Jocelyn McAuley on sat 26 feb 05
> Leas website is: www.leaphillips.co.uk and mine is www.amamenec.co.uk
Congratulations to you both on having websites out!
The following is a list of comments that I hope others can think about
in regards to their own site design.
(Both of these were checked using Firefox and also checking IE as the
browser.)
http://www.amamenec.co.uk/ ___________________________________________
- great use of a template.
meaning your navigation buttons are the same, and in the same place for
each of your pages. This is important because you don't want your guest
searching too much on how to click to a new page.
- use of bold or strong tags.
I understand how bold/strong tags are tempting when talking about your
work (you want to emphasize everything understandibly!), however they
quickly wear out your viewer's eyes. The odd thing being when you
bold/emphasize *everything* nothing is emphasized as a result. Think of
how a newspaper's page looks: headers are created, and weighted heavier
and the body of text under a header is of a regular weight.
Use h1, h2, h3 etc tags for your headers.
Don't make everything bold or strong.
- use of center tags.
Again, using a newspaper as an example, headers are the only part of
text that is centered. This is because eyes get distracted and
exhausted trying to follow a block of text that is center aligned.
Also center tags are generally discouraged; they are an "old fashioned"
tag that may not be supported in the future.
Don't center tag unless its a header (using an h tag).
- displaying addresses and contact info.
Think of how we generally see addresses written, on mailings. This
format is generally a two- three line block of text with the street
designation above the city info. Go ahead and use this conserved format
when including a street address on your website, as that is how most
people already view this sort of data.
- use of underlining.
Underlining is something that we don't use as often in the written world
(thinking of newpapers again), as we do in the web. In regards to
websites, underlining should only be used to designate something as
being a link. Don't confuse your viewer by underlining text that isn't
a link.
-listing items.
When you have a number of items that fit in a category (ie Future
Events), use the list tag to list your items. Example:
Future Events
- Brittany France Sculpture Event
- Nine Days of Art
- assumed knowledge of viewers.
You don't need to tell your viewer to use a back button to go back a
page. This is implicit knowledge, and besides your website has a very
good use of navigation buttons that they can use also.
- use of boxed/bordered text on the bottom of your page.
Your copyright info doesn't need to have boxes around it. This tends to
distract people from looking at your images and text. If you feel
strongly about having this information boxed, put all your footer info
(copyright, update info, design credit) in one box rather than 2 or 3
separate boxes of text at the bottom of your pages.
http://www.leaphillips.co.uk/index.html_________________________________
all the previous comments also apply to the site design of
leaphillips.co.uk: use of bold/strong, centering, use of lists, boxed
text in your footer.
- navigation images.
I like your use of pottery smaples for the navigation buttons. However,
make them distinct from one another to refect the categories they
stand for. Example, "Pots" can be a profile of a pot. "About" can be a
detail of you brushing on glaze, etc. You may also want to add on a
navigation button for recent exhibitions instead of having it in the
"Pots" section and "Links".
- "About" section.
I feel that "about the artist" sections are special and that we, as
artists, should really get good use out of them. When given the chance,
people (customers and fellow artists) LOVE seeing images of the artist
in action. Put more than one, put up studio shots. Don't be afraid to
make these images a bit larger size than what you currently have (don't
make someone click through to see obvious details- like what you are
holding in your hand. Do make them click through to see the what else
you have on the shelves behind you).
I think a nice feature would be to follow the life of one piece in your
hands. Show it being made, as greenware, as bisque being glazed, and
being loaded in the kiln, and finally unloaded as a finished piece. I
think this can help explain the investment one has in their pricing as
making a ceramic object is always a many stepped process.
- future events on the "home" page is great. This is a nice spot to put
up your news items and highlights.
- your pictures look great!
___________________________________________________________________________
You've done a great job in getting images of your work "out there".
Putting up a website is hard work. Simply figuring out how to start is
the biggest step, and making improvments from that first step gets
easier and easier as time and experience gather. I hope the number of
comments I've made isn't discouraging, they are simply points to consider.
You've done alot of work already (heck you made *two* websites!). It's
totally understandable to say "that's nice but I've done enough!" in
regards to my suggestions :)
take care
Jocelyn in sunny Eugene, Oregon
--
food: http://worlddomination.net/browniepoints
art: http://www.LucentArts.com
Lea Phillips on mon 21 mar 05
Many thanks to all who gave suggestions for improvements; many of which have
been taken on board. I have now updated both, and hopefully they are better
for it! Many thanks,
Ama Menec and Lea Phillips, Totnes, Devon, UK.
Website: www.amamenec.co.uk
Website: www.leaphillips.co.uk
| |
|
