web design

atakach

atakach

Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
3,721
well i've recently done a little updating of my web site and was wanting some input on it. it's all done by myself, and im not the most computer literate person by any means. im thinking if i cant cat it right i may look to have some professional help with it. i gotta buddy who's kid is going to school for web design and may be willing to help.

thanks and feel free to be honest and any input is appreciated :thumbup: or :thumbdn:

andrew takach
 
that orange line in your image beside "Since 2004" is a bit off. other than that great job!
 
i would agree with trying to get rid of that orange line....other than that....i like that you included prices....i'd like to see on the pics of the sold work-maybe a little thing that says"similar knife would cost x dollars.".....i have seen that before and like it because it gives u a better idea of prices....i like it though....ryan:thumbup:
 
I would be more then willing to help you with your page if you want some help. i have been working with web pages for years and dont admit to knowing everything but i know how do do a lot of stuff.
 
Nice work,

(ya that orange bar - could just eliminate it)

My comments are about the photos:

turn off the date and time stamp, or crop it out of the photos

the lighting seems washed out of quite a few
- the grey background on the 3 damascus patch knives is already a middle grey and that photo worked out better - has to do with auto exposure settings.

i like the ones where you have included more info ie blade length, overall length stock thinckness, price, materials
in fact, i skip sites that don't have that.

good clear in focus photos as large as possible - but low res to load fast - see the guidelines bernard levine has for posting questions on his forum

no props in the photo-otherwise I'm thinking i should go out and buy a SIG and S&W like yours instead of buying your knife...

i like seeing the full profile, not tilting towards or away from the camera
(skews perspective)
use something underneath the knife to prop it if needed, not held in hand - pencil erasers cut into wedges or something..
 
ive been saying im gonna have my cousin do some photo work for me, just never get around to it. as far as site goes, i just toned it down a bit and eliminated the bar, but still not sure i like it.

andrew

also thanks for all the advice it's helping.

JT, if things don't pan out with this fellow i know, i may hit ya up for a bit of info.
 
Much better header ! readable and fits the overall design style - colours

Oh - and setup the (tags?)
when i bookmark your site, the default is "home" - would be nice to come up with the name you want there
 
Steven Penner said:
Much better header ! readable and fits the overall design style - colours

Oh - and setup the (tags?)
when i bookmark your site, the default is "home" - would be nice to come up with the name you want there
Click to expand...

i think i just fixed the book mark problem.

andrew
 
no problem, let me know. i got the bug today to over haul my sight and clean it up and get rid of all the junk. thanks
 
Hello -
I agree about cropping out the date/time stamp on some of the photos. I'd also make sure the aspect ratio of your photos is not skewed. The one of you and who I assume is your boy working at the anvil has a bit of a funny aspect ratio. You can adjust that by calling the height="xxx" width="yyy" in your html code for the pic.

I personally prefer to stay away from italics on the text, unless it is for a small caption or the like. This is a personal call, and I find that large bodies of text italicized make for harder reading.

The scroller at the bottom of Sold I is waaaay too fast to read. My browser shoots the entire message across in about a second. The tables on Sold II and More Knives have one pic on the top left, and the rest down the right side of the page, unlike Sold I. I'm not too sure if this is by design or not. I would recommend keeping them all the same.

That nit-picking aside, you have a very good site. You get the point across, it is easy to navigate, your layout is fine, and you have a great product to show, and I am not left with any questions unanswered about your product, skills and scope.

I also appreciate the verses from Isaiah! Very cool.
I personally prefer using Flash for websites I make:

http://messengersmc.org
http://sac-taekukmusul.com
http://godis4us.com

Hope you don't mind the critique - Like any endeavor, web design is subjective, and reflects the maker. Just like knifemaking. What works for one guy may not work for the person standing next to him.

With respect,
Balin
Pithy tag line goes here, when I think of one...
 
balin ,

not harm done, actually i appreciate all the helpful suggestions, and deffinetly will work on a few of those things. it's alot easier to fix things when someone else (consumer) or you in this case "picks it apart" than for me to sit back and say "hmm now what do i need to do to make this better".

thanks again
andrew takach
 
well , i updated some things, and made some more changes, one thing i'd still like to do is be able to set things up so i can have a thumbnail pic, and be able to click on it to view a larger picture. any clue how you do that? is it something done with a html code?

andrew
 
what do you use to edit your site. i use Microsoft front page and it has a gallery function that makes pages like this one on my site. http://www.jtcustomknives.com/gallery.htm
if you need some help i would not mind, I could even through together some pages for you if you wanted me to.
 
atakach said:
well , i updated some things, and made some more changes, one thing i'd still like to do is be able to set things up so i can have a thumbnail pic, and be able to click on it to view a larger picture. any clue how you do that? is it something done with a html code?

andrew
Click to expand...

Andrew,

Go to http://messengersmc.org, and select the Pics link when the main page opens up. First bike on the bottom right of the main page. If you like the gallery, it is a freebie available. I can send you the code. Nice thing - you just drop your pics in the main directory on your web server. The thumbnails, 500x500 sized pics are automatically generated for you when someone opens up that page in their browser. Once generated, they do not need to be 'made' again. Click on something on the left, it will then display the 500x500. Click on the 500x500 and the full sized image is then displayed. When I use it, I drop my pics in, open up the gallery, and then the stuff is there for any that view it after me. It also has the ability to be remotely (using your web browser) managed, and folks can leave comments which you can approve to display for each pic. Slideshow as well.

Hope this helps,
Balin
Pithy tag line goes here, when I think of one...
 
I personally like footers on websites, having some contact info and some links to pages not shown in the menu but at the secondary importance like this or that.

Also I've noticed some knife photos are date labeled from camera, maybe to erase them with photoshop is a good idea...
It's a good site after all.
Emre
 
Very nice site. Good job. I would recommend to left justify the text on your home and contact us page. For many, center justified paragraphs are hard to read smoothly.

Keep up the good work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top