope you won't!).

Thanks for the mention on the Credits page - "should" on the third line down in the third paragraph is missing the "o".

Jeremy

(PS: the photographs are as good as ever. I really do like the road tar)
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 02, 2009, 07:39:30 pm
Thank you Lois and Jeremy.

Of course the laptop solution is for you to get one with a 30" screen.    

Actually, it should be fairly easy to fix the navigation bar spacing (and maybe I shuld even fix sum spellings whil i'M at it!). And I will look at the source code on some Simpleviewer sites to see if I can figure how it is done. I hope arrow keys don't require Flash, because I really don't want to go there.

I'm also thinking that my Galleries page looks a bit clunky. I'm thinking of making one page for B&W Galleries and one for Color Galleries. The number of color ones would require some scrolling, but I think most of us can handle a little up-and-down scrolling in moderation. With CSS controlling most formatting now it is pretty easy to make system-wide changes, so I'll probably do some pretty soon (after I do some photographing).

More comments and suggestions are certainly welcome.

- Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: francois on January 03, 2009, 06:23:30 am
Eric,
I agree with Lois above... The redesign is a big improvement. However I suffer from the same issue(s) Jeremy mentionned. On my 30" Cinema Display, it's not problem but it is on an iPhone or a "small" 15.4 MB display.
It's just a minor cosmetic issue... Fix it when weather is too cold!
 
Title: My new website is up
Post by: BlasR on January 03, 2009, 08:38:46 am
Etic



I love Italian Ruins.

BlasR
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 04, 2009, 12:08:39 am
Thanks all.

I will have Jeremy's problem (navigation bar) fixed withing a few days.

I also have a fix that uses the arrow keys, but it doesn't work on Internet Exploiter (it does fine on Opera and Firefox), so it needs more research before I put it on the web.

- Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: BernardLanguillier on January 04, 2009, 12:17:12 am
Quote from: EricM
Hi all,

I have just completed a total remake of my own website. My intent is to make it simple, easy to navigate, and reasonably elegant. Oh, yes: and no "flash" required.

Eric,

I have finally taken the time to visit your new site, the images are still great! I am still a major fan of your tar series.

As far as the site goes, I like it overall, but would personnally change the font of the nagivation menus on the left to something else. Times is OK for text, but it feels a bit "default font" for elements such as menus,...

Cheers,
Bernard

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on January 04, 2009, 04:37:17 am
Quote from: EricM
Thanks all.

I will have Jeremy's problem (navigation bar) fixed withing a few days.

I also have a fix that uses the arrow keys, but it doesn't work on Internet Exploiter (it does fine on Opera and Firefox), so it needs more research before I put it on the web.

- Eric
Don't forget Safari - there are quite a few Mac users out there (including me) and many of them use Apple's browser (again, FWIW, including me).

Jeremy
Title: My new website is up
Post by: jjj on January 04, 2009, 10:17:10 am
Quote from: LoisWakeman
I enjoyed the rock portfolio (both as a graduate geologist and photographer!)
I'm also an ex geologist and have photographed many a rock in my time too, so I also appreciate such things too.
I also photograph the ground a lot like Eric does with his Road Tar series, though you don't get tar patterns like that here.

My initial thought on site are underlined links in blue and purple for visited links - yuck. As you are using CSS you just need to edit basic page propeties to alter the default behaviour, which is what you currently have. And as your images are not that big, why does the main navigation vanish when in a gallery? It may be better for consistency to keep main navigation, unless you want a cleaner page for the images. Even then a little bit of basic and subtle navigation at bottom would save a lot of hopping back and fore.
The main problem is that the image sizing is wrong and the images look like they are being viewed at 200% and aren't too sharp as a result, which is a shame as the photos look promising. It actually looks like the bigger shots are the thumbnails enlarged.
You need to resize images to the specific size needed in PS/LR etc [and don't forget to add appropriate sharpening when resizing]. Size to a specific pixel width, dpi is completely irrelevant for screen display as a 300 dpi 200x400px image is exactly the same as a 72dpi 200x400px image on screen.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 18, 2009, 12:09:02 am
OK everybody on the Web Design Advisory Board: I've tried to deal with most of the suggestions you have all made, so I'd be delighted if some of you could take another quick look and see if I have improved it or broken everything. Here are some of the main changes (if they work):

1.   There is more space for the navigation bar, so it won't get so cramped on smaller screens.

2.   I have resized the original images, which now have an 800 px max width. That may be too big for some small screens (but I like to see them that size on my desktop), so I'm considering making a second set of gallery pages with a 450 px max width. If so, where do I put the option to switch sizes -- at the bottom of every navigation panel perhaps?

