New CSS with Limited Flash site design, wedding photog

em_dee_aitch · Sep 14, 2006

Hi -

I just finished my first hired out website (formerly wrote them myself), and my main idea was to avoid the totally flash-driven site trend. I ended up with something that's in pretty well-formed XHTML/CSS, if you're into the tech stuff, with a flash gallery piece that's really easy to administer.

The biggest design risk I took was optimizing for larger, newer screens, like 1280 x 1024, as is blatantly stated on bottom of each page. So the page is big. People at 1024x768 with lots of extra tool bars added to their browser won't have the best experience, and 800x600... well, my risk is that I assume they don't have as much money to spend

URL is:

http://www.davidhillphoto.com

Any comments appreciated. I'm still in phase of having the desinger squash a few bugs, so bugs appreciated. Known issue is that backing into the front page rather than using the nav can cause the rotation script to speed up.

Thanks,
David

morydd · Sep 14, 2006

I think that discounting the 800x600 users may be okay. But remember, it's not just the 20 or 30 something clients you need to impress, but mom and dad who may well be footing the bill. While I don't have any stats to back it up, I think it's safe to say most people are still running 1024x768 or below. Also, on the front page the items under the logo "Weddings, Events, Editorial..." look like they should be links, but don't seem to be. Finally, I'd suggest running your code through a validator, and cleaning up things like ALT tags.

All that aside, the page, and your photography, both look fantastic.

em_dee_aitch · Sep 14, 2006

Thanks for that feedback on the bold words that look like links... those are experimental and not part of my designers work (my insertion). Regarding resolution, the latest stats I can find say about 50 percent are right at 1024x768, with 27 percent at 1280x1024 or higher, and of course the bottom quarter that I'm sacrificing, FYI... The sacrifice is definitely a risk, and I'm just going to wait a while to see how it plays out for a couple months. Thanks for the compliment, too.