photools.com web site relaunch completed!

[Mario]

Finally: The relaunch of the photools.com web site is done.
This was one of my milestones for the anticipated 5.5 release of IMatch.
Check it out:

http://www.photools.com

and let me know what you think.

I still make changes here and there, and when you find a typo, strange formulations etc, let me know.
Like the page on Facebook if you like.

[kiwilink]

Hi Mario:

Looks great.  You may want to say "As easy as childs Play" which is a phrase we use in the U.S.  Other than that, can't wait for the new version!!

Mike

[Mario]

I thought the phrase was "....as easy as child's play", with the '  ?

[sinus]

I like it.

I like also this "jumping of text" into the eye, when the page loads.
And of course, you cannot do it for everone right.

Finally: well done. 

[Mario]

Adding a splash of animation gives the site a fresh look. I tried not to overdo it, and to make it work well on small and large screens. Yes, you never can make it right for everybody, but the aim is to make it right for the majority of users. Like IMatch 

[Mario]

Hi Mario:

Looks great.  You may want to say "As easy as childs Play" which is a phrase we use in the U.S.  Other than that, can't wait for the new version!!

Mike

I see. You meant the missing 's' in 'as'. Fixed.

[jch2103]

I thought the phrase was "....as easy as child's play", with the '  ?

Yes.

[BaliDave]

Mario,
That looks real good. 

One thing I notice is that someone has to look closely to see that IMatch is Windows software and not Mac (too bad for them!).  Also the link to additional details on requirements on the Shop page is broken:
Hardware and Software Requirements

IMatch runs on Windows 7 and later editions of Windows. Both 32 and 64 Bit Windows versions are supported. Follow this link for additional details.

Anyhow keep up the incredible work you're doing!

[ubacher]

Match solves the problem of cataloging and small and large managing collections of digital files by making them searchable ...

[Mario]

Mario,
That looks real good. 

One thing I notice is that someone has to look closely to see that IMatch is Windows software and not Mac (too bad for them!).  Also the link to additional details on requirements on the Shop page is broken:
Hardware and Software Requirements

IMatch runs on Windows 7 and later editions of Windows. Both 32 and 64 Bit Windows versions are supported. Follow this link for additional details.

Anyhow keep up the incredible work you're doing!

I have fixed the broken links on the shop page, thanks. There were a few more, caused by the migration from my local system to the live server. Easy to miss some.

I mention that IMatch is for Windows right on the home page, and also on the "Products" page. Where did you look or miss the information? I can add another sentence then.

Unfortunately, Apple somehow decided to use iSomething for their products (many years after I introduced IMatch) and now users sometimes thing that everything starting with an i must be an Apple product    If a company today uses a name with an i in front, they will most likely be sued by Apple.

[Mario]

Match solves the problem of cataloging and small and large managing collections of digital files by making them searchable ...

Thanks. It would be useful if you could include a link to the page where you found this next time. I can of course search all pages myself to find the typo but if you include a link, I can just jump right to the problem.

[akirot]

As you asked for Feedback - my perception:
When I visited your site yesterday morning my first impression was: It got hacked or Mario changed the theme accidently - until I realized all has been done by intent.
The banner on the start page is far too big - it doesn't contain any information and one has to scroll down to reach the relevant textual part.
Scrolling down the page the three jumping in columns make me nervous.
The "Thumbs up lady" on the support page takes up too much space - again one has to scroll to find the somehow hidden links.
Grey letters on white background - the worst one can do as far as readabilty is concerned.
I did not realize this problem at home where I use good displays. At work - using a commodity display - the text is difficult to read.
All in all a move to the worse.

[BaliDave]

I mention that IMatch is for Windows right on the home page, and also on the "Products" page. Where did you look or miss the information? I can add another sentence then.

Mario,

When I looked at the home page I missed the one reference to Windows, and I suspect others might too (some are as blind as me).  Not sure how to work around that tho maybe working "Windows" in with photools.com might help or make the Windows more prominent (or adding something like "for Windows 7 or later"). 

But yes the "i" is a problem for you.  A toughie unless you think a name-change would be workable & worthwhile -- your current base wouldn't yell.  A rose by any other name ...

[Mario]

It reads "The Powerful and Affordable DAM for Windows" directly under the logo on the home page, and also when you enter via the "Products" link.

On the IMatch detail page (http://www.photools.com/im5/) the first sentence (after the What does IMatch do? headline) is "IMatch is a Digital Asset Management system (DAM) for Windows." I don't want to advertise Windows all over the place 

I have now added a separate paragraph under the Accordion (above the two download links, check it out): http://www.photools.com/im5/
I've also added a sentence with a link to the hardware & software requirements page into the download description at http://www.photools.com/im5/.
If an Apple user now still downloads it, it just fortifies my prejudices   

[AnaDia]

There is a little problem with the german characters at the download page. See attachment.
(Win 8.1, firefox and internet explorer)

I like the white design. It looks very friendly.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Photon]

A couple of minor points?