3.   Navigation panel now appears on every page (CSS does make a lot of things easier!)

4.   The navigation font is nicer (I think), and the link to "this page" is now boldface instead of sporting the fake arrow (>>).

5.   Special for Jeremy: The arrow keys now should work to go through a gallery: right arrow is "next", left arrow is "prev", and up arrow takes you back to the gallery index page. But you can also navigate to any of the main pages from any page, because of the navigation panel.

6.   I now have Safari, too, as one of my five browsers, and it seems to work there too (at least on Vista). The price was right for Safari, but I'm not about to invest in a Mac just to check on how it works there. Maybe Bernard can tell me of any Mac problems he sees.

Chris_T has suggested that having thumbnails show on the same page as the main image is preferred by many. I am open to suggestions about the desirability of doing it that way. My initial thought was that while looking at one image, I don't want to be distracted by having thumbnails nearby. If there is much sentiment in favor of doing them on the same page, I'll switch. But I think I'll wait a while before making many more changes.

Again, thanks to all who have made suggestions.

Regards,

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on January 18, 2009, 02:29:56 pm
Quote from: EricM
5.   Special for Jeremy: The arrow keys now should work to go through a gallery: right arrow is "next", left arrow is "prev", and up arrow takes you back to the gallery index page. But you can also navigate to any of the main pages from any page, because of the navigation panel.

6.   I now have Safari, too, as one of my five browsers, and it seems to work there too (at least on Vista). The price was right for Safari, but I'm not about to invest in a Mac just to check on how it works there. Maybe Bernard can tell me of any Mac problems he sees.

Thank you! It looks much better now. The arrow keys work well in Safari on a Mac and the use of the up-arrow key is an unexpected bonus.

A few comments:

 - I think you could use a smaller font for the navigation bar, and reduce the amount of space it takes up. The current font isn't unpleasantly large, but I think it's rather bigger than really necessary. You could make the text "(opens in a new window") even smaller, since it's not particularly important and that line is far longer than any other.

 - I'm not really convinced that using red text in the navigation pane to indicate pages I've visited is a good idea. It looks rather loud, out of keeping with the nicely restrained design of the rest of the site. How about a paler shade of blue?

 - Residence detection would be nice: you could then spell "colour" properly for those of us from England. (That's a joke, by the way.)

 - I think you could reduce the space taken up (wasted?) by the masthead. I realise that a masthead of some kind is useful, but most of the time it's just wasting space. It's particularly true for your site when the gallery name takes up more than one line (the rock music gallery, for example). Those of us who are vertically challenged (and I'm referring to my laptop's monitor here, not me, although I've often felt that my BMI would be improved if I were to grow a couple of inches) have to scroll when viewing the individual photographs, which is less than ideal. Could you perhaps confine the masthead to the navigation bar area, leaving the display area full height?

 - The tiny photo at the top left is intriguing, but I can't get information on it, which is frustrating. Making it a link would be nice.

Jeremy
Title: My new website is up
Post by: jule on January 23, 2009, 06:00:55 pm
Hi Eric,
I have just visited your website since your last changes, and it is wonderful. Everything seems to work well for me.

I particularly enjoy your sand images. The fluidity of movement - not just the subject matter - but the general visual movement in these images I find particularly beautiful. The tonal graduations are lovely. Your respect and admiration for Paul Caponigro show through your images, as they too - as his do - show a reverence for the natural world.

Julie
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 23, 2009, 07:39:35 pm
Quote from: jule
Hi Eric,
I have just visited your website since your last changes, and it is wonderful. Everything seems to work well for me.

I particularly enjoy your sand images. The fluidity of movement - not just the subject matter - but the general visual movement in these images I find particularly beautiful. The tonal graduations are lovely. Your respect and admiration for Paul Caponigro show through your images, as they too - as his do - show a reverence for the natural world.

Julie
Hi Julie,

Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, Paul Cap is one of my "gods".

Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 23, 2009, 08:00:59 pm
Quote from: kikashi
Thank you! It looks much better now. The arrow keys work well in Safari on a Mac and the use of the up-arrow key is an unexpected bonus.

