It has been a while since we posted on the blog, and as you can see, we have been quite busy :) Lots of new changes, brand new design and a new section from Lola exclusively for Weddings. We are excited about these new changes and although it adds a little more structure to our website, it will be easier for us to manage the content this way and we won’t annoy our visitors by posting non-photography related stuff that might not be of interest to them. If you are coming to our blog for photography tips, we will still keep posting them on the main page, so no changes there.
We have not fully finished migrating the site over, so there might be a few bugs here and there. I will be fixing those within the next couple of days. Please be patient with us during this process.
How do you like our new site design?
- I like it (91%, 96 Votes)
- I don't like it (25%, 26 Votes)
- I don't care (0%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 106
Loading ...Please let us know what you think of the new look, we truly value your feedback! Please leave your feedback in the comments section below.
Canyonlands National Park 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
P.S. We will soon be giving out a lens in a new giveaway!
P.P.S. As an added bonus, I’m posting a wallpaper from Canyonlands National Park for large widescreen monitors. Enjoy! :)
About Nasim Mansurov
very nice design, especially good matching for wedding section.
One thing, the font color on the right side texts (showing the sub categories) seems too bright. Difficult to read.
Very exiting about giveaway:))
Thank you for your feedback! I agree, the font color was too bright – I changed it.
Nice Nasim! I really like the font choices, though I agree about the light salmon color on the right (categories) being a bit light on white. I like the rotating photos on the top overlaid with your business name. Lola’s section really looks good for a wedding theme. Does she have a separate RSS feed now?
Aaron, appreciate the feedback. I changed the color on the right sidebar :)
Yes, she does have a separate RSS feed now, I will update the subscription page later today.
This is coming together very nicely! I like the subtle changes you’ve made over the past few days, like the larger text when typing a reply, going with a solid color on the edges, changing the font color in a couple places, etc. Looking very nice!
Thank you Aaron! More changes are added every day, I’m tweaking it more and more :)
Hopefully will get it all done this week!
I like the new design of the site but yes, I agree with above said, those fading salmon/orange letters could be a bit darker.
May be you should write “Wedding pictures” because not everyone knows that you are only photographing weddings not for example ‘organizing’ them :) or you should put Weddings under Portfolio category.
Husnora, thank you for your opinion! I have made a few changes to the site, so hopefully the colors are better now.
In terms of “wedding pictures”, I would love to do that, but two words won’t fit in the top banner…
I will be making more changes to the site, specifically in Portfolio and other sections later this week.
I like the design ( an improvement) but somehow I feel this could be much better. Somehow, I find the whole site a bit on the frilly side. This may be better for food and wedding photography, but I feel it can be more professional. I KNOW you can do much better. Btw this is just my opinion and I am by no means an expert…
SM, thank you for your feedback. True, the colors and the site layout are a little light, but I’m hoping to make some changes to each site – a little more strict on the main page and leave the other sections as they are. Seems like people really like the theme for weddings, but not necessarily for the tips section.
Мне нравится всё, что вы делаете. Каким бы ни был внешний вид сайта, всегда чувствуется ответственный и профессиональный подход к работе, искреннее отношение к фэнам и клиентам, ну и конечно же тёплые и нежные чувства друг к другу :). Мне кажется, что последнее, имеет немаловажное значение для вашего хобби, перерастающего в работу. Будущие супруги, имхо, предпочтут доверить запечатление своей помолвки и свадьбы такой счастливой и гармоничной чете как ваша, нежели, пусть даже более профессиональному, фотографу-одиночке.
Мои непрофессиональные две копейки по новому виду сайта (т.к. по вашим словам, вы его ещё не доделали, вполне уверена, что некоторые мои предложения уже записаны в ваш have-to-do list, просто вы пока не успели их доделать, и будут служить как напоминание):
Home: мне кажется слишком много разных цветов – сероватый фон, голубоватое верхнее меню, болотного цвета сайдбар, в нем светло-розовые указатели категорий, плюс рамка по всему периметру цвета салмон . Не лучше ли будет сделать все одного цвета, но разных оттенков?! Помимо этого, Home должен быть более строго цвета (темно-синий допустим). Розовые оттенки и уроки (заметки, разъяснения) по профессиональной съемке, в моём представление не очень сочетаются.
Относительно шрифта – тоже, на мой взгляд, надо ограничиться двумя. У вас их получается аж 5!. Верхнее меню, название постов, текст в постах, даты, имена в FB Fan Page – все разного шрифта. Названия и категории в сайдбар, тоже разные.
Только без обид, но шрифт тектов мне кажется не очень серьёзным.
