TheHoff now offers his services to the public... want to see the website?

[TheHoff]

http://imgur.com/D3QhF.png

http://www.shotinvancouver.com/

Things I know aren't great:

- it autostarts the music... BLAH. I hate it. I also know that every single successful photographer's site I looked at also autostarted the music. If there is one thing I know about UX, it is never go against what the users expect. The clients obviously expect music to set the mood.

- sometimes the galleries flash up the first image before they fully load... I'm still fiddling with the scripts but it isn't a huge deal.

- the gallery content is kind of thin. I haven't shot a lot of weddings or engagements so obviously there aren't a lot of different types of images yet.


Things I like about it:

- it ain't Flash.

- it will kill most other photog sites for SEO.

- loads fairly quickly for an image heavy rotation (faster than Flash, anyway).

- music keeps playing without using frames or Flash and the site is fully bookmarkable even though it is really only one page.



Things I'd like to hear:

- how does it work for you? If you have an issue with it, please include your operating system and browser version.

- is it competitive? The prices are dirt cheap for the area but that is only until a few book up.

- is the content any good?

- is it better than the typical bludomain Flash site?


Thanks...

TheHoff

[krb]

I get music and a page header but no pics.
Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; GTB6; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Timestamp: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:45:52 UTC


Message: Unexpected call to method or property access.
Line: 252
Char: 2248
Code: 0
URI: http://www.shotinvancouver.com/js/shot-in-vancouver-photography-01.js

[TheHoff]

Oof, thanks... I'll boot up IE 8 and fix it.

[krb]

I tried it in FF 3.0.14 and I'm not sure what it's doing. No music, no pics and it almost looks like it's stuck in a loop trying to load content. From the status bar it seems to be alternating between loading content from your site and loading something from google.

Been sitting there for several minutes and still nothing. Just keeps trying to load. I refreshed the page once just to see if there'd been an error loading the page the first time but that didn't seem to help.

[krb]

Okay, I'm getting music in FF now. Still no pics though and I'm not seeing any js errors reported.

[TheHoff]

Okay, I'm getting music in FF now. Still no pics though and I'm not seeing any js errors reported.

Thanks for the followup. You probably just caught me fudging with it. I can't figure out where the IE error is coming from yet so I'm disabling some things as I go.

[Pete]

Welcome back. Good to see you again... :D

[TheHoff]

Hallo, Pete!


krb:: thanks again; issues should be fixed for IE now. Can you check FF3 again? I only have 3.5 installed.

[monty28428]

galleries are not working in IE 8 for me.. the rest looks pretty good.

[TheHoff]

galleries are not working in IE 8 for me.. the rest looks pretty good.

Thanks for the report; I checked it in IE7 and they work. I'll have to update and try again.

[Faolan]

Work on this:

W3C validation (http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shotinvancouver.com%2F% 23&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0&ss=1&No200=1&verbose=1)

I suspect that's why there is issues on the page.

The Menu seems out of place, and too small. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the site.

Also if people use NoScript extension for Firefox or disable JavaScript then the site fails to load or display properly. This is a poor design in this aspect. You should not rely on JS to display a site.

There is other issues but over the site layout is pretty good.

[TheHoff]

Hi Faolan, thanks for the comments.

I don't really mind if it does not validate... I mean google.com doesn't so why should I? I like standards as much as the next guy but if it works cross-browser that is good enough for me.

I also require javascript to be turned on. If that loses me 5% of my visitors, so be it.. I'm not going to require Flash to otherwise get the effects that I want. If someone has javascript turned off, no flash, or they're browsing in Lynx, well, too bad... they won't be able to view any photographer's websites, really.

(And right now it is not working very well cross-browser but that is due to IE and javascript stupidness.)

If I could put together a site that was "flashy" enough for most young brides without requiring javascript or Flash, I'd do it.. but I'm afraid it would be a bit static and dull for the target market here. So you're totally right, I am sacrificing standards and some viewers for a more interactive experience. If I had a while to spend on it I would worry more about the elegant degrading for those visitors, but I just want to get it up and running for the majority right now. Thanks again.


edit: I changed the main nav to the sans serif font and enlarged it a bit.. I do think I like that better but it still doesn't fit in that well, eh? I wanted to keep it simple with just text and no images for speed.

