This will be an odd post, catching up with almost two weeks of not nearly enough time to participate in an interesting thread.
I'll just summarize my responses to a bunch of posts, one post per person I'm responding to (as an arbitrary division).
Better late than never. Great to have a programmer jumping in.
Gallery examples
My first reaction was "ow, cluttered!"
This doesn't work very well, and the explanatory notes are only annoying.
Where are the photographs? All I see is a product site that tries to sell me services, or web links. Not a good site for showing off a photo gallery at all.
Perhaps the link died during the past ten days and I'm redirected to a main page or something, but it doesn't really say; bad usability.
I used those two pages to illustrate a layout with thumbnails and an enlargement on the same page. They are by no means what I consider good designs. Peter's site is a much better example of the page layout I have in mind.
Design templates/scripts
I can't say that I do, but by juggling JavaScript/ECMAscript and xmlhttp ("AJAX"), it should be doable.
Maybe that's an excuse for finally learning Ruby.
You are the second person who suggests that it can be done with javascripts, etc. Almost everyone else can only do it with php. I would like to learn more about how to do it in javascripts, which I know next to nothing. What is Ruby? Is it possible to e-mail you directly?
Books and web site design
That book has seen quite a few recommendations.
I'd like to add the following books to your reading list:
Designing Web Usability - the Practice of Simplicity (Jakob Nielsen, 2000)
Homepage Usability - 50 Web Sites Deconstructed (Jakob Nielsen, 2001)
I also suspect that his latest book, Prioritizing Web Usability (2006) is worth a read, but I haven't delved into it myself yet.
As with many others, I tend to prioritize by putting my time ahead of designing the perfect web pages, and allow some basic compromises that make me less than happy.
Too many books and too little time. The two I recommended happen to be skinny and easy to digest.
User interface consistency
I then must recommend that you read the following article:
The Case Against User Interface Consistency (Jonathan Grudin, 1989)
Brief summary: there is a balance; a little bit of inconsistency may be healthy.
I agee that there is room for inconsistency, provided that they are intended and serve some purposes. For the inconsistency in that particular site, I found it served no purpose and did not appear to be intended. The site's owner acknowledged that it was unintentional.
Colour conversion
That may introduce rounding errors resulting in visible image quality loss, especially when the differences between the colour spaces are large.
While converting in 16-bit mode will still result in rounding errors, they will be less significant than if you do them in 8-bit mode.
Convert to sRGB first, then to 8-bit mode.
I stand corrected.
CSS and floating elements
It may sound simple, but browser bugs may get in your way here. The chance of success is greater with Opera than any other browser, and lowest with Internet Explorer.
But, in principle, if you add an alignment parameter of center for the object you want centered, it should work. Just keep in mind that it will be centered in relation to the block around it, not the page.
I'll look into that center alignment parameter. Thanks.
Gallery critique
In brief, I'm most happy with Lois's site.
My own? A mish-mash of different ages of web design and photography, and unfortunately not something I've put a lot of effort into. I like the fact that I've mainly managed to stick to simplicity, but I think I'm too chatty, and that the images I present aren't interesting enough. That's why there are few updates to these images, too.
I'll check out your site, but be prepared for some opinionated feedback. Too many sites to review, and too little time. <g>
But since I may want to improve my own web visibility as a photographer and start advertising myself, I'll have to get down and dirty and find my own expression. The web presentation becomes increasingly important, and I'll be damned if I don't nail it.
In some ways, it's a bit annoying that photographers may need to acquire yet another skill set in their profession, that of specialized web design. Then again, it can be compared to composing a decent "real life" gallery exhibition, which also is a job requiring skill and experience.
You got that right. After spending the amount of time/effort creating an image, it makes perfect sense to me to display it the best way I know how. And that means work, web or no web. Long before web came along, I learned how to mat and frame so that I can hang at home or give as gifts. Then I was so desperate to exhibit my work in public that I was thrilled even when they were hung on dirty walls in a dark and deserted pub. Now I'll scout the location for traffic, lighting and clean walls prior to commiting to an exhibit. Being a DIY type with a tech background, I fall into the trap of wanting to design my site. Oh, yeah, I still shoot, in my spare time.
Many great photogs who are not web saavy ended up with horrific sites for their wonderful work. They need to either become techies (not recommended) or search out the great web designers out there. My first level of screening is to ask a designer whether he/she is *proficient* at hand coding in html/css. It is a good test whether they are just Dreamweaver/template jockeys or do they really know what is under the hood. That quickly separates the men/women from the boys/girls.
