niki_cortesi

<p>I would be happy if somebody wanted to download my images. Unfortunately nobody does.<br />The only foolproof method to prevent image download is not to publish it. <br />Matt - you hit the nail on the head. I am amazed how flash websites are popular in the era of iPhone and iPad. At the same time the owners complain that the business is down.<br /><br /></p>

<p>Site is very slow. It takes forever to load portfolio images.<br />You may want to reconsider the font you used for a logo (header).</p>

<p>Open Google and search for: non flash portfolio websites</p>

<p>Why flash? Have you considered other options?</p>

<p>Use Google to search for "Non flash portfolio websites"</p>

<p>I now at least 2 sites that you can use to build your portfolio. Reasonably priced and non flash. Just google for "Non flash portfolio websites"</p>

<p>Header takes too much vertical space. Don't like iframe concept. Why not let the thumbnails to expand. This way I can use only one scroll bar instead of two. Navigation is hidden when you open main image. You have to scroll back to the top to see it.</p>

<p>Picasa is free and you have a choice of unlisted album and password protected album.</p>

<p>I don’t think the watermarks are such good idea. They may turn off some of the potential customers.</p>

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<p >Make it a fixed width (centered). Doesn't look too good on my 27' monitor.</p>

<p >Keep your logo on all pages. Improve navigation. It's hard to figure out how to get back to home page.</p>

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<p >Modern browsers are optimized for JavaScript. You can create lightweight fast loading slideshows that are better than flash (no annoying progress meter). And I can prove it to you.</p>

<p >You can also add SEO friendly filenames and ALT attributes to each image. There is no reason to use Flash for slideshow anymore since we have JQuery and free slideshow scripts.</p>

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<p >Your site looks great, replace Flash with JavaScript slideshow and you can have it on any iPhone or iPad.</p>

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<p >Make it also fixed width (centered). Doesn't look too good on my 27' monitor.</p>

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<p>Jen<br>

 

<p >Modern browsers are optimized for JavaScript. You can create lightweight fast loading slideshows that are better than flash (no annoying progress meter). And I can prove it to you.</p>

<p >You can also add SEO friendly filenames and ALT attributes to each image. There is no reason to use Flash for slideshow anymore since we have JQuery and free slideshow scripts.</p>

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<p >Your site looks great replace Flash with JavaScript slideshow and you can have it on any iPhone or iPad.</p>

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<p >Buying a template may be not the best solution. What you really need is a web based application that will let you design and update your site anytime you like. No HTML or other skills needed. This way you can match a look and feel of your presentation to whatever the current trend is. Make sure it can be viewed on iPhone, iPad and some other mobile devices.</p>

<p >There are a few applications like that so keep looking a little longer before investing money and time into Flash template.</p>

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<p>Intro page to test "5 seconds and they are gone" theory.<br>

Music with no way to turn it off.<br>

Flash in the age of iPhone and iPad.<br>

No random access to images.<br>

Pitch black background for a wedding site.<br>

Not the best options for a successful website in my humble opinion.</p>

<p>Just make sure that your images are well optimized for web. For jpgs start with quality of 30 and keep adjusting it higher until you find the best compromise between file size and image quality.<br>

For the web images, the quality exchanged for speed won’t be noticed by users but the speed at which your website loads will.</p>

<p>From the site architecture point of view you have three options<br />1. Hosting account for the main site and individual hosting accounts for each photographer<br />2. One hosting account with sub domain for each individual photographer<br />3. One hosting account and software package that lets you create and control individual accounts.<br>

<br />The first option will work better when each person has to have full control over content and when you want to add individual blogs.<br />The second option gives you the control over the whole project but requires that users can upload only static pages.<br />The third option requires web application that has the design and admin modules.<br>

<br />The software side:<br />For option 1 and 2: You could try Wordpress for the main site and Jalbum.net for galleries. Both of them are free. <br />For option 3: Unfortunately I don't know any free software package that has all the required features.</p>

<p>Can you describe your requirements in more detail. I do not quite know what community template is. There are a few content management systems that I am familiar with but it's hard to give advice based on such vague specs.</p>

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<p>This is not the best layout for photography website. By placing menu on the left you are wasting lots of precious screen real estate. Much better option is to locate menu on the top.<br>

The next and previous navigation option is also very limiting. You need some kind of random access (thumbnails).</p>

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<p >You got to check your site on higher resolution monitors. On my 27 inch, navigation menu is stuck in bottom left corner. Same problem with logo - top left corner. The contact form on the other hand goes all way across the screen. You better set the width of the container div.</p>

<p >Your flash presentation doesn't work on iPhone, iPad or my Droid phone. You may want to look into JQuery slideshow instead.</p>

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<p>The best way is to create a demo or two so we can compare. The colors by itself are meaningless.</p>