Two lines with placeholder (= missing information) in the german part of privacy statement:

• [HIER BITTE IHREN NAMEN, ADRESSE, EMAIL UND TELEFONNUMMER EINTRAGEN]
• [HIER BITTE DIE ERHOBENEN DATEN EINGEBEN, Z.B. NAME, POSTALISCHE ADRESSE, E-MAIL-ADRESSE, IP-ADRESSE UND DEREN ZWECK, ZUM BEISPIEL COMMUNITY ODER PRODUKTESTS]

Problem with Umlaute on www.photools.com/download-3/ (Firefox or Palemoon). Other german pages (imprint) of photools do not show this effect.

• Diese PDF-Datei enthält einen Ã�berblick über IMatch in deutscher Sprache.
  Alles Wichtige über IMatch auf einer Seite.

Other points:

• It is no obvious where to hover and click for the download of exe and zip file. I would not provide a download link with only mouse hover and no clear text information about file name, file extension and file size.
• My personal preference is a dark grey style of photo software on PC and on websites. There is certainly a marketing reason why Mario changed the website colors to very bright? Luckily I have my sunglasses with me. :-)
• Even on my big 27 inch display with 16:9 aspect ratio I experience the usual scroll-of-death and waste of space. Is this really necessary with the good responsive design?
• With disabled JavaScript there is no browser check and visitor information, but the page is displayed incomplete (not properly).
• A download of software is not possible without enabled Javascript. The download page looks completely empty in this case. That is not user friendly!
• It is good, that the web site does work with disabled Cookies and with blocked Google Analytics (Ghostery). However the Cookie disclaimer at the bottom does not disappear in this case and is disturbing.

Martin

[Mario]

I will check the spelling an fill in the missing info. Thanks for taking the time to reply 

Some rush comments, I'm on the road and in a hurry:

Dieser ganze legale Schwachsinn mit Impressum, Adressangaben, Datenschutzerklärung usw. ist wirklich nur für Anwälte interessant. In den netzten zwei (!) Jahren waren lediglich 7 Besucher auf der Impressum-Seitem. Wahrscheinlich dreimal ich...

Bright design => standard.

No JavaScript? Sorry. Can't help you there. 99.99% of all visitors of my site have JavaScript enabled (Google check) and thus I don't bother.

The Cookie consent at the bottom is a legal requirement in several countries. I have to be on the safe side.

The template I used as the basis for this is as it is. It's not wasting space in my opinion and provides a spacey excellent responsive design on all platforms. I tested the layout on computers with as little as 1280 pixels up to 4K monitors, on smart phones, tablets and TV sets. The layout looks good on all these systems and I don't think you have to scroll too much - just a move on the wheel or a quick flick. Always keep touch devices in mind.

You cannot download anything without JS because the panels which present the download don't work in that case. If a paranoid user with JavaScript disabled and a locked-down browser hits my site, he has bad luck, sorry. But no cookies, Ghostery, Ad-block etc. are OK. But what danger you expect from JavaScript? Unless you routinely run your browser under an Administrative account and have UAC disabled? The web does not really work without JS these days, sorry.

On the download page, the BIG icons change colors and show a download icon as soon as you move the mouse over them. I don't see how a user could miss that. The typical user is smart enough these days to point at images to figure out what they do    If not, he/she may be unable to use IMatch anyway, so there's no loss.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[sinus]

Dieser ganze legale Schwachsinn mit Impressum, Adressangaben, Datenschutzerklärung usw. ist wirklich nur für Anwälte interessant. In den netzten zwei (!) Jahren waren lediglich 7 Besucher auf der Impressum-Seitem. Wahrscheinlich dreimal ich...

And once me and the rest lawyers. 

[ben]

There is a big white area on the iPad  (safari) which isn't there on my windows laptop.
http://www.photools.com/im5/


Between the screenshots of "what does iMatch look like" and the footer there is a quite big white area, which is roughly twice the height of the ipad. So, long scrolling is necessary to reach the footer.
I think it's because of the right column with the user comments. On the iPad this column is quite narrow, so it needs more vertical space than the text on the left side.

Ben

[Mario]

Which browser?
Which iPad model?
Do you use it in landscape or portrait mode?

Using the iPad and iPad mini device simulators in Chrome shows that the layout wraps correctly for these screen resolutions and dimensions. When did you test this? I've made some changes yesterday which may affect this.

Usually the testimonials are arranged below the screen shots, e.g. on smart phones and tablets (I just checked).

Unless the framework decides that there is just enough space left on the right to show a reasonable amount of testimonial text (a few words per row). But then, depending on screen rez, the testimonials push down the portfolio. I can to not much about this, except limiting the testimonials on that page to one or two, and that's not really cool.

[chis]

On the front page: "A flexible software, yet easy to use?"

This doesn't read well. It needs to lose the "A" or replace it with something like "Very", such as "Very flexible software, yet easy to use?"

[Mario]

The four images shown in the banner are designed as a sequence of questions:

"Creating images all day? Need a hand with image management?"

