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ready for my first round of feedback on new photography site


lindsayanng

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This was my "get it done quick" website that i have been working on lately. My other site needed to take a backseat to this one as it is now going to be my husbands source of income for a while. ANYWAYS, i have implimented a bunch of contributions, and a custom one to make the albums password protected. You will notice if you click on Weddings, all of the wedding albums are password protected, but the pets ones are not.

 

You can see an example of the product listings in the pets -> branscombe family cats

 

Feel free to make some test purchases, you can use the COD or the 4111111111111111 credit card number. this site is not live and not set up to take payments.

 

I am looking for feedback on look, feel, and functionality.

 

I WILL be getting SSL, SEO enhancements, andsecurity, but right now i need ot get the design done.

 

Here is the main page. I consider it the portfolio section

bscphoto

this goes straight to the catalog

bscphoto print shop

 

If you click on print shop from the index page, then you will see the oscommerce part. That link ONLY works on the index, as i am just using it for testing and dont want too many people to visit that part.

 

I am also working on removing the few left over stock oscommerce graphics like write a review, account create success, ect.

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DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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Hi Lindsay,

 

I only looked at the OSC site so my feedback is about that site only.

 

The first thing I noticed is that despite me using a desktop resolution of 1650x1050 and using quite a wide browser window there was a horizontal scrollbar (IE7 and FF3) and it wasn't until I gave your site a whopping 1168 pixels (in the display area) width that the content could be displayed correctly. Also I noticed that the site doesn't cope very well if I shrink the screen (i.e. it isn't a fluid design).

 

Because the focus of the site is photography I took a look at the photos in the site and if you look closely you can see that most of the images have been degraded (not a good idea for any image but especially for a photo site) and show "jaggies" similar to when you play a game with antialiasing turned off. A clear example of this is the cat photo labelled "BFC_002", look at the whiskers and then compare with the original (which BTW I had to go through two "click to enlarge" links to get to). If I had to guess why this is happening I would say that you are resizing the original without using "smart" resize but are using "pixel" resize (terminology from PaintShop Pro).

 

Just a suggestion, but I wouldn't use images for your headings as they too are suffering from the jaggies, will be disproportional to the text if the user changes font size and won't be picked up be web spiders. The "home", "bio" and "contact" images at the foot of the page are way too big.

 

The background photo used in the header could be a lot more interesting as at present it looks like a small picture of a firework that has been extended horizontally (not resized) with some splashes of red paint (or possibly moving lights with a long exposure time?) either way, it should be a lot more creative.

 

Your "openPictureWindow_Fever" javascript doesn't work in the Lanscapes section.

 

Why do I have to log in to read reviews? (this could be perceived as a barrier).

 

The "Contact" page has a massive photo occupying about 95% of the page with the only interactive element being a highly spammable mailto: link at the bottom once you have scrolled past the big photo.

 

I wanted to buy a photo (not really but for testing) so I looked for a "Buy Now" button but there wasn't one so I clicked the "Details" button and that took me to a page with "reviews" and "add to cart" (BTW reviews are accessible here, earlier I was refering to the heading links). So I click the add to cart button and sure enough it gets added but where is the "Proceed to Checkout" button? It's not obvious that you have to click the text link at the top right of the page as I was expecting a checkout button to appear near the add to cart button.

 

I did a test purchase and it went through ala standard OSC but I noticed that despite selecting Credit Card as the payment method it didn't actually ask me for the number, name and expiry etc... it just did not come up but the checkout process did reach the success page.

 

Your slogan "Giving some insight through the lens" is actually slightly (subliminally) off-putting... it's the word "some", I want the company that gives me ALL the insight. Tricky to explain but it's like when a company says something like "One of the best photography companies in the UK"... that means they aren't actually the best and how many is "one of"? are they in the top 3, 5 or 100?

