Improve your website (have it reviewed)

As more and more (semi)professional (fire)performers have their own website, the quality aspect of these sites is getting more and more important. I remember when we just needed a 2 page site to be 'professional' - at least 'considerable' for agencies and customers.

Today we got Web 2.0, faster machines, increased browsing speeds... this plus the fact that every angry cat has got it's own website these days, makes it imperative to have a smooth, startling (and up-to-date) homepage.

Whether you are developing your own site, or have it dun by a professional sometimes makes a very big difference.

If you're not scared, but want to know what people think of your site, you may post it here, have ppl take a look at it and tell you what they think, maybe even help you to improve it.

You should know that none of the comments are intended to embarrass or insult you - regard them professionally, not personally. It can be tough (depending on how sensitive you are) but it also can be very helpful to shape an adequate presentation of yourself and your act.

And I take the lead with my own website and what I think of it today:

www.firetom.com

First of all, the title "official website" is cowspoo and flat
Second it doesn't work on MSIE (Explorer), only on Firefox (the best anyway) it will display the dropdown menues.
Speaking of "dropdown menues": why are mine on the bottom, not on top? Speaking of "top", why is the picture fragmented and not working in every resolution? That's complete crap. Speaking of "crap": the text I put on the startpage is just that, not reviewed and updated for ... years - I'm not even talking about the fact that I got some dead links in my site. The pictures should be of myself only - or completely clear that I took them as a photographer and then they should be in a "Fire photography" section.

Gallery: that's maybe some of THE most crucible points (apart from text)... my gallery is crap. I can't add metatags, so they won't come up, if someone is performing a picture search. They pop up in a new window when you click on them, why? Not necessary at all... Oh yes and then the one picture where I look like a Las Vegas Siegfried and Roy wannabe, with shining golden costume... OMG. Sure, I've been really tired and it's not too easy to spin two staff, look at the camera and smile, all at the same time. But hey, then arrange a shoot where it all comes together nicely or don't put it on the web, Dude...

So I'm lacking reasonably structure and update, both of which is essential if I want to present myself professionally.

This is what I, myself think of my website - but I can only notice when not attached or deeply involved in the process. It's been cheap - problem is that it also looks like that: cheap.

Back to the drawing board.

OK Tom,

Your website also works on Safari (Mac OSX)(so those IE fools just need a better browser...) with the links at the bottom, which isn't a problem, one might normally expect to see them at the top or down the left side, but they're clear, so why should it be an issue?

However...
IMHO, your first two paragraphs come across as pretentious hippy (or hippie, for those US readers) [censored], and if I were an agent I'd go elsewhere after the first sentence.
Just as important, here's a section of your font page:

 Written by:

I am playing with Fire ever since, but started gracefully using it for performance in Byron Bay, NSW/ Australia in 1996. About 6 years later I turned it into a part of my professional life and just love it!

This is a grammatical mess, your tenses are all over the place and the first sentence makes no sense in standard english - ever since when? but what? what's that "gracefully" doing there? - Have someone proof-read for you (if you're lucky, they'll also spot the grocer's apostrophe in "it's" a bit further down the page) before you put it up.
Personally (though this may just be me), all that stuff about 4WD, PADI etc at the bottom has no right being there, this is your fire performer/photographer page, only the bit about fire dance workshops is relevant, the rest should be left out or added to a seperate "about Tom" page.

I only looked at your front page, so I can't comment on the rest of the site. One thing that struck me as good about it was the visual clarity - the text stands out nicely, it's a neat and appropriate background, so keep that, but get a proofreader...

Totally agreed, Pink - which is why I don't put out my website if I don't have to. Fortunately I currently deal with Indian agents and it's (sort of) okay.

The rest of the website is just like that: semi-amateurish.

Gotta make some time and change the whole thing.

for the review and comments

PS: "gracefully" in this context means that "I've always been a pyromaniac and am very happy to finally have learnt how to spin it, 'cause since then I ceased setting other things on fire ungracefully..."

Heh. These days you could have a site that looks at someones IP, figures out where they live, and gives content that appeals accordingly.

I feel bad cos I don't have my own site to share and take criticism for

My quick glance:

What Nigel said.
But also I don't think you need a, b, c, d - I think you can just line them anyway. Plus "something beautiful" adds to the hippyness i think.

Given that you have the bit down the bottom about your other skills, i'd actually recommend that your homepage is a general welcome page with then separate links to the different things that you do.
to me, i wouldn't hire you for the other things as to me they seem to be tag-ons and almost afterthoughts and don't seem very professional.

i quite like the website, only thing for me was having a scrolling section withing the page, personally i dont like that as when scrolling down the page it seems a bit "shakey".

me and, er, my business partner had an idea: instead of trying to make the website all in one go, like we did last time and end up not getting round to it, we decided to start again with a very simple website design and gradually improve upon it when we have the time, its a slower process but at least it all "works" and isn't constantly under constuction, like it was berfore, although i suppose it is but in an ongoing way.
anyway it seems to be working ok at the moment

i was going to say some other stuff but i forgeot what it was, if i remember i'll probably post again.

polarity don't steal Bill Gates' ideas

Rouge: exactly, this website is a reflection of my superbusy head and sober-hippy thoughts back in the Bali-days. Not professional (enough for you to actually hire me as your tag-on)

Ftag: Ain't there any compatibility (splrgh) problems with add-on sites? I'm not quite sure about HTML or XHTML being outdated by XXXHTML 3.7 end of this year... Do a simple website, which you have to completely re-do anyway as the languages evolve... ?? Know what I mean?

