websites, logos, what's cool?

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Somnium7

Somnium7

Noise Criminal
I have the unglorious and often repetitive job as a web developer specializing in corporate intranets and web applications. I almost never take it home with me and even if I want to my carpal tunnel is all agravated by the end of the day so i'm reduced to poking at the keyboard. Anyway, wifey and me have decided that we should make a website for our band. This is somewhat new to me though, designing a website that is more engaging than the corporate blandness I'm so used to. I did create the template for our myspace page but that wasn't much of a challenge.
What I want to know is what are cool things a band site should have?
What sort of features are engaging to the audience of a band site?
How reserved/overboard should the graphics be?

I would love to hear some suggestions...

Noodling around with PS6 just now I created what may be our new logo. Have a peak, critique, crap, slap or enjoy.
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/somnium7/web/
 
Somnium7 said:
I have the unglorious and often repetitive job as a web developer specializing in corporate intranets and web applications. I almost never take it home with me and even if I want to my carpal tunnel is all agravated by the end of the day so i'm reduced to poking at the keyboard. Anyway, wifey and me have decided that we should make a website for our band. This is somewhat new to me though, designing a website that is more engaging than the corporate blandness I'm so used to. I did create the template for our myspace page but that wasn't much of a challenge.
What I want to know is what are cool things a band site should have?
What sort of features are engaging to the audience of a band site?
How reserved/overboard should the graphics be?

I would love to hear some suggestions...

Noodling around with PS6 just now I created what may be our new logo. Have a peak, critique, crap, slap or enjoy.
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/somnium7/web/
Click to expand...

Hey, Here's a short little piece I wrote on some design stuff. I'm in the same field as you are.

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=237363

With regard to exactly what your site should have on it, I would say whatever you decide to do, update it at least once a week or so. A blog, new photos, a new song, a video, something.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Don't make the site over-flashy. That might detract from the overall message/intent of your site. Apply the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) where you can.

2. Make information and audio/video easy to find. For audio, I'd recommend utilizing MP3 and M3U files (Google will turn up how to use them, just Google M3U file). If you're planning on using video, I'd suggest YouTube. This way, you're not taking an extra bandwidth hit through your hosting company.

3. Remember, cool does not necessarily equate "flashy". Your site can be well designed, and have a really cool look to it, but not be flashy.

4. Distraction is not your friend. Unless you really want to get someone's attention, avoid anything that may be a distraction to your audience.

That's off the top of my head.

BTW...I like the logo named somnium7_logo-02_crop.jpg the best. Some colors in the other two seem out of place.
 
Your logo looks good. I think your website, more than anything, should reflect what kind of music you make. When someone enters your site they should already get an idea of what kind of music you write, your style, etc. Base a color scheme off of this.

A photo of your band on the front page with a blog entry underneath it might be a good idea.

The only few websites I've designed were business/corporate so my site reflects that a lot, but I also like it clean and simple.

Judging by your logo you're probably better at me than logo design and more than likely web design so I'm not sure how much help this is. :p
 
That's a pretty good guide, thanks for the link.

i have been digging around looking at band sites and noticed most of them are using these annoying Flash movies. Some don't even bother including a skip button or a redirect for people not having the plugin. That irks me because I purposely keep an installation of Firefox that doesn't have Flash or Shockwave plugins so I'm not constantly pestered by the terrible banner ads while browsing. that's some real bad accessability there.

So there's one decision I've made. I'm not going to use Flash. Some other things I see are embedded media streamers, forums, guestbooks and newsfeeds. How much do people really use these things?

I don't think I have a large enough fan-base to justify a forum. a blog is something to consider. Back in the day the real neato website interaction widgets were guestbooks and webrings. remember webrings? :rolleyes:

I think for pages I'm going to include News, Bio, Music, Gear and Feedback. Later on I can add Events and Press should they come to pass. On the Music page I'll have to decide between linking to the .mp3s or providing some streaming-media widget.
 
danny.guitar said:
Your logo looks good. I think your website, more than anything, should reflect what kind of music you make. When someone enters your site they should already get an idea of what kind of music you write, your style, etc. Base a color scheme off of this.

A photo of your band on the front page with a blog entry underneath it might be a good idea.

The only few websites I've designed were business/corporate so my site reflects that a lot, but I also like it clean and simple.

Judging by your logo you're probably better at me than logo design and more than likely web design so I'm not sure how much help this is. :p
Click to expand...

Your site is rather nice and laid back. what is going to be on the Multimedia page?