About us: шрифт
Portfolio: шрифт
Technology/Recipes/Wedding: фон отличается от первых страниц. Мне кажется с Technology вообще надо убрать этот фон с узорами (можно даже и с Recipes убрать, чтобы Weddings кардинально отличался от других страниц и выглядил более торжественно по отношению к ним). К Weddings он очень подходит – и узоры, и цвет.
Если согласитесь, что для Recipes надо подобрать другой цвет, выберите «цвета, возбуждающие/повышающие аппетит», коими являются желтый и красный. Я сама не фанатка этих цветов, но раз уж психологи говорят, что они имеют такой эффект, почему бы и нет. Можно выбрать какой-нибудь спокойный их оттенок.
Но если без узоров в Recipes нельзя, почему бы не сделать вместо них залитые/без деталей вилки, ложки, ножи, кастрюли, тарелки (сорри, не знаю, как правильно называется этот эффект, но надеюсь вы поняли). Что-то типа этого, но одного цвета (цвета узора): http://www.cutlerychina.com/images/cutlery/dinnerware/stainless_steel_cutlery.gif
http://www.brownsrcs.co.uk/user/Plate_Cutlery.jpg
Weddings: я помешана на симметрии. В который раз захожу на эту страницу, и в который раз думаю, что при выкладывании фото Francois произошёл какой-то сбой, и оно немного сдвинулось наверх.
Экран с меняющимися фотографиями – просто супер. Интервалы между изменением фотографии тоже хорошие – ни заставляют скучать, смотря слишком долго на одно и то же фото, но и дают время, разглядеть каждое из них. Единственное, что я посоветовала бы поменять, это скорость из перемены/передвижения. Немного резковатая, имхо.
И последнее – почему вы не используете заглавные буквы в некоторых заголовках, и особенно, при написании имен?
Ко всему остальному, грех придраться. Особенно, учивая тот факт, что вы занимаетесь этим в свободное от работы и детей время.
Спасибо огромное за wallpaper, а то я устала подгонять их под экран.
Guzal, thank you so much for the detailed information. Following your advice and making some heavy changes to the site :) I agree about consistency issues, fonts and colors – we definitely need to get that fixed.
Hello,
I really like the updates to the site, and you’ve got so many things perfect. But here are a couple comments based on my experience as a usability expert over the last 10 years or so.
The font you use in the heading (Mansurovs Photography) is gorgeous, but hard to read because of the thin lines and I had to really look hard to see if there’s an “s” at the end or if it’s a squiggle.
The font in the comments section is a little small. As I’m writing this, it feels like an 8 point font or so, but it seems like already-submitted comments show up as larger font. It would be nice to see what I’m writing a little larger too. :)
It looks like you’re using a serif font (Times New Roman?) for your headings, but a non-serif (Arial?) for your content. Thought the headings are larger, I would still encourage you to use all non-serif fonts on the website because these are easier to read on the screen. On paper, serif fonts are easier to read (so if you wanted to, on your print css you could do that).
Inconsistency in backgrounds. It’s perfectly fine to have different colors of the same background or the same background on all pages, provided that the one background works for all pages. Different colors can be used to signify different areas of the site. But you have several pages with a solid color background and the rest with an image. That’s the inconsistency I want to draw your attention to.
In the reply section, where you reply to a comment, on the left hand side it feels a little tight. That would be because you have 4 lines really close (visually) to each other (the gray/white border, the orange line, the tan box for the comment, and the white box for your reply). When you look on the right, you have a large space between the comment box and the orange border, which gives it a free-er feeling. I don’t know if this makes sense, but I hope it does.
Menu. I would love to see something like “tutorials” or something like that on the menu, but I understand that you can’t fit everything horizontally. Would you consider something similar to what you have for the Wedding section, where you have additional menu items below the main menu? And at t his point, seeing as your header is linked to your home page, it’s not strictly necessary to have a home button. Especially if you keep it in your breadcrumbs.
Also, the second row of pictures on the Weddings page should align horizontally.
The salmon border around the images is distracting. Your photos are so beautiful and the salmon is such a distraction. If you feel strongly that you should have a border of some kind, please use something neutral like black.
The fact that you have multiple colors (I see white, salmon, tan, green, steel blue/gray, etc.) isn’t a big deal since these colors seem to work in your scheme. Though, if I had to choose, I would probably not use the green and use a steel blue/gray instead (for the border on the comments box).
The fact that you have multiple fonts also isn’t an issue from a usability standpoint, as long as there’s a clear distinction in when/how they’re used. Something easy for readers to pick up on.
If anything, I’d like to stress consistency. From a usability standpoint, that’s a huge deal.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful, even if just a little.
Anna
Anna, your feedback is awesome and I truly appreciate it! I have not responded to your comment for a while, because I was making all the heavy changes you proposed.
I have done most of it, but have not had a chance to work on the image header, so I will do that very soon :)
Here are the updates:
1) Comments section font has been increased.
