How Does My Site Look?

[djenkinsphoto]

Ok, first, I'm new to SmugMug and I have signed up for a professional account. I just feel like it looks jumbled. Can I have some suggestions on how you'd clean it up? Thanks for anyone that has time to offer some advice.

Thanks!

http://djphotography.smugmug.com

[denisegoldberg]

Welcome to dgrin and to smug!

I was only able to look at one of your galleries since all of the others are protected. Your portrait examples gallery looks like it is set to hide owner = yes - there is no indication of the owner of the gallery, and no customizations showing. Make sure that you galleries are all set to appearance: custom, and hide owner: no.

Your banner is huge. That would be ok on the home page if nothing else is showing, but on all other pages I would recommend using a smaller banner (smaller from a vertical space standpoint, that is).

You should remove the smugmug header and login.

You should remove the smugmug footer, or at least replace it with the mini-footer.

I doubt that anyone will scroll down to see your slideshow. Either create a homepage containing just a slideshow, add a navbar to go to the different pages, or move the slideshow to the top, or get rid of it. If you decide to create a clean homepage with a link to a galleries page, tutorial is at http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2160039.

I know that many people here also use Facebook, but frankly, the large facebook widget on the bottom of the page looks very unprofessional to me. (Yes, I'm one of the people who won't go near Facebook, so I may be a bit biases. But I would say the same thing about any "ad" on your page.)

--- Denise

[djenkinsphoto]

Welcome to dgrin and to smug!

I was only able to look at one of your galleries since all of the others are protected. Your portrait examples gallery looks like it is set to hide owner = yes - there is no indication of the owner of the gallery, and no customizations showing. Make sure that you galleries are all set to appearance: custom, and hide owner: no.

Your banner is huge. That would be ok on the home page if nothing else is showing, but on all other pages I would recommend using a smaller banner (smaller from a vertical space standpoint, that is).

You should remove the smugmug header and login.

You should remove the smugmug footer, or at least replace it with the mini-footer.

I doubt that anyone will scroll down to see your slideshow. Either create a homepage containing just a slideshow, add a navbar to go to the different pages, or move the slideshow to the top, or get rid of it. If you decide to create a clean homepage with a link to a galleries page, tutorial is at http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2160039.

I know that many people here also use Facebook, but frankly, the large facebook widget on the bottom of the page looks very unprofessional to me. (Yes, I'm one of the people who won't go near Facebook, so I may be a bit biases. But I would say the same thing about any "ad" on your page.)

--- Denise

Thank you for the suggestions. I really appreciate it! I'll work on fixing those things. There is still so much to learn. I'd love to figure out how to have just a main page with a navbar that leads people to different parts of my site. Thanks again!

Debi

[djenkinsphoto]

Welcome to dgrin and to smug!

I was only able to look at one of your galleries since all of the others are protected. Your portrait examples gallery looks like it is set to hide owner = yes - there is no indication of the owner of the gallery, and no customizations showing. Make sure that you galleries are all set to appearance: custom, and hide owner: no.

Your banner is huge. That would be ok on the home page if nothing else is showing, but on all other pages I would recommend using a smaller banner (smaller from a vertical space standpoint, that is).

You should remove the smugmug header and login.

You should remove the smugmug footer, or at least replace it with the mini-footer.

I doubt that anyone will scroll down to see your slideshow. Either create a homepage containing just a slideshow, add a navbar to go to the different pages, or move the slideshow to the top, or get rid of it. If you decide to create a clean homepage with a link to a galleries page, tutorial is at http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2160039.

I know that many people here also use Facebook, but frankly, the large facebook widget on the bottom of the page looks very unprofessional to me. (Yes, I'm one of the people who won't go near Facebook, so I may be a bit biases. But I would say the same thing about any "ad" on your page.)

--- Denise


Denise,
I fixed the things you mentioned. Take a look now. I think it looks tons better! Thanks again for your advice.

[raebrown]

I looked at your site and initially thought the links were dead. I finally realized they were working but I had to scroll down to see the change. I think you should follow Denise's advice and reduce the size of your homepage banner or have the links take you to a new page. On the bottom of the pricing page you may want to remove the line that says "This is a brand new gallery with no photos."

[djenkinsphoto]

I looked at your site and initially thought the links were dead. I finally realized they were working but I had to scroll down to see the change. I think you should follow Denise's advice and reduce the size of your homepage banner or have the links take you to a new page. On the bottom of the pricing page you may want to remove the line that says "This is a brand new gallery with no photos."

Thanks for the advice. I never thought of that. People may think the page never changed. I'll make the banner smaller. I appreciaite it.