[brandon9585]

This is a great site, Hoff. Simple look, easy navigation. The only thing I notice in FF3.5.3 is that the About page and the rest of the pages are a few pixels difference in width and the image thumbnails are slow to load. But, I love how you got the effects of a Flash site without it being Flash. And also how your header height isn't 300 pixels like a lot of other sites I've been on. Great job overall.

[TheHoff]

There is other issues but over the site layout is pretty good.

btw, I quite like your site. I think you did a good job giving it impact without using a lot of JS or any Flash on the homepage. However you do require Flash to see any galleries... so that isn't much different than requiring javascript, right? And I don't mean to critique yours; as I said, I like the design a lot.

[TheHoff]

This is a great site, Hoff. Simple look, easy navigation. The only thing I notice in FF3.5.3 is that the About page and the rest of the pages are a few pixels difference in width and the image thumbnails are slow to load. But, I love how you got the effects of a Flash site without it being Flash. And also how your header height isn't 300 pixels like a lot of other sites I've been on. Great job overall.

Thanks, Brandon! Is the width difference due to the right-side scroll bar popping on and off? This is a common thing where one page is longer than the other and the scroll bar appearing makes it shift a bit... I forget if there is any solution other than to make all the pages long enough to require a scrollbar.

[brandon9585]

Ah. Yes it is the scroll bar on the right. I thought the width was actually changing but the page is just being shifted to the left. I don't know of any solution either.

[TheHoff]

galleries are not working in IE 8 for me.. the rest looks pretty good.

Thanks for this; fixed now. Everything should work in IE8.

[Hikin Mike]

Other than the music, It looks good! You might want to use a favicon.ico.

[krb]

Yeah, looks great in IE8.

I'm still getting the wierd behavior in FF3.

[monty28428]

Yep looking good in IE8 now - nice work.

[harroz]

not working in Firefox 3.0.14

it is there,and flickers when the images are suppose to be changing over, but no images. Also can't get into any of the other pages like about, galleries, etc

I was looking forward to seeing the hoff's new webby ;)

[TheHoff]

<< SHAKES FIST AT FIREFOX >>



why I aughta...

[Faolan]

LOL and people love Firefox... Makes you wonder why ;) Don't worry I had similar problems during my own site development.

[Hikin Mike]

What's not working? I'm using FF 3.5.3 and I haven't seen any problems. Did I miss something?

[TheHoff]

What's not working? I'm using FF 3.5.3 and I haven't seen any problems. Did I miss something?

3.5 is fine; it is something in 3.0... downgrading now to check.

[Hikin Mike]

<< SHAKES FIST AT FIREFOX >>



why I aughta...

That's odd because I'm usually shaking a fist at IE!! :lol:

[krb]

That's odd because I'm usually shaking a fist at IE!! :lol:
And I've been doing web development long enough to understand why God gave us two fists. :lol:

[TheHoff]

And I've been doing web development long enough to understand why God gave us two fists.

When I run out of fists, I shake something else at IE 8 :mad:

[Hikin Mike]

:lol: :lol:

[TheHoff]

edit: everything fixed now in FF 3.0x.

http://www.shotinvancouver.com/


THANKS for the bug reports!

[krb]

Looks great! I really like the design. It's almost as good as the pics in the gallery.

[madhatter04]

I think it works extremely well!! However, the music is god awful. ;)

[TheHoff]

Looks great! I really like the design. It's almost as good as the pics in the gallery.

I think it works extremely well!! However, the music is god awful. ;)


Thanks, fellas! I cranked it out over the course of a day so I'm happy with it (after all of the bug fixes we went through, finally). I'm still on the fence about the music myself.

[adam8080]

Looks good on my cell phone (Android G1)!

[TheHoff]

I added a quick intro while the images load and a background to the page. I'm trying to make it look flashy without Flash.

http://www.shotinvancouver.com/

Comments? Problems in a browser? I tested Safari 4, FF3.5, IE8 but would appreciate other versions or slow connections commenting if there is an issue with the loading sequence. My wife tried it on an old machine at work and said it failed the first time.


