Needing your guys' opinions on my website

[SquamishSerpents]

I have started blogging on my site more frequently, and i'm kind of having a dilemma as to which format to use. I put up a lot of photos to accompany my blog posts, but I can't decide weather to show small, clickable thumbnails of each photo, or show the larger sized (also clickable) photo.

All of the clickable photos, regardless of size within the post, will open up in a Lightbox. Personally, i LOVE this feature, as you can scroll back and forth between all the photos with the arrow keys on your keyboard. The Lightbox also has captions at the bottom of each photo, sometimes a little blurb explaining what's going on.

I want your guys hands-on opinions. I know what I like, but I don't know what my readers like (not that I have any - hah)

This link here demonstrates the smaller thumbnails.

This link here demonstrates the viewable-sized photos, so you don't even have to click through if you don't want to.

So, which do you prefer? Any other critiques are very welcome!

(might bump this thread up in the morning, I'm up awfully late!!)

[BigJ]

Man I tell you what, the small thumbs are the way to go. The last website I designed wanted the large ones, and has regretted it ever since (well until I changed it at least). The small thumbs make the page quicker to load, and give a quick option to view only the pics you want to view. It is by far superior!

[Freakie_frog]

I like the small thumbnails as well.. I don't want to have to scroll for 5 minutes to get through the pics..really like that layout too..goo job

[apple2]

I'd use flash to make the small thumbs grow when you mouse over them. That way you can look at the images before you click, while still maintaining a clean, short page.

Apple2

[mommanessy247]

give a quick option to view only the pics you want to view.

X'S 2!!!!!


small thumbs =

IMHO the bigger pics make the page look...messy. not sure thats the right term but it's what comes to mind when i see it. the small thumbs make the page look more organized and neater i guess.

make the small thumbs grow when you mouse over them. That way you can look at the images before you click, while still maintaining a clean, short page.

personally i love that feature for that exact reason. i can enlarge the pic i wanna see without having to deal with another window popping up, hence less clutter of windows.

[ballpythonluvr]

The small thumbnails is definitely the way to go! I really like the look of your site though, very clean and easy to navigate!

[Blue Apple Herps]

Small thumbs FTW! The large ones are cumbersome to scroll through - much easier to look at the tumbs. I, too, like the layout - very nice and clean.

[lasweetswan]

Indeed.........small thumbs

[SquamishSerpents]

thank you soooo much to everybody that responded! i actually posted this over 3 forums in total. the results overall were:

thumbnails - 25
viewable sized photos - 15

slightly inconclusive, as both thumbs and full-size images seem to have their time and their place.

I'd use flash to make the small thumbs grow when you mouse over them. That way you can look at the images before you click, while still maintaining a clean, short page.

the thing with flash is...i hate it, lol. i'm also a photographer and to see a site built of flash makes me cringe, for real. hate, hate, HATE flash! also, i haven't actually found a flash plugin that does what i want it to do on my site, anyways.

i find flash sometimes slow to load, and has many more complications than what i currently use.

i agree it would be MAGNIFICENT to see the thumbs grow, but that's just something i don't have the skill to do.

i built my website literally from scratch, with no prior website knowledge whatsoever, so it's definitely been cumbersome for me, and a great learning experience.

i think i am going to have to alternate between thumbs and full-size images. i would like to be able to use a combination of full-sizers along with thumbnails underneath, but unfortunately the way i have myself set up it's just not going to work. each blog post that contains photos has it's very own gallery - named by the date posted. that's because i use an external plugin to display my images, as Wordpress's media gallery is less than ideal. if i did a combination of both, it would require me to use both the WP interface as well as the NextGen (the plugin)'s interface. a bit more of a headache than i want for some simple blog posts.

again, thanks so much to everybody that gave me input, it was much appreciated, even if i am still lost