Site Look and Feel
PixelPost is becoming a dominant photoblogging tool among the blogs I visit and with the advent of version 1.4 there are an awful lot using the default layout (including Morven Photoblog) with perhaps a few tweaks and added bells and whistles (such as a calendar).
Indeed black and or grey seems to be prevalent since one of the well used standard templates with Blogger is also black - somebody the other day was concerned that others would think them a Goth because of it.
This observation led me to wonder if this matters. My conclusion is that it does since we are all operating and presenting a creative visual concept, so the surroundings must play a role. In my own case it is lazyness and lack of time which have in the main prevented me from moving on from the basic template.
What are your thoughts on layout and colour and does it matter that so many of us are using such a similar presentation?
One of the key criteriea for me for a layout is that it is simple and comfortable to navigate. The ’standard’ has the benefit that when you have learned to negotiate one, you have learned them all. To me the site layout should be invisible - by that I mean if you are noticing the layout then it is likely to detract from the images.
There are of course many websites that do not conform to this stereotype just outlined and which are creative in themselves. Do you believe that some of these layouts enhance the photography or detract from it? Also which is your favourite blog from the point of view of presentation (not necessarily the content)?
One of my favoutrites is Moments in Time by Paul.
September 27th, 2005 at 3:25 pm
The wonderful simplicity of the standard Pixelpost layout is, for me, perfect for showcasing the thing that counts, the image. This is, after all, why most of us are photo-blogging. So, again, for me, an overly fussy or heavily coloured site detracts from the image and draws the attention away.
September 27th, 2005 at 3:50 pm
I think any kind of color on the site detracts from the image. Have you ever seen those mind games where you think a particular box is green but in fact it is gray and the surrounding colors are really just affecting the way you see it. I think that white is the perfect way to present a picture. Most art galleries have white walls which I assume is for that very purpose. I think the cleaner the site the more the colors in the photo stand out. One of my favorites is Chromasia, it is clean and simple and the photos just pop right out of my monitor. It isn’t even distracted by comments… it’s not until you click on comments that you read about the picture. But regardless of whether or not you do that… the simple, white and clean is best… but that is my personal taste.
September 27th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
Framing/mounting is very important to get the best from a print so there is no reason why this should not apply to viewing an image on screen. If you have gone to the often considerable trouble of taking a good picture the least you can do is ensure it is displayed to its best effect.
In my opinion dark grey or black surounds tend to show off both high contrasty colour (Velvia like images) and B&W to best effect.
As a soon to be blogger I am sure that simplicity of creating and maintaining a site will be extremely important issues so if it is difficult to customise I probably wont. I am now doing that delaying process of trying to decide the best approach to starting a blog by visiting lots of them, as a visitor I have to say that speed is essential, there are some sites that are just soooo slow that even if they held the best pics ever my life is too short to care.
The Feel of a site is difficult to explain but there are some sites that are just too whacky, struggling to be different that leave me cold. I agree with the above comment that chromasia is good, why is it that the image pops up rather than loads down the screen like many other sites?? I also like http://sensitivelight.com/blog/ .
Does the blog name make a difference is ‘jims pics’ or ‘bobs daily dose’ more appealing than morven. I suppose that most of us find a site through favourite lists or recomendations on another blog but I came across morven on a list and picked it as it is my daughters name.
September 27th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
I guess if you want the colors of your images to pop out you use black for the background, if you want the purest look you prefer white and if you want a neutral background you go with gray.
As long as the photographer is happy with how his or her site looks then I really don’t care how they choose to display their images. That being said I do find any color (not black, white or gray) that is not selected specifically for the image to be a distraction, so a photoblog that has a set color or random color for their background runs the risk of distracting the viewer.
As Kim mentioned I do prefer white walls and white mattes for most displayed photographs, but I don’t think that it is the same with a LCD display. I prefer a dark to neutral gray for viewing pictures on a LCD monitor but I don’t find white or black to be distracting.
September 27th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
I don’t use pixelpost but I looked at my own site and notice that it too is black and gray. I picked it because what I want to show is my picture, not my site. It was one of the simplest templates my-expressions has created. I don’t write any code, so for me, it has to be very simple. I have used several different templates, but find the darker backgrounds a bit depressing, even if it does make the photo look nice - which then tends to make me ADHD-ish because I’m always switching the template around. The current one I’m using is probably the longest template I’ve stuck with.