A few comments:

 - I think you could use a smaller font for the navigation bar, and reduce the amount of space it takes up. The current font isn't unpleasantly large, but I think it's rather bigger than really necessary. You could make the text "(opens in a new window") even smaller, since it's not particularly important and that line is far longer than any other.

 - I'm not really convinced that using red text in the navigation pane to indicate pages I've visited is a good idea. It looks rather loud, out of keeping with the nicely restrained design of the rest of the site. How about a paler shade of blue?

 - Residence detection would be nice: you could then spell "colour" properly for those of us from England. (That's a joke, by the way.)

 - I think you could reduce the space taken up (wasted?) by the masthead. I realise that a masthead of some kind is useful, but most of the time it's just wasting space. It's particularly true for your site when the gallery name takes up more than one line (the rock music gallery, for example). Those of us who are vertically challenged (and I'm referring to my laptop's monitor here, not me, although I've often felt that my BMI would be improved if I were to grow a couple of inches) have to scroll when viewing the individual photographs, which is less than ideal. Could you perhaps confine the masthead to the navigation bar area, leaving the display area full height?

 - The tiny photo at the top left is intriguing, but I can't get information on it, which is frustrating. Making it a link would be nice.

Jeremy
Jeremy,

Thank you (I think) for feeding my new website addiction. I'd have more time for photography if I could ever stop tinkering with the site, and if you stopped giving me good (sigh!) suggestions.
1.   I have a test version in progress that will reduce the navigation font size (and still smaller for the "blog" footnote).
2.   Chris_T suggested that distinguishing between visited and non-visited sites isn't important. So I will either go for the lighter shade of blue you suggested, or make "visited" the same as "non-visited". Do you have a preference?
3.   Enogh of yor ouff-coulour jokes!!!
4.   I have done some experiments, and I think I agree on the masthead issue. My test-site-in-progress has the full-width masthead only for the home page, and nestles it just above the navigation panel for all other pages. I think that will retain a sense of consistency without taking up so much space.
5.   The little picture is a blanket. It will be a link in the next version, and it will have a page of its own to explain it. (Watch this space!)
6.   I expect to have these revisions in place about February 1, so come back then and check it out.

I have been considering also having a small, vertical set of about three to five thumbnails to the right of each enlarged picture, to show you the next and previous ones. I may or may not have that working by February.

But thanks for the good ideas.

Eric

P.S. For the Residence detection, I will require you to wear an ankle bracelet with a GPS system so I can track your location at all times.  
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Anthony Mann on January 24, 2009, 01:09:15 pm
Hey Eric,

I like your B&W work on it.  My 2 pennies worth would be to update your meta tags to include a ditty about yourself and to put in some keywords!  Currently, your site only has:

<meta name="description" content="Eric Myrvaagnes Photography, with CSS b" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Eric Myrvaagnes Photography" />

When someone does a google search for you  ("Eric Myrvaagnes Photography"),  it ends up reading funny.  Also, a lack of keywords limits hits to your website during keyword searches.

Here is an example of my description and keywords:

<meta name="description" content="Anthony Mann specializes in wildlife, environmental... (bla bla bla)." />
<meta name="keywords" content="photography, nature, environmental... (bla bla bla). />

Google my website "Anthony Mann Photography"  and see how it reads on the search.

I also added a few other extra html tools to mine that you are free to copy/paste if you like, including fade transitions between pages, a popup copyright notice when you try to right click on my pics, and a disable for the automatic windows copy picture popup box when you hover the mouse over an image...  Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Anthony





Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 27, 2009, 06:19:55 pm
Anthony,

Thanks for the tips. I hadn't yet looked into search engine optimization at all yet, but at your suggestion I have improved the meta tags on my home page. I think it will take a few days before the changes show up in Google or Yahoo.

I have some other changes in mind, too, but I'm planning to save the next major changes until some time in February.

-Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 27, 2009, 06:22:04 pm
Quote from: jule
Hi Eric,
I have just visited your website since your last changes, and it is wonderful. Everything seems to work well for me.

I particularly enjoy your sand images. The fluidity of movement - not just the subject matter - but the general visual movement in these images I find particularly beautiful. The tonal graduations are lovely. Your respect and admiration for Paul Caponigro show through your images, as they too - as his do - show a reverence for the natural world.

Julie
Hi again Julie,

I just wanted to say that I just revisited your website and I was blown away by the gorgeous images you have there. You give abstraction a good name!

-Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Anthony Mann on January 28, 2009, 06:14:19 pm
Eric,

your updated meta tags look good, and I'm impressed with your experience!  The change should show up rather quickly on google.  As for optimization, the key is the keywords; yours should work out well.  I once noticed on an education web site I put together that doing frequent page updates to keep the site fresh and active, even when just the main front page was updated, seemed to upgrade the site's standing on the search lists - Well, perhaps not more than what the number of monthly hits did to the standing, but it seemed to help quite a bit between months when the hit counts were stable.

Anyways, good luck with your site!



Anthony
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 29, 2009, 12:14:25 am
Thanks again, Anthony.

Some more tweaks will be up in a couple more days, and I'll mention it here. Then I really need to get back to the camera!



-Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: jule on January 29, 2009, 03:43:51 pm
Quote from: EricM
Hi again Julie,

I just wanted to say that I just revisited your website and I was blown away by the gorgeous images you have there. You give abstraction a good name!

-Eric
Thanks Eric for your kind words and taking the time to go through my galleries.

My website is coming together, and is a 'works in progress'. It should be completed in the next few weeks....when I will post a thread asking for feedback as you have done.

I am very excited to be exhibiting in Brisbane at the moment.  http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/Exhibit....aspx?ItemId=33 (http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/Exhibitions/Current/Current/tabid/66/Default.aspx?ItemId=33)
http://www.brisbanemarketing.com.au/news-a...cle.aspx?id=624 (http://www.brisbanemarketing.com.au/news-and-events/news-Article.aspx?id=624)  

Julie
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 29, 2009, 09:00:25 pm
Quote from: jule
Thanks Eric for your kind words and taking the time to go through my galleries.

My website is coming together, and is a 'works in progress'. It should be completed in the next few weeks....when I will post a thread asking for feedback as you have done.

I am very excited to be exhibiting in Brisbane at the moment.  http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/Exhibit....aspx?ItemId=33 (http://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/Exhibitions/Current/Current/tabid/66/Default.aspx?ItemId=33)
http://www.brisbanemarketing.com.au/news-a...cle.aspx?id=624 (http://www.brisbanemarketing.com.au/news-and-events/news-Article.aspx?id=624)  

Julie
Julie,

This is a great place to get valuable feedback!

I'm sorry Brisbane is a bit too long a walk for me to get to your current show. I'll just have to visit your website again.


----------------

Jeremy and Anthony,

I've finally put up another modified version of the new website, and I think I've incorporated most of the suggestions. The little "mystery photo" is now a link to a new page that shows it larger and offers some explanation.

Happy Groundhog Day to all!

-Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on February 02, 2009, 03:48:06 am
Quote from: EricM
Jeremy,

Thank you (I think) for feeding my new website addiction. I'd have more time for photography if I could ever stop tinkering with the site, and if you stopped giving me good (sigh!) suggestions.
1.   I have a test version in progress that will reduce the navigation font size (and still smaller for the "blog" footnote).
2.   Chris_T suggested that distinguishing between visited and non-visited sites isn't important. So I will either go for the lighter shade of blue you suggested, or make "visited" the same as "non-visited". Do you have a preference?
3.   Enogh of yor ouff-coulour jokes!!!
4.   I have done some experiments, and I think I agree on the masthead issue. My test-site-in-progress has the full-width masthead only for the home page, and nestles it just above the navigation panel for all other pages. I think that will retain a sense of consistency without taking up so much space.
5.   The little picture is a blanket. It will be a link in the next version, and it will have a page of its own to explain it. (Watch this space!)
6.   I expect to have these revisions in place about February 1, so come back then and check it out.

I have been considering also having a small, vertical set of about three to five thumbnails to the right of each enlarged picture, to show you the next and previous ones. I may or may not have that working by February.

But thanks for the good ideas.

Eric

You're very welcome! I think you now have an excellent site. In particular, I like the speed; the lack of wasted space, now your banner is only on the left; the ability to use arrow keys; the blanket (nice story!).

The idea you mention of having "next" and "previous" thumbnails is interesting, but I'm not really sure that there's much point in it.

I love your b&w work in particular: they're beautiful images.
Quote from: EricM
P.S. For the Residence detection, I will require you to wear an ankle bracelet with a GPS system so I can track your location at all times.  

Nice try, but my views on spelling don't change when I move around.

