Edward Weiss writes:

I like the way the graphic strip looks but I don’t like the author photos. For some reason, it just doesn’t add anything to the page. I know it should add something but I just don’t get that extra zing a good graphic can add.

Having said that, the addition of an image at the top greatly enhances this page. I don’t know what the “perfect” image would be though. Perhaps a book and pen?

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Lance Winslow writes:

It seems that having author photos sure helps the legitimacy of the website. There needs to be a notation about the photo. “Meet Our Expert Authors and Read Their Articles” or something to this point, catchy phrase is needed along that line of thought.

I think all authors who wish to help EzineArticles succeed should get their pictures on their Author Pages ASAP now.

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Ed Howes writes:

You made me look. You dirty crook. You stole my mother’s pocket book. So it’s down with creative photography and up with creative writing, eh? I love it. First example I saw elsewhere really caught my eye. One day I hovered the cursor, as I just did here and up came the person’s name and their primary business. How cool is that? On two other occassions my own mug was staring back at me. It wasn’t there 5 minutes later, so they are using a rapid scroll which keeps the page fresh – a hallmark of this particular site. And there is more. A photo album that takes an eternity to build on dial up and the hover feature works there as well. I like it, it adds color, it will attract more on site readers and it’s a great idea no matter who did it first.

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Ed Howes writes:

Bet you can’t guess who’s not writing articles this morning.

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Louie Latour writes:

I hate to be the lone voice of opposition here; however, I think it looks terrible. The aspect ratio on the pictures is wrong and everyone looks squashed. Maybe if it was just thumbnails like Flikr does it would look better. I think it actually cheapens the site and really adds nothing for the publisher. Having the pictures up there reminds me of a high school reunion site.

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Ed Howes writes:

Hey Louie,

I love the thumbnail idea, especially if you get a little info on the cursor hover and a full page photo with bio box when you click. It only gets better!

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Matt Keegan writes:

I don’t like it for two reasons:

1. It looks too much like Search Warp’s landing page.

2. Many of the pictures aren’t that clear, including mine, therefore it dimishes the quality of this site.

More original would be to feature logos to various author sites.

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Lance Winslow writes:

Greetings Louie,

You know I had that orginal impression myself, but Chris did mention that they would be working on the sizing. It seems one issue is with the shading, as each photo comes from somewhere else. On these little programs there is a feature to “adjust to fit” so Chris and his team can work with that a bit. I am sure that the bugs can be worked out. I see a few people look like they have skinny faces or the pictures are too dark. But I would say it looks better with the pictures then without. The slightly smaller pictures of thumbnails could work. But this is VERY INNOVATIVE, don’t you think, I mean it is really cool and the smaller issues you raise can be implimented later and adjustments made. Work in progress and you have to admit this certainly raises the bar on the Online Article Submission Site Categories; oh by the way;

http://ezinearticles.com/?Online-Article-Submission-Site-and-Authors-Pictures-on-Home-Page-Considered&id=271731

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Lance Winslow writes:

Hey Ezine Author Team Members,

You know nothing good in life is easy, it takes hard work. This is a tremendous undertaking Chris and his team has taken to climb this hill. You try new things, you sometimes find things are harder than you thought, eventually perserverance will win you the battle of the hill; here let me illuminate this point for you;

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2373631417520366043

I think this will indeed explain what it takes, and this Internet Online Article Submission Venue grew out of an idea or concept and WOW, would you look at it now? Impressive, I think the entire EzineArticles Team, including all us authors too deserve a huge Atta Boy! We will get there, you watch. In my career I have watched those who have given up in defeat, just prior to taking that podium. The winners are those who refuse to quit and keep innovating as they go. As the dirt and debris shift so to must they, the smart ones do not look back but forward and battle the ruts along the way, they do whatever it takes to go the distance and complete their trek to the top of the hill and then to the next and the next. Be one with EzineArticles, and nothing will stop us!

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

We wanted to put those author photos on our home page for about 5 months now; but couldn’t due to the intense load that it causes on the server.

The latest round of upgrades allowed us the power to add this functionality.

The author photo guidelines did get updated today and we’re moving to create a separation between authors with approved photos and those with unapproved photos for the author photo alone. Once this is done, we’ll most likely moderate in arrears for all author photos and only rotate author photos on the home page that are approved by a human on our team.

Reason: Reputation and not wanting to look bad to potential advertisers or stakeholders in general.

The sizing issue will get sorted out and most likely we may also add a red outline or drop shadow to the photos to make them more uniform.

I do agree…. that we don’t want to look like any of those cheesy classmates .com sites.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Matt,

So what you’re saying is that we should only show ONE rotating author photo on the home page?

That would solve the problem of having size contortions as it’ll be impossible to get all authors to conform to a unified author photo format.

We’ll consider it.

Last thing we want to do is look like some other site.

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marshal sandler writes:

Staff Photos might add a personal touch ! Or rotating viewer comments !

