Another Website Thread

rts · November 2011

Actually I have three of them...all based on the same template. Would love some feedback.

http://rtschutter.com/test/

http://rtschutter.com/miketest/

http://rtschutter.com/lucastest/

earthwormadam · November 2011

I like the first 2 but not the third. I like the white one, but the darker one seems more appropriate for a fantasy-oriented concept painter.

see317 · November 2011

Personally, I prefer the second example that you put up.
The white background in the first seems to take some focus from the actual art (in my opinion), and the brightness of it makes the colors seem off. It might just be me though. Personally, I feel it being so bright tires my eyes out pretty quickly.

The repeating background in the third one is too busy. To me, it seems to be pulling focus from the art that I want to focus on. Though with it being a darker color it doesn't mess with my eyes like the white background did. The attention pull might just be because the background image is a slightly brighter blue color then the neutral grey of the center column though. Also (one last small gripe here) the .jpgs used to identify the pieces are a few points away from the background color. It looks like a bad color match rather then an intentional design decision. They should either match, or be different enough so that it's obvious they're intended to stand out from the background.

Of course, I'm not an artist or an art student or a professional web designer, I just prefer websites that let me focus on the actual content rather then drawing attention away from it. So take any of my opinions with a particularly large grain of salt.

rts · November 2011

Thanks guys. I will adjust based on some of your suggestions.

See317 - The slight difference in color on the painting descriptions on the third one is indeed an error.

Spoiler to be read after you have looked at the sites:

How about the navigation on the second two? Did it seem intuitive? Did you use the thumbnails to look at the paintings or the scroll bar?

NibCrom · November 2011

I used the scroll bar. I didn't realize the thumbnails were part of the navigation. I thought they were part of the header.

amateurhour · November 2011

I like the second one the best.

Minor note: You've got an "*" by Giclee on all the prices, but you never have a foot note showing what the exception or fine print is regarding it.

squidbunny · November 2011

I actively dislike the third, am ambivalent about the first, and like the second. And I did intuitively figure out the thumbnails, if only because I didn't even notice I could scroll down at first.

see317 · November 2011

cakemikz wrote:

Thanks guys. I will adjust based on some of your suggestions.
See317 - The slight difference in color on the painting descriptions on the third one is indeed an error.
Spoiler to be read after you have looked at the sites:
How about the navigation on the second two? Did it seem intuitive? Did you use the thumbnails to look at the paintings or the scroll bar?

Ok, I wasn't sure so I figured I'd point it out, it looks better now that it's been corrected.
As for the navigation, I just scrolled down. I've got the scroll wheel on my mouse and didn't look for any faster way to move around. I assumed the thumbnails where just a header, and with only a half dozen or so pictures per page there wasn't really a need to look for faster navigation. Though using the thumbnails seems a lot more intuitive with them below the artist name (like on MikeTest) then above it (LucasTest). But then, years of ignoring the advertising banners at the top of web pages has trained me to disregard the top 10-15% of my screen.

rts · November 2011

Thanks guys, did any of you who used scrolling to navigate feel annoyed or frustrated that you had to use scrolling? Basically it is my goal here to design a portfolio site that is incredibly easy to use and focuses entirely on presenting the artwork in a way that is very easy for art directors to get a quick overview of your work and to locate a specific painting with ease (thumbnails at the top) but also allows more casual visitors to scroll through the paintings if they choose.

see317 · November 2011

Not really. If there had been more pictures, I might have gotten annoyed by scrolling. But for anything up to about a dozen, scrolling isn't a major inconvenience. Around a dozen or so I'd say get a thumbnail gallery at the top of the page that'll bounce you straight to a specific image. Anything above 2 dozen though will get unwieldy unless you're using tiny thumbnails, it'll also cause long load times with that many images. At that point it might be wise to have a specific page for thumbnails that link to pages with ~6 images each.

Shiboe · December 2011

I like the header of the first one, and everything else of the second one. You can improve the shortcut nav thing by turning it into an animated carousel and giving it a mouseover highlight. This would both indicate that they are active / clickable, as well as give you room for additional pieces. I would definitely find a way to integrate a workable version of the first's header and blog/contact links into the second though, it's easier on the eyes and the intuitives.

Penny Arcade

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