opinions on my website

[daysapart]

First off, the link:
days apart

Second, the query:
This is the third layout I've used for my website, and I'm desiring feedback on if others found it easy to navigate through it. I'm open to any suggestions you may have to make my website better.

Thanks for your time,
~me

[Xipe]

Didn't you post that link just yesterday in another thread?

The navigation is obvious... the design is so minimal it's kind of ugly (no offence), might work for a minimalistic blog design, but not as a presentation page of you and your material (IMHO).

Frames are evil _and_ ugly (you don't even have a layout that demands the use of them, so just get rid of them).

All in all: navigation works... it's a simple site with not to much information so it's hard for you to go wrong there. Rest of the site doesn't impress at all -- but to you credit you didn't fill it with alot of irritating background graphics and flashy colourful text either.

Text on the sub-pages might be a bit small though, you should probably up its size a tad.

A "best viewed with" disclaimer is meaningless: nobody's going to change resolution to watch your site. Make sure it looks good in ALL resolutions and ALL browsers. Don't waste your visitor's time.

So... yeah, the nav works; and if the site works for you I guess you're finished (but remove the frames; they're redundant).

As for suggestions: Make a real design, or swipe a free template from somewhere if you can't do it yourself. Learn to use CSS (or at a minimum, the FONT-tag). What you have now is in no way appealing, nor does it give your visitors a good feeling about you or your music; the whole site just looks very amateurish (could have been way worse though -- so you're not at the bottom of the scrap).

If the site is important to you and you can't improve it any further yourself (to at least a semi-pro level) I'd suggest you investigate the possibility to have it designed by a competent designer for money.

[grn]

1) loads fast, get it to load fast and correctly on every browser properly
2) text is a bit small, not very attention grabbing
3) the graphic is... lacking

keep it loading fast, don't use frames, and use a nice color scheme to get it to jump out... but still keep it simple and elegant... http://www.oswd.org

[daysapart]

Originally Posted by Xipe

Didn't you post that link just yesterday in another thread?

As for suggestions: Make a real design, or swipe a free template from somewhere if you can't do it yourself. Learn to use CSS (or at a minimum, the FONT-tag). What you have now is in no way appealing, nor does it give your visitors a good feeling about you or your music; the whole site just looks very amateurish (could have been way worse though -- so you're not at the bottom of the scrap).

No, I'm afraid I didn't post the link yesterday... This is only my second thread I've had on this forum. The last one I made here was about six months ago asking for opinions on a song I think...

I'm ecstatic that you picked up on my idea for the site. 'Amateurish' is what I'm going for. My music is simple for people that don't like having to find hidden meanings or anything like that, so to portray that through the site, I used the line drawing boy and easy navigation. I've done complex layouts in the past, they never really did much for me or my site, I find that the people I'm trying to attract go for the simplistic looks with the simplistic music.

I'm really happy that someone was able to pick up on what I was going for... YAY!!!

(after proof-reading, this sounds kind of sarcastic, I assure you that it's not)

~me

[Giganova]

doesn't load in my browsers (Netscape & Mozilla)

[daysapart]

Originally Posted by Giganova

doesn't load in my browsers (Netscape & Mozilla)

sorry... i'm still working on the bugs... i apologize for the trouble. i was having this issue on my computer, but i'm still trying to figure it out, I'm honestly thinking about dividing the site up for netscape and IE and giving an option at the start page.... hmmm... i'll work on that this week... thanks for the confirmation of one of my fears...

~me.

[Giganova]

Originally Posted by daysapart

I'm honestly thinking about dividing the site up for netscape and IE and giving an option at the start page....
~me.

That'll be very professional! Most pro websites are like that: there's a query being sent to the users's machine which browser and version is being used, and the correct web site is being forwarded.

[Robertt8]

very informative, quick loading site, but it's pretty damn bland...which doesn't exactly ignite my curiosity to listen to the music. I personally think that the site should reflect the music as much as possible...but that's just my 2 cents.

[AlChuck]

I'm honestly thinking about dividing the site up for netscape and IE and giving an option at the start page...

That'll be very professional!

Actually, it would be very unprofessional. First off, Giganova, he's talking about making the user tell him which browser they want, not having a JavaScript block that detects the browser version and alters content depending on the result.

Then, browser detects are bad ideas in general. Sometimes you have to, but it really should be a last resort. The best approach is usually to test if an HTML or JavaScript object or method is supported by the browser and if it's not, handle that part differently.

I have a few usability comments about the site.

First, you have a Flash entry screen that just says Wooooo... entering... whats the point of this? It means an extra click for the user. What for? At least if it was a flashy multimedia ad you could argue that you want it there.