Jeremy
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on February 02, 2009, 10:21:18 am
Quote from: EricM
Jeremy,

2.   Chris_T suggested that distinguishing between visited and non-visited sites isn't important. So I will either go for the lighter shade of blue you suggested, or make "visited" the same as "non-visited". Do you have a preference?
Sorry, I didn't deal with this one in my last post. No, I've no preference. I like to think I can remember which pages I've looked at, although I may be deluding myself!

Jeremy
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 02, 2009, 11:54:03 am
Jeremy,



Thanks for the kind words, and for all your good suggestions. I'm hoping to leave the website alone for a while now, except for adding content.

Now it's out for some photography (especially black-and-white).



Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on February 02, 2009, 06:31:27 pm
Quote from: EricM
Jeremy,
Thanks for the kind words, and for all your good suggestions. I'm hoping to leave the website alone for a while now, except for adding content.
Now it's out for some photography (especially black-and-white).
Eric
I look forward to seeing the results. When you return to site design, you could add an RSS feed...

Jeremy
Title: My new website is up
Post by: DarkPenguin on February 02, 2009, 07:14:07 pm
Hi Eric,

The site looks good except the fonts are somewhat badly aliased on my browser.  (Firefox 3)
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 02, 2009, 09:10:42 pm
Quote from: kikashi
I look forward to seeing the results. When you return to site design, you could add an RSS feed...

Jeremy
You really are hard to please, aren't you, Jeremy! Or maybe you're just trying to keep me from photography as long as possible. As I see it, having an RSS feed would sort of obligate me to add new content more often than once a month...


I'll look into it, some day.

-Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 02, 2009, 09:17:38 pm
Quote from: DarkPenguin
Hi Eric,

The site looks good except the fonts are somewhat badly aliased on my browser.  (Firefox 3)
Hi Tom,

Can you give me an example? Page, location, text? On my screen (1920x1200 px) the fonts look pretty good on Firefox 3. The appearance of fonts changes substantially when I change the size (CTRL-Plus magnifies; CTRL-Minus reduces; CTRL-0 reverts to normal -- all on the numeric keypad, in Windows; perhaps COMMAND for CTRL does the same in Mac). Fonts are now pretty easy to play with, thanks to CSS.

-Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: DarkPenguin on February 02, 2009, 09:46:53 pm
Quote from: EricM
Hi Tom,

Can you give me an example? Page, location, text? On my screen (1920x1200 px) the fonts look pretty good on Firefox 3. The appearance of fonts changes substantially when I change the size (CTRL-Plus magnifies; CTRL-Minus reduces; CTRL-0 reverts to normal -- all on the numeric keypad, in Windows; perhaps COMMAND for CTRL does the same in Mac). Fonts are now pretty easy to play with, thanks to CSS.

-Eric

Actually, I can't.  Seems fine now.
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 03, 2009, 12:10:07 am
Quote from: DarkPenguin
Actually, I can't.  Seems fine now.

Good. Maybe a couple of the tweaks I did in the last day or two fixed something. Let me know if anything else suspicious crops up.

Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: fototrotter on February 03, 2009, 10:09:45 pm
Hi, Eric...

I've been reading some of the posts, but didn't get through all of them, so excuse me for writing double comments,...

*The pictures on your website appear to me as very small, long edge 550,... I would like at least a 640 or even a 750 longest edge, for descent previewing.
* Also the image quality looks poor, there's a lot of loss in detail, due to sizes. But I also seem to notice JPG artifacts,... Do you resize the pictures yourself or do you let the browser resize them? In my opinion images can easily get to 150kb with bandwiths having increased substantially over the years. And resizing pictures yourself keeps the image quality on a higher level,...
* And this one is very personal, I tend to find the layout boring, flat. I got the feeling to scrol through as fast as possible, to enable me to close the webpage. Times new roman is a basic font that will be recognized by 99.9% of the computers, but looks awefull on webpages... It is designed for printing books and essays that need printing.

My critics are not there to offend nor blame you, but are just my opinion,... I have programmed my own website in full HTML and know how much work it is, so I respect the work you put in.

greetings
Steven
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Chris_T on February 07, 2009, 08:47:12 am
Quote from: EricM
2.   Chris_T suggested that distinguishing between visited and non-visited sites isn't important. So I will either go for the lighter shade of blue you suggested, or make "visited" the same as "non-visited". Do you have a preference?

Since no one has responded to this, I'll explain my rationale.

