Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello everyone, i`ve been posting here for a while, have posted two of my work`s websites, but i never got around to posting mine.
I`d be interested in getting a critique on my personal website. Though i don`t have much time to alter it, i promise your suggestions will be taken into consideration every chance i do get to update things.
Site: JarrodChristman.com

There is one main thing that i am already aware of and will be fixing soon. I`d like to program a cooler picture loader, so when the user click on an image to get a  larger view they`ll be taken to another php page that contains a larger image and a thumbnail list below. Currently it just opens the image in a new window.
Thanks in advance

Hi Jarrod :-)

I visited the site and had a couple of things come to mind. First, the graphics on the home page are totally cool. (Are you allowed to say that in today`s Ute culture, or is it some other expression?).

Given that, I expected to performance to be more high-end. When I clicked each tab, there was an interruption as the resulting new page loaded. It`s as if everything shrank to the middle, then re-expanded again. Very distracting, and soon became annoying.

On your own name, I like the font in the upper banner. But I`d also suggest that you might put in small, plain font (like Arial) your name and company name, perhaps also your headquarters. You could have it as a simple line (in white) just below the banner.

The point is to get business, and it`s a bit difficult to read your name. So I went to the "About" page. Definitely needs to be rewritten. It comes across as too self-deprecating, and you have a lot more talent than that. You should be confident and proud of your abilities, not shy and self-effacing. Two paragraphs would do it, and don`t bother with a resume.

Overall, the only thing really missing is the answer to the question: "What is this site about?"

I know you said you don`t have much time to fix or change things, so I suppose it comes down to your own purpose for having the site. As it is, I`m assuming it`s simply an informational site?

Well, its more so an information site, rather than a site made to give me business. I run across some people and they want to see some of my work, so i made a site for them.
I also have a few communities that use my site for the resources, mainly my video game guides.
As far as my "about me" being too "self-deprecating", lol, well i like to think of it as being modest. I have confidence in my skills, but i`m not much of a bragger. But i`ll definitly try to rewrite it to be a bit more confident sounding, my goal is not to talk myself down too much. Though i have gotten contract jobs in the past from my site, so i like to keep those skills listed there even though the sites main purpose isn`t that.
But to answer the question, "What is this site about?", i`d have to say its as scytsophrenic as i am (or more accurately suffers from a dissociative identity disorder for you psych people). Its main purpose is to house my guides for which people use, but it also serves to act as a garllery for those who are interested, and may also lead to some business... So i amnot entirely sure if it has a single purpose, lol.

Oh, forgot about the site seemingly re-expanding. Can you tell me what your browser is and its version? I have tested it with firefox 3 and ie 6 and 7. I haven`t tested it with firefox 2, but since 2 uses the same DOM renderer (gecko) i`d assume it would render the same as 3.

Firefox 2.0.0.15

From your above description, then the only thing I`d change is to put a white name and address line just below the header, above the words "Welcome." Not large....small font, like for a business card. That`ll make it a lot easier to know your name, and see where you`re generally located.

Then, of course, you can do your email address as a link. In other words, make the banner section of your home page into a wide business card. I think it`ll definitely help. :-)

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Rubi Wiswall
Dance Instructor
http://www.rubifirstdance.com

To answer one of your original questions - look at jAlbum for your gallery pages.  You don`t need to re-invent the wheel when jAlbum has done all the heavy lifting for you.



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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

To rubiirene, what content specifically do you feel should be boiled down/more to the point? The guides are technical in nature, so they are bound to be complex (that and they may seem complex because i already assume a certain level of knowledge for some). But, I`m willing to simply anything else.
And to videography, i quite agree, but then again there is something to be said for originality. That, and i am not a fan of client-side reliant code. Jalbum seems to be javascript based, and the problem with that is the albums very function depends on the clients settings, browser and browser version. So if the viewer has an outdated browser, a browser that doesn`t execute javascript, an anti-virisus suite that disables it, or perhaps they have it turned off by choice... then the album will not even function. So, its more of a personal preference of mine to only use server-side code for important functions, because you`re guraunteed to have it working no matter the client-side specifics. That and the benefit of programming it yourself is you then have 100% complete freedom for future custimization. But to be honest, you don`t need to worry about me reinventing the wheel, it shouldn`t take more than a  few hours to pumpout some basic gallery code.

P.s. does anyone here know where i can contact the webmaster for startupnation? I`ve looked but can`t find any contact info. I`d like to report quite a few technical problems i`ve encountered.

Probable best method of reporting technical problems on SuN is to create a forum topic. Someone`ll probably read it. 

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