# Total Overhaul!



## samhaddixphotography (Feb 9, 2013)

Just completed a completed a total overhaul on my website after three years on a different platform. Does it function on your machine? Are sizes ok? Is it easy to use? Does it look good? Does it make sense?? 
Perhaps I'm having website insecurities, but I'd love any C&C you might have to offer! Here's the link ~ www.samhaddixphotography.com
-Sam


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## RobN185 (Feb 9, 2013)

I like the general feel, but there are a few suggestions you might want to look at.

The Photowalls are good, but take an age to load, are these linked to the original images - if so, it would load far quicker if you used correct pixel sized thumbnails saved at about 70-75% quality.
When the mouse hovers on the photowall, it changes to the "finger" - this usually means a clickable link, but these are not clickable (at least they didn't for me) 
If possible can you tidy up the RH edge of the photowall (take the last photo to the RH edge).
IMO it would be better to have a slight space between the images in the wall, some of the images run together.  Funnily enough, on the Portraits Wall, two image go really well together - on my screen they are on row 9, the blonde looking to the right at the guy on the pier with a guitar - don't know why but that works good for me 

ps I like your work.


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## davidzacek (Feb 21, 2013)

Really like the site! I use squarespace too and I love it! A couple things though, I find it a little tricky getting from the lightbox back to the website. I took me about five minutes to realize there was an X in the corner of the screen and I'm a fairly tech-savvy guy who also uses squarespace. I imagine a potential client might have a harder time getting around the site than I would. Also the pictures on your blog are huuuuuge. I would definitely post them into an embedded lightbox gallery or something because they are bigger than my 1680x1050 monitor. Try tweaking image sizes on a laptop or smaller screen. I'm constantly checking my site on other peoples computers to see if it works and looks the way I want it to.

I'm also curious as to how you do client proofing. Do you use squarespace or an external website?


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## curtyoungblood (Feb 21, 2013)

The photo walls are ok, but they look really cluttered to me, and I completely agree on the RH edge. I thought there was photo missing in the second row of wedding photos. I'd take the Instagram link off the bottom. 

You only have 2 photos on it, so there isn't anything for someone to look at. 

Once you get into the large-image mode, there aren't any navigation clues to tell the viewer that he or she can click to move to the next image.

I would try not to use the same image in multiple places on the website (for example, in your portfolio and on the contact page), it feels like you don't have enough to fill out the page.

You have some weird crops on the landing page. I know that is a very strange size to crop a photo to, but it doesn't really work for me, and it is the first thing someone is going to see.

I would also suggest some additions to your wedding portfolio. I see a lot of portraits with over the top lighting (it is done very well and looks great, that's the just best way I have to describe it). However, there aren't any images on there that show that you can capture a ceremony. If I'm going to pay you 3,500+ for my wedding, I would want to be able to see that you can actually cover the event, not just pose the couple in a couple of places***

***There are a few photos on there that do appear to be from a ceremony, but they look posed too (have the couple holding hands, and just altogether look similar to your portraits) or have foliage in the front that is being used to frame the person.


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## kokonut (Feb 26, 2013)

Hi!
I had a look on your website and pictures. I like your shoots. I have a suggestion if you don't mind as far as the navigation in your website is concerned: I would prefer to have a categorization of the pictures. For instance the Weddings and couples is very general. You could create some subcategories just to make the navigation easier!


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