Hope the feedback helps

 

Carbon

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Hi,

 

I like the site, nice pictures but I did find it hard to navigate around. The links under the header are broken and just take me in a loop and I can't seem to get to your shop from the home page. Once I did get there, by coming back to your post and using the link, I was disapointed. I looked at buying the cat picture. I added to cart without putting a quantity in and nothing happened, I could do with being told that was the problem, secondly the Product description and your attributes all disapear into the page becauce its all white. Try boxing the product description to draw my attention to it. I also have only just found the very discreatly placed checkout button at the top right, this needs to be in your face otherwise people will just walk away. Hopefully this is constructive feedback and I do like the product but the site does flow for me.

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When I clicked on details for one of the images, it listed the price as $-75.00 or $-18.00, depending on format. Does that mean you are paying people? :)

 

When I enlarged the picture (in Win/IE7) the popup did not resize fully. It cut off the bottom 20%. Also I think the popup images should be a bit bigger. To protect your work you should also consider watermarking your images. BTW, I noticed that the popup images on the main site are larger, have watermarks and resize properly as well as have a nice border effect. You might emulate that on the shop side for consistency as well.

 

The tell-a-friend box came up with the standard osc infobox header. Since the others do not, I assume you missed that one.

 

The images of text, especially Home, Bio and Contact, look grainy.

 

The buttons (continue, add to cart, etc) hurt my eyes. Unique is good and dumping the stock buttons is always a good idea but personally, I'd look at alternatives.

 

Imo, the bottom line with the date and number of hits serves no purpose and should be removed. Same for the right column.

 

In the logo, the 'b' in bsc photography blends into the border making it look like osc photography. You might consider a slightly different color border to keep them separate.

 

"Put here your Shipping & Returns information."

 

"Put here your Conditions of Use information."

 

Most importantly... pictures of cats should ALWAYS list the kitty's name!

 

 

Overall, I like the direction you are going. But in places, like the login page, it has a stock osc page wrapped in a pretty design. The two layouts don't look good together. You need to incorporate your designs into the remaining osc bits.

 

Lastly, these are part of the main site not the shop:

 

Clicking on the BMX category yields a 404 error.

 

Clicking on any image within the Landscapes category yields "errors on page".

 

 

Hope that helps

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Well, i only wanted feedback on ONE product because that was the only one that had the correct layout for all the attributes, so BFC_002 was NOT sale ready, but BFC_001 was. If you want to check out the purchasing product, check out BFC_001. That will have the CORRECT attributes with the no + or - sign because it should be implied that it is +

 

you can NOT "buy now" for any product because you HAVE to specify which format you want it in.. there will never be a buy now from the product listing page. I also have no idea why it did not ask you for a credit card number other than the fact that i do not currently have a payment mod. installed. Can you tell me what it DID give you??? It may have been that you added the wrong product (the one with the - in the attributes) to the cart..

 

I am working on a way to remove the $0.00 base price of each image. Since the attribute price is the real price.

 

As for the images, the pixelation is definitely from the automatic oscommerce thumbnailer, i will get a better one. That was not something that i noticed, thank you.

 

As far as moving in circles, i also said that the link back to the print shop was ONLY on the index.htm page because the portfolio part of the site IS live and we do not really want people going to the print shop yet. Before the site goes live, ALL links will work.

 

We are getting rid of the product reviews entirely and are just going to have an overall company review - still trying to figure out how to do that one.. I need to strip the code for hte product write reviews..

 

I am taking away the HOME CONTACT and BIO links at the bottom and am getting rid of the html contact and will just be using the oscommerce contact form (that WILL be more fleshed out with additional contact info.

 

The header is the header and that is what the artist wants. That is his look for now so i can not really say much about it.

 

the add to cart button does NOT work on product BFC_001

which is the proper product that you should be looking at.

 

also, the images on there are just there temporarily. they are not real photographs that he is selling. i just took what i had on my CPU to use for now.. just to test.

 

I am going to put the boxes back around the product info pages so that nothing looks jumbled like it does now.