As for logos, I'm not very patient. I can do them but I get frustrated with Photoshop or Fireworks pretty easily. This new logo was straight out of one of the tutorials here:

http://www.webdesign.org/

I just followed the instructions and then changed things up here and there as I saw fit.
 
Somnium7 said:
That's a pretty good guide, thanks for the link.

i have been digging around looking at band sites and noticed most of them are using these annoying Flash movies. Some don't even bother including a skip button or a redirect for people not having the plugin. That irks me because I purposely keep an installation of Firefox that doesn't have Flash or Shockwave plugins so I'm not constantly pestered by the terrible banner ads while browsing. that's some real bad accessability there.

So there's one decision I've made. I'm not going to use Flash. Some other things I see are embedded media streamers, forums, guestbooks and newsfeeds. How much do people really use these things?

I don't think I have a large enough fan-base to justify a forum. a blog is something to consider. Back in the day the real neato website interaction widgets were guestbooks and webrings. remember webrings? :rolleyes:

I think for pages I'm going to include News, Bio, Music, Gear and Feedback. Later on I can add Events and Press should they come to pass. On the Music page I'll have to decide between linking to the .mp3s or providing some streaming-media widget.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use any embedded media players. If you want to do song clips (or full songs), use an M3U file. It will open in the user's default media player, instead of you embedding it in a browser window. If you're going to do video, go the YouTube route.

I don't know if I'd go with a forum. A blog, possibly. You might want to go with an RSS feed, but only after your fanbase builds.
 
I don't have much of a fanbase at all but I have a forum. It's definitely unnecessary but I was bored. ;)

I use a flash media player and customized the appearance myself. It's the only free customizeable media player I could find.

I think if you offer streaming media through a flash player you should also offer an M3U file like mrj said, in case the person viewing your site doesn't have flash installed. That's what I plan on doing to my site when I'm not feeling so lazy.

what is going to be on the Multimedia page?
Click to expand...

I don't know, maybe videos if I ever make them. It's probably way too early for me to even have a website yet but I really like having the ability to customize everything and put any size/quality MP3 on my site, unlike other sites like SoundClick, MySpace, etc.
 
Seconding mjr's suggestions:

- Avoid any intros/splash screens. If you don't, 1998 will call to ask you to send it back.
- Don't set songs to play automatically!
- Keep it simple - lots of whitespace (see 37signals for great examples on this)

A new band only needs the following, for starters:

A small blurb on what kind of music you play, and who you are. Very short and to the point. Maybe a picture.

The songs on the frontpage - make it extremely easy to listen and download songs. Don't forget to properly TAG your mp3s. You don't want the songs to be lost in a sea of "track 01... unknown artist"

The latest news, or next gig information (with direct link for tickets, if necessary)

Use normal TEXT/HTML, not flash; search engines do not index flash content.

All this would easily fit on a single page - try to.

Everything else is secondary and can be added later when traffic picks up.

Good luck!
 
I've decided to roll my own mp3 management widget for the site. For this I will use Ned Batchelder's excellent id3reader.py module.

id3reader.py

I tested it out in Idle. Look how simple it is to use...

>>> import id3reader
>>> id3r = id3reader.Reader('C:\\Fountains_of_Wayne-Denise.mp3')
>>> print id3r.getValue('TT2')
None
>>> print id3r.getValue('title')
Denise
>>> print id3r.getValue('album')
Utopia Parkway
>>> print id3r.getValue('performer')
Fountains of Wayne

I just bought some webspace for my site and the provider is setting it up with mod_python so I can use python server pages. Using id3reader through psp will be sweet. I can make a smart template that will dynamically generate all the links and info from the contents of my mp3 directory. What's more I can use mod_dav on that same dir and I'll be able to drag and drop mp3s to and from the website using Windows Web Folders.
 
getting busy on this project this week. got a concept page layout that wife and me both agree on so far. have a peek (under construction):

http://www.somnium7.com/

we had decided that simple was best. I didn't want a site design where the layout is done with graphics. I make them all the time for clients and they are a bitch to maintain. I'm also sick of corporate style and geeky plone style sites. if I see another plone style site I'll puke my guts out.

There's alot going on behind the scenes so far. the mp3s are managed by a script which turns them into smart audio objects. when a link to an M3U is clicked or a flash player started the script is called and it then finds the proper file, reads the id3 info, checks to make sure the request isn't from another domain and then updates a backend database. yes there is a method to the madness.
I really do not want my mp3s linked to from other websites without my permission. the script will check to make sure the referer is the same as the site domain. if it's not the same the browser is sent a mp3 with a brief recorded message instructing them to visit my site for the actual file. This will cut-down on bandwidth usage.

