First photography website. Please critique!

[matt_sanford]

http://foursquaresummiteast.org/development/fe-photography/

[Paulie_D]

I’m not a fan of ‘script’ fonts but if you are wedded to it.

I don’t like the forward and back arrows…which are curly brackets as they don’t say ‘arrow’ to me, plus I’d prefer that the animation bringing them into view was a little quicker.

There is something odd going on in the footer when I hover too.

Finally…and this is just a personal thing, IMO users don’t really care who designed the website so I don’t like ‘credits’ telling me who it was.

It’s not relevant to the service being provided so leave that to the ‘humans.txt’.

[Watson90]

@matt_sanford

Not a bad effort by any means but just a few things should be addressed;

The script font looks _okay_ I suppose, but when it gets used across the **whole** website, it becomes a bit too much for me personally. Especially when the font-size is lower than the headings, it becomes hard to read. Maybe try and opt for a script font that isn’t so ‘scripty’ and a bit more easier to read. And then maybe use a web-safe font, I think something like Georgia would fit the scheme of the website.

As @Paulie_D said above, the curly brackets aren’t doing it for me either, would be better with just arrow graphics or something similar.

And also, something in the footer needs looking at further as it seems to move around in an odd way when you hover over each link, could be a padding vs height of the footer issue.

To @Paulie_D – is the humans.txt file there for a message to other developers? How would you get your name out there for your company if it’s not somewhere on the website itself? Is the answer to just try and promote your own website and it to the portfolio section maybe?

[Paulie_D]

@Watson90 It’s just a personal preference, other peoples websites are not the place to advertise MY work…it’s their arena to market themselves.

Granted, if they are happy for it to be featured quite so prominently then that’s OK but it’s not something I expect on…ahem..a professional site.

If I go to the Ford website, do I know/care who designed it..or even that it’s powered by WP / Drupal / Joomla or whatever?

Nope, I just want the information / experience I am after as quickly and efficiently as possible.

How many times have you walked past an impressive building in a major city and wondered ‘Who designed that?’ and even if you did, was it plastered all over the front of the building?

>Is the answer to just try and promote your own website and it to the portfolio section maybe?

Actually, that is the way I would do it.

As always. my 2c…opinions vary.

[Watson90]

Hmmm, you provide a few valid points there @Paulie_D!

I think I may just start using the humans.txt then and take off my name on client websites. It makes sense.

_And, you’re correct…I never walk past a building and think who made it! Haha._

[Paulie_D]

>I think I may just start using the humans.txt then and take off my name on client websites. It makes sense.

Hey, if they are happy for you to have it there then that’s not an issue.

If it’s done…erm, discretely, then, TBH, i don’t have an issue. In this particular case though it was pretty glaring.

[Watson90]

Well I have only ever got one website client that never binned me straight off when I sent them a quote, but it’s just habit putting ‘Website design by Steven Watson‘ in the footer of my mockup designs.

[chrisburton]

I think the texture makes the site feel ‘dirty’. Although I disagree with @Paulie_D (scripts are the most elegant and beautiful typefaces), the typeface you picked doesn’t fit that well. You don’t need to have the same typeface for the menu either and especially not for the body copy. It’s not that legible.

[Paulie_D]

>I’m not a fan of ‘script’ fonts

I should have said

>I’m not a fan of **overusing** ‘script’ fonts.

:)

…and hey @chrisburton …it’s **Paulie** not Pauly

[chrisburton]

Sorry about that. Fixed

[alex_wilson]

I’m not an expert, but I agree that there is too much script font. And, personally I wouldn’t have that button pop-up every time to slide changes, it seems to be serving a purpose that is already accomplished by hovering the cursor over the slider.

[matt_sanford]

@Paulie_D @Watson90 Thanks! I was growing a bit weary of the intense amount of cursive going on as well. Now the only reason I put a credit in the footer was because I don’t have but two Sites built so far (pretty new to web-design) and don’t really see a need for making a portfolio site for my own with only two sites. So in putting a credit down in the footer where it is easily visible, I am presenting myself to future clients. People are lazy so the less work they have to do the better (in finding out who made the site. IMO).

Will fix the footer; I didn’t notice that for some reason.

Alright so for now i changed the font and the slider buttons/speed of slides.
Spot anything else?

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