Website Request

[skyking_comms]

Hi,

So for the last few years I have been using Google Sites for my site http://www.raf-fairford.co.uk, mainly because it's so easy to use!
But It's not great when you want to keep consistency such as the size of images and has issues viewing the site using other browsers.

I really like this type of site - http://www.awacs-patches.com/content/view/27/285/ - The images are the same size, consistent background (I guess you need a good photo editing software to do this?) and the images load quick.

Unfortunately I'm no web page design guru. Wondering if anyone can help with ideas or contact details for anyone who maybe able to help?
It is just a hobby website so I want to avoid the high costs some of the web hosting sites charge.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum to use

Thanks,

Darren

[alpha_india]

The images are the same size, consistent background (I guess you need a good photo editing software to do this?) and the images load quick.

All three features you mention:

- Identically sized images
- Consistent background
- Fast loading images

Are all about better image preparation, nothing to do with the website itself. With the patch photographs a consistent set-up is being used to ensure the lighting and background remain the same,that the patch fills the same area of the frame. Get this right before you press the shutter and the editing software has very little to do and some very basic software will do the fine-tuning to the sizing. Lack of preparation will require heavier editing to recover the shots to the same standard for presentation on the website. Fast image loading times come from saving the images at the right quality level for web viewing.

awacs-patches is a very bad flash-back to 90s website design!


You mention you don't want to pay high website hosting costs, how much are you prepared to pay? Be honest if you want everything for free.

[skyking_comms]

Thanks alpha_india

Unfortunately a lot of the images are sent to me or taken from other websites (with permission) - I do try and take better pictures if I'm lucky enough to acquire the patch myself. I've moved the majority of pics to dropbox to avoid exceeding web hosting storage limits, but have yet to find a way to make them thumbnails.

I just wanted to say that I don't make any revenue from the site so didn't want to pay some of the hosting fees, especially when I use dropbox. But if there's a hosting site which is willing to make the pictures look good with a 21st century style then I'd be interested in paying for it. Just not £50 a month that I've seen elsewhere as the site takes me many hours and is for the enjoyment / reference to other collectors! I'd rather pay that money to buy the patches...

Thanks again

Darren

[PaulN]

Hi Darren

Have you looked into Pbase at all , very easy to use and upload with no adverts from about $43 a year , I have used them for my patch collection for a few years now . As a gallery to show collections which seems what you want they are ideal , just a thought , hope it helps

http://www.pbase.com/ is the main home page

here is my collection to give you an idea

http://www.pbase.com/usnavypatchman

Cheers

Paul