Looking for feedback on my website please!

No critical comments from me either. Seems a nice site and easy to navigate. Nice pictures too. Once I read the tweet about your Pentax A* 200mm Macro though I went off on a different search...

Thanks Ken. It's this kind of idea that is not so simple to implement due to using a pre-made theme, the gallery pages for instance are just for images.

However, if you actually click on galleries, rather than pick an item from them, it will show them all and you can flick through the pages with either the left/right arrives if your browser is set wide enough to view them, or the circles at the bottom of the images. Did think of this and this does seem like an acceptable compromise but maybe needs to stand out more?

Andy, it may be hard work, but it is definately worth it. It's nice to be 'published' even if you have to do it yourself!

Good point about the YouTube links and leaving the site. To be honest that video was only there as I was chuffed to get it and it was something to fill the homepage with! Will look into hosting it on the site itself and maybe putting it into the gallery.

Still not 100% sure what to do with the home page to be honest, it's kinda acting like an about me page at the moment but I'm guessing that as I get more content on there I will have more options with what to use it for / link to articles / news etc.

Still can't believe I actually own that lens! Thought the eBay auction would go mad and just lucked out I guess! Can't wait for the spring to really put it to the test!

Thanks for all the comments, please keep 'em coming!

Oh, forgot to mention that I have just added my 2nd showcase page of the Red Kites Mating that I took earlier this year. Yes it is that quiet at work today!

Site looks really nice and tasteful. I like the write-ups and fail shots. However...
If you can make the text columns shorter that will aid reading the lengthy write-ups. This forum is a good example. Around 80 characters (width) is much easier to read (the eye finds it difficult to keep on the same line and find the next if it's too wide).
Incidentally, I'm not a big fan of black text on white, or other contrasty combinations as it becomes tiring (it kinda vibrates).
One advantage of making the text columns narrower is you'll have room for images in the text, aligned right, and in context. The fail shots for instance. Your images won't always fit happily in the very wide format, so this offers more flexibility. But keep them all the same width, otherwise it'll look messy.
er... hope that helps!

Hi Mark, thanks for the feedback.

The problem that I have set myself here is that I have standardised all of the larger images to the same size of 960 x 600 pixels (16:10 ratio, same as all my displays and becoming a wide screen standard, also the theme is a set width which I prefer) to give some uniformity across the website as a whole not to mention all the extra image sizes I would need to create!

You are right in that it does need sorting out I 'm just not 100% sure of the best way to go about it. The blog posts I think are probably the right width as they are so they should stay but I did remove the sidebar from the Showcase pages so that they stood out more, which has created more problems by itself!

There is the option of 2 columns on a page which I don't think works that well. It all seems to be about getting the balance right (the Red Kite mating sequence as an example wouldn't flow well with images all the way through the text) and that could take some time, maybe when I have more content up it will be more obvious? Hmmm...could use the lightbox feature to link a smaller picture to a bigger one?

It's a work in progress but have played around with page layouts and sidebars on the Red Kite Mating page and left the Red Kite Fishing page as is. If you could let me know what you think of the difference I would appreciate it!

Well, predictably enough, I like the Red Kite Mating page

Update:

Have completely updated the Red Kite Mating page with the resized photos whilst also adding some underlined headers in the text. This does seem to break the article up into logical 'chunks' and help space it out a bit.

The feeling with all the choices is that if there was more content it would help with the decision making. Would it be a safe bet to say that more articles are needed?

The other thing of note is that I have changed the font size system wide down by a point, it does feel to me as if it stands out more, but then 1.30am and a few beers can do that!

Would appreciate any input on the changes!

Just read through all the above comments, looked at the website, and I have to say I like it.Found it east to get round, enjoyed both the pics and the stories behind them. Can't comment on the changes as I did see the "before" set up

Looks better than several "professionally" produced websites that I have seen.
Typeface size is a bit subjective, but a lot of people (like me) can and will zoom in on the scroll wheel. But I could read it "as is", and anyone with younger/better eyes should have no trouble at all.
Congrats on a great site.
Geoff

Thanks Geoff, your input has been very helpful and is helping me get into gear in improving the site!

Have booked some time in my cousins 'home studio' this evening to get some 'product' shots done so hopefully over the next week or two I should be able to start the review section and get some more content added.

Have done a couple more updates, the Red Kite Fishing page has now been redone with the same layout as the Red Kite Mating page, the banner photo for the gear page has been changed and the footer has been removed from the bottom as I didn't like it as it was. Thinking of something better to go there.

PS. thanks Bill!