Sorry guys but had to say....

You may hate IE and all things microsoft but approximately 92% of ALL web browsing is done in IE by people who don't know any better.

If your website is not IE friendly or does not degrade comfortably then you are essentially ignoring 92% of your market....

Thats my 2p but I'll be asking you lot for yours once I've done a bit more work on my site (www.fireflyz.co.uk incase you want to look in the mean time).

Fearpig: I like your site, professional appearance, nice menu, clear text and description.

Graphics: lack a bit of graphics in the empty space to the right...

Performers bio: I reckon the pictures attached to the performers bio should be larger, with maybe a recognizable face of said performer to get a personal impression...

Gallery: I reckon your galleries last pictures ("best ones" and "events") do not belong there. Generally no blurry picture belongs in a (professional) gallery at all.

I love the Javascript - way to go.

Fire photography is a sensitive topic - personally I've seen so many trails that I really got tired of looking at them, unless they are revealing spectacular shapes, or have the performer visible. My advice would be to take a reasonable (semi)professional digicam and take one night out shooting only pictures.

Point being that for stills you can repeat the pattern 10 times and shoot one pic after the other until you got a satisfactory result (clear, crisp image of trails and/ or performer)...

The size of the image means nothing, the quality means everything.

Use a tripod, only pick the really good ones (rule of thumb: there is only one perfect shot to a hundred good ones - of course it depends on preference) - but forget the rest. This ONE spectacular shot (to me) is worth ten times more than 100 low(er) quality pictures.

IMO the picture needs to be balanced, either spectacular trails and little bit of the performer or vice versa. Ideally both, ideally a posture, a face, a smile, a part of the body or the whole mess. Anything else is for the bin... Pick a background that's not ordinary, no shots in the hood, unless you manage to transform it with your angle or light. Crop your pictures, nobody needs to see aunt Daisy standing 50yards off to the right (except for Aunt Daisy herself). Adjust colour and brightness, even "MS Office Picture Viewer" can give you easy-to-make improvements.

Ppl don't know and mostly don't care whether the shot's been taken on an event or not. No performers backsides unless sexy.... and most important: smile pretend you're having fun... at least...

However I reckon your site to be lots better than mine, congratulations

Okay FireTom, I'll give you a review. I know we've had difficulties in the past so I want to preface this with that this critique is coming purely from the artist/graphic designer in me, and I have no hard feelings towards you whatsoever. In fact if you want help with any sort of graphics work let me know and I'd be more than happy to pitch in. That goes for anyone actually

1. You've set the top part of the banner up wrong. (top.jpg) is a 1014px wide image with only flame in on the right hand side. To save space and make it faster you should crop out all the pure black. Along with that you have it set to align left, which is fine, as long as the window isn't wider than 1014px. I *rarely* browse at full screen, but I also have a wide screen monitor, once the page gets wider than designed the top section of the image begins to offset to the left. I'm not entirely sure why that top section is an image in itself when could have easily been tied into the whole. It looks more like you have oddball slices cuting up your page.

2. Sort of tying into #1 Don't center your page vertically, just anchor it to the top. There are certain reasons that you may want to bump the design down for a splash page or something, but realistically it just eats up valuable space that could be used for other things.

3: The background image in the body text is nice, but doesn't tile properly and sets up not so pretty seams. Not to mention the small bars across the top and bottom of the same cell. (note: If you dig into the code you can customize the scroll bar to match your colors better, if you have already it's not showing up in firefox for me.)

4: You have a perfect window on the left to load your images for the gallery, why are you forcing popups? Especially if the popup window doesn't even contain or resize the image you're opening. My honest recommendation would be to standardize the photos, (you can keep a larger version for DL if you want to encourage that) and load them on the left. That said, if you insist on having the border around the thumbnails take the time to make them gif's with proper transparencies so the orange corners don't show so much. And round off the photos inside the border.

5: Something other than red/grey text on a muddy orange background would probably be a better choice for active links in text.

6: It almost appears that no two colors in different areas are the same. I know that's not the case, and I'm assuming that the two 'gradients' on the corners are mirrored, but standardize a bit, you're kinda all over the place.

7. Just a personal choice, but I'm not a big fan of large san seriff fonts like you have titling the pages in the upper right, or in the burning text 'logo'

8. I do like the drop down menu at the bottom, but there is something that is a little bit off about it that makes it feel a little uncomfortable, I just can't seem to figure out what it is at the moment.



All that said, I think it's a decent start to the page. If you truly want to discourage ripping of your photos there are a few other things you can do. I can also help you to watermark them better both digitally and visually if you want, so the copyright isn't easily cropped out as you have it now.