"A flexible software, yet easy to use?"

"Powerful enough even for large collections?"

And then the resolution:

"IMatch - Digital Asset Management as easy as child's play".

That's the idea i tried to bring over. I native speakers tell me that this is nonsense, I'm all ears.

[jch2103]

As a native speaker, I agree with Chris about deleting the "A".

[Mario]

OK. Image updated. Check it out.

[jch2103]

Looks good.

Some minor tweaks:

"works with all your other software, e.g. your image editing" should be "software, e.g., your"

File Management/File Operations should be "for finding, copying, moving,, renaming"

Finding Files/Smart... should be "lens, author, etc. Using these features avoids a lot of searching alreadyseparate searches."  [Or something similar; "already" is too colloquial and awkward.]

Finding Files/Handy: "for files taken nearby locations you have defined"

Major Features/Categories: "IMatch Categories are a powerful tool to organize"

Major Features/Stacking: "Stacks can be created manually by you, or you can let IMatch automatically stack files based on criteria like date & time, GPS data, shooting sequence, white balance or exposure brackets, etc."

Versioning: "It allows you to keep track of master files (e.g., a RAW image) and all versions created from this master file (e.g., DNG files or PSD, TIFF and JPEG files)."

Batch Processing: "Batch processing can be combined with other features, e.g., the built-in email feature"

Geo-location: "IMatch uses existing GPS data in your files for a variety orof purposes"

Import & Export: "CSV Import (e.g., from Microsoft Excel"

Shop page/The Order Process: "You purchase IMatch via the Share-It! web site"

The DAM Knowledge Base" Page 2: for some reason, the three page buttons at the bottom are spread out instead of clustered together.

That was all I noticed.

[Mario]

Thanks for taking the time to report all these things. I've fixed them already.

For  "Using these features avoids a lot of searching..." I now use " Using these features avoids a lot of searching in the first place". I hope this is better. I want to express that by using these features you avoid searching altogether.

The DAM Knowledge Base" Page 2: for some reason, the three page buttons at the bottom are spread out instead of clustered together.

I think this is a feature in the theme I use rather than a bug. It becomes more obvious when there are more than 3 pages.

[jch2103]

For  "Using these features avoids a lot of searching..." I now use " Using these features avoids a lot of searching in the first place".

Good; much better.

[Mario]

I think so too.

Creating a web site like photools.com from scratch, alone, in your secondary language, is quite a challenge. I'm quite happy how it turned out.

After a couple of days of fine-tuning and incorporating feedback and grammar/typo fixes thankfully provided by perceptive visitors, most bugs should be fixed.

Now it's time for performance-tuning to make Google happy. Because Google now is the global referee on the Internet and they give you penalties if they think your site is too slow, is not mobile friendly, does not have the right words in the right place and all that. It's called SEO and works behind the curtain. Most people never have heard about this, or know how the search results in Google are really generated...

Not following Google's demands for speed and content will push your web site down in the search results - which is why big companies (and Spammers) invest huge chunks of money in SEO to make their site look good to the Google bots. This s basically a science now, changing web sites and the metadata all the time to make the Google bots happy when they visit your site. If you fail, your site will not show up in the search results, or only on the 5th, 10th or 20th page - which basically means it does not exist.

[ben]

There is a big white area on the iPad  (safari) which isn't there on my windows laptop.
http://www.photools.com/im5/

Which browser?
Which iPad model?
Do you use it in landscape or portrait mode?

iPad: one of the older models, i don't know how to check the exact type
iOS: v7.x
browser: happens with both: safari, opera coast
orientation: happens with both: Landscape and Portrait mode

see attachment...

Ben

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Mario]

This looks OK to me?
The portfolio slider is in the visible range, and the testimonials are displayed on the side, because there is just enough room so that the theme logic decides not to wrap it into a separate row. In that case you would see the testimonials under the portfolio slider, but you would not gain much by that. Things like this are unavoidable, with dozens of screen resolutions, display sizes etc. Responsive design only can go so far. The important point is that everything is visible and accessible.

[muranod]

This looks great, Mario! I've been in the middle of a website redesign myself, so I can easily appreciate how much work went into this! It is a beautiful, polished design.

Dan

[ovrevid]

Hi, Mario

In the IMatch Tour, under Import & Export, Connectivity I think the last sentence should read:

Upload to social networks and photo sharing sites can usually be performed directly from IMatch via drag & drop.

In the wic-support-codec-availability page there are unfortunately some dead links (Canon, Pentax, Google WebP and JPEG 2000 codec).

[Mario]

Thanks, I've corrected the typo.

Unfortunately, nothing is older than a link 
I go hunting/updating from time to time, but the vendors either silently drop WIC support or move things on their page around...
I've removed the Pentax codec link because Ricoh seems to offer none anymore.
The company who invented DjVu and offered a JPEG2000 codec has been sold, sold again and then sold again, and now I've lost track.
The other links work or have been updated to work again by me.

Luckily the FPV codecs handle it all