Suggestions about my first website

[Patricia Langer]

My first website is up today, and I have asked for input on the large format forum, and would appreciate some feedback from you folks as well.
Here are the issues -- How do you feel about the 'slide-show' on the homepage? Would you prefer a single still image? What about the transitions between pictures in the portfolios? Does it bother you that the pictures are untitled?
FYI The landscape portfolio is 4x5, the portraits are 4x5, one 8x10 and medium format, the Greece portfolio is 35mm in a panorama adapter in a Mamiya7.
My goal with the website was to have something elegant and user friendly.
Thanks,
Patricia

[Paul Sorensen]

What's the URL?

[Bruce Osgood]

Well, my first problem is I can't find a link to your site.

[Patricia Langer]

It's www.patricialanger.com
Sorry about that.

[Nige]

as flash intros go, it look nice, but it took quite a while to load. Generally, I would have shut it down without looking further.

Pop up windows... don't like them
Slow loading windows and pictures.

Pictures themselves both look good on my screen and look good!

[gandolfi]

as flash intros go, it look nice, but it took quite a while to load. Generally, I would have shut it down without looking further.

Pop up windows... don't like them
Slow loading windows and pictures.

Pictures themselves both look good on my screen and look good!

I agree. I don't see the reason for the pop-up new window at all.
In my humble opinion many make the "mistake" in their home pages that they fall for all the possibillities of "fancyness" just because they can..

(the same issue as in Photoshop... when to stop?)

I like your images - I think.
but I would like to have them bigger. without all the distracting "flash"-thingyes attached.
Less is more.

I have a quite fast connection, so the loading time wasn't long..
but it was annoying...
I'd let the images speak for them selves.

[resummerfield]

I’ll have to agree with Nige and Gandolfi….. the pop-ups are annoying, and take so long to load, even with my fast connection. The images are nice, and would look good in a simple setting.

[kjsphoto]

I am not on DSL and I tell you the site takes forever to load. People need to remember when designing website not everyone is on DSL so you are losing a large potential client base by ignoring that fact. Remember most people will leave if the page does not snap up immediately. I would lose the flash. People unfortunately hate to wait for anything.

I am on ISDN and the site loads extremely slow, if someone was on a modem it would most likely time out.

The old adage still remains true today. K.I.S.S...

Simplicty always beats fancy...

[Imke]

Hi Patricia,

I actually don't mind the pop-ups, but find the flash a bit out of place, too. The stark white background showing while the next picture is loading is really jarring. It makes concentrating on the next picture very hard. I'd maybe go for a simple, very small "loading" bar on the same background as your website if you want to stick with flash.

I like the slide show intro.

One thing I noticed is that your 6x6's have really nice tonal values, while some of your panoramics are a bit flat and fuzzy. Is that a scanning issue maybe?
I really like the intro page.

Cheers and good luck,
Imke

[wildbill]

I'll agree with the above posters: I can't stand pop-ups. I'm not a fan of the white between images either. I've got dsl and it still took a while. If i were viewing the screen in a dark room, my eyes would get that bright flash then have to adjust for each image. Nice images.