My website is finally done

[Rubi Jane]

After contemplating different options I settle on something I like. I wanted the site to be informative, easy to navigate, showcase some work (portfolio is still being refined) and have a proofing/e-comm section (no events uploaded yet though).

I'd appreciate your feedback, good or bad, as the site will evolve over time.

www.ryderphoto.ca

Cheers

[EOS MAN1]

I think your site looks great. Very professional feel. Excellent work.

[souporman]

Yea, I agree with EOS MAN1 here. Usually I have about 5 to 10 things I don't like about a site but this one is really well put together!

Just because I have to complain about something, the word "portfolio" in your menu is a different font size than the rest of the menu fonts.

Beyond that, it's a great layout, FAST loading, easy to find info, etc. Not 100% sure about why the proofing gallery is a new window, but everything else is great. Well done Lindsey!

[Rubi Jane]

Thanks for the praises. I guess the site is a result of being a corporate marketing veteran who's gone through several focus groups when we redesigned our consumer sites and using a web designer instead of me plodding through it ;-)

Yes, portfolio is not the same. I asked to get it changed but it got missed in the final round. It's on the list to get fixed among a few other additions.

The proofing gallery opens in a new window because it's hosted on a separate server and I've got this thing for liking it on a new page. When a client is done viewing/ordering from the gallery my site is still there if they want to check something else out or as a final impression before they close the main site. It's a brand awareness thing ;-)

[Cr4zYH3aD]

looks great

[B3SEO]

Nice looking site. Great domain name. Number at the top of all the pages. All important. Informative.

I looked at your code. You need to read up on meta-tags. People say they aren't needed, but trust me, they are. I know they are.

[Rubi Jane]

I looked at your code. You need to read up on meta-tags. People say they aren't needed, but trust me, they are. I know they are.
I didn't do the coding, I had a web designer do it. I know nothing of meta-tags but if you'd care to share some knowledge and direct me in what I need to ask my web designer to do I'd be grateful. PM if you don't mind - Cheers!

This is part of the ongoing refinement I guess ;)

[Jaime]

I found it extremely well put together, however I am surprised tht others have found it as fast loading because I use a T1 line and it is extremely slow for me. With the T1 line I seldom find any site that is slow in loading.

[Rubi Jane]

That's interesting KonTiki. I'm on a high-speed lite line, which is around 500kb/sec and the home page loaded in 2 seconds (empty cache) and the portfolio pages in 3-4 seconds for a new load. Maybe the host server was taking a break - LOL

[toddharrison]

The site looks great but the gallery is not working. I can not change the first picture. but it looks great other than that problem.

[TJSAVAGE]

Great looking site. I really like the concept of the proofing gallery. :D

[Rubi Jane]

The site looks great but the gallery is not working. I can not change the first picture. but it looks great other than that problem.
Thanks Todd! The gallery works - I just placed a holder image for a wedding I have tomorrow since I needed to set it up for printing viewing cards or the guests. It's also a private gallery so it's password protected.

Great looking site. I really like the concept of the proofing gallery. :D
The gallery is handy for event participants and guests to view & order from - keeps me out of the loop of those orders. Cheers!

[liza]

This is really well done. I especially liked the pricing brochure. Did you do it yourself or have it done by someone else?

[Rubi Jane]

This is really well done. I especially liked the pricing brochure. Did you do it yourself or have it done by someone else?
The pricing brochure? I did it myself. The site design was a joint effort with the web designer. They came up with the general layout based on the needs I gave them.

I think they may start using the basic layout as a template for other sites for photographers they build. They have plans to build some back-end tools for photographer's also. The web designer is www.panasall.com

[nebular]

I found it extremely well put together, however I am surprised tht others have found it as fast loading because I use a T1 line and it is extremely slow for me. With the T1 line I seldom find any site that is slow in loading.

I also had a really long loading time on this page. I'm currently at work, with a TON of bandwidth (I work at an ISP) and I can't remember the last time I had a page load this slow.

