New website. (still in progress though)

[jjmucker]

i would appreciate if you guys/girls could take a wee look at my new wedding photography website.

pls note that this is still very much in development and wasnt sure whether to go live with it but i wanted some opinions from folk on here so i had no choice really.
i have zero to none experience designing websites and know nothing about code and stuff like that but i used a program called site spinner and its such a great program. ive been at this for 5 days straight and im pretty impressed considering my knowledge in this. i know there will be things possibly wrong with it hence why im wanting C&C on it. the way i wanted to show my website was to try and connect with people while they are looking/browsing through it. let me know what you's think on that

im also still learning about SEO with help from some very good people on here so cheers for that.

pls note i also looked through alot of you guys websites and it may show through in some of the designing i put into my own.
i hope you's dont mind, seeing as we are not in the same city let alone country with some of you people.

cheers again.

john


www.perfectexpressions.co.uk (http://www.perfectexpressions.co.uk)

[Grace]

Puncuation, capitalization, spelling..just seems like a lot of wording on the first page... with a lot of mistakes...

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Your images are just a wee bit over the text near the top. I'd like to see equal sized images as well. Especially women will want that, too. Women's minds are drawn to symmetry, and that's a fact!

Edit: Also, on the About Me page, you use the word "photographer" five times in the first three sentences. too much for my ocd mind.

Also also, the contact form goes over the heading a bit.

[jjmucker]

really. :oops:

lol, i wasnt expecting C&C for spelling and punctuation. al look into that.

ronald see when i view this on my monitor in my room its fine but when i view it on my laptop your right, the text goes over the image. what is causing that do you know?

[Ronald S. Jr.]

bad placement? :eek:

[picturecrazy]

There is too much wording on the site. Waaay too much text. The first page has so much text that is not useful. Do you really need to explain to people that the Contact page is the page you go to in order to contact you? Or that the About Me page contains stuff you've written about yourself? Also, you don't have to tell them you designed the website so prospective clients can get to know you. Of course they already know that, that's why they are on your site. As Kathy mentioned, check the typos.

Your links (About Me, Wedding Packages) are partially covered by the photos on the first page. Your Contact form is partially blocking the text above it. You don't need to tell them you are asking for their date so you can see if you are booked or not. They'll know that already. 99% of email enquiries are asking about dates first. Also, don't say "once you hit the submit button". Just take that out so it says "I will be in touch as soon as possible".

as for the gallery, might I suggest an easier way to view the pictures. Having to click twice to move to another picture is bad when it can be designed for one click.

The Wedding packages page also has too much text. Leave out the entire first paragraph and cut down the rest.

The is a lot of scrolling involved on your site which detracts from the overall experience.

It's a good start, but there is a lot of work to do. My personal opinion is that it totally looks like an site designed by an amateur. I think potential clients will see that too. This is not something to cut corners on. Many will decide if they want to contact you just on viewing your website.
I'm sorry I can't be more positive. But I don't think keeping it that way is going to help you in any way.

[jjmucker]

thanks for all the comments picturecrazy and i will look into changing some of it and possibly taken some of the text out. this is the reason why i put it up here, to get things right for the better.

cheers

oh, forgot to say, te reason why i have maybe designed it this way is by looking at some very well known photographers in my area whose doing really well for themselves.
as much as i want it to be personal to me, these other guys must be doing something right in terms of there website. it may well depend on were abouts in the world you are but i feel bride and grooms from one country are very very different from bride and grooms in other parts of the world

[song4themoon]

there are different monitor sizes... on some you will see it work and on smaller ones it will overlap. You have to create it so it will be ok on both.

I agree about too much text in the front.

[jkloef]

The difference in placement may have to do with the txt files being txt files...I don't really know much about this type of thing but I just had this problem on my new website as well and the tech told me to save the text as a picture file and then insert it into the website to be sure that it will be viewed the same no matter what monitor/system. I didn't actually take the time to figure out how to do this...I just rearranged some things so that it was not a big issue. :oops:

I agree that the 2 images on the front page should be the same size...they're...not...even...lol ;) same goes for the thumbnails in the gallery. Also, a pic on your about me page would be nice. The images look great and I love how you have the PP example page on there! It is definately a pain in the tuckus but worth every headache! Let us know when you call it done. Great start!!!

[jjmucker]

The difference in placement may have to do with the txt files being txt files...I don't really know much about this type of thing but I just had this problem on my new website as well and the tech told me to save the text as a picture file and then insert it into the website to be sure that it will be viewed the same no matter what monitor/system. I didn't actually take the time to figure out how to do this...I just rearranged some things so that it was not a big issue.

I agree that the 2 images on the front page should be the same size...they're...not...even...lol ;) same goes for the thumbnails in the gallery. Also, a pic on your about me page would be nice. The images look great and I love how you have the PP example page on there! It is definately a pain in the tuckus but worth every headache! Let us know when you call it done. Great start!!!

i have llined up the images and the text should not be over lapping now... i hope. i will go back later and probably adjust the image gallery too thanks.
i may actually change the 2 images on the front page, i just love the brides expression.
ive displayed the website on my laptop and on my pc and all text etc seems fine. ive also cut out some of the text like some folk has mentioned and i think they were spot on. a thanks to kathy also for fixing my spelling and grammer :oops: .
theres no excuse for that im afraid ... other than im glaswegian :rolleyes:

[wilky95]

Hi John, looks good to me, I only think the open page pictures need to be the same size other than that a nice clean simple site.

Martin

[dandan]

Use a different font for your links at the top. You might want to take off those effects on your header text. right now it just looks like you stuck every default photoshop effect there is on those words. It might look good with just white text and a white outer glow. You should also either make the header wider, or your text/content thinner so they line up.

For a first try though, its decent. Alot better then my first web-creations. heh

oh, and maybe take the border off the header image

[jjmucker]

thanks guys. i know what you mean wilky about the two images on the front page. i will make them the same size, they were actually annoying me also :D

thanks for the suggestions dandan, i will definetly look into some of them.

cheers :D