While acknowledging that this is a fantastic image gallery as it is, there are a couple of issues that a lot of people might agree on. The main one is that navigation is not quite intuitive and obvious for people that aren't very computer literate.
For me, the setting up of the gallery and implementation on a website is fantastic. You can do pretty much anything you want. And I love the way large images get displayed.
Navigation:
- first of all, remember that we should assume that people using computers and internet, and viewing our web pages, are stupid (well, that's what we have to assume). Programs/scripts should be as simple and as obvious to use as possible.
- Seeing as facebook (sorry to say that) advances to the next image when you click on it, it might be a good idea to incorporate that on your gallery? A lot of people would be getting used to that now and might just start doing it instinctively (well, for those that use facebook anyway?).
- The 'next', 'previous' and 'close' buttons (and slideshow for that matter) need to be moved to more obvious spots and be larger so they are easily viewable. I think either an 'X', or a box that says 'Close', at the top right of the image could be a good place to start. I think people are more likely to see buttons that are towards the top of the screen (or at the middle) and they are also used to the X at the top right.
...on this page I have changed the buttons and moved them into the viewing area a bit more. It's probably not an ideal solution, but it's the best I was able to come up with, with my limited knowledge of the code involved. I think the buttons become more noticeable:
(click on one of the thumbnails to view the large image to see the new navigation buttons)
http://www.miannegolf.com/louise/gallery-cr.php
- The 'next' and 'previous' buttons either need to be actually on the left and right sides of the images (at the vertical centre) or just outside of the image. If the buttons are actually on the image edges, they could be a half circle maybe. This image gallery is a good example for buttons outside of the image:
http://www.flashcomponents.net/component...llery.html
(hopefully you can view the example on this link?)
....the arrows are quite large, but they still don't detract from the images.
I guess you might need to consider the fact that some images might take up the whole viewing area on the screen?
- if you are going to keep the 'quick bar' (or what ever it's called? ...the ones that come in from the side of the screen), either remove them or have a grey rectangular tab or something come in at each side of the screen so people can actually see that there is something there. It might also be nice to be able to turn this feature off.
After saying that, I'm not sure really if I would include it on my pages as I want to make it as simple as possible for people to use.
From what I can tell, the main issue is really with the navigation, so it's not like the script needs a complete re-write. Just some modifications.
Will look forward to seeing what you come up with in future?
Relative positioning of buttons will be usefull too (full screen and thumbs each separate).
