New (temporary) Website

[Ari]

Hi all,
I've just finished putting up a "beta" version of my website on Weebly (insert joke here).
My old website is here, the new one is here.
My old site needs a massive overhaul, so I decided to scrap it entirely.
While I wait for my designer to free up some time for me, I thought I'd get a rough draft ready for him. Eventually, he's going to put the new site on Wordpress.
Weebly was absolutely free, and more importantly, was dead easy to use (I am not website-savvy at all); the whole thing took about an afternoon.

I would appreciate any feedback, anything at all.
Some caveats:
Weebly's templates are shite, so I stuck with classic black and tried to keep it simple.
I didn't size the photos, this website being a temporary thing.
I have a thick skin, so feel free to lash out at my incompetence

Thank you,
Ari

[Fred L]

I really like the design and layout of the old site Ari. Will your new site be closer to the feel of the old or new site, which I'm not feeling but it's temporary and a template so this is probably academic. Looking forward to the final new site.

[Ari]

Thanks, Fred; I will be aiming for the same feel as the old website, but I'll want to clean it up and get rid of those flash elements. The guy who designed it also programmed a messy patchwork of code in it, so in order to clean it up or modify it, it requires an archaeologist's skill and perseverance.

[Fred L]

Seems like more and more people are ditching Flash. I've hand coded sites before but it's way too complicated for me now...css, php, etc etc...I can't imagine writing programs with thousands of lines to edit.

[Brian C. Miller]

I like the size of the thumbnails and the lack of Flash in the Weebly site. I usually browse with it off, because the Flash ads are so annoying. When I click on the menu text without going down to the menu, I get a picture with no other selections. It would be good to have links there. Like with Portrait, it goes to a fellow with a mustache, and no links.

The only thing that bugs me is that I don't know which photos were done using what sort of camera. Which are the LF photos? Did you use a Holga on some of them?

Overall, pretty decent.

[Leigh]

Hi Ari,

I definitely prefer the new one.

I had to disable the security settings on my browser to see your old site. Flash is a horrible security problem.

I've hand-built several sites myself. I always follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Animation and mouse-overs are for video games, not business.

- Leigh

[Ari]

I like the size of the thumbnails and the lack of Flash in the Weebly site. I usually browse with it off, because the Flash ads are so annoying. When I click on the menu text without going down to the menu, I get a picture with no other selections. It would be good to have links there. Like with Portrait, it goes to a fellow with a mustache, and no links.

The only thing that bugs me is that I don't know which photos were done using what sort of camera. Which are the LF photos? Did you use a Holga on some of them?

Overall, pretty decent.

Thank you, Brian; I couldn't figure out how to put the links to other sub-sections on the first page; that left a kind of opening page without links. I'll look into that.
As for the formats, it's doubtful that I would put that information on my actual site, but I'll put it in this one over the next few days, just for fun, and because you asked.

Hi Ari,

I definitely prefer the new one.

I had to disable the security settings on my browser to see your old site. Flash is a horrible security problem.

I've hand-built several sites myself. I always follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Animation and mouse-overs are for video games, not business.

- Leigh

Thanks Leigh, and I agree about using Flash. I have no programming background, but the people I know who seem to know what they are doing have no patience for Flash and a healthy disdain of it because it seems to mess up their programming so much.
Thanks for looking!

[Ari]

When I click on the menu text without going down to the menu, I get a picture with no other selections. It would be good to have links there.

The only thing that bugs me is that I don't know which photos were done using what sort of camera. Which are the LF photos? Did you use a Holga on some of them?

Overall, pretty decent.

Those navigation issues have been sorted out, satisfactorily, I hope.
As for listing which format was used, I don't like to do that on a website geared toward promotion of my work to ADs, designers, art buyers, etc.
I can tell you that the celebrity and industry photos were taken with a Hasselblad, the photo of the girl with a mustache was taken with a half-frame Yashica, and all the rest were taken with either a Polaroid 110 converted to 4x5 or a Linhof Technika.
I don't own any of those cameras anymore.

[Brian C. Miller]

The one I liked the best is 2968485.jpg, the running or walking girl with the blouse.

[Ari]

Thank you, Brian.
Can you or anyone tell me how easy/difficult it is to navigate?
Are there too many photos?