Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`ve been a recent blabbermouth in this here website critique forum. I
thought it would only be appropriate for you to give me your opinions in
return. Tell me what you think of CampSteve!

CampSteve.com

Now I built the site years ago with almost no knowlegde in web design
but a pretty good understanding of Flash. (I used to be a professional
animator.) Nowadays, I am quite familiar with what the general public
thinks of all-Flash websites. I already know how SEO and Flash generally
don`t mix. You can tell me again but I just thought I would explain that
I`m not clueless in these areas.

Thanks for any input.

Hi Steve,

Cute concept and good application of it.

One improvement I would suggest to make the site a little more user friendly - add some navigation to the html pages (poster, about...etc). As simple as added the page links at the bottom of every html page.

This will not only make it easier for visitors to find their way around your site (and not miss anything), but also will help search engines index you site.

As for SEO, as you know Flash has some limitations there, but you can help by having appropriate and unique page titles and desriptions for each web page.  The titles and descriptions should include your targeted keywords.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

I just wrote this out and lost all my comments. BAH!

Um ... contact page is a little weird, with the crossed out bits.

News page was weird, font too small, and suddenly you`re shoved up against the left margin without padding.

Loved all the little weird things to click on in the lobby.
Splash page was actually ok for me and I`m the winner of the impatient award around here.

The slides are a great idea, but some of the pages they lead to lack uniformity.

The about page is a little bland compared to the rest of the site.

Oh, and ... I just love your artwork! So classic and fun.

I have told you before I LOVE your site. The only thing i would state about difficulty would be the back navigation throughout site to main lobby, maybe put a button to navigate back to main page at top so you don`t have to look for it. I admire your work, and love the look of the site.It is very unique!

Erin

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Love the site. It`s design/implemented are top quality and brilliantly differentiated. Your site is just so appropriate for your business and memorable to boot. [The artwork itself almost makes me long for the fifties, though I`m not quite that old.] p.s. Are you from Arizona? The symbol to the left of the fireplace reminds me of Arizona for some reason.

Thanks for the kind and honest words. I know my navigation is a little
sub-par. At the time I designed it, the site was merely an
experimentation with Flash and making an online portfolio. I wasn`t
thinking too far ahead in ways that it could expand. And I certainly
wasn`t thinking in terms of selling my posters online or the site being
integral to my business, much less even having a business. One of the
problems I have with the way I built my site is that if I want to make a
change, it usually requires redrawing something. Not so quick and easy.
But it serves my purposes well so far.

And CookieMonster, I am not from Arizona. I live in Colorado. The
symbol that you speak of is called Kokopelli, a Native American character
very common to the southwest. I`m not Native American but I thought it
would be fun to animate the little guy. So I did!

Steve,

Are you now thinking of selling your posters online? If I were you, I would.

I like your site and find it easy to navigate. I love the artsy feeling. I can definitely "feel" the style of your art and passion.

If you want to take your "business" to the next level, this current site would need some work, IMHO. If you want to share your vision and want some advice and guidance, we`re here for ya. I have to say I think there is a big market for your talent and work. If exposed properly, I think it has huge upside revenue potential. There are many varied methods to offer your work. You have talent. You have an advocation. If one can make a vocation from an advocation, this is pretty close to as good as it gets.

Best wishes, Steve.

R@

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Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

Okay, I read everyone`s comments, then opened the site and figured I`d just stream-of-consciousness it.

1. On the main page, I don`t like that the car drives in, then I have to wait, then I eventually see the "Enter" button. I`d like to click anywhere on that graphic, not be restricted to having to only click the word "enter." Besides, what`s the point of the car driving in and parking? Why doesn`t it do something?
2. I kind of like these "click around on this picture" sites. It`s pretty cool, actually. But is there a way to use the "hover" to dim the background when I hover the mouse-locator over an area? I found it a tad hard to read the various items in each stained glass window.
   
   I`m thinking, what about blind people? What about text-to-speech readers? They`re not going to know what`s the menu for this site, so neither is any search engine. I`d at least replicate the navigational areas in plain text, at the bottom or top or side somewhere.
3. After I clicked somewhere, the *whole site* wandered off to the left side of my monitor! It was weird! I was sort of used to seeing things in the center of my monitor, with a background color. Then it all ended up pushed leftward, with plain white.
   