 

On yea, and there is going to be a checkout link in the infobox header in a few.. i was really looking on feedback on the look.. there are little things that need to be enhanced and added, i know this> it is far form done.. but getting there.

MORE FEEDBACK IS WELCOME>

A great place for newbies to start

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DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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Well, i only wanted feedback on ONE product because that was the only one that had the correct layout for all the attributes, so BFC_002 was NOT sale ready, but BFC_001 was.

 

... you never mentioned this in your original post ;)

 

Carbon

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OOPS.. i thoguht it did.. i thought it out as i was typing it :) ooppps.. well, if you would like, you can go back and purchase that one picturea nd test THAT functionality.. the others are just there to be there.

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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I have made some changes to the site so i'd like to ask for a little more feedback.

 

I have changed the tell a friend, the footer does not tell how many requests since, I changed MOST of the default images to out own images..

 

I am working on the layouts of the login, the my account details, ect.

 

my biggest issue is that i CAN NOT get the borders around some of the areas back. i feel like an r-tard but i just can not get it!! i want to put the borders back around all of the boxes EXCEPT the left and right column, and nothing around the entire site.

 

So check out the catalog, here

and PLEASE use the BFC_001 (chili nose) product for testing.. you are welcome to puchase that item in any combination using COD (or if digital use CC# 4111111111111111 and any expiration date after today)

 

Use login acct. [email protected] password tester or MAKE YOUR OWN ACCOUNT!

 

thanks for the feedback

 

BSCPHOTO

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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Hi Lindsay, Hopefully it's OK to comment on looks? That's what I got... I didn't try an order because I'm a new kid and couldn't possibly advise you on any code or what may or may not be right or wrong with it so...

 

Your pictures are beautiful! The one linking to the wedding section is just perfect. He is a very good photographer and the pics look great the way you have them arranged. I can't wait to see the finished site.

 

Some of the photo captions are kind of hard to read, I think it's the anti-aliasing on the text... Not sure though. And the macro page looks like it says "the details in lice" instead of "life" I swear, I was like "Gross! Lice macro shots?!" But only for a second, and then I looked again. hehe But it does though. :)

 

Nicole

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I ordered chili nose with no difficulty whatsoever. When I got to the payment page though, there was no billing or shipping address visible...they were empty.

 

Just an idea....you might want to change the "My Profile" text to "My Account"

 

The width of the site is much better as now I can see the whole banner logo at the top....I've still got a scroll at the bottom though because the website itself seems to be still over 1000px.

 

I like the site very much, buttons are very original as well!

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I have made some changes to the site so i'd like to ask for a little more feedback.

 

I have changed the tell a friend, the footer does not tell how many requests since, I changed MOST of the default images to out own images..

 

I am working on the layouts of the login, the my account details, ect.

 

my biggest issue is that i CAN NOT get the borders around some of the areas back. i feel like an r-tard but i just can not get it!! i want to put the borders back around all of the boxes EXCEPT the left and right column, and nothing around the entire site.

 

So check out the catalog, here

and PLEASE use the BFC_001 (chili nose) product for testing.. you are welcome to puchase that item in any combination using COD (or if digital use CC# 4111111111111111 and any expiration date after today)

 

Use login acct. [email protected] password tester or MAKE YOUR OWN ACCOUNT!

 

thanks for the feedback

 

BSCPHOTO

 

What exactly do you want to get the borders back on? I mean, what boxes do you have in the main area? You can just create a class in your css file and then id the tables in the appropriate php pages with that class if what you need is not differentiated from boxes in your left or right columns.

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REALLY?? There was no addreess and billing??

 

I installed a contribution called Customer Required Fields, and i made everything but name and email address false, which in turn made it so customers could check out without ever entering a shipping address, i so i switched that back.. maybe it was just cached, or maybe i made that test account with out all the other info. I think thats it..

 

I wonder why the width of the entire site is over 1000px. I thought a fixed width center would have an outside border that moved with the size of the screen.. or do you only get that on the main portfolio site.

