My website - a favour please...

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Hello everyone

I hope I've been here long enough to ask a favour - I've finally taken the plunge and commissioned a website. It went live on Friday and I really need to know that it's working OK for all viewers on all the various platforms and browsers.

So I thought to myself where would I find a group of people who know about photography and own computers, and here I am.

If you have five minutes, please take a look at www.TonyGilbert.co.uk and let me know what you think about the layout, navigation and ease of use. It's not exactly dial-up friendly though, so perhaps if you're not on broadband you might prefer to avoid it.

Thanks

Tony

[Typhon]

Some great work on there, and I like the layout. I'm generally quite picky about flash sites because I've seen so many irritating layouts before, but I think yours really works

[zaktoo]

Sorry, requires Flash. I don't do Flash (by choice), and therefore the site is less than useless. If you're going to do Flash, you really should offer an html alternative, and then, since since you're doing an html version anyway, why bother with the Flash?

Ciao

Zak

[TheKeyboardDemon]

zaktoo said:

Sorry, requires Flash. I don't do Flash (by choice), and therefore the site is less than useless. If you're going to do Flash, you really should offer an html alternative, and then, since since you're doing an html version anyway, why bother with the Flash?

Ciao

Zak

You should take a look at the site, a quick look would answer your question, unless you decide you don't do flash. There must be somewhere else where you can look at it other than your own PC.

I really liked the site, it was simple enough to get an idea about what you're capable of, without making it look like flash for the sake of it.

The only thing I might add is a short bio page, some of your potential clients might want to see something that's a bit like a CV or that adds a more human touch to you. Also zak's suggestion of a non flash option is not a bad idea, then people can choose which they prefer.

My favourite picture was the one of the record and dj for Venue magazine.

[Buffalo]

Didn't download the flash, but it worked ok on my mac with safari; although the initial page took a while to load even with broadband. After that it was relatively smooth.

[GetCarter]

All works here (IE 6, service pack 2)

[Silent1]

It opens another window in Opera which causes it to be shoved off the bottom of the screen because you lose the top inch due to it maximising inside opera

[chris.mapey]

Didn't get to look at the site...

Pop up window was blocked! Unblocked it, and it hang there for 2 mins doing nothing. I have 4Mb broadband, so it should have loaded ok.

Can't comment I'm afraid.

My 2p worth are I would generally navigate away from your landing page as I states the site uses flash, and to "click here to enter" - I don't like flash sites, as I usually feel they are "style over substance" and are a waste of bandwidth for no benefit to the visitor.

All IMHO

Chris

Edited to add:

Just got the site to load. Why the flickering on the left?

Also clicked into an image (a key on red background) - now what? There is no way to navigate back to anywhere on the site - I had to close the window down & re-enter the site.

Am I missing something obvious?

Chris

Who are Gravitywell? Your site is hardly a ringing endorsement for them. I can't believe they have given you a site like that from a team of professional web designers - a teen with "Flash for Dummies" yes, large experienced company - NO!!!

Really good images Tony, but they need presenting on a decent site, not one in which I ended up frustrated with the interface & presentation & distracted from your images - this surely is the reverse of what you are trying to achieve with your site...

Edited by chris.mapey on Monday 21st May 10:18

Edited by chris.mapey on Monday 21st May 10:19

[igiveup]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

It's not exactly dial-up friendly though, so perhaps if you're not on broadband you might prefer to avoid it.

And most people will, I'm on 8Mb and I got bored waiting too.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Thanks all so far - very interesting. There should be a short delay when the main site opens as it loads up all 40 thumbnails before the menu appears. It's never taken more than five or six seconds for me though, so if you're getting a much longer wait then that's a problem.

The main site is optimised for 1024x768 so if you're running 800x600 then the navigation icons below the images may be off the bottom of the screen. However if they're not appearing altogether then I don't know what's causing that. If you can't see the icons, you may be able to navigate using the keyboard cursor keys, which should duplicate those functions.

On the Flash front, is the objection to Flash sites a common one? The industry standard seems to be smoothly animated sites and I was aiming for a simple but elegant presentation. If a significant proportion of users can't (or won't) view the site then I might need a rethink.

Cheers

Tony

[chris.mapey]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

The main site is optimised for 1024x768 so if you're running 800x600 then the navigation icons below the images may be off the bottom of the screen. However if they're not appearing altogether then I don't know what's causing that. If you can't see the icons, you may be able to navigate using the keyboard cursor keys, which should duplicate those functions.

Cheers

Tony

Dunno. I'm on 1024 x 768 and there were no icons visible to me. (and no hint as to use keyboard shortcuts either)

I'd be back for a refund to be honest. Use Frontpage.(really) It'd be a better site than the one you have representing your business....

Chris

[Cuban]

To be honest, as wonderful as Flash sites are, going 100% Flash is not wise.

I work with websites all the time and even I get bored and move on if a site takes more than
a few seconds to load. It's just a fact of life, now most people have broadband, they want
and expect to see something instantly, especially if they are doing what I call 'Power Browsing'

Offer an HTML version as well and then people will view that first and if they like what
they see, they will wait for the Flash to load.

If you don't want to have both formats, the first page on the Flash site must load almost
instantly so the viewers can be looking at or reading something while the rest of the site
catches up on the pre loads.

[igiveup]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

It's never taken more than five or six seconds for me though, so if you're getting a much longer wait then that's a problem.

Is that on the PC you are working on the site from ie from the HDD or downloading from the www ?

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Hi Chris

Can I ask what machine and OS you're using? Do you think it might be a problem with your version of flash? This is my first go a something like this and while I didn't think it would be all plain sailing, I'm surprised at the extreme variations in how the site appears. Any ideas?

I'm certainly getting the feeling that a more interesting first screen might be useful, as the delay before the menu appears seems very unpredictable.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Just opened it on my Mac from the web and the menu arrived in just under 4 secs, 1Mb broadband. Tried it again after clearing the cache and it took 6s.

Edited by S. Gonzales Esq. on Monday 21st May 10:51

[igiveup]

Just done the same thing XP with FireFox, it loaded quicker this time but then I have already been to the site once so most would have been downloaded anyway.

[chris.mapey]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

Hi Chris

Can I ask what machine and OS you're using? Do you think it might be a problem with your version of flash? This is my first go a something like this and while I didn't think it would be all plain sailing, I'm surprised at the extreme variations in how the site appears. Any ideas?

I'm certainly getting the feeling that a more interesting first screen might be useful, as the delay before the menu appears seems very unpredictable.

I'm on XP Pro, running IE7 and the latest version of Flash.

All hoovering through a 4Mb broadband pipe.

Chris

[rude girl]

I had no problems with the site, no wait for anything to load and thought that some of the pictures were just beautiful - I loved 'alfresco dining', it would look fantastic framed on my kitchen wall.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Hello Rude Girl - thanks very much. Drop me an email via the site and I'll let you have a copy.

You can see why I'm confused - talk about a wide range of experiences of the site! What's going on?

[chris.mapey]

rude girl said:

I had no problems with the site, no wait for anything to load and thought that some of the pictures were just beautiful - I loved 'alfresco dining', it would look fantastic framed on my kitchen wall.

Where did you get the picture titles from? Not visible here at all...

Chris