Critique needed on my web site.

[Judder Man]

Hi People,

Only been on broadband for a week, so I dedided to create a website from doodlekit.com. Uploaded some sample pics.

Just need some value comment on what people think and any positive suggestions.

Regards the Judder Man

website: www.mala-rise.com

[cujojpn]

First thing that comes to my head is hierarchy, You have 3 different coloums, one is the obvious search section and navigation, then what are the other two? Try to bring the site to a two coloum site, to simplify it because now its cluttered and I don't know whats the first thing I should read.

I really wish your Menu bar on the left lined up with the top bar right below "Photographer - George R Hopkins" It would solve a big alignment issue with the site.

I like how you have the breadcrumbs "Engineering Design + Imagery > Landscapes " when you go deep into your site, however its a bit hard to read and gets lost with your background

*NITPICK With your "directions" link the title is " title="Directions To Your Company""
Change that to the name of your company. :)

Otherwise good site, good start, keep working on it.

[photoguy6405]

For the most part I like it. The home page seems a bit long, though.

[Judder Man]

Many thanks for the comments so far, done some tweaking to your suggestions. Tidy up the references and links and made the homepage shorter.

[davidinjp]

Well, I am not sure if you changed your gallery since the first post. But I have to say I think you have good taste in layout. I also like your style of post editing. It is strong saturation and a bit of the HDR look, but not too much. I think you pulled it off nicely. Your photos are very pleasing to look at.

Only thing I suggest is to remove 30 or 40% of the text on the main page. I do not think many visitors will read it all. You could start with a few teaser paragraphs with "read more" links for the visitors who want to read more. This way, your landing page is quick and simple and people find your photos gallery sooner. Just a suggestion though, since that would allow you to write as much as you wanted on the read more pages. :-)

[starrman73]

I am going to agree with some of the other posters regarding the columns. Also, websites IMHO (photo sites particularly) you want simple and easy to navigate. I would stay away from having "too" much info and try to keep it clean. Remember...you want your work to be the center of attention.