Help me with my homework! Vote!

[Lord Nepenthean]

http://www.barnesburg.com/photography.shtml
http://www.barnesburg.com/photography_test.shtml

Okay, so for one of my classes I have to create an online portfolio.  I have started working on this, but would like some feedback.  I have two versions of one of the pages that will be part of the online portfolio.  It is the photography page, where I will eventually show off some of my photos.  I just threw a few random ones up there - not necessarily the best, but those aren't the point anyway.  Basically, which of the two versions of the page do you like more?  Vote, and if you can, tell me why you like one or the other more.  I am leaning towards one of them, but I won't say because I'd rather not bias the vote.

Thanks guys!

[Speedy_NES]

I voted for the second one, as it is more relaxed...especially the notebook lines in the first one are distracting from the text.  Good luck with your portfolio!

[CatchFiveBats]

I went for the second one because, like Speedy said, it's more relaxed.  I think the first one is more visually appealing, but the second is much more functional and easy to read.

- Zac

[Arrrhalomynn]

Why are there thick grey bars above and below the pictures?

[Lord Nepenthean]

Those were originally desktop wallpapers and were just thrown up there as a test.  The final site won't necessarily even have those photos, and if it does, it won't have the extra gray bars.

[Hydrobond]

I voted for the first one.  It is more creative.  You should consider lining up the lines and the text.  It would be really easy to do this in Flash.

[Tynstar]

I like the first one. The second one was very plain IMO.

[bum-man]

I think the first one has a more creative design and I like the contrast of the yellow pad on the dark background.

[Zimbacca]

I liked the first one, visually more appealing.  

[TraderJake]

The first one looks more professional, and has a mood that identifies with what an average person would identify with a darkroom (black). The second site is very vanilla, and in my opinion does little to differentiate itself from other sites in the world.

[Izret101]

Personally i would say the second one looked "more professional"
I agree thought that it was too plain.

The first one was better but i would mess with it a bit to get the text to line up with the background pad lines.

The first one over all is nicer IMO
I like it alot. Very cool design.

BTW it wasn't hard to find preferance
lol

[Hydrobond]

Nep, did you actually make that second one?  It looks like something you would get from dreamweaver or frontpage.  Was blandness your goal?  You are much better than that.

Isn't Barnesburg your old street?

[Lord Nepenthean]

I created both of them from scratch, using the best web design studio ever created: Notepad.  

I ended up going with the one most of you voted against.  Since the target audience of the site will eventually be businesses, and NOT the general public, I thought a clean, easy-to-follow, professional look would be better.  The focal point should be the portfolio pieces, not the site itself.  (i.e. The painting vs. its frame.)

I think if I were trying to create an art web site (which orignally "The Darkroom" was to be - I just modified it to fit my portfolio instead), the first version would have been best.  But for my purposes, I think the second one will be better.  I may still spice it up a bit, but I am going for a rather minimalistic look, so I don't want to do too much.

Thanks for all of the input and comments, guys.  It helped a lot!

P.S.  The poll is now closed, because those links will not point to the original examples anymore.  I transferred the format over already, and the photography_test.shtml page is gone completely.  Maybe the old design will come back later in another form.

[Lord Nepenthean]

P.P.S.  Yes, Barnesburg is my old street.  I would have picked something with my name in it, but of course I have one of the most common names in the world, so any domain with my name or initials has been taken.

[Hydrobond]

Just one final suggestion.  You might want to consider using a different font, at least for the header.  Anyways, just a thought.