Initial SEO results

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=vancouver+wedding+photographer
#3 on Yahoo

http://www.google.com/search?q=vancouver+wedding+photographer+photojourn alism
#6 on Google for a lesser phrase

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vancouver+wedding+photographer&start=100
#101 for the real term

Not bad for 0 links in... that is all from on-page optimization (and the fact that most competitors are Flash).

[Psychobiker]

No issues here. All good. FF3/Safari on Snowy and W7

[Russ72]

As a UX/Accessibility consultant, this is right in my wheelhouse. You've done a superb job in terms of SEO, proper use of headings and lists, etc. That will give you a huge advantage over your competition.

Design-wise, it's all in the eye of the beholder I guess. Your photos have so much pop and character (that tennis-themed engagement shot!!) that the site itself doesn't seem to echo. I know Vancouver isn't exactly Miami in terms of color - or climate, but the grey feels cold which is probably not what you're going for subliminally when your target audience is brides.

I'm also not a huge fan of splash screens, but at least yours serves a purpose. Overall, great job. It's nice to see a photog with an obvious background in web dev.

[TheHoff]

As a UX/Accessibility consultant, this is right in my wheelhouse. You've done a superb job in terms of SEO, proper use of headings and lists, etc. That will give you a huge advantage over your competition.

Why, thank you! As one UX guy to another, it is appreciated.

Design-wise, it's all in the eye of the beholder I guess. Your photos have so much pop and character (that tennis-themed engagement shot!!) that the site itself doesn't seem to echo. I know Vancouver isn't exactly Miami in terms of color - or climate, but the grey feels cold which is probably not what you're going for subliminally when your target audience is brides.

Bah... excellent point. I was so caught up in "medium grey so there is no colour cast!" I forgot about the target audience for a moment. I've changed it now.

I'm also not a huge fan of splash screens, but at least yours serves a purpose. Overall, great job. It's nice to see a photog with an obvious background in web dev.

I call it less a splash screen and more a brief loading intro. It really isn't needed as the image rotation won't start until the photos are loaded anyway but I don't want to fight what people are used to... I do want the design to be simple to highlight the images (and to fight loading times); I want it to look like Flash, but I want it to load and perform like HTML.

[Russ72]

Bah... excellent point. I was so caught up in "medium grey so there is no colour cast!" I forgot about the target audience for a moment. I've changed it now.


Perfect. That little bit of color makes a HUGE difference.

[TheHoff]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vancouver+wedding+photographer&start=100
#101 for the real term

Jumped to #35 now for the money phrase. I love seeing the site beat out ones that have been online for years :D

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vancouver+wedding+photographer&start=30

[_aravena]

Lovin' this!!! How'd I miss it? NO MUSIC!!! I hate music! I'm always listening to music when I'm on my computer so I hate when it gets interrupted but something else. Beautiful though!

[TheHoff]

Lovin' this!!! How'd I miss it? NO MUSIC!!! I hate music! I'm always listening to music when I'm on my computer so I hate when it gets interrupted but something else. Beautiful though!

Thanks!! I went with Autoplay off now for the music... I think it has been that way for a while now. I decided I'm not following the bad UX of other sites.

[_aravena]

Yeah, it annoys the heck out of me although lately I hook up my mp3 to my surround sound and mute my comp so if anything does start. :lol:

Still love the layout and that blue is perfect. Warm and inviting...like a sunny day! but cool.

[timnosenzo]

Thanks!! I went with Autoplay off now for the music... I think it has been that way for a while now. I decided I'm not following the bad UX of other sites.
Attaboy Hoff, be a leader, not a follower. ;)

Site looks great, good luck with it!

[Lonnie]

Nice looking site - looked fine in Chrome. I am curious why you chose to have your print prices as a .pdf file though.

As for the images - they are look terrific and are easy to browse.

The tennis series - totally kick ass. What a set.

Good luck on your new venture - I'm sure you will do great.

[TheHoff]

Thanks, Tim & Lonnie!

>>I am curious why you chose to have your print prices as a .pdf file though

Just laziness. I keep meaning to break up the pricing and about sections into multiple pages but then I have to come up with a secondary navigation. With a PDF I can email it out to people who request it. You're right though, I certainly should have that in HTML, too.

[BrianS]

Just tested this in Chrome and it looks great. I like the navigation and simplicity of the site.

