LeeU Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 I'm interested in some not-too-technical ('less you 'splain it, Lucy) comments focused on studio/business web sites (that are not outsourced) in terms of the decisions you made in designing and setting it up, with easy-to-use site generators like Weebly/WIX/GoDaddy/Wordpress etc. Topic of the moment: parallax scrolling. WIX sez: "Parallax scrolling is a term ascribed to the visual effect of your background image moving slower than an image placed in your foreground. Your end result is a background that dramatically reveals itself at a slower pace than the rest of your page." Me, I get twitchy with too many things moving in too many dimensions and will leave the page. And yet, done well, the effects may be stunning, pleasant, and even a bit seductive---which then begs the marketing question, does that translate into someobody being at all more likely to purchase your stuff? Probably no data on that, but my hunch is probably does not. What say you? Do you like viewng a page with the overlays, the zooms, the fades, etc. and why? Or, do you not like that, and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEP Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 What say you? Do you like viewng a page with the overlays, the zooms, the fades, etc. and why? Or, do you not like that, and why? Doesn't impress me. And my 2 yr old ipad wiffs on these more complicated webpages, so I can't see them anyways. I think the most effective element for impressing people with your pottery website are the photographs of your pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 "Click away" time is probably under 5 seconds ... likely less ... I think I click away in 2 if the site isn't doing anything. So, you want your site up as fast as possible. Forget about tricky fades and music ... get words and images up fast. Great images are number one but people have to see them quickly ... they will linger once you capture their interest but if nothing happens quickly, they are gone. For selling pottery, take great images, use a photo editing program to size them for quick web viewing. If I was designing a site for tourism .. heck yeah, I would do everything I could to make you feel like you were there. Music, movies, fades ... the works. Because people want a sneak preview of the experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docweathers Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 I have used WordPress and Joomla! for other purposes and found them both very impressive. WordPress is a little more adept at search engine optimization and is a little bit more user friendly. They both have an enormous number of easy to use free add-ins that can make about anything you would want for a pottery studio business. Though I park my domain names at Go Daddy, I've heard bad things about their hosting. I used ICDsoft for about 20 years and was extremely impressed with their reliability and service. There also very cheap, something around six dollars per month. If you're going to get into a website, you have to get some traffic. ScrapeBox is one of the best tools and also very cheap. Don't think you're just going to stick up a website and people are going to come to it. In terms of layout, I like those grid galleries that show just pictures of each pot and you can click on the picture. The link takes you to an enlarged view with whatever explanation you want to offer. I hate the kind that have one pot per page which provides no overview for what you offer. If you move on this, I've done a lot of SEO. Though I'm not willing to do it anymore, I can provide you with some guidance and resources. You have to be willing to put in some time to learn this stuff and implement it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 I have had a bit of experience with web sites and pages. I often approach effects, and such with the eye of a user, not a creator. Even with this day of high speed internet, things get bogged down. If I go to a site that is taking a while to load, or where my cursor is constantly running that circle image, I zap out of the site. It is too easy to pick up garbage, and too long a load makes me suspicious of the site I am at. So when designing for the web, I guess I follow the KISS principle. best, Pres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 Simple, free, no fancy effects and easy to learn. You can have a starter website up in an hour or so if you have digital images at hand. http://www.ornj.net/software/web-album-generator Sample site with this software If you know a little html you can always add things like paypal carts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 I think adding a blog might be more interesting to visitors than special effects. These days simple and clean seem to be in with a lot of people and folks coming to your pottery site are probably mostly interested in getting to know you and your work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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