Let's start with the *reason* for marking a visited link. Such a link obviously reminds a visitor that he (to keep it simple, I do mean he/she) had been there already. But why? You either want him NOT to return again, or you DO want him to return, or you want him NOT to return to some AND want him to return to others.

I think it started in the good old days when web pages are primarily text based, and still works well on pages that are text based, such as on Craigslist. These pages can have dozens of links. But for simple pages like yours with relatively few links on a page, it becomes less useful, and may be problematic. For instance, two viewed galleries would both be marked read. Upon returning (months later), a visitor is not likely to remember which is the one to return and which to avoid. You are making him THINK, something to avoid as advised by the BOOK! Also, if one gallery has been updated since his last visit, will it be marked as read or unread?
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Chris_T on February 07, 2009, 09:03:13 am
Quote from: EricM
Chris_T has suggested that having thumbnails show on the same page as the main image is preferred by many. I am open to suggestions about the desirability of doing it that way. My initial thought was that while looking at one image, I don't want to be distracted by having thumbnails nearby. If there is much sentiment in favor of doing them on the same page, I'll switch. But I think I'll wait a while before making many more changes.

Some sites take this approach, and a few Lightroom web gallery templates are implemented this way. So I assume that some do prefer it. In the very old thread, I touched upon why I prefer it, and how few sites implemented it well (not easy to code by hand). I have also e-mailed you about my rationale in more detail.

Making such choices are subjective personal decisions, and should not be based on "votes".
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Chris_T on February 07, 2009, 09:57:06 am
Quote from: EricM
Good. Maybe a couple of the tweaks I did in the last day or two fixed something. Let me know if anything else suspicious crops up.

Eric

There are way too much unused space at the right on these pages. CENTERING all the contents will minimize this problem. I promise not to repeat this.

http://myrvaagnes.com/bwgalleries.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/bwgalleries.htm)
http://myrvaagnes.com/cgalleries.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/cgalleries.htm)

On this and other index pages, shouldn't the "Galleries - B/W" link in the menu remain bold? Marked read is not supported for a visited image on this page. I like the position of the breadcrumb on this page, much better than on other pages. All these variations among different pages make me THINK whether the inconsistency is intended and why. (THINK is a dirty word, according to the BOOK.)

http://myrvaagnes.com/RockMusG/index.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/RockMusG/index.htm)

One solution to getting search engine attention is to provide text, such as on this page. Centering the image title and the text paragraphs with reference to the image will look better though..

http://myrvaagnes.com/blanket.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/blanket.htm)

Have you considered including your artist statements from you exhibits and provide descriptions for each gallery? I think they will enhance the visitors' experience and bait the engines.

This page left me feel like being short changed with a wasted click. It is dying for an artist statement, which you already have.

http://myrvaagnes.com/XNeedham/aboutThis.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/XNeedham/aboutThis.htm)

By now, you must be sorry that I'm back   But then, I'm sure I'm bringing hordes of visitors to your site!
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 07, 2009, 05:41:43 pm
Quote from: fototrotter
Hi, Eric...

I've been reading some of the posts, but didn't get through all of them, so excuse me for writing double comments,...

*The pictures on your website appear to me as very small, long edge 550,... I would like at least a 640 or even a 750 longest edge, for descent previewing.
* Also the image quality looks poor, there's a lot of loss in detail, due to sizes. But I also seem to notice JPG artifacts,... Do you resize the pictures yourself or do you let the browser resize them? In my opinion images can easily get to 150kb with bandwiths having increased substantially over the years. And resizing pictures yourself keeps the image quality on a higher level,...
* And this one is very personal, I tend to find the layout boring, flat. I got the feeling to scrol through as fast as possible, to enable me to close the webpage. Times new roman is a basic font that will be recognized by 99.9% of the computers, but looks awefull on webpages... It is designed for printing books and essays that need printing.

My critics are not there to offend nor blame you, but are just my opinion,... I have programmed my own website in full HTML and know how much work it is, so I respect the work you put in.

greetings
Steven
Thanks for the comments, Steven.


I am hot on the trail of a replacement for the Times font, and it looks as if I will need to use a sans-serif font to get a decent look on the web. 

I actually started with larger main images and reduced the size to be considerate of people with laptops, but I would prefer larger images myself. I think I will go to either 750 or 800 pixels, and then resize (and sharpen) the originals in PhotoShop before reposting them.

I'll report back here when I've done the next remake.

