SGpro website updated - please comment

Keith Loh · March 25th, 2006, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Kinney

Keith,

Thanks very much for your comments. I will pass all this onto my web designer and chat with him about each point you made.

They're just my opinion. I'm no design guru; I just have a few years under my belt making similar mistakes. Your designer should feel free to reject any of them.

One day my boss handed the phone to me and asked me to speak to ... seriously ... the sister-in-law of one of the company's investors who just got out of design college. She asked me if I had been formally trained. I said: 'no, I'm self taught.' She went: "Hmmm" like it informed her of everything there was to know about me. Then she spent the next half an hour listing everything she hated about a comp of a box I had designed which my boss had forwarded to her for no particular reason. Never mind that it was a work in progress. I spent all that time doodling on a paper with the phone on speaker. At the end of that I said 'thanks' and asked her if she was applying for a job. She said: 'no, I'm taking a few months to have a baby.' I congratulated her and that was that. Later my boss asked me if I had found that phone conversation useful. I asked him what he thought about her comments? He shrugged and said he hadn't spoken to her (he'd left the room). He just thought it would be useful to hear from another 'designer'. Greeaattt... I have no idea who she is or what she's done. I don't know her; my boss doesn't know her. All he's done is knocked down my morale ten notches, wasted my time and this woman whoever she is had no particular goal, no context for the criticism. Did she want to work with me on the box? Was she angling for a job? Did my boss want to hire her? Did he want to fire me? Did the box bug him in any particular way? Nope. What she had noted was not anything that hadn't occured to me. There's always a need for a second opinion;just be careful how it is given.

Joshua Nitschke · March 25th, 2006, 09:16 PM

The site's not bad, but it's not really great either.

I'd start by losing the flash; I despise flash websites... I have no idea why they are so popular.

I think that there should be some kind of navigation at the top, people with smaller screens may not see the links at the bottom readily.

I'd also say the content feels too seperated from the top and bottom.

Now, I'm not a real "professional" designer, but I have done several paying gigs, the latest sites being www.cybercopyusa.com (hate the color scheme but when your client pays you good cash, you do it the way they want) and of course Dennis Wood's site.

My own site isn't up at the moment since I managed to delete the database.

Wayne Kinney · March 26th, 2006, 05:41 AM

Thanks for your input.

My designer has just registered here so we can chat further. Really appreciate the ideas.

Mikko Parttimaa · March 26th, 2006, 06:32 AM

I totally agree with Joshua. Get rid of the flash and make it work with smaller screens. I had scroll the page to see the menus.

I don't either see any point in using flash with this (or with any) page. All that this page has could easily be done with html. There aren't even any flashy graphics here.

Barry Gribble · March 26th, 2006, 07:21 AM

Wayne,

Nice looking product... can't wait to see some footage. The overall look of the site is clean and appropriate also.

The biggest problem I have with the site is having the navigation at the bottom of the page. It is problematic for three main reasons:

1. It is not where people instinctively look for it, and anything you do to make their lives more difficult hurts you.

2. It mandates that you limit the height of the scrolling text area, which annoys people like me who have the screen resolution to see all of the text at once.

3. That competes with the problem that the longer you make that area the more the risk of the navigation being off the bottom of the screen for people with low resolution - this requires them to scroll the main page to see or click on your navigation and that is a big nono.

Also, having the home button separate from all the other navigation buttons is confusing.

Good luck.

Wayne Kinney · March 26th, 2006, 07:37 AM

Thanks Barry,

All very good points. I do want to convert this to HTML format soon.

Jason Hakala · March 27th, 2006, 05:09 PM

wayne, is the sg35pro gonna be flipped? and will it be able to upgrade to the sg35xl whenever that comes out?

thanks
jason

Wayne Kinney · March 27th, 2006, 05:34 PM

Jason,
No the SGpro is not flipped, as we believe the current flipping methods sacrifice too much on image quality and light loss. The aim and work of the SGpro is in the image quality and construction areas.

Development on flipping will continue after the pro is released.

We have no plans to develope an XL style relay lens at the moment.

Wayne Kinney · April 2nd, 2006, 07:14 AM

Hello,

The New SGpro forum is now up. I am looking for suggestions on what to add.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...gproforum.html

Andrew Todd · April 2nd, 2006, 08:22 AM

if you had guests enabled to view your forum without signing up it would be allright i guess.

Marc Gaudet · April 2nd, 2006, 08:36 AM

hey andrew the saint john sea dog

what do you guys know about pricing issues with all those different lens adapter?

going from the p+s tech to the letus35 is there a big difference in quality

Wayne Kinney · April 2nd, 2006, 08:36 AM

Thanks Andrew,
I have now changed the permissions, so hopefully all can now read without signing in.

Marc Gaudet · April 2nd, 2006, 08:43 AM

the sg35 site exemple footage is still under construction

and also wich one is sony compatible like pd-170 to hd-zu1

Wayne Kinney · April 2nd, 2006, 08:50 AM

Marc,

Footage to follow. Both the Sony PD-170 and Z1 (FX-1) have been tested with SG35/SGpro.