Further, the phrase "click to enter" suggests that you click the phrase, which is actually some distance away from the actual clickable part. So not only are you asking your visitors for an extra click they really shouldn't have to make, you're also giving them a bad cue about about what to click.

(Also on that page you say "this site and it's contents ©2004 by Edd Anderson." "It's" is a contraction for "it is;" the posessive form of it is "its" with no apostrophe. A common grammatical error and a real pet peeve of mine, sorry.)

So then you click, and you get -- another basically empty page. Poor visitors now have a menu to choose from before they get any info. Many folks who are used to the web would probably sneer and give up on you at this point. You've buried the information that they were seeking at least three clicks deep.

I'd recommend that you have some content in your home page, not another barrier to click past. And put your contact info there, don't make people look for it. It could be in a footer on every page of your site, so people could shoot you an email at the merest whim. You can use the home page to show the News and lose the separate "News" page, or make it a News archive to save older items. At least have some sort of pithy summary about what this site is here for and what's on it.

[glynb]

Well, I didn't think it was too bad, I've seen far worse. At least its tidy, at least in Internet Explorer that is.

Not very inspiring. How about changing the 'stick man' pic from page to page. Same stick man, but different positions etc, just to change things a little. i appreciate you want a 'minimalist' site, but there's a fine line between minimal and interesting/minimal and boring!

[daysapart]

OK, I've fixed the issues about the site not loading in Netscape/Mozilla. It loads in both now.

Also, I know there are mistakes with my spelling... I never said I was perfect, but thanks for pointing them out... I'll fix them as soon as I have the time, I'll also add the words 'image above' so it's very clear where to click.

At one point in time, I did have the news right as it opens up, but through many emails I received from the people visiting that I had advertised through, said they didn't like seeing a blog type of thing when it first loaded. Likewise I stopped keeping a news archive because somethings I just don't want to remember.

Also, it's not a really a Flash thing at the beginning, it's more like a hover java script thingy that changes images... but the point of the entry page is to let people know they are in the right spot for the artist, I would've just put it on the main page, but I didn't want it cluttered, and it serves as a nice place to put my 'c in a circle'

I love the idea of different positions for my stick man. You don't mind if I take that and run with it do you? He's my favorite character to draw. Do you know those little black holes in cartoons where the character falls through them and it's like a never-ending pit... well... my favorite scene I've drawn is of Mr. Stickman hanging on to the black hole but he's inside of the pit and he's trying to get out... yeah...

Or I could scratch all images completely and go to a text based site from way back in the day... options, I suppose you could say.

I really appreciate all of yalls opinions... it's helping my site grow...

[AlChuck]

I'll also add the words 'image above' so it's very clear where to click.

A better choice is to leave the words alone but make them be a hyperlink too, so the doofus like me who thinks they are supposed to click the phrase get what they expect, and the other smart people that aim their cursor straiht for the image get there too. Or, incorporate the phrase into the image. Maybe make the words appear as you mouse-over the image -- just like the "Woooo" thing you already have...

but the point of the entry page is to let people know they are in the right spot for the artist, I would've just put it on the main page, but I didn't want it cluttered, and it serves as a nice place to put my 'c in a circle'

... but the main page isn't cluttered anyway, so why have them get to it through two steps? Think about it. It really is very important to usability; if it's a multimedia slideshow that's a form of entertainment it's another story, but people who will come to your site want to see the site, not have to dig through any pointless layers of extra stuff to get to it.

[glynb]

Originally Posted by daysapart

I love the idea of different positions for my stick man. You don't mind if I take that and run with it do you? He's my favorite character to draw. Do you know those little black holes in cartoons where the character falls through them and it's like a never-ending pit... well... my favorite scene I've drawn is of Mr. Stickman hanging on to the black hole but he's inside of the pit and he's trying to get out... yeah...

Or I could scratch all images completely and go to a text based site from way back in the day... options, I suppose you could say.

I really appreciate all of yalls opinions... it's helping my site grow...

Of course you can use the idea for changing the stick man, you're welcome to it, that's what we're here for.

I wouldn't go for a text only site, that's boring.
Put it this way, imagine a magazine or a newspaper without a single picture/photo - how boring would that look? The trick is to make your site look interesting and varied without being cluttered and overly 'busy' which could distract from your minimalist approach. Careful use of images will make the site look alive and encourage people to hang around a while to read what you have to say.

Why do firms spend so much on attractive packaging for their products? Because it works in selling things.

I agree with the comments about 'click here to enter site' opening pages. I hate them, so pointless. What i want in a site is fast loading, I want to get straight in there, no messing. I also hate 'Flash' movies at the start of entering a site. If a band wants to have a movie they should have it as an optional downloadable AVI file or whatever.