How to design a photo site
I don’t really want to recommend a special software. I have designed most of this site using Dreamweaver (a rather old version, but it works!) and Homesite, but parts of it (eg: these photo tips and the Guest Gallery) were done with NetObjects Fusion.
Dreamweaver has the advantage that it writes better code that is compatible with just about any browser while the pages generated with Fusion may look quite different in Internet Explorer and Mozilla.
they also tend to load more slowly in my experience.
On the other hand, the photo galleries tool included in Fusion makes it much easier to build a web gallery and the site diagram is a definite plus!
Microsoft Frontpage is very easy to use if you know MS Word, but again, the code generated is anything but standards-compliant and takes longer to load.
I never tried Adobe Golive, but many people recommend it. The same goes for many other programs.
Actually, deciding which program to use is not to different from choosing a camera: the main thing is that you feel comfortable with your software, - it’s possible to build a great site with any of them, but even forking out a lot of money won’t help if the content isn’t right!
Like in photography, my personal advice would be: keep it simple! Javascript menus may be fine, but what use are they when this option is disabled in your visitors’ browser? I think that a site should be navigable with a small screen, pages should be displayed in a reasonable time even on a slow connection and navigation should be as intuitive as possible - even if this means sacrificing originality!
Once you are sure what pages you want to include, bear in mind that you can always add new sections lateron. However, it’s best to publish your site only when the main content (the galleries..) is ready: you don’t want to alienate your first visitors with lots of these “building site” pictures!
Page names: you can use any sort of naming scheme, but for humans, meaningful words are usually easier to remember and/or type - and search engines may also treat you a little better when a page is called
www.xyz.com/italy/rome.htm instead of www.xyz.com/phtsit/rm.htm.
Almost all software includes a link checking option. Good. Still, it’s best to check you internal and external references a second time once you have uploaded your files! Your windows PC does not really distinguish between upper case and lower case letters in an internet address, but the webserver usually does. Also, it’s easy to forget uploading parts of your site, - or you may have exceeded the space allotted to you by your provider.
There are many websites on the net that reference the hard disk of a private PC - with the result that pictures are not displayed and pages are not found.
Quite embarrassing. Personally, I regularly check my sites with a link checker and correct all mistakes I find.
Before you start
Planning a photo site
Promoting your photo pages on the web
How to take good travel photos
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