[TheHoff]

Thank you! It means a lot as I'm not yet sold on the 'simplicity' compared to the Flash competition. Some more leads would help sell it :D

Jumped a few spots to 32/33 for the keyphrase... it would be nice to get to pg. 3.

[TheHoff]

Added a blog... I used Wordpress and a really simple skin called cleanr (http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/cleanr)... added a photo at the top and removed some excess stuff. I think it works really well as a photo blog.

http://www.shotinvancouver.com/vancouver/

diggin' my URLs :D

http://www.shotinvancouver.com/vancouver/photography/wedding/

[Lonnie]

Hoff - the blog is good.

I noticed on your wedding prices a glaring omission - you don't have a package with engagement or bridal sessions. Not listed as such anyway.

*edit* - Just saw the Portraits package below. Still might want to make another package with that stuff inclusive.

[SOK]

Nice site - covers all the info I'd be looking for as a client.

No problems for me (FF3.5.5) other than taking a little while to load initially...although that may be the connection at my end.

I suppose the most disappointing thing was finding out that your name isn't' really 'TheHoff' :(

[TheHoff]

Hoff - the blog is good.

I noticed on your wedding prices a glaring omission - you don't have a package with engagement or bridal sessions. Not listed as such anyway.

*edit* - Just saw the Portraits package below. Still might want to make another package with that stuff inclusive.

oooh you found my secret... I'm offering all prospective brides a complimentary (*not free*) engagement session to encourage bookings. That way if they ask about it, I throw it in complimentary-style and they think it is a good deal... or if I think they don't yet trust my admittedly small body of work, I'll offer it up to try and hook them.

[TheHoff]

Nice site - covers all the info I'd be looking for as a client.

No problems for me (FF3.5.5) other than taking a little while to load initially...although that may be the connection at my end.

I suppose the most disappointing thing was finding out that your name isn't' really 'TheHoff' :(

Cheers!

and if it helps, I do have a Hasslehoff mask that I occasionally wear around the house (for the Missus' benefit)

[H20boy]

Nice site, just one question...any other musical choices before you decided on this little 'crisp' number? Its cheerful, but doesn't get me in the mood like I was expecting. Anything more dramatic in your library?

[TheHoff]

Ah ya know I forgot about the music! I turned it off autoplay (I think?) and I have click2flash on my computer so it never starts for me anyway. I agree it isn't amazing, for sure :) I will look into something better... maybe local? What are the good sources for licensing blog music?

[Sauk]

Okay here we go....

Things I love:

1. Love the colors of the website, very clean and professional.
2. Your logo is really good.
3. I like the ease of use
4. I like the images are not blocked by my flash block extension
5. I like the PDF you made for prices, looks very professional
6. Don't care for music and it does not auto start for me, but I also understand that just about every website has music on it these days.
7. I like the description below the images, looks very clean and blends well.
8. I like the galleries and the speed that they load
9. The about page is very well done and what seems to be very well thought out. Love the image as well
10. Overall a wonderful website!

Things I don't like:

1. I think the nav could be a touch bigger. It is clean, but kinda small.
2. Your logo could be a touch bigger. Not talking 200 px, but maybe 25 to 45 px
3. "All Images are copyrighted and all rights reserved." That just looks weird to me. Maybe make it shorter and to the point?
4. Make the description text in the packages part of the site larger. No need to make it so small IMHO.


Solid work

[TheHoff]

Thanks for the review, Matt!

>>Things I love:
>>6. Don't care for music

Your love is a strange thing :D


>>9. The about page is very well done and what seems to be very well thought out. Love the image as well

My sister took a pretty good shot, eh! I'm assuming it wasn't my mom taking the picture based on her current body of digital work.


>>Things I don't like:

I addressed all of these; thanks for the good points.

[zincozinco]

Nice site - covers all the info I'd be looking for as a client.

No problems for me (FF3.5.5) other than taking a little while to load initially...although that may be the connection at my end.

I suppose the most disappointing thing was finding out that your name isn't' really 'TheHoff' :(

and that he is actually alot more handsome in real life ... :(

:)

btw, I really like the blog it works great!! Im doing mine in iweb and it truly sucks, im trying to find a replacemnt but i dont like to have to many things to update...... ie login here and there...