Friday, February 11, 2011

The 4 best ways to use photos on your website

Most websites, if not all, look much better with good pictures. But what is the best way to present those pictures? Believe it or not, you can make your website look unprofessional even with the best of pictures.

It's not just how good your photos are that matters, but also how you present them. For example, if your website is cluttered with photos then it won't be attractive. No one likes clutter.

Another way to make your site look unprofessional even with good photos is to not size them properly. If they're too small then they're unimpressive and won't get noticed. If they're too large than they're overwhelming. The right balance is necessary.

Here are the 4 best ways to incorporate pictures into your website:

1. A "thumbnail" photo gallery

Explanation: Take your photos, and make 2 copies of them. One copy is the full sized photo, the other copy is a small little "thumbnail" version. Set it up so that when the users clicks a thumbnail, the full size version pops up in an attractive format.

Example: Our portfolio page at www.freshlookwebdesign.com/portfolio

Benefits: You can post a lot of pictures without slowing down the page load speed because the large images aren't loaded until you click on them.

Downside: No huge downside here, but one thing is that the thumbnails on the page won't look as good as a full sized image would. In other words, there's no real aesthetic value until the images are actually clicked on.

2. Scattered images

Explanation: Instead of having only a lot of text on a web page, put some photos here and there to break it up and make it look more interesting. This style is similar to what you might find in a newspaper where you have a story with a photo off to the side with a caption.

Example: www.oldhouseauthority.com/about

Benefits: Scattering images makes an otherwise boring page look much more interesting. It also won't slow down the page load speed because typically you only have 2 or 3 images...and if you happen to have a couple more than they're far down on the page and the reader can view the top portion while the rest of the page loads in the background.

Downside: If you include too many pictures it looks very cluttered. You need to have a good text to picture ratio...make sure that there's still a lot more text than pictures. If you have too many pictures than you'll need to use a photo gallery like a...

3. Controllable Slideshow

Explanation: A controllable slideshow is a user controlled picture slideshow. The user is automatically shown the first picture, but is required to click "Next" to make the next picture appear. Another way to do it is have small thumbnails below the slideshow which can be clicked on.

Note: Sometimes these slideshows are set up so that when you click "Next" the entire web page has to reload. We don't like that kind. It takes too long to wait for the next photo to reload every time.

Example: www.oldhouseauthority.com/experts/chandelier/roeper.php

Benefits: With this type of slideshow you save a lot of space. You can put a dozen or more pictures in a box which conserves space for your text. And it of course gives the user control over what pictures they want to look at.

Downside: This type of photo gallery sometimes takes longer to load initially. That's because it's loading all the pictures at once to avoid having to reload the page every time you click "Next". So if you want to use a lot of photos (more than 20 or so) than your page will take a little longer to load.

4. Fading Slideshow

Explanation: The fading slideshow is one of the most popular ways to display pictures on the web. Basically it's a picture that fades in and out every few seconds into a different picture.

Example: www.chincoteaguechamber.com

Benefits: The fade effect is what makes this photo gallery look good. It's a great way to give users that "wow" factor when they first come to your home page.

Downside: Sometimes if the page is still loading, the first transition from one photo to another can be a little jerky. Once the whole page has loaded that won't be an issue. Also if you have too many photos rotating in the gallery it will eventually slow down the page load speed.

We hope these little examples will give you some great ideas for your website. Remember...it's not just the pictures which make a great website but also how you present them. Good luck!

Don't forget to let us know if you're interested in improving your website or just want some consulting help.

Website Blunders - 8 Mistakes to Avoid

Sometimes the easiest way to approach the question of "What Makes a Good Website?" is to answer the question "What Makes it Bad?" In this post we'll look at the top 8 mistakes that are very common in websites today.

1. Website has no clear purpose

A website should have a clearly defined purpose. Figure out what the purpose is, and then make sure it's clearly communicated on your website, particularly on your home page.

Do you want users to register for events? Then make it easy for them by putting a button that says "Register here!" Do you want them to donate to your non-profit organization? Help them to do that by putting a very clear "Donate Now" link on your front page. A website with no clear purpose will not leave a lasting impression on your visitors...make sure you communicate your purpose.

2. The website is not consistent

As users navigate from one page to another, the layout, font size, font type, color, etc. needs to remain consistent. Imagine reading a book where every time you turn the page the words are in different places or different sizes. It takes you a few seconds just to figure out what it is you're looking at.

Make sure the main page text is the same size, color, and type everywhere. It's good to have headings that are bigger or maybe a different font type...just not the main text. Also make sure you don't have some text in all caps and some in small caps...we recommend small caps throughout.