   Ah...I see...it was only for the "My Latest" thing.
   
4. I couldn`t figure out how to get back to where I was when I clicked something. I had to use my "Back" button, which is almost as bad as having to leave the store and come back in the front each time I look for a new item on the shelves.
5. The `Posters` tab is my favorite! :-) I love the museum metaphor, and wish the entire site was laid out like that. <sigh> When I click on a poster, I`d like it to open up in its own window, with some pricing information, etc. Then I can close that window, and continue my tour of the museum. How come it has a background color, but the "My Latest" doesn`t?
6. In the "Posters" area, there`s a "Return to Lobby." That works great! Why can`t there be different "rooms" in this museum, where each one has a different metaphor to return to the main page? Can you blend the ideas from real estate sites of a "virtual tour," but make it animated for your artwork? That would be Totally cool..!
7. Illustrations was all white background, this time in the center. Maybe could we get some consistency of layout? ;-)

All in all, this is an interesting site, except for one thing. Am I supposed to be considering buying something? Or is it more like an art "blog," where I`m just looking at stuff for some indeterminate reason?

I`m not sure what specific art is taking place here. What does "digital art" mean? Is this a graphic layout and design site, or am I being offered an option to buy some of this stuff? If I do, does it come in paper and a frame, or is it computer art like wallpaper?

Ah....the "slides" page does have a return to lobby. But that page took so long to load, with no hourglass, I thought it was just a blank page. I saw it load just as I clicked the "back" button, so I went back to it, and waited for it to load. Should be faster, I think.

Thanks all for the great comments and suggestions so far.

To be honest, I am not really looking to improve upon my site. If I had
the chance to do it over (which of course I do) I would take a more
advanced approach to it as a whole. As pointed out, many of my non-
illustrative pages aren`t laid out as well as they could be. Some of them
don`t have the CampSteve style. Overall navigation is not that great. It`s
not obvious that I am selling posters of my work until you are on the
detail page for a specific piece. Some are for sale, some aren`t and there
is no organization to that. Etc., etc.

Why don`t I want to revise it? I`m actually transitioning from being an
artist as the core of my working life to other ventures of my own design.
I love what I do and couldn`t be happier with my level of success as an
independent artist but I must also create from my bigger dreams. That`s
the reason I`m at SuN.

Do I think CampSteve could be better? Hell, yeah! My own concepts of
design continually mature and as I understand more about web design, I
long to implement them into my own brand. CampSteve designed today
would be much better than what is up now. Even still, the site works well
enough for my purposes at this time. I do get a descent amount of
orders a month, enough to emotionally satisfy.

You all make wonderfully valid suggestions about my site. I will most
likely even do something about the easy to implement ones. Though I
don`t plan on it in the long run, I currently earn my bread as an artist.
And therefore it is still important to me to not allow any major holes or
confusions at CampSteve.

Oh, and the car driving in doesn`t really do anything but park there. It`s
me in my 1967 Jeep Super Wagoneer sporting my canoe. I`ve often
thought to loose that page as it is only frivolous but then I like the
frivolity of it. My site`s not quite an efficient, time-saving place anyway.
In our fast culture, I like forcing people to slow down a bit. If they click
away as a result, it`s their loss.

I was a pro musician for about 20 years, in my first life. As such, I met a lot of artists in many venues.

I`d only suggest giving some thought to your last sentence, "If they click away as a result, it`s their loss." :-)

No, it`s your loss.

I`m not approaching this from a money standpoint. Although I`d like more money in my life, it`s not my number one priority. But I`ve done a lot of thinking about what IS my priority, what`s different about artists, and how come they`ve throughout history been so broke for the most part?

What it comes down to is that you`re mostly doing art for yourself. I understand this, and it`s crucial to success as an artist. You can`t be derivative, or you`re otherwise a commercial artist. But I`ll wager than AFTER you`ve created what it is you really wanted, succeeded in getting just right, then you want the Oh Wow!

So let me ask you a philosophic question: What`s the point of creating art if no one will ever see it? :-)

I`m not saying that just because 8 people click away, ALL people will click away. I`m bringing out the underlying assumption in your last sentence. That`s why it`s a philosophic question.