-Eric
Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 07, 2009, 06:04:14 pm
Quote from: Chris_T
There are way too much unused space at the right on these pages. CENTERING all the contents will minimize this problem. I promise not to repeat this.

http://myrvaagnes.com/bwgalleries.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/bwgalleries.htm)
http://myrvaagnes.com/cgalleries.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/cgalleries.htm)

On this and other index pages, shouldn't the "Galleries - B/W" link in the menu remain bold? Marked read is not supported for a visited image on this page. I like the position of the breadcrumb on this page, much better than on other pages. All these variations among different pages make me THINK whether the inconsistency is intended and why. (THINK is a dirty word, according to the BOOK.)

http://myrvaagnes.com/RockMusG/index.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/RockMusG/index.htm)

One solution to getting search engine attention is to provide text, such as on this page. Centering the image title and the text paragraphs with reference to the image will look better though..

http://myrvaagnes.com/blanket.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/blanket.htm)

Have you considered including your artist statements from you exhibits and provide descriptions for each gallery? I think they will enhance the visitors' experience and bait the engines.

This page left me feel like being short changed with a wasted click. It is dying for an artist statement, which you already have.

http://myrvaagnes.com/XNeedham/aboutThis.htm (http://myrvaagnes.com/XNeedham/aboutThis.htm)

By now, you must be sorry that I'm back   But then, I'm sure I'm bringing hordes of visitors to your site!

Welcome back to the LL forums, Chris! I guess my getting you locked out didn't work.    


Actually, I really do welcome your comments, and I'm delighted to see you posting again, even though it means more work for me (again).

As for the inconsistencies: Some of them result from the fact that whenever I make changes to the navigation column, I have to go back and re-edit every page, and sometimes I miss one. This has made me realize that I need to find a way to use an "include" file for the repetitious parts (i.e., headers and navigation column). My intention has been to have the URL for the current page bold-face, but include only the main pages in the nav-column (so, for example, "Galleries -- Color" appears, but individual galleries (and there "about this" pages) do not (I could perhaps add something like ">..." after "Galleries -- Color" to indicate that you are somewhere below that page.)

In order to use an "include" file, which AFAIK I cannot do with HTML or Javascript alone. It looks as if I will need to throw in a little PHP into the mix (ho ho ho), to get an include file, and then some more javascript to get it to customize for each page the file is included in. I think I've figured out the pieces, but it will take me a while to implement them.

I will also move, as you have sugggested (but slowly, slowly) toward adding more meaningful content, better centering, etc., etc.



Now if I could only persuade everybody in the world to install my favorite fonts, I could perhaps keep you and Steven and me all happy.  



-Eric

P.S. I did get out to do some photography yesterday, at one of my favorite locations, Plum Island.

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on March 05, 2009, 12:18:04 pm
OK loyal critics, I'm back with the latest redo of my website. 

Many of the recent suggestions for improvement have been implemented (I think). Individual images are now 800 px wide (landscape), and resized and resharpened for the web (that may be too big for Ipod users, but I don't see how anyone can view an image on an Ipod). The fonts are, I hope, more legible and attractive, and there is a bit of texture to soften the previous blank-white background effect.

Most notably (for me, anyway), the navigation panel at the left now works (I was chagrined to discover that the links were dead in the previous version on pages of  individual galleries and images -- that is now fixed). Better yet, the navigation panel is a single file (included in all pages) that I can make changes to without having to redo a couple of hundred individual pages (boy, am I learning web coding fast   ).

There are a couple of new galleries, photos added to a couple of the older galleries, and, as Chris_T suggested, each of the exhibit pages includes the Artist's Statement for that exhibit (click on "About This Exhibit" on each exhibit index page). I've also added a small self-portrait to the "About Me" page, so you might be able to recognize me at a meeting or opening.

What I intend to do next on the website, probably around the start of April, is add a few more galleries: New Mexico, new Plum Island images, more of my film-days B&W images, earlier trips to the Canadian Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and Acadia National Park.

If any of you can stand to check out the newest iteration of the website, I will gratefully consider all additional critiques and comments.

Cheers,

Eric

Title: My new website is up
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on March 15, 2009, 02:33:49 pm
Eric,

How could I not like it, given that you've implemented all my suggestions (bar the one which could have fixed your spelling!)?

One small suggestion: I think the thumbnails on your "print of the month" page could usefully be links to larger versions of the images.

Jeremy