Critique my site please.

[Oneslowz28]

I just redid a few things on my site and would like some input from others than friends and family. I do have some flash stuff to put up when its finished but the guy I have doing it is doing it for me probono so I am not going to rush him. The site is http://cjganttphotography.com

[Primm]

The big thing that sticks out for me is the "Services" page.

All the other pages are centred, but this one is left-justified. Kind of distracting when you are used to the focus being on the centre of the screen, and it suddenly jumps.

Other than that, I like it.

[S.Horton]

Overall, a very good start. You asked, and this used to be my consulting/marketing biz........ so........

Dump the links page

Update the menu design to something with rollovers

Consider having a pro designer do your logo when budget allows; it stands off the black background (no transition)

Diversify the portfolio collection of shots; noticed that's also the same as 'prints'

Center the text body on services; narrow the services unless you really can do all of those things on a pro level; see above, if you can, show me that in your portfolio pics

FWIW, personally, the bios of the photogs don't help unless the bio is something like '[person] has been published in National Geographic.....]'

[jtown]

It lacks "style" with no pun intended. Check out how to change fonts, colors, etc. using cascading style sheets (google: css). Not to sound harsh or anything, but it sort of looks like the very first webpage I ever designed for class in high school. It needs a bit of work.

[Oneslowz28]

Thanks guys. The copy I have of the services page is centered but when I FTP it moves to the left for some reason. I will try deleting the file off the server before I upload it again.

I do need to slim down the services I offer. I have done all of them and have had many call backs for more work down the road. But I have noticed that I have began to streatch myself thin on some days. I want to keep weddings, senior ports, model shots, realestate and family / individual ports as these are my top 5 monry makers. If it werent for these photography would be a hobby for me again.

I am working on a new logo/banner but untill its finished I will keep this one.

The portfolio does need some work and I need to get some more shots to add to it. I dont think I can legaly use alot of my stuff that I need on there because the portfolio can be considered as commercial advertising for my company. I do have a wedding in a few days that they agreed to let me use some of there images for my port. I have a model shoot and am going to do the next 4 houses I shoot at a discounted price so I can use them in my port too.

[S.Horton]

^^ Oh, wow -- in that case, tell client success stories, because you have 'em! Very powerful.

[Oneslowz28]

Thats great advice. I never thought about that. I may have to email a few of my reagular clients and have them write up a success story so I can put it on there.

The one thing I would like to get out of doing is pet photography as it is a pita. Getting the family dog or cat to look at me or even catch that perfect moment is verry hard.

[Oneslowz28]

It lacks "style" with no pun intended. Check out how to change fonts, colors, etc. using cascading style sheets (google: css). Not to sound harsh or anything, but it sort of looks like the very first webpage I ever designed for class in high school. It needs a bit of work.

Couldnt I just change them in the site builder I use? I use NVU its a full html/site builder/css/java console/everything but flash site builder. Its designed by mozilla and is an opensource freeware program. Anyone who has firefox or netscape on there computer has it. It comes in the mozilla suite.

[jtown]

Couldnt I just change them in the site builder I use? I use NVU its a full html/site builder/css/java console/everything but flash site builder. Its designed by mozilla and is an opensource freeware program. Anyone who has firefox or netscape on there computer has it. It comes in the mozilla suite.
Ya try anything BUT times. Arial, Verdana, Lucida Grande ... all are better choices. Also pick a color for your links. Purple visited links are bleh in my opinion.

Black background is harder to read than a lighter background, but for these kinds of sites you don't need to worry too much about that since there isn't THAT much text.

My best advice would be to take a look at sites you think look good and try to mimic them. Good, clean, concise, minimal, well organized sites are what I like. Something easy on the eyes.

[PhotosGuy]

Also pick a color for your links. Dark blue on a black background is very hard to read.

[Strnge]

DITCH THE BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY EYES ARE STRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Citizensmith]

I'll second the comment about style sheets. The link color definitions have actually been added to your body tag, so change the colors there. However, getting a cheapy CSS book from Amazon and actually knowing why these things works is a better way to learn than having an editor to things its way. If you want to learn good site design you need to learn a bit more about HTML and CSS first. It's kind of like expecting great photos all the time without knowing what an aperture is.

[Oneslowz28]

I have ben taking all advice into consideration and have been making chages. I have totaly redone the horizontal nav bar and have changed a few things on different pages. I havent uploaded them yet. As soon as my flash stuff is finished I will upload everything. It shouldnt be more than a week before everything is finished.

[Oneslowz28]

I have some of the new stuff uploaded. its just a nav bar and some individual services pages. they arent finished yet but should be in a few days