Wayne Kinney · June 24th, 2006, 04:50 PM

Hi Guys,

We have spent today giving the website a makeover. Its not finished as the clients and order page are not yet up, but you get a feel for the new layout.

http://www.sgpro.co.uk/

Please give us your input!

March 26th, 2006, 05:41 AM	#33
Wayne Kinney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, UK Posts: 938	Thanks for your input. My designer has just registered here so we can chat further. Really appreciate the ideas. __________________ Thanks, Wayne.

March 26th, 2006, 07:21 AM	#35
Barry Gribble Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 817	Wayne, Nice looking product... can't wait to see some footage. The overall look of the site is clean and appropriate also. The biggest problem I have with the site is having the navigation at the bottom of the page. It is problematic for three main reasons: 1. It is not where people instinctively look for it, and anything you do to make their lives more difficult hurts you. 2. It mandates that you limit the height of the scrolling text area, which annoys people like me who have the screen resolution to see all of the text at once. 3. That competes with the problem that the longer you make that area the more the risk of the navigation being off the bottom of the screen for people with low resolution - this requires them to scroll the main page to see or click on your navigation and that is a big nono. Also, having the home button separate from all the other navigation buttons is confusing. Good luck. __________________ Barry Gribble Integral Arts, IMDB

March 26th, 2006, 07:37 AM	#36
Wayne Kinney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, UK Posts: 938	Thanks Barry, All very good points. I do want to convert this to HTML format soon. __________________ Thanks, Wayne.

March 27th, 2006, 05:34 PM	#38
Wayne Kinney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, UK Posts: 938	Jason, No the SGpro is not flipped, as we believe the current flipping methods sacrifice too much on image quality and light loss. The aim and work of the SGpro is in the image quality and construction areas. Development on flipping will continue after the pro is released. We have no plans to develope an XL style relay lens at the moment. __________________ Thanks, Wayne.

April 2nd, 2006, 07:14 AM	#39
Wayne Kinney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, UK Posts: 938	SGpro - New forum up - Suggestions on sections welcome Hello, The New SGpro forum is now up. I am looking for suggestions on what to add. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...gproforum.html __________________ Thanks, Wayne. Last edited by Wayne Kinney; April 2nd, 2006 at 11:47 AM.

March 25th, 2006, 09:16 PM	#32
Joshua Nitschke New Boot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Oxnard, CA Posts: 19	The site's not bad, but it's not really great either. I'd start by losing the flash; I despise flash websites... I have no idea why they are so popular. I think that there should be some kind of navigation at the top, people with smaller screens may not see the links at the bottom readily. I'd also say the content feels too seperated from the top and bottom. Now, I'm not a real "professional" designer, but I have done several paying gigs, the latest sites being www.cybercopyusa.com (hate the color scheme but when your client pays you good cash, you do it the way they want) and of course Dennis Wood's site. My own site isn't up at the moment since I managed to delete the database.

March 26th, 2006, 06:32 AM	#34
Mikko Parttimaa Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 45	I totally agree with Joshua. Get rid of the flash and make it work with smaller screens. I had scroll the page to see the menus. I don't either see any point in using flash with this (or with any) page. All that this page has could easily be done with html. There aren't even any flashy graphics here.

March 27th, 2006, 05:09 PM	#37
Jason Hakala New Boot Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Honolulu, Hi Posts: 21	wayne, is the sg35pro gonna be flipped? and will it be able to upgrade to the sg35xl whenever that comes out? thanks jason

April 2nd, 2006, 08:22 AM	#40
Andrew Todd Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Saint John, CANADA Posts: 633	if you had guests enabled to view your forum without signing up it would be allright i guess. __________________ video : xl2 / letus35xl / bogen 503 photo- canon 1dmkII - bronica etrsi

April 2nd, 2006, 08:36 AM	#41
Marc Gaudet New Boot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: moncton nb canada Posts: 20	hey andrew the saint john sea dog what do you guys know about pricing issues with all those different lens adapter? going from the p+s tech to the letus35 is there a big difference in quality

April 2nd, 2006, 08:43 AM	#43
Marc Gaudet New Boot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: moncton nb canada Posts: 20	the sg35 site exemple footage is still under construction and also wich one is sony compatible like pd-170 to hd-zu1

April 2nd, 2006, 08:50 AM	#44
Wayne Kinney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, UK Posts: 938	Marc, Footage to follow. Both the Sony PD-170 and Z1 (FX-1) have been tested with SG35/SGpro. __________________ Thanks, Wayne.

June 24th, 2006, 04:50 PM	#45
Wayne Kinney Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, UK Posts: 938	SGpro website updated - please comment Hi Guys, We have spent today giving the website a makeover. Its not finished as the clients and order page are not yet up, but you get a feel for the new layout. http://www.sgpro.co.uk/ Please give us your input! __________________ Thanks, Wayne.