Raymond St Arnaud: 2008

I installed
http://www.statcounter.com/
Stat Counter on my 3 blogs a few weeks ago.

http://thedysfunctionalphotographer.blogspot.com/
http://theforcedmarch.blogspot.com/
http://raymondstarnaud.blogspot.com/

They confirm my sense, from other uses, that 1024x768 is the most popular screen res in use. This is just one of many useful background statistics available when I installed Stat Counter, and then visit the web site and check the status of visitors to the blogs. Only a very small number of users are coming in at a lower resolution.

This is the free version. I do not get any kick backs from suggesting them as a statistics generator.

Still working on the new image galleries.

Ray

Friday, January 11, 2008

Re-constructing Image Galleries

I have started re-constructing the Image Galleries. I hope to have them completed over the weekend.

Ray

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Night Winds

sleepless windows
black dogs are waking
The night winds

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Otherwise Occupied

the alternative
the interuption prevails
The phone calls

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Snow

snow falls
filled with quiet
The cold front

Monday, January 7, 2008

Listening to the Bamboo #3

the birds answer
cat's ears rotate
The bamboo rustles

Is That All There Is

A nice piece on post exhibition depression by Edward Winkelman.
http://edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com/

I am adding him to my blog list. I have been reading his site for a few weeks and found it of interest.

Regards
Ray

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Listening to the Bamboo #2

the bamboo bends
the oak scatters firewood
The wind blows

New Build In The Works - Goodby Flash, Hello HTML

Acting on several key feedback coments, I am re-building the image content pages.

Dizzying Effect of the Thumbnails

One observer found the interaction of the mini thumbnails and the mid size thumbs dizzying and difficult to control. This is Flash programming and my life is too short to get involved in dealing with it. Another case to encorage me to move to a more traditional thumbnail arrangement.

Ipod Couldn't Read the Contents.

The iPod could open the basic home page but not the image content pages, as it did not have a Flash reader installed. This was a brand new unit. This may not, in itself be a big deal, but it is a bleeding edge effect. Users are moving to Ipod like devices and cell phones that can browse the web, so, a site shouldn't be hostile to those users. However, I am some distance from creating a web site specifically for those users.

Changes to the Images on the Content Pages, Quality And Size.

A very strong comment from Benny Shaboy, publisher of Art Opportunities Monthly,
http://www.artopportunitiesmonthly.com/
that has convinced me to improve the size and quality of the images, as well as remove or reduce the annoyance of the copyright text overlay.

This is now in process and should take a few days to complete. I am basing the pages on a 1024x768 screen, and trying to create a flow from image to image that does not require scrolling to see the balance of the image or the navigation buttons. As of now, only one image is proving to be a scrolling problem. If it's the only one, I may just leave it.

Thanks Benny.

Regards
Ray

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Listening to the bamboo

Bamboo

the leaves rustle
Only the birds understand
The wind blows

Friday, January 4, 2008

More Negatives on PDF

PDF files to go

I have had additional comments on pdfs, all negative. Several reporting system crashes with recent editions of Acrobat. They will be replaced with hypertext.

Copyright Over Images

A very strong comment on the use of copyright text over the images. This will have to change in the next version.

As the material is registered with the Copyright Office, Library Of Congress, an infraction could be lucrative under current US law. So making the material easier to scalp may be to my ultimate benefit. Just trying to put a positive spin of an awkward change of attitude on my part.

Regards
Ray

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Suggested Changes

PDF files

Several viewers report irritation with the pdf files. I will change this in the final version to an HTML page with menus and anchors.

The pdfs were convenient, in that they seperated information into discrete bits, which made it easier to choose what should be on the page and what should not.

The Copyright Text Over Images

This is a tough one. There is a strong attitude on the web that anything that is posted is free. This is contrary to all copyright laws, but I can understand the visual irritation with the strong text overlay.

I will examine rebuilding the image pages with lower resolution images and saved to lower quality and perhaps smaller images. Any copyright info will be more subtle.

The Size of the Thumbnails

There are two tumbnails. The mini thumbs that are always live under the current pick and the mid size thumbs that come up when a user rolls over a mini thumb. The mini thumbs are fixed and cannot be changed. The mid size can be made bigger, but this creates a new problem with vertically oriented images, in that the some of the thumbnails get pushed of screen on monitors set to an 800x600 screen resolution.

One solution is to ignore users with 800x600 resolution, just as most web sites ignore the 640x480 res users.

Another solution is to break up the Image Collections into smaller groups, say 20 images.

Outside The Box would then be 2 seprate pages. Reflections: The Pre-Millenium Landscapes would become 6 pages.

I would like to hear some feedback on this concept.

Regards
Ray

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Website is up

A test version of the website

http://raymondstarnaud.com/

is up. It has a temporary Home Page. I want viewers to test the links, the image content pages and the PDF files.

Does everything work?

What doesn't?

Is there enough information or more information required?

Regards
Ray

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Welcome

A test of this blog site.

I will be activating a test version of the web site in a few days into 2008

Ray