My new website...

[24Peter]

OK - constructive feedback please - first impressions, useability, "coolness" (yes I can admit that's important)... (though right now I have limited control over changes on the sites - I'm going through solomodels.com)

Current:
http://www.peteralessandriaphotography.com/

Beta: (still a little buggy)
http://www.solomodels.com/creative/index.cfm?fid=20187

Warning: there are swimsuit shots which may not be work/family safe (I have more pics to add too).

Also: these are Flash sites so you need the latest flash player to view. And there is music - if you're like me and find music on websites sometimes annoying the sound can easily be adjusted/muted...

[Rooz]

i think the new site looks spectacular. there are a couple of little annoying bugs that i'm sure you'll iron out but as a beta model it looks fantastic.

[SpecialK]

I think the new site has good potential though it is not my style. I found myself chasing the menu items that would flip-flop too much, and the graphics at the bottom had no explanation 2 of which were identical in appearance. And yes, I easily muted the music - thanks for that feature.

[Rooz]

agree with above, they're the annoying bugs i was referring to. if you can get that to work smoother, the site itself, layout, etc is one of the best i've sen personally.

[Rhys]

It will kill a slow connection. I'm lucky enough to be using 802.11N. I think it would kill 802.11a.

[Visual Reality]

802.11a has more than enough bandwidth capability...

Anyway the site looks great, and there are some great shots on there. I need to learn a bit more about portraits/modeling.

[AdamW]

agree with above, they're the annoying bugs i was referring to. if you can get that to work smoother, the site itself, layout, etc is one of the best i've sen personally.

My thoughts exactly. Bearing in mind that it's in beta, it looks very good. I think you're definitely on the right track, Peter. (But I gotta add that I really don't like web sites that automatically play music.)

[24Peter]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm actually pretty limited in changes I can make since I'm stuck with their template (I'm not programming the sites myself - it's part of the portfolio you get on www.solomodels.com .) All I can really do is change content and then apply certain options within their setup. But... I'm pretty happy with the look & feel they're offering...

Adam - was it easy to figure out to mute the audio?

[Paradox]

I've never liked music in webpages even if you can mute it - I'm usually browsing through many tabs on several windows at once reading and looking up various things, and it's a pain to have to look through them and figure out where the annoying jingle is coming from. IMO if I want music while I'm on a site, I'll put something on on the computer. ;) But the mute button was easily, and quickly, found. Other than that, nice work, the site looks good. :)

[Nickcanada]

The layout is very "Mac" but I figured it out quick enough but it did make me feel computer illiterate for a moment.

One suggestion, you have a portrait as the background with a small black strip at the top. I would make that black strip larger so that it covers the next picture arrow completely. Maybe bring it far enough down so that the word Menu is surrounded in black. It would make the words pop a bit more and it would be easier to see.


Did that make sense?


Great pictures by the way!

[cdifoto]

Agree with Nick's first line. I instantly saw a Mac desktop but it took me awhile to figure out what to click. If you could convince them to put words over the icons when they're larger or a popup with the words so we know what we're clicking that'd be a huge huge help. The huge images are awesome and I actually got into the music when it played through my desktop's speakers (it has a subwoofer for nice bass).

[Idnas71]

May I just say that I, also, don't usually like automatic loud music on websites, but I did enjoy the choice of music that yours had. Beautiful models/images. I'll leave the constructive comments to the professionals here. lol!

[faisal]

I like it....
did you design this or get it done by someone else???


EDIT: who/what is solomodels???

[24Peter]

One suggestion, you have a portrait as the background with a small black strip at the top. I would make that black strip larger so that it covers the next picture arrow completely. Maybe bring it far enough down so that the word Menu is surrounded in black. It would make the words pop a bit more and it would be easier to see.


Good suggestion Nick. I'll have to wait and see what the final layout is but I also notice the navigation arrows and menus sometimes get lost.

[24Peter]

The huge images are awesome and I actually got into the music when it played through my desktop's speakers (it has a subwoofer for nice bass).

Well the really cool thing is that the webpages scale up or down depending on the size of the viewer's screen. When I view the site on my laptop, the webpages scale to fit the 14.1" (1440x900) screen and then when I view it on my 24" desktop (1900x1200) screen it scales up to fit the larger screen. (The only exception is for smaller images in the photo galleries themselves, but the webpages and background images scale up/down.) That's what really sold me on the design.

[24Peter]

May I just say that I, also, don't usually like automatic loud music on websites, but I did enjoy the choice of music that yours had.


Of those who were OK with the music, which tune did you like better? The existing site or beta?

[24Peter]

I like it....
did you design this or get it done by someone else???


EDIT: who/what is solomodels???

Did you go to the site? www.solomodels.com It's a networking site (primarily) for models and photographers.

[AdamW]

Peter, the music was easy to mute, but my vote is against it.

Otherwise, I understand that you're limited in what you can change, but the OSX Dock-like navigation icons at the bottom really need some text labels. I had to click on each one to figure out what they were. I do think the Cover Flow-like galleries work well. Overall, I like it a lot more than your original site (which isn't too shabby, either!)

[Idnas71]

I enjoyed the Beta tune more, but liked both. I can see how it's distracting to the serious website users, though.

[cdr116]

I think the new site was beautiful, and the only immediate thing I noticed was the icons at the bottom needing text to explain what each is. Other than that it looks great.

[adam75south]

looks awesome peter. i've been thinkin about making a real website or adding some flash to mine and use the smugmug as just a gallery or something.

[24Peter]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll repost when the beta site ripens into a full release version.