It doesn’t seem to me that it should matter if the majority of people are using the same template - it’s their works that we’re all visiting. I actually find it nice that so many people are using the same template because it’s quick and easy for me to navigate through.
September 27th, 2005 at 8:42 pm
It would seem concensus so far is that the simpler the better, the standard is good for ease of use and black/grey/white backgrounds are best.
I could not disagree with any of these conclusions.
September 27th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
I wholeheartedly agree I need to make some improvements to the look and feel of my photoblog. But with a photoblog, it should be the photos that are important, not necessarily the design.
September 28th, 2005 at 2:41 am
I agree with many things said above.
I personaly took the “pepper” version and did a bit a tweaking. http://www.nievesdesign.com/f8/ Just changing the fonts to your liking and some positioning in the layout helps out a great deal to make it your own. It’s all in the details. Color, size, link positioning.
The design does help “ease” the experience. Doen’t need to be flashy. Simple much better than going crazy with too much clutter. You may have beautiful pictures but if your site is a bit annoying to look at and is awful to navigate, cause I keep on having to scroll down to see the previous photo, well, I probably won’t go back unless the photos are exceptional and I really enjoy seeing them.
Just my 2¢.
September 28th, 2005 at 5:54 am
Mari - your site does buck the trend so far that neutral colours (ie white through grey to black) are preferred. I like it though as the power does not dominate the images.
I agree with you about scrolling, particularly where I cannot get the whol image on screen however I scroll (I suspect my vertical imaes are a problem for some).
September 28th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
To me site design is important. I don’t like flashy annoying sites filled with clutter. I’ve been to a few blogs like this, but found it too distracting I couldn’t focus on the images. I never returned.
I like a simple layout with a bit of style. Black, white & grey are all good to my eyes, and really display photos nicely. Of course there are exceptions to the rules, but not many.
Dave
September 29th, 2005 at 8:49 am
I use pixelpost because i can’t write code and it had that simple template I was looking for having started on blogger, but not liked the small image display.
I have put the image information into the comment box and added a thumbnail of the image within this box too, but that is the extent of my tinkering (well boyfriends tinkering really). Personally I prefer viewing in white or black, so I may add a black option to the site at some stage, other than that I am perfectly happy with it.
As far as other blogs go - as long as the site is simple and does not detract from the image I don’t mind what it looks like. I like to be able to quickly see where to leave a comment and can get frustrated when some things like that can’t be found quickly. I also quite like the way some blogs have all the comments on display actually on the page, I think this works quite well.
Emma
October 1st, 2005 at 11:26 pm
Dave - I agree with the simplicity and lack of flashyness - it is the pictures we are all out to see.
Emma - I agree, some sites with clever designs are frustrating if one does not know where to find the comment button or navigate around.
October 2nd, 2005 at 11:05 pm
My site style is based on Time Out’s Film Guide 2004 and developed using Textpad. Publishing is managed by Movabletype and MySQL.
I use #333 as my background colour, which is what www.28mm.org started out with, and the background colour I prefer to see my own pictures displayed with online.
I like to keep things simple, uncluttered, so that the image is the focus of attention and not the site style. I use a 500 pixel wide image because I built my site with 800×600 resolutions in mind. Now that resolutions are larger, I have considered offering a bigger image, but so far I have avoided the temptation.
One area of my site that I do plan to develop is the comment pop-up, where I store additional information and links about the image a visitor is viewing, but this will only be to improve the layout/format.
My favourite Photoblog in terms of presentation was Rachael James Mood-Indigo.net now www.brownglasses.com (top of my favourites list). Rachael has a way with websites, the same as she does with her Photography; simple yet breathtaking.
October 3rd, 2005 at 10:08 pm
Gary - I like your page design - it is simple and clean.
Teo things would make it better IMO
1. Bigger images
2. I find the crossing out of links on rollover upsetting for some reason.
October 6th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
I don’t disagree with you on the image size, and that is something I will eventually get round to changing.
Interesting your comments about the roll over link, my original idea rolled to a black background with white letter, which I actually prefer. I can’t remember why I ended up like this, but I think this was an easy way out of a CSS conflict I had at the time. Its worth looking again anyway to see if I can run with the original concept.
Thanks for your comments.
October 12th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
I have site ( http://www.anakcourt.com/ ) that I have no clue how to manage. I know nothing about this stuff, so there it sits….. I want to make it into something better, but I am not very good at this kind of thing. Sigh.