Need a favor...

[Jason]

if you guys would be so kind, i need help in picking my best photography

so... go to http://www.jasonharbourdesign.com and go to the digital photography section and check out my work and tell me which ones you think are "the best"

im trying to get a general consensus on which work i should put into a printed portfolio, thanks

[edX]

argghhh!! you have much too complicated a navigation system for me to take the time and effort to view all your pics. it shouldn't take 3 links to get to the full size version. offer me a slide show or page linking from one full size pic to the next and i'll give you my not so humble opinion. the site looks nice, but is a nightmare to use. too many tricks for what should be a simple and direct presentation. your use of frames seems pointlees on these presentation pages as there is absolutely no benifit to them that i can see.

[Giaguara]

...or then don't go to see the full sized pics ed

[Jason]

ed, if i would have just used full sized pics then people have to scroll (in most cases) to see the whole picture... id rather them see a smaller version of the whole thing than a partial larger version

if you are too lazy then im sorry

[edX]

ok, you're sorry

seriously, the way you have it set up is way too frustrating. not many people are going to go too far into your collection as the navigation thru pics is confusing. i'm telling you this as a friend and offerring it as advice. i would guess that many of your potential customers are not going to be as navigation savy as i am and will not only get frustrated, they'll get lost. Example - using the back button from the second page of frames shouldn't take one back to the splash page. if you have frames, then first views of pics shouldn't launch into a second window with the only link to the full size pic imbedded in the smaller pic. and then the larger pic goes to a new page, not a new window. there's no consistency in the navigation nor is there an explanation of where you're going or why. is this really my laziness or is it yours?

hey, take my advice for what you paid for it. but if i have problems with it, you can bet other people will too. Is the idea to show how many webdesign techniques you know or to showcase your work so others can appreciate and evaluate it when considering you for a job? I think there are ways you can use the basic layout you have and improve on the navigation and ability to view full size. think about it - if you're viewing with a 56k modem, how many times do you want to wait thru the same pic downloading before you get to one big enough to see what it's about? i have dsl and found it aggravating.

all, i will add is that the few pics i looked at appeared to be great shots. good composition, good subject matter, techincally well prepared, etc. But if you're asking or expecting people to wade thru all those with all the current difficulties involved, i think you're asking too much.

[Jason]

you are the first out of quite a few people (read at least a few hundred) that has complained about it...

most like it because you dont have to see a huge picture, you have the option... keep in mind ed... the avg resolution out there is 800x600 (reportedly) and the pictures themselves are 640 x 480, not much room to use...

anyways you are the first one ive come across that has said that my site is "difficult and confusing" most others say its extremely user friendly, so i dunno what to tell ya there

[Jason]

oh and by all means show me a way to make my layout in a different way, keep in mind resolution of the users and compatibilty of browsers

[edX]

ok, how about this - a second frameset (which i somehow thought was there earlier anyway), with the small version. small set of instructions somewhere that clicking on the mid size photo in frame will view full size in seperate window. that would be much easier and expectable. in fact, i realise that part of what i said earlier about useless framesets makes no sense because there isn't a second one. experience has simply taught me to expect one when viewing a page with that kind of setup.

another idea - offer no frame versions that just display the thumbnails and link directly to full size pics. links to this and instructions about clicking mid size for full could easily be in first frame display and absent in all others.

maybe it's just that i hate frames to start with. web designers seem to go out of their way to use them and they rarely seem to do anything but make navigation clumsy and confusing - alot like overdone flash content does. it would be nice if everybody at least offered a non frames version. many sites used to do this and it was much easier at times. in your case i think it would be helpful. repeatedly opening and closing new windows is also a pet peeve. anyway you could design it so that doesn't happen would be better. like i said, if i only had to open one new window and it gave me thumbs or even a full page of well layed out midsize pics that i could click to see full size and then use the back button to choose the next one to view would help.

let me emphasize again that i think your site looks great, your work appears excellant and i only say any of this out of a desire to see you make the best presentation possible.(and maybe a little bit of real frustration in trying to do what you asked in the first place).

and yea, i'm that one guy out of hundreds who will tell you when your fly's open or there's something hanging out of your nose.

if nothing else maybe you could slap together that thumbs page and put it up with all the ones you want us to look at just for this thread. i'd promise to view everyone and give you my opinion if you do. that is if you still want it