Lifting of my website

Please, tell me your comments.
http://rolandbaptiste.com/

Roland: I do find that the text that is on top of photos on your site is difficult to read. In web design it's not easy to have text with a photo background.

Your gallery with all the Flash effects is very cutting edge, but for me, I prefer a simple gallery with thumbnail images. I want to click, see the engraving, and then move on to the next photo. I don't think the animated gallery offers any benefits, and I found it a bit awkward to navigate. Also keep in mind that many visitors may not be able to see and/or navigate your site on mobile devices (this deserves much consideration as more and more mobile phones have internet browsers).

Of course this is simply one guy's opinion. I'm no expert, but I do strive to keep my sites attractive, fast, and easy to read and easy to navigate.

Cheers / ~Sam

Roland,
I have done a bit of schooling in Multimedia and web building and tend to agreed very strongly with Sam that the picture in back of the text makes the text almost unreadable Suggest they are removed. A black background is much better for reading and it looks good too, especially against the silver and gold of engraving.

Sams' mention of mobile users in the net... I think users that will be making a decision about getting a gun engraved or attending instruction, are not going to make these decisions while using a mobile devise but rather at home in peace and quiet. Who will make such a decision at a street corner or cafe? Keep the cool graphics, they display your work in an attractive and different manner.
Andrew

Roland,

I agree with everything Sam said. I put my first web site up in 1992.

Engraving sites devoted to engraving are best served by simple, click-on-it pictures.

But I really like the multimedia aspect of your site. I have added it to my favorites list because of its entertainment value. I plan to recomend it to my web developer friends.

Les Holmes

I have lots more experience with websites than I do with engraving. I try to design sites that are accessible to people with low access speeds. Often Flash presentations are inaccessible to dial-up customers because they take forever to load and execute. While the fancy script fonts are artistic, they are hard to read. I agree with the others that thumbnails are quick and easy. Too often we tend to overwhelm with presentation, sacrificing content. When you have excellent content, bells & whistles can be distracting. Let your beautiful work speak for itself in a serene setting.

piper said:

Sams' mention of mobile users in the net... I think users that will be making a decision about getting a gun engraved or attending instruction, are not going to make these decisions while using a mobile devise but rather at home in peace and quiet. Who will make such a decision at a street corner or cafe? Keep the cool graphics, they display your work in an attractive and different manner.
Andrew

Click to expand...

Agreed. I seriously doubt that a potential customer will make big engraving purchase decisions on the corner or in a cafe. At the same time, there are a few million web-enabled mobile phones out there, mine being one of them. I see tons of people browsing sites with their phones and think any site built today should be 'phone friendly'. Apparently I'm not alone because I see more and more sites that detect mobile phone browsers and automatically direct the viewer to special phone-friendly pages.

Roland's gallery is the coolest engraving gallery on the internet. As much as I like its visual eye candy, I find it a bit awkward. / ~Sam

Hi Baptiste

I agree with what the others are saying. Your engraving work is absolutely stunning and you don’t need all those “fancy” bits because they detract from your work.

Here’s my thoughts on your web site………………

1. The background: Keep them simple. Make them very light (white) with black lettering. Or very dark background (black) with white lettering. Both are very easy to read.

2. Avoid script lettering. It’s very hard to read and the smaller the computer screen the harder it is to read.

3. Fonts: You have to be very careful about what font you are using because not all computers have the same font. Roman can be hard to read sometimes. Verdana is a very nice sans serif font that is on just about every computer and is very easily read. Do not use italics as that is also hard to read.

4. Thumbnails: Keep them in nice tidy boxes and patterns that are easy to look at and click on with good space separating them. Don’t make them to small as people won’t be able to see what they are.

5. Flash pages and cool effects: Don’t do it at all. They are annoying and as someone else has said, are very slow to load for people on slow internet connections. (Which is something like 75% of the USA)

6. Keep everything simple so it’s very easy to look at and easily read. People that aren’t familiar with you or your work will judge your work by your web site. (sad but true) Sam raises a very good point about the phones. People may not make buying decisions on a phone but they will make decisions to return to your web site. Keeping everything simple with a good basic layout will make your site look a lot more professional.

7. The You Tube link is a very nice addition. Put it on a separate page and not on the main page.

These are only my thoughts and I say them to be helpful, not critical.

Cheers
Andrew

Thanks for all,
I believe it isn't easy to enjoy all people ;-(
I don't want to stay with a simple website who not make the difference between the other.
Before I have the same website like you explain on the top and I found it more banal.
I think (it is maybe wrong ;-) ) than my new website show the orientation of my work following.
I would like to give a traditionnal way but with a modern evolution.
I think too than if you keep all the same way to your website or your work, I don't know why the customers come in your workshop than an other engraver and withmy website you see that directly ;-)
Now I'll try to change a little thing:
The picture of the background I'll try to darken it tosee better the writting.
The gallery, I take this one because I like it very much BUT I could put an another links to a conventional gallery to see it on your IPhone or in my Ipod touch too ;-). I can too open the gallery in a new windows.
The menu can be changed, maybe put a bigger fonts.
What do you think about that?
Thanks again

I make the changement, I don't have realy the same size of fonts.
Do you prefer this one? Me I found it isn't so elegant maybe the gallery for Iphone it is well and the picture so dark is well too.

Hi all I change and I following your councils.
I hope it is better for every body ;-)

Excuse me, I like to collect good books and your sight doesn't offer a way of acquiring your book, I would like to have your book!

Regards,
Debbie

Hi Debbie I send you a MP ;-)

Thanks for your comments.
I have changed:
-another gallery for Iphone without Flash
-The picture back the text in my presentation erase and other back picture much dark
-New font for the menu
;-)

Looking better and better Roland!

I like having the choice of gallery styles - the tilt viewer is neat but the simpler galllery is, in some ways, more functional.

Speaking of the gallery, I really like those shots of you working (on page 3 of the Iphone version).

Thanks Steve
I hope it is better pleasant for all people.
I don't work for nothing ;-)