Any Design Ideas?

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Hi,

I am a photographer and thought maybe I could get a few helpful ideas on updating my web site at http://www.lhstudio.com .

I know I need to add more photos to some of the more sparse pages etc, but I am really more in the need of ideas on an overall layout that functions well and is not distracting from my photographs. I am more interested in the part of the site that covers weddings etc. at http://www.lhstudio.com/warwick/ . It was built with FrontPage and then I modified the code, but I feel it is not as clean and "elegant" lookingas it could be.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[Vladdrac]

OK your layout of the index page looks good. I like the graphic in the header. I don't like your email link. The animation is too choppy. Nothing wrong with animated gifs though.

Ok there is a link bar on the Commercial, Advertising, Architectural, & Industrial link; Why is it not on the main page

I think you could put the home, about us, and that first page all together in one page.

That lighthouse in the upperright corner clashes with the rest of the site, You are trying to sell the company, so try to put on a nice picture of a lighthouse, not a drawing,

The warwick studio looks better layout wise. Maybe a better grapic for the header? Better buttons? The colors do go well together and are pleasing to the eyes. Just need more content.

I think if you learned more html you would be able to design great layouts, but front page is a good start.

Keep up the good work!

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Thanks for the ideas. The things you are telling me are right on with my thoughts. I have a plan to redo much of the sites look and content.

I do have a basic understanding of HTML and do a great deal of the coding by hand, but I used FrontPage to do the Warwick side of the site simply to try out its templates.

I then modified them to fit the look I wanted better, but I have never gotten the site to look the way I want.

My biggest problem is that I don't have enough HTML experience to get the site to be more like my vision. Is there another program that gives me better control over the look of the page?

I have seen many sites that have greta layouts, but they have all of the images in slices, etc and I just don't know how to get there.

The programs I currently have are: Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, Cute HTML & FTP, and several others. Which would be best to use? Obviously I am most familiar with PhotoShop.

Thanks again for the help.

[Vladdrac]

hmmm, if you have a basic understanding of html try this html editor EditPlus 2 (http://www.editplus.com/)

It has some good features to it, but that prolly doesnt solve your problem

The only thing I can suggest is that you try to download a free template that looks good to you, and tweak the html that would fit your concept ideas best. This is a good way to get more comfortable with html.

Change images, fonts, table sizes, etc...

I would suggest that you get photoshop, but go to www.jasc.com and download the fully functional Paint Shop Pro 60 day trial. You can make some nice web graphics with that, and alter photos etc..

Sounds like you have the image in your head, you just need to convert it to html

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Originally posted by Vladdrac
Sounds like you have the image in your head, you just need to convert it to html

Yeah, sort of. I don't think I have the image in my head, but maybe the vision of the image, if that makes any sense. I just seem to have hit a wall and can't get past it to the real image. Anyway, I think one of my biggest problems is as you have said, I am having trouble getting it into html.

I have looked at a couple of templates that I like and maybe by playing with them, 'll come up with something that "fits".

Thanks again!

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Hey, I've done some updates to the site (particularly the wedding side) and I think it looks better now. Check out http://www.lhstudio.com/ and let me know what you think about the new look.

Thanks,

Steve

[Vladdrac]

yeah man, that is a huge improvement. The site looks way more proffesional than the last one. I like the layout of the wedding site better than the rest of the site though. But the rest of the site is still really good also. Big improvement, Good work. Keep it up!

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Thanks for the compliment. I do plan to do more work to the rest of the site as well, but I just finally had a light come on for the wedding side and went with it. The bulb is still a little dim on the commercial side. I mostly am tring to come up with a better way to display my portfolio, which is the most important part of it. Once I get that in my head, the rest should be easy.

Thanks again. I'll let you know when I get more updated.

[subtlezero]

I am a flash designer and I actually specialize in putting up sites for photographers and artists...

I'd like to invite you to see some examples of my work at the domains below. If you are interested, I'd be happy to talk about what kind of site I could design for you and give you a quote.

http://www.fieldsandfieldsofwheat.com

http://www.jazno.net

Take it easy :)

-John Wagner