Have you seen my website? Would you give me some feedback?

It appears I’m using Internet Explorer and your website made my computer freeze. I had to open Task Manager and end the program to get back up and running.

My only real gripe is with the background used on the comments form. I thought that dropping the opacity might help but it didn’t.

@bkcunningham Yeah, it’s very heavy on CSS3 which IE doesn’t support. Thanks for the feedback!

LOL, I just clicked on it, but It seems you don’t like Internet Explorer! We just spent over $100 on multiple new virus programs (one alone did not do the job). Then we wiped out the memory and started over. I’m no fan of Internet Explorer, but I’m sure not going to download anything that doesn’t get approved by my local computer expert!

Very stylish! Are you looking for a job as a photographer? Or just showing off your photos?

If the former, you might want to talk up a little more on the skills you gained and the challenges you overcame to capture and ‘shop each photo. A link to your CV/resume might also be good.

If the latter, then it looks like it’s doing what you want very nicely with style and flair.

—BTW, I use Firefox on both Windoze and Linux, so I don’t know what the issue is with Internet Exploder that people have mentioned, but it is always a good idea to view your site with all browsers and make sure it looks good on all of them. Just sayin’—-

I can comment only on the prose and think you need to do some heavy editing and pruning. It is too wordy and too slangy. The photos I find very attractive.

I clicked on the photo of the pink flowers in CA. Personally, I want to know what they are. Asters, clover, wild geraniums?

I liked what I saw but that was limited due to my use of Internet Explorer. I didn’t like your message which is not very user friendly to us IE folks.

“Uh oh! It appears you’re using Internet Explorer. I’d hate to exclude you from visiting my site, but my hatred for this browser greatly surpasses my desire for more traffic. You could turn off the stylesheet which would allow to view the site, but then you won’t get the full experience as I’ve intended. PLEASE upgrade your browser to Firefox, Opera, Chrome, or Safari.”

You said “or at some local restaurant like Third Base, Homeslice, Hopdoddy, and Trudy’s.” I think you really mean OR Trudy’s as you can’t be in four places at once . . .

Thanks all! I hate IE so much because I am a web developer and it always gives me problems but clearly I’m losing a big audience. I’ll work on making these changes! You’re all awesome. :)

I agree strongly with @flutherother and I’d add that if you’re a “professional web developer” and include a message like that to users of that particular browser (for whatever reason – sometimes it’s “corporate standard on the work PC” and there’s no alternative) then you’re automatically cutting your market by a large percentage.

That’s not smart business, and no one wants to hire a stupid person. (Not that I think you’re stupid, but it doesn’t help your cause to raise that doubt in the minds of a potential employer.)

Other than that… the comments with the photos seem to be more Facebook-y; aimed at friends and family. Employers might want to know what style and design elements caught your eye – or what equipment you’re using and technical aspects of the photo – more than they’d care to know that “security stopped me” while taking a photo.

Determine your target audience and tailor the site to that audience.

Technically, it’s a nice layout – but it didn’t appeal to me much as a reader. The layout, graphics and fonts are very stylish and clean, so that’s something to build on.

I have stopped testing for IE on personal stuff. Barely anyone uses it on my shithole.

the fact that i need to make adjustments to my browser (IE9) just to suit your site requirements is offending and discouraging for me as a visitor. If i were just randomly perusing sites, i would pass -up, which i just did. Ofcourse, you did say that you don’t care about losing IE users, which to date is the #1 browser used for the most part.

Worked fine in Google Chrome. I like the lightbox. very flexible. Nice branding. I see immediately what your site is about.

I used to live in Santa Barbara, Where did you shoot that awesome photo of the trail that looked like it come from some fairly-tale land?

@ETpro Thanks!... for checking out the site and using a browser that works! That photo was in Rattlesnake canyon – we were a couple miles out in the wilderness drinking from streams since we forgot our water bottles. It was a great day.

@silverfly I never hiked that far in. The shot was amazing. Rather surreal looking. Good job award to whoever shot the photo.

Thanks @ETpro – it’s my portfolio, so I shot that photo and all the others as well. :)

IE is fixed – at least for my website. The browser still exists so that’s a problem but at least you IE users can view the site now. I still recommend switching to a browser that supports the latest and greatest from the community (CSS3, HTML5, web standards, etc.)

I’m far from a web design expert so take all of this as mere advice, use what works for you and forget the rest.

The red above the menu looks like blood. If this isn’t intentional, I suggest a different colour or just remove it all together to maintain a slick look for your site.

My other thought is that the site currently lacks consistency. When I go to your blog or bio page, the layout changes. I’m a fan of consistency, I think websites flow better if the layout doesn’t change drastically form one page to the next. If this is because you’re still working on the layout then ignore this comment.

I’d also change the icon that appears when you open your site. I see that default durpal image on so many sites that use it as a content manager.

On the note of the photos, maybe add a small bit of text below (in the frame/border of the photo maybe) that says you shot it. I’ve seen a lot of photographers use a logo placed in a corner of their photographs so that’s another option.

@aarongmoore Thanks for your feedback! The red paint does look a bit like blood I suppose, but I think the other paint splatters and canvas textured background support it as paint. It’s red to draw the eye up to the navigation. The photography is so large, I needed something to bring the navigation up a bit without overpowering the photos.

The site layout may change (and this was intentional) but the design aesthetic stays the same by using the same splatters, logo, fonts, and textures throughout the site. I wanted to reduce the size of the top section to allow the content to come up above the fold and give it more room.

Regarding the icon: I am in need of a favicon, that’s for sure. I’m not sure what to use ( I suppose an ‘N’ ) could work. :)

As far as the watermark on the photos, I’ve thought about doing this too… I’m not sure why people don’t understand that these are my photos. I dislike big titles on photos so I need to think of something subtle.

Thanks again!