2) I’m trying to bring the old titles back that were graphically rendered. They looked cool and are very easy to read.
3) In terms of background image inconsistency, not sure how I can get it addressed, because the curvy stuff in the weddings blog is not going to work on the main page (looks too stylish for technical articles). That’s why I decided to get rid of the image and make everything grey with a pinch of blue.
4) The comment form should look a little better now.
5) The menu is now fixed with an additional sub-menu per your suggestion. When you go to other pages, instead of “Home” it says “Photo Tips”.
6) The second row in the weddings page is now fixed – everything is aligned properly.
7) No more salmon border, didn’t like that color myself :)
8) Borders in comments box are also fixed. Will keep the green or brighten it up a little, since it works well with the retweet button.
Hopefully consistency issues are also addressed. The only thing is, the weddings and recipes sections are slightly different and I will be working on those next :)
Again, thank you so much for your feedback, it truly helped a lot!!!
Hi Nasim,
You’ve truly made a great blog better. :) The colors seem more cohesive now that there are fewer of them and the subtle differences work well together. I also like the color background in the comments section much better. it’s still light enough to give enough contrast with black text, but less jarring that the yellowish/greenish one before.
As for consistency, I think you did a wonderful job standardizing things. And I always say that things don’t have to be identical, they don’t have to be twins, being cousins is just fine. :) So even consistency within a particular section, that’s important too and you’re doing a good job with that. For example, the Weddings section has what looks like a Flash animation in the area “above the fold”, and most other sections don’t. That’s ok ’cause it’s a different area and can be treated differently, but so much more is still the same that this change in layout isn’t going to be jarring to people from a usability perspective.
Keep up the great work. :)
Anna
Thank you Anna, you have been of great help! :)
My personal opinion, I liked the previous template more. My main complain is that right now the site template grabs too much attention from what matters the most: your text and your photos. It’s too bright, too colorful (even not using strong colors). With the previous I came and my attention went immediately to your content, this time I opened it and uauu.. my attention was going all around the wrong places.
But I understand that this one is probably better suited to the future so here are some of my comments:
* Not sure if this is a browser thing but here, while using macosx with chrome or safari, the site background is light gray. I think a darker color would increase the focus on the actual content area. Also your site is quite “bright” so I miss some sort of darker background to rest my eyes on
* While I’m OK with the comments font size I think it should be slightly bigger, or at least the same size as the post form font size
* I’m not a big fan of Salmon, it’s too light/bright and have not enough contrast against the white background. Again something a bit darker would stand out without being flashy
* Your photos are an important part of the site, I feel that with that thick white border your are not making them pop. I think a thinner black border, with your white background, would probably have a better effect.
* The “Mansurovs Photography” banner on your top photo is, like Anna said, hard to read. Did you tried to reverse the colors, like having the grey stripe going a bit darker and having the Mansurovs a little lighter. Actually I just realized after a longer observation that it’s Mansurov’s and not Mansurovs, right?
* Your right menus have a border too thick, it’s distracting. I also think they take slightly too much space, one point smaller would probably look better but I’m not sure if it’s still readable
* At the bottom of each post you have a rounded box with FILED UNDER… the Salmon color over the lighter shade of Salmon if not very readable. By now it’s clear I’m not Salmon’s color best friend ehehe
* Do you think you could have, on the right menu, a box/section for tags? I see you are using them for your posts but how many of them are there? Unless they only play a role for your own posts organization, as they are now, for us, it’s harder to take advantage from them.
* last but not least, I not a big fan of the template you are using for tagging the date on the posts. I think it’s too flowery, not easy to read due to using 3 colors, 3 font types, 3 sizes.
Anyway, I now how much work you put on this change so mind that these are my own, simple frequent visitor, opinions. Not and expert on any of these.
Cheers!
Rodrigo
Rodrigo, as you can see, most of what you have recommended has been done, which means your feedback was great!
1) I tried many different colors for the background and I cannot find a good color for the main layout that is white. Making it darker is not looking good and I obviously cannot make it lighter…
2) Comment sizes have been increased.
3) No more salmon! Didn’t like it myself.
4) I decreased the border on images, it is now much thinner with black, as you recommended.
5) Working on changing the font on the image header. Hopefully will reupload new ones this week.
6) Excellent suggestion! I changed the border on the sidebar to be thinner and it certainly looks better :)
7) The “Filed Under” section has been fixed.
8) Unfortunately, I cannot move them to the right, since they belong to each post. The tags are useful for additional searching. For example, a tag “Nikon D90″ would find all posts associated with Nikon D90 and it is not available in the menu.
9) The dates on the left side have been fixed. No more salmon/triple colors.
Please let me know if you have any other suggestions and have a great day!