It looks great though!

[plattepro]

I have DSL and it loaded extremely quick with smooth viewing - Impressive (I also noticed the different font for "portfolio" right away) You should be very happy with the work so far - there is always tweaking that needs to be done.

[B3SEO]

HI Rubi !

Looks Outstanding...... Great job!

You may want to speak with your web design person about META TAGS, specifically the keywords, and the description.

You also might want to think about the page title.... fill it with keywords, separated by a "|" character. Ryder Photography isn't enough.

Awesome job.

[Bobster]

3 seconds loading time, great looking site, i'd change your about photo though..

spoke too soon, site is down..

[michael_]

awesome site, simple, effective and all the info available

[RAitch]

Looks good Linz

[Sgt.]

Very Good Job !!

[Galaxy99]

That's NICE, lindsey!!!! Can you share a little about about protected gallery design? I like to have this feature on my site, but can't figure out how to do it...

[Rubi Jane]

That's NICE, lindsey!!!! Can you share a little about about protected gallery design? I like to have this feature on my site, but can't figure out how to do it...
Thanks! The gallery is by Digi-Labs Canada, a pro lab. They offer gallery hosting as a service. The US counterpart is www.digi-labs.net Give them a try, I'm sure it's the same design.

[mr_e]

Looks good and I really like the design, a few thoughts for the coder

The site is not valid HTML 4.01 Transitional
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ryderphoto.ca%2F&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&ss=1&group=0

Don't spam keywords in your title tag, it'll only hurt you, keep the title relevant to the page and your keywords/description in the meta tags

The "Ryder Photography" and the "Call Today..." images should both be gifs, they'll be smaller and won't have the jpeg artifacting

I would also make the "Ryder Photography" logo a link to your homepage, it helps when trying to go back to the main page

Also, why is "Portfolio" an image? I would make it text just like the rest of the nav

Good design though, and very nice photos, well done!

[Rubi Jane]

mr_e, to answer your questions....I dunno ;)
I didn't code the site, the web designer did that part. I can work on some of the errors but they may have to do some.

The SEO came from a very helpful POTN member who I feel went above & beyond in helping me and it's paid off in huge jumps up the search results. I'm not going to say who since I don't want him to put him in a position of fielding others' requests, but he knows who he is ;)

Thank you for reviewing the code and all the suggestions. I'll link the logo back to my homepage. I didn't think it was necessary since the home tab is on every page but having a second link won't hurt. The "portfolio" has a drop down, don't know if that makes a difference, but not being bold like the rest does bug me. I'll go over these points with the site designer.

[michael_]

did you design the site Lindsey?

[Rubi Jane]

Design? Well it was a combination of efforts. I knew exactly what I wanted and didn't want. I knew I wanted to be able to get to every page from every page and I wanted the same look for each page, including the portfolio pages. I knew the same look would not be achievable with the proofing gallery since it's an external site. I wanted HMTL with a slight animated/flashy feel but I hate flash sites so the rotating images on the home page and the mouse over in the portfolio suit my likes.

I gave the designer my Pantone colour and asked to match it with a little more pop/brightness. We briefly discussed a tabbed look and a couple of days later they shot me a draft page design which only needed maybe 6 minor changes. I think what helped them nail the draft design so closely to my liking was the fact I knew what I wanted/didn't want and they listened.

[rmetal]

Lookin good, fairly simple and very effective!

[cdifoto]

I think they may start using the basic layout as a template for other sites for photographers they build.

I wouldn't let them do that. You paid for the design of the site, and put in efforts of your own to make it unique. You didn't buy it as a template, so don't let them sell it to others as one.

[Rubi Jane]

I wouldn't let them do that. You paid for the design of the site, and put in efforts of your own to make it unique. You didn't buy it as a template, so don't let them sell it to others as one.
Usually I'd agree with you, but this was discussed before setting out on the design and I didn't pay full price for the site in return. If they offer the template it won't be used for photographers within the same geographical area as me either.