3. The content is outdated

Because a website often gets forgotten in the day to day operation of the business, it's easy to have outdated content. Users hate this...you must make sure everything on your site is current and not out of date.

Set a weekly or monthly reminding in your calendar "Check Website". That way you can make sure you're up-to-date.

4. Where's the contact info?

It's usually a good idea to put the contact information of your business on every page. Maybe it looks good at the top, maybe you want it at the bottom or side - the point is to have it somewhere, and ideally on every single page.

There are two main reasons for this: first of all, and most obviously, it's something that your users need to know in order to contact you. But secondly, Google uses the contact information on you site to determine the locality of it, so that when users in your geographic region search for you they're much more likely to find you.

5. The website is too cluttered

The best way to fix a cluttered website is to organize what's important and what's not. The important things deserve precedence on the page, and the less important things can either be removed, or just put in a less prominent place.

Another important way to make a website less cluttered and easier to read is to add extra space in between each item. There should be a gap in between the words on the page and everything else. It's called "white-space" - it doesn't have to be white obviously but make sure that there is plenty of extra room in between the elements on the page.

6. Using too much color

Having too much color on your site is an indication of trying too hard to make it look fancy. You can make important things stand out without using colors that don't match the rest of your website. Keep one or two main colors, with maybe a third color used very sparingly. Too much different colors and the site will just look too busy.

7. The text is hard to read

For almost all professional websites, we recommend using a very light background color with a very dark text color on top. The background color doesn't have to be pure white, it can have a tint of gray or off-white. And the text doesn't have to be pure black, sometimes a very dark gray looks nice as well as other dark colors.

8. Using too many pictures

Yes - you can use too many pictures on your website. Actually to be more accurate...you can't have too many, you just have them in the wrong places.

You should definitely scatter pictures throughout each page of your website - but we recommend keeping this to a minimum. One or two pictures next to the text looks nice...5 or 6 is overwhelming, plus it just slows down the page load speed.

A better place to display a large number of pictures on your website is through a photo gallery. By using smaller versions of the photos called "thumbnails", you can put a large number of photos on a page without slowing down page load speed. You can also present an even larger, higher quality photo that you could otherwise. An example of this is on our website portfolio page.

We hope these suggestions help you with your website, whether you manage it yourself or have hired someone to do it for you. If you need assistance with your website please contact us and we'll be happy to give you a free consultation.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

What are Facebook's new privacy settings, and should you be alarmed?

What is Instant Personalization?

Instant Personalization by Facebook has long been in the making (since April of 2010) but only recently has it been implemented. So what is it exactly?

Essentially, Facebook is now sharing part of your personal profile with other websites. It seems really scary at first, and many users have a right to be freaked out by this concept, but it might not be quite as dangerous as it sounds.

First of all - it's only a select few websites. Rotten Tomatoes, TripAdvisor, Clicker, Pandora, and Yelp as well as a couple more are the sites your information is being shared on.

Secondly, it's not sharing private information with non-Facebook friends. So whatever information you have set as public (who your friends are, your profile picture and your name) will be available - not your home town, status updates, or anything like that. In other words - they can't see anything that they couldn't already see by going to your Facebook page.

The idea behind it is to make the sites even more social and more personal. Take movie review site Rotten Tomatoes for example - when you go to their page, you'll see that some of your friends like a certain movie. They can also see what movies you like.

It's basically taking some of the information you've already given to Facebook and sharing it on other sites. Friends can see it, but no one else.

Let's say that your friend Bob clicks the "like" button for the movie Gone with the Wind. When you go to Rotten Tomatoes you will see that Bob "likes" that movie, and you may be interested in watching it yourself.

What Facebook users are particularly annoyed with is that Facebook automatically installed this feature...rather than it be an opt-in feature, you're enrolled automatically. It's a little unsettling to go to a new website that you've never been before, and for it to have a picture of you with your name on it. How did they get that info? Well, it's public information on your Facebook page. But that doesn't mean it isn't going to freak out a lot of people.

What you should do

First of all, make sure you know exactly what information is public and private on your Facebook page. We do not recommend letting non-friends see your pictures. And if you're even just a little bit private, make sure that friends of friends can't see your pictures either.

Secondly, if you feel uncomfortable about Instant Personalization, then just opt out. Here's how you do it (it's kind of hidden):

Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Apps and Websites > Instant Personalization > Edit Settings, and un-check "Enable".

The important thing to know is that as long you are comfortable with your privacy settings for Facebook itself, then you have nothing to be worried about as far as security. Nothing not already public is being shared...the only difference is that now it's being shared in several different places. However it would still be nice if Facebook was a little more sensitive about sharing our information with other websites.