Ok people feel free to dig at me all you like, I just built it most content comes from the rest of the group (yes the common fibs like "highly respected" and "top performers" ) please bear in mind I have built this site not knowing a thing about web design, the only thing I really know how to do is watch videos and post on forums

fire light and music experience

I will ask if anyone knows how I can incorporate the forum properly into my site I just cant get my navigation into the forum CSS properly
the graphics aren't great but then I'm a spinner not a tech head. I want to make it better purely for the fact that it's related to our festival

oh and happy birthday polarity

My point of view is that if you would happily hand out a shabby hand drawn business card to promote yourself, because all your interested in is getting your number into someones pocket then by all means build your own promo site. It will look amateur (unless you are also a decent web designer) and will say that about your group too. However if you are serious about getting good gigs spash the cash and get a decent site built by a professional that includes a way of managing the content yourself (eg a basic CMS of some kind). Think of it as an investment.

If you have a look at many successful fire crews sites they are usually professionally designed - this reflects their commitment to quality, and I bet they can charge more too.

Totally agree, Josh

First of all, Lurch, I have no hard feelings towards you. Arguments get heated at a certain point and for that in the past I'm as much to 'blame' as anybody else. I would not choose you to be my permanent company at times you 'cc', but you might be surprised how much of a good time we could spent together despite our arguments. Hey, I'm still in India - I carry my smile like others carry their guns... always

Thanks for reviewing my site. No, I didn't do it myself. PopUp pictures would definitely not be my choice, but after all I only spent 200 bucks for it - so what to expect?

I'd really love to do my own site just by myself, digging into Dreamweaver and all, just I am not experienced at all... and should look at it as Josh put it: professional.

Thanks heeps for the tips, I'm looking forward to either find someone I can/want to afford, or build one myself on templates or other website source codes (is it ethical?).

Even though it's not rocket science and I'm not too bad with my computer skills, web-design is not the easiest I suppose... Thanks for offering help - very much appreciated I might PM you some time in the future to cash it in

Mynci, I like your site, but why are all firesites always white/red on black...? It's one thing I L.O.V.E. about HoP, the colours. My next site won't be all black.

- Why are there so many sub-pages? Just put the info on one page, instead of linking 5 sub pages. You spend a lot of time on the web yourself, so you know what is a turn off.
- What you need a forum for? Your festival?
- I like your gallery and the team bio, nicely organized, looking good.
- The fonts you're using... not my cup of tea, but that's just me.
- Why is there an "About us" tab AND a "Team" tab?


Polarity: Happy Birthday and a question about your site: why is every new page popping up in a new tab/ window? (the leader score reminds me of the old days: 21hrs37min continuous play... If I'd have invested the same amount of time into learning Dreamweaver I could earn good bucks with it now and build a spectacular site myself)

as i said the content NOT my idea the others asked for all the pages because friends wanted information and wanted it to be 1 click away I honestly agree there are a lot of pages and a hell of a lot of links which makes it a pain to manage.

the forum - Again asked for by the person who started the group I think mostly because the festival was planned.
cheers for the thoughts I may be able to use them as leverage to tidy it up a little.

See there is one thing to bear in mind: If you try to satisfy everybody, nobody will be satisfied (the least your self).

I need to think about the primary objective of my site and set it up exactly in this direction (if I want to at least appear professional and to make it manageable). Putting ALL of my skills on the Intro is... IF at all, it should be somewhere else in a section called "Bio".

"Outsourcing" is a key to keep a clear layout and to focus on my (primary) business - which is what a professional website is about...

For example: My "merchandising" section is absolutely senseless on this site, same applies to other elements. The fact that on IE the dropdown menues are vanishing (if visible at all) is cutting myself off from 2/3rds of the users (as much as I prefer and support Firefox). And so on.

Thanks for your opinions, I will bear them in mind.

My site: Hyperlight.co.uk ...feel free to poke fun at it - very much still a work in progress

@FireTom: I'd have to agree with a few of the points made thus far. My 2p:

1) Put your navigation at the top of the page. When I firt saw your site I thought it was a single page until I spotted the links down there. Most people expect the navigation to be top, topleft, topright.
2) As FTAG suggested; Don't use a scrolling mid-section. Do the whole page as one section.
3) The flame at the top appears broken (I think someone else mentioned that earlier).
4) Again I think this was mentioned earlier, but the background in your scrolling mid section doesn't tile very well at all.
5) The information your site provides is a bit all over the place. Try and re-organise what you want to say into specific sections and then keep the information there pertinent to that topic.


@Mynci: Nice site. Maybe not the most graphically amazing, but in terms of usability you've got it spot on. I can find all the information I'd like to see within one or two clicks of entering your site. Another bonus is your intro page - it says exactly what you do and what you can offer

@Fearpig: Actually the split between I.E and Firefox users isn't as big as that these days. Have a look at this for example. It obviously varies wildly depending on the site, but the number of people using firefox is definitely growing. Did you know the french police now use firefox as their standard browser?

@Polatity: Careful, BF2 is terribly addictive!