Pip — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 20:52:47 +0000

I've updated the first page which can now be viewed at:

I have validated this and the code is fine now. The entire site is up now. I need to change the right bar so it's not the same on every page and the content needs updating but the coding is all valid now!!

Let me know what you think.

Pip x

Pip — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 11:54:37 +0000

Atlantis - you mentioned about cleaning up my Amazon links. I can't find anyway to do this that makes me code valid and doesn't get rid of the links entirely!

I've started changing some of the code.

Pip

demonhale — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:16:25 +0000

It Gives me the feeling of Information overload...
Anyways, Links on top seem to have problems, is it supposed to be vertical???
Like the cheme though

jaymz — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:05:33 +0000

I think desing is too simple for music page.

But it is nice!

Colors aren't bad, keep up the good work!

muzakman — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:02:40 +0000

Nice site!

I would suggest changing the blue buttons on the left menu to a light gray, or at least a lighter color. The blues hard to read.

It's bright and colorful.

Maybe you could push the latest news down a bit and add some information right at the top about the purpose of your site. Maybe add a slogan to clarify what styles of music your site focuses on.

Keep it simple and focused.

All the best.

Pip — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 21:02:51 +0000

Thanks for your comments guys.

I've taken everything on board but just a couple of things.

Megan - thank you so much for taking the time to look at my site. I intend to look into the coding and design more closely but I was a little sad that you didn't like the title header image. I love it and think it's the heart of the site. I like the way the font for the header is understated. I also love the colour scheme but am happy to consider revising it because at the end of the day it's what the visitors want more than what I want.

Thanks to all of you and i will let you know when I've worked on it a bit. It's going to take a while and I'm new to it but Atlantis i feel you've really helped. I went out and bought a book to read up and tighten up the foundations of my knowledge.

Thanks guys

Pip x

steve40 — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:10:29 +0000

I think the navigation could use some work. And the long tail going to infinity, I would loose that and bunch this stuff up.

Megan — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 13:42:10 +0000

I think "Music Focus" says it all when it comes to the purpose of this site, although it might be good to clarify what genres you cover or any other specifics.

Atlantis gave you a lot of good advice about the technical side so I'll talk more about the design. The first problem I'm having is that the layout is too wide for me - I browse with window width at about 800px (Opera panels on the left, windows taskbar on the right). Your design could easily fit in and expand for higher resolutions with a little bit of coding adjustments.

The graphic header really needs some work. The gradient background is looking a little too psychadelic with the heads on top of it there, and the title should be done in a more interesting font. Notice that the heads all have different shadows and lighting. This is the difficult thing about doing collage graphics like this. You could try doing something without photos of the actual musicians. One tchnique I like is to take a photo and close in on just a detail of it (see my www link above). It's easy and it looks good - in this case you could do a concert stage or something like that.

I also think you should tone down the colour scheme. You've got way too many bright colours going on here. Tone it down a little, and keep a neutral base (black is fine in this case).

Eventually you may will to worry about where you're getting the photos and if they are copyrighted (they probably are and you might get in trouble for reproducing them).

It took some reading to realize that this is a UK-based site. That puts a different spin on it and that should be noted up front. I was wondering where those chart lists on the front page were coming from.

Speaking of chart lists, those really don't need to appear on every page, do they? You could remove that column on the content pages to allow more room for the articles.

Looks like you've got a lot of good original content here. Good luck with it!

robfenn — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 08:37:54 +0000

I can't really add to what has been said. A non-techincal bugbear would be what i first thought when the page loaded, what is this website all about? There isn't an introductory paragraph which i feel is essential.

-Rob

Pip — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 06:41:39 +0000

Hi Atlantis,

I really value what you've said. I am reasonably new to all this. Things have changed a hell of a lot since i first designed a web page 8 years ago!

The site has been a culmination of reading around over a short period and I'm happy with how it looks but agree that I need to look at the code. I'm not 100% sure how to change things like you've suggested but i fully intend to look into it and make it the best it can be.

Thank you for your advice - Iappreciate it so much.