 

As for where i wanted borders, i just wanted the stock borders back around the main content like view my history, all of the checkout pages, ect.. i will mess with the classes and see where i get.. I seem to remember though, that instead of a css border, oscommerce used a white background on top of a colored background where the colored background was 1px wider than the white, so you werent really seeing a border but just the colored background peeking out

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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I wonder why the width of the entire site is over 1000px. I thought a fixed width center would have an outside border that moved with the size of the screen.. or do you only get that on the main portfolio site.

I think that it's just the contents of the main area that are stretching the site. The html portion isn't centered (on my system) and it's large as well. I would guess that you're looking for the left border of the categories menu to match the left border of the banner logo, and the right border of shopping cart, reviews, etc. to match the right border of the banner logo. The three kitties pics are probably pushing that main area past the intended border.

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REALLY?? There was no addreess and billing??

 

I installed a contribution called Customer Required Fields, and i made everything but name and email address false, which in turn made it so customers could check out without ever entering a shipping address, i so i switched that back.. maybe it was just cached, or maybe i made that test account with out all the other info. I think thats it..

 

I filled out an address, but it didn't display when I went to the next page. My address also showed just fine on my email.

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grrr... i will have to undo that contribution.. it was a waste anyways.. i might just use PWA instead

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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Yeah, you've got a td width set wide...actually lots of them

 

<td width="1186" style="border-style: none; border-width:

medium" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top">

 

I'm guessing that this is whats setting your site too wide. There are a lot of instances, so

I'd just do a general search, but don't change them all at once. This top one I copied and pasted

is to your menu, and you want to be really careful how you change that. Try it on one and see if

it works first.

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which menu is that??

 

I will definitely be doing a search though to make sure everyhting is right.. all three of my computers have widescreen.. damn you world, catch up with the widescreen thing!!

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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As already mentioned by others - horizontal scroll on 1024 width is not a good thing...you'd have lost me as a customer already. Other than that, perhaps too much white space in your design? I understand that the main emphasis should be on the photo's, but I think that the site is too clinical.

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Burt, do you think that adding the boaders back around a lot of the stuff, the clinical/simplistic look is what the photog. wanted.. I will probably make some changes ont he left and right columns.. something less BOX-Y

 

I am REALLY trying withthis one, but i am SOO stressed about getting it functional because there was a photoshoot this weekend and we have to have the images up for sale on Friday, so i am kinda putting design by the waysite for the moment (but i still need feedback)

 

I am having issues after having installed Customer required fields contribution.. CRAPPY contribution if you ask me.. does nothing for my site at all.. So i need to figure out how to get the database back to the way it was, and re-upload the original, unaltered pages that i backed up.

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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which menu is that??

 

I will definitely be doing a search though to make sure everyhting is right.. all three of my computers have widescreen.. damn you world, catch up with the widescreen thing!!

Even widescreen, we're talking about screen resolution. I'm not sure, but I believe now the standard is 955px. My website is 955px. Yeah, on a widescreen it looks smaller, but that's okay. As long as folks don't have to scroll! At this point, I would never design any website, ecommerce or not, wider than 955px.

 

Take a breath! I had no problem ordering and going through the checkout process. I think you're fine that way.

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that is actually image mapped and is the same image as the banner.. its all one.. So that wasnt the table you were looking at, unless its the tabel that contains the ENTIRE banner /header.

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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that is actually image mapped and is the same image as the banner.. its all one.. So that wasnt the table you were looking at, unless its the tabel that contains the ENTIRE banner /header.

 

Well, it was <td> so it could be in the same table, sure. All you need is one wide td and the rest of the table will follow.

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Most of the <td width="1186"

....are coming from the html pages. I think the reason the store is too wide is that the images in the main content area are stretching it.

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so is the scroll bar just showing just on the html pages or on the catalog side too???

A great place for newbies to start

Road Map to oscommerce File Structure

DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways!

 

HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you

 

Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!!

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