Feedback welcome

[benr123]

OK. I accept that you are genuinely looking for "an authoritative source" and I unreservedly retract any reference to you being a troller. But, surely the phrase "any service normally provided for remuneration" covers any situation?

Whether you are running an on-line shop to sell your product or, as in my case, advertising my services. I really do think that this just about covers any eventuality.

Ok, been owned here. You do have to put your address on a website even if you are a sole trader. http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/abo...tml/gbf3.shtml

Damn Business Names Act. Not as authoritative but easier to read. http://www.website-law.co.uk/blog/in...-requirements/

[AWTS]

Ben,

Really good to see you've been doing your own research, and that you're prepared to admit things in public.

Well done!

[ks196]

Crikey I only left the post for a couple of days and I have come back to loads of answers, thanks so much everyone. I am going to forget who said what, but will try to respond to everything I can remember. I don't mind having my details showing, infact originally the domain was registered as a private non trading individual , as I didnt register it myself. Its only recently that I asked for this to be changed to show my details after reading about how you are supposed to show them , and what worried me more was an article I was reading regarding nominet, and how they were just closing down any websites instantly that were found to be trading whilst being registered privately. I cant recal where exactly i read that, somewhere on the web when i was browsing. My photo's i am replacing as I can , now I have actually bought a camera, I was borrowing one before , but obviously i have to make the stuff to take a photo, so I am doing them as and when. I could do with photo shop though, I dont really have any photo software apart from what came with the camera and that doesnt seem too good. Rather than having backgrounds I would prefer to have non , not sure how to explain that , but I am sure you have seen the pics where it is just the image of the item.I would like to have a go at that and see how that looks. I did try to put the menu bigger by the way and it worked, the text it looked quite big but ok , that was until i viewed it in IE and it was terrible, huge and horrible so I put it back at the size it was. Gary thanks for your input , but you are quite right it is a bit over my head, I am a complete novice at this website stuff, but i can ask in their forum about the doctype to see if they can help me out with that. it seems to be doing ok with google, I have signed up for the analytical accounts and its not reporting any problems in there. Right its late now , sorry if I missed replying to anyone, will come back tommorow and check , thanks all for your help and suggestions, I am very grateful for you taking the time to help.

[Indizine]

I was just reading another members thread about a book he read and one thing he has pointed out is that the author says that failure is only failure because the mistake was rectified to late. I thought that was an interesting viewpoint and makes sense.

So as you're getting around to sorting your site out, on this basis, you should do very well.

[AWTS]

Kath,

A good substitute for PhotoShop is GIMP. It's open source - which means it's free! - and is available for download here. Make sure you download the Basic Package only - it's the first download link you come to on the page.

It's a bit tricky to use for the first time, but then, so is any image manipulation program. There is a full help system available online, I find it much easier to download and install the help system. It automatically integrates with the GIMP program so available from with GIMP.

If you have any problems with the download and installation, let me know and I'll send you the required files on CD.

Cheers!

[Entro]

A good way of shooting your product so you get a clean background is by making and using a DIY light tent.

[custardfish]

I think we are lucky to have some excellent website reviewers on A1, your replies are always so thorough.

and where have you been hiding Jason?

Been busy finishing a couple of large projects + winning few too - which is always handy! Also tied up with some tuition.

+1 to the above re GIMP.. its a good OS alternative to Photoshop.
Although if you check out ebay you can pick up an old version of CS Suite2 for a £100 or so.. I know as I just sold a couple. CS2 might be a years old but its still fine for most users. If you want CS4(5) at a later date you can also use it to upgrade and save about £4-500!

[ps. I still have x1 legit, uk, boxed CS2 Std for sale if anyone is interested!]


With regards to a home made light tent I wouldn't bother - again check out ebay you can pick up a 'pop-up' light cube, some back drops and a couple of lights for around £50. Professionals will no doubt cry, but they're fine for what you want.

Also as much as possible try and get the lighting & shot right in the camera. Also play around with the settings, focus, lighting - have fun! Shoot lots - digital is cheap, shoot 100 shots, pick 1 great one etc. You don't want to waste much time touching up in Photoshop if you can help it, and largely its rubbish in > rubbish out.

With regards to the compression I am guessing your ecommerce back end is compressing the images, if that is the case upload really high quality shots.. 99% jpg compression etc. Also see if you can increase the quality in the settings somewhere in the back end/admin area - they're usually set to quite low by default.


With regards to the big debate about the address.. from a business point of view it's not about keeping up with the law (although you should) its all about transparency to your customers and instilling confidence in your business/service.

Especially if your trading online as this site is hiding the contact address/land line is just a big no no.

[ks196]

I have tried to use Gimp previously as I heard it was good, it doesnt seem to like my pc at all , it keeps on freezing and locking up and leaves me no option but to shut the pc down. I suspect it doesnt agree with vista , quite a few things tend not to like vista or should i say vista doesnt like them. Thanks for the link about the light box, very interesting and I actually recently got a daylight bulb too.. I have got my details displayed on the site and with nominet so I don't understand the last comment . The e commerce recomends that the images are reduced by half that of what we upload I think. I must admit i was concerned not to leave them too large, would this cause slow loading for the page ? Thanks again all for the help and comments.

[AWTS]

I have tried to use Gimp previously as I heard it was good, it doesnt seem to like my pc at all , it keeps on freezing and locking up and leaves me no option but to shut the pc down. I suspect it doesnt agree with vista , quite a few things tend not to like vista or should i say vista doesnt like them.

IMHO - Vista totally sucks!! Get someone you know and trust to back up your essential data and programs - preferably by creating a mirror image, un-install Vista, carry out a full, secure wipe of your hard drive, install Window XP SP3 then restore your personal data and programs.

Then install and try using GIMP.

Complicated for sure but worth the hassle if you can't afford to buy something like PhotoShop!

[Entro]

I don't think there is a Vista Gimp conflict, and the cause of your problems might well lie elsewhere. Vista works OK now the service packs are out, although it is still a second rate OS. But I'd consider changing to Windows 7 rather than going back to XP if your computer has the right spec, (which is a lower spec than for Vista). You could either load an RC Windows 7 now, or wait for the official release in October.