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Matt Keegan writes:

Hi Chris,

No, what I am saying is this: scrap the pictures altogether. Some pictures are okay, others are distorted, and they all take away from the site.

I appreciate your continued efforts to promote us authors, but I prefered the site the way that it was.

Thanks,
Matt Keegan
http://www.thearticlewriter.com

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Lance Winslow writes:

This three photos on a page looks good now. Especially if they are similar in size or shading? Now the new viewer coming into the site needs to know what these photos represent. Such as; “Meet our Authors” or a compelling reason to get the readers to click on a few directory links and start them reading? A Slogan? Who knows.

And it would be cool to have the Staff and Company Doggie on pictures come up too. Then their pictures could link to a “Resume Story Page” such as Chris on his Trialthon bike and a story of how the company started. Or Wally and his hobbies too. “Get to know the staff” pictures. Because we are all on the Same Team.

I too understand Matt’s comments, looking at his website he is very into Professionalism and Clean-ness on his sites. When the Home Page is practiced with a bit and a balance between Friendly HomeTown Atmosphere and Professionalism is reached, I think you will find a greater number of people coming to the site. After all personality is what people like on the Web, look at the successes of MySpace and other type sites. These pages people create are personable and weaving in seriousness and professionalism I think this site could jump its traffic significantly. Thoughts only, observations and also a little bit of opinion too on this Friday Eve.

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Ed Howes writes:

I like Lance’s thinking on this. I think the test ought to be whether it increases visitor involvement and repeat visits, which tracking allows the staff to evaluate. A thought also occurred to me that the bottom of the home page is the lowest value on the page and photos there might encourace more people to scroll all the way through the posted titles, giving those about to scroll off an extra shot at views. An explanation such as Lance describes would be at the top of the page telling them of the special feature at the bottom. For those of us who don’t pay much attention more than once or twice to photos or adds, there is little noticeable change.

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Keith Renninson writes:

Chris,

I’ve been playing with the photos on the home page and love it; I think your publishers will too.

One thought though, when I clicked on the photos and was taken to the Extended Bio’s, I became curious…do any of these authors also have two author names they write under as I do: Keith Renninson & Keith Edwin Renninson?

If so, could both author names and their individual listings be displayed at the bottom? Wouldn’t we widen our audience if they knew we had more articles available under another author name?

Just a thought.

Thanks, and keep up the wonderful work, the changes keep coming at light speed and it’s fun to watch.

Keith……

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

We changed it a bit today to only 3 photos and stopped forcing them to be the same size… meaning, they are proportionate to the original photo size and ratio.

We’re not happy yet with how it is and just playing with it yet.

Keith,

No, we won’t be connecting the dots between authors with more than one author names as most authors who write under multiple names do so for the purposes of not being found or related to each other. Allows them to define their brand in different niches without diluting credibility.

I do like the idea of putting some author photos on the bottom of the home page to force a person to scroll to see them… but, in the grander scheme, we’re working on a completely new layout and will begin testing in a few weeks more planned enhancements.

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Ed Howes writes:

Current Photo Event:

Early this evening I was checking my article reports where I had one pleasant surprise. I logged out and noted the 3 photo layout. Photo number 1 looked interesting. I hovered. It was Tel Asiado, a recently spotlighted author. I had visited her blog and posted a comment there and here on the spotlight thread, but had not seen her photo or bio. Now I fell a bit more connected to a fellow writer because of a photo. Whoda thunk it!

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Lance Winslow writes:

Hey Ed Howes, I have been doing this all day and have read about 200 articles and learned some great information. Very cool, now then if others who visit the site do this, maybe they will book mark it and become regular “EzineArticle Readers” and I am very glad that Chris and Company at Team EzineArticles.com is doing this and working with it.

Thought: Maybe 3 across the top and three down three down the side and three across the bottom. “It all about People” the authors!

Click on a picture to learn more about our Great Team. This could become one of the greatest renditions to this site and actually change the Online Article Submission Category forever and “Leaving the Competition in the Dust!!!” Ah ha! Touche! Ed, just the way I like it!

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Ed Howes writes:

Lance,

You are so right on! I was looking at all that clear space left of the new titles and thinking like you and why not a dozen? Then I said, no, that might detract from the titles, which get less and lees time on the home page as it is. But now I agree with you except for limiting the left margin to three photos. Just leave enough space between them for large frames. This was dead space that would look cluttered with advertising and to the crew’s credit, they left it empty. But advertising the authors/ staff who are partners in this enterprise makes perfect sense and does rocket this home page ahead of the rest. If we are going to lift someone’s good idea there is no excuse not to improve upon it and we don’t violate anybody’s photorights. :-)

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Ed Howes writes:

Aftershock!

This new feature just turned my none too popular “Home Page Ecstacy” into a series. Lance, you are welcome to do Part Two under your name in view of your recent experience. I get Part Three and Beyond – Agree?

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Ed Howes writes:

Only don’t misspel ecstasy as I just did. :’)

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Ed Howes writes:

I suggest you post Dina’s photo on the home page permanently. Visitors will return just for that.

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