general website dos and don'ts

[msbarnes]

Your dos and don'ts? I was surprised to hear how controversial horizontal scrolling is and so that got me thinking in effective ways in presenting my work. I am building a website/portfolio at the moment, and so I am browsing through different sites to get a feel in what I like and do not like.

For starters, I really dislike music/noise and strong visual effects. I prefer fewer words and images because I think some people say too much and present too much.

Ofcourse everyone is different and so I respect everyones opinion and I hope this doesn't get heated.

 

[Jockos]

Don't do flash or silverlight; if you can't do it in HTML5, it's probably a bad idea anyways.

 

[daveleo]

Keep it simple. Don't make the website entertaining in and of itself.
People aren't there to see your website. It's there only to make it easy and
pleasant for people to look at your pictures. If people are waiting for your
elaborate Flash presentation to start up, they will click out.

Minimize snarky commentary / humor - put your non-photography persona on another website.

 

[Lauffray]

I'll second the no flash/silverlight recommendation.

 

[JChrome]

I second a lot of these comments and think it's best to go for simplicity.

If you want to showcase your work, then the best way to do it is how they do at a museum - on a blank white canvas.

My favorite artist websites are just pure white or gray, very little to no writing and photographs. Twitter feeds, facebook likes, etc. are just distracting... (but if you know social media can help you tremendously).

Good Luck!
J

 

[VinceC]

One advantage of Flash ... it makes it much more challenging for visitors to "borrow" your photograhic content. That may not be an issue for some. In general, I think quality photographs display best against a dark background.

 

[msbarnes]

Do you think it is best to link my social neetworks on my website? I'm not really THAT big into social networks but I do have some accounts. I'm back and forth in whether I should link these or not. I'm not a professional but I'd like to display myself as one. On one hand, I feel that social media can be a little ameaturish, but on the other hand, it is a good way for people to connect. Realistically, I am an ameature at best haha and the only way I'd connect with someone that I don't know personally is through this avenue. I wouldn't visit someone's website often but I like keeping up with people's photography through flickr.

 

[Paddy C]

1. Make your site responsive.
2. No music. Ever. For any reason.
3. Edit. Then edit again. As soon as a visitor starts to wonder if the photos have been edited you will lose him or her.
4. Horizontal scrolling, even when done well, is annoying. Avoid it.
5. Give image size some thought. I have a big monitor and I come across sites where the images are just too big. Be big but sensible.
6. If you use slideshows (and I think they are probably the best tool for displaying work) make sure the slideshow navigation is:
i: very clear
ii: large so it's easy to click
iii: doesn't change position – it should be constant, the buttons shouldn't move or disappear. cannot calculate the number of bad slideshow implementations I've come across
7. Make sure the site structure is simple, readily apparent, and easy to navigate.
8. Basically, DON'T MAKE THE VISITOR WORK!

This is all easy stuff if you take your time, plan, and test. It's crazy how many sites I go to where someone hasn't done this. E.G. there's a link to a gallery simply called "Paris". I go there to see a grid of thumbnails with no information, each of which only shows 10% of the image so I'm left guessing what I'll see if I click on it. At the bottom of the grid are plain text links with page numbers. There are 5 pages. So fifty photos total. When I click on a photo it activates a JS lightbox. As I go through the images the lightbox constantly resizes meaning I have to move my mouse at every photo to click the next arrow. Oh and there's no proper nav. Now that I'm in the Paris gallery I have to click "Home" to select another gallery. But of course I'm not going to do that because I'm going to look at four photos and leave.

 

[Paddy C]

Using social media is pretty important, I think.

On one hand I feel that social media is kind of ameaturish but on the other hand it is a good way for people to connect.

Nothing amateur about social media. If you have those channels set up and are using them you should link to them.

 

[Lauffray]

5. Give image size some thought. I have a big monitor and I come across sites where the images are just too big. Be big but sensible.

The responsive part should handle this I think, you don't want to be overloading the page with pictures that are too performance heavy for the screen size they're serving. This applies particularly when using JS for slideshows and carousels and such.

 

[Lauffray]

Nothing amateur about social media. If you have those channels set up and are using them you should link to them.

Agree, but do use proper icons and line them up well. I think what he was referring to were these container boxes with a million flashy and colorful little "share this" icons.
Unless you're supplying a simple link (as opposed to a share button) do keep in mind also that each social media adds an extra http request and perhaps its own JS running so that slows your page.

 

[daveleo]

Android - if a large part of your audience will be on android tablets, be sure to verify how your website behaves on such.
There are differences in how android browsers handle HTML, and it can get ugly.

 

[msbarnes]

thanks! many things I hadn't considered and will now consider 🙂

 

[Tejasican]

If you base the styling on a framework like Twitter's Bootstrap or Zurb's Foundation, as two examples, you will avoid many of the cross device browser comparability, responsiveness and sizing issues for the most part with the exception of IE10 on Windows Phone 8 which is special.

 

[newsgrunt]

Only link to social media if you are religious about keeping them updated. For me, anything older than a week and it's usually buh bye.

Same goes with your site. Keep it fresh otherwise you will lose viewers in quick order.

 

[sar-photo]

I am in the process of re-doing my website and have a question around selling prints...

Do you think you should the display of photographs and the purchasing should be kept separate?

Cheers
Simon

 

[Dwig]

...
6. If you use slideshows (and I think they are probably the best tool for displaying work) make sure the slideshow navigation is:
i: very clear
ii: large so it's easy to click
iii: doesn't change position – it should be constant, the buttons shouldn't move or disappear. ...

iv: don't put the slideshow on the Home page.

The Home page should load very fast on all browsers. Keep it very very simple. When the site's entry page, the Home page, loads slowly people often don't wait and simply go elsewhere.

 

[Lauffray]

I am in the process of re-doing my website and have a question around selling prints...

Do you think you should the display of photographs and the purchasing should be kept separate?

Cheers
Simon

Depends how much you're planning to sell, usually I would say no because you will lose people between the two steps (browsing, then buying). If the buying process is right there and it's simple enough more will chose to buy

 

[robert blu]

Once again, keep it simple. If words are necessary to introduce or explain a series try to use short and clear sentences. Not all your visitors will be english native language.
robert

 

[msbarnes]

Any general advice for "about me" sections? I don't really know how to approach this. I feel that everything I write is bland, overly romantic, or pretentious.

e.g. 'I shoot film' can interesting to the lay person but to many others it can also equate to 'I am hipster', 'I hate digital', and etc. lol. For the time present I'm cutting it out entirely.

daveleo - I actually like yours. It is interesting, short, and honest.