This is not a specifically Freeway question, although my websites are all constructed in Freeway. I would be interested in your comments … . And it might start a discussion!
We are going interstate next week to photograph three more cathedrals, and I need to decide what setup to use for the websites. There has been a progression in my styles over the past four years. I’ll outline them briefly, and why.
(1) Style 1. Photograph on left with thumbnails and arrows below; blank panel on right with title and changeable text. Mouse over thumbnails changes photos and text. Click arrows to change pages.
Example: http://paulscott.info/cathedrals/adelaide/stpeters/
(3) Style 3. Drop thumbnails altogether. Full sized photo with show/hide text and arrows. Click arrows to change page. Website becomes a mouse controlled slideshow. Advantage is that photo occupies whole window. Disadvantage is that need to click to change photo. This is slower and more clumsy than the thumbnail mouse over technique.
Example: http://paulscott.info/cathedrals/toowoomba/stpatricks/
(4) Style 4. Pages of large thumbnails which can be run through quickly using mouse over. Also pages with near full sized photos as a slideshow, as in Style 3. This combines a choice of Style 3 (full size photos), and a new Style (as line above, with fast thumbnail mouse overs).
Example: index
This is more work, but I’m not really convinced about the outcome?
answers like this are usually unwanted to hear cause they share no solution. But I think it’s important to note:
Whatever solution you choose, it might be the wrong or the correct one. This is just because none of us can assume what you’re after.
Design is a process and to advise things requires knowledge. And knowledge requires research. The result is an outline.
And as a guide, I try to ask the 5 W - probably known from school essay.
Who, What, Whom, When, Why.
If I would judge your examples based on assumption, I’d say:
None of them cause they are not attracting me (Whom). I can’t see them well displayed on mobile (Where) cause I like to have this page during a holiday trip as a guide (When). Your efforts are great, the idea is great and the images are great, too (Who). But I miss a bit more of information (Why).
I came across this and have to agree with Dave that the look is very dated. I’ll continue on and recommend you look at Exhibeo which integrates with Freeway nicely.
For $20, you just can’t go wrong and it would instantly transform the look and feel of your galleries… the rest still needs some work though too. (No one has used “visitor counters” since the 90’s for instance)
The number of counts can include Chinese Spambots and Brazilian Listbots as well. And don’t forget those, stalking the lists here, just clicking for technical interests or advices (such as me).
And the goal to reach is, making more visitors (and returners).
The second point is my very personal hobby I sometimes do (rare - but sometimes):
I have the developer tools in Safari installed.
And sometimes I use it. For example to disable styles and images. This is mainly for figuring out the outline or message of a site (or page) and this is how a listbot or screenreader theoretically works as well. The results are sometimes more then surprising - positive as well as negative and mostly passed unnoticed by the site-owner (or its creator).
So I took your first example and this is the result:
As you see, you can’t see much.
I already said that you’re doing a real nice and important work - share it by content.
When I started this thread seeking advice, I was a little dismayed to receive unexpected but well intentioned criticism! But thank you all for this. David and Karen perhaps you might tell me whether the following site goes some way to satisfying your expectations?
And Thomas, thank you for your encouragement. I am very interested in your comments about how to make my websites better known. I always include a list of key words, but perhaps one can do more than this?
(I am travelling at present - photographing! - so can’t take any immediate actions.)
I’ve been away working on other projects but your site improvements are in the right direction. I’d still encourage you to look at Exhibeo for organizing and displaying image galleries - and also learn how to use the CSS Menus Action. It might sound fancy or complex but it’s actually super easy and once you understand it, you will love it!
You may not want to do it for the existing sites you’ve built due to the amount of time you’ve invested, but maybe in the future?
Absolutely - but the downside in his example is the method HOW the informations are (technically) presented:
With graphic text, which is nothing else than an image. This is a pity, cause no eye-handicapped person can reach it (by screen-readers e.g.). And google is kind of eye-handicapped machine.
Paul is (or should be) after a solution which hooks text alongside with image and I tend to recommend kind of carousel solution to make this appear (theoretically). But honestly I’ve no smarter solution ready to recommend yet.