For now all the database is providing is a means to see how many times each song is played like you see on myspace. later on it will be used to keep track of registered users. the plan is to allow anybody to listen to lo-res versions of every song but registered users can access the high quality mp3s.

when you have to pay for bandwidth it's hard to justify letting everybody download the really large files.
 
You can disable hot-linking (linking from other sites) by modifying your .htaccess file, you can also serve any mp3 as replacement to the original file.

http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess10.shtml

But yeah, I also use a database/scripts to serve mp3s, makes things easier when you want to have more accurate stats counting and more info related to the songs, and as you, to serve files to registered users.

I've heard people use Amazon S3 to serve big files (flac, wavs, albums)

I think you should allow hotlinking, though. You can switch it off later, if the bandwidth is saturated, but for now I'd want people to listen to the songs easily, not through hoops.
 
TheTrickster said:
You can disable hot-linking (linking from other sites) by modifying your .htaccess file, you can also serve any mp3 as replacement to the original file.


I think you should allow hotlinking, though. You can switch it off later, if the bandwidth is saturated, but for now I'd want people to listen to the songs easily, not through hoops.
Click to expand...

Regarding .htaccess it is more efficient and safer to just add <directory> directives to you main httpd.conf configuration file. it saves the web server from having to make several file-system accesses each time a page is requested. This is a big performance hit considering the httpd.conf file only needs to be read once when the server is started.
This is all acedemic for me anyhow since I am not using Apache for my site. My site is served by the Zope application server. I wanted to run Apache with mod_python and serve python server pages but the hosting company wanted more money for that configuration. I was suprised it was cheaper to get a Zope account. I don't mind because all my python programs and scripts can be served by Zope with no problems and with alot less housekeeping code.

Validation on this system is simple e.g.
if request.has_key('HTTP_REFERER') and request.HTTP_REFERER:
ref = context.getDomain(request.HTTP_REFERER)
host = request.HTTP_HOST
if host == ref:
return 'GOOD'
else:
return 'BAD'​
else:
return 'VERY BAD'​
Click to expand...

getDomain is a function that strips the URL of everything after the domain part.

There really aren't any hoops for people to jump through the way I see it. There is instant access to all of the songs in the low resolution format mp3s. registration is only required to download the the good quality mp3s. Personally I like sites that offer a choice like this. It's good usability and it allows for people who are surfing in from other coutries where internet bandwidth is not very good.
 
89gtsleeper said:
image 02 is the best color scheme out of the three IMO
Click to expand...

Thank you for that, 89gtsleeper, I really do appreciate everone's input on every detail no-matter how small it may be. Technical crap aside, what appeals to the eye is more influential than code tricks and techincal ability. I imagine the same might be said about sound as well in some forms of music.

Keep the input coming, YOU have a say in what's done on my site and I thank you all for the wisdom.
 
OK, yeah I agree with you. Somehow I assumed Apache for hosting. :)

You do allright. I was thinking about "fan registration" for our site as well;
instead of requiring people to login with username/password, just have the email address. At first signup, send email to user to click a link to acknowledge identity, and then for later logins, just enter email address. No password needed, really.

Is that a good idea?

Cheers
 
TheTrickster said:
OK, yeah I agree with you. Somehow I assumed Apache for hosting. :)

You do allright. I was thinking about "fan registration" for our site as well;
instead of requiring people to login with username/password, just have the email address. At first signup, send email to user to click a link to acknowledge identity, and then for later logins, just enter email address. No password needed, really.

Is that a good idea?

Cheers
Click to expand...

My concern with this would be spam-bots. If you have any interactive feature that allows your sites users to post messages it can also be targeted for spamming. These bots are pretty sophisticated and a simple email validation won't stop the better ones. Unless you like getting posts about viagra and triple X celebs pics I would at the very least incorporate some spam-bot prevention in the form of a code word embedded in a .gif image. When the proper code is entered then have the site set a cookie marking the user as trusted. You then have the choice to authenticate from the cookie and thus not require the user to ever need to sign in again until their cookie cache gets flushed.
 
Yup, already have CAPTCHA, and cookies is a good idea. Cheers :)
 
Been working on our site. Some critique would be appreciated at this point before I get too deep.

Somnium7

The feedback page doesn't actually exist yet because I haven't made up my mind about what to put there yet. We plan to put a picture of us on the people page but haven't found anyone handy with a camera yet.

The anti-hot-linking dealie is having issues because of the virtual domain setup so I am waiting on some more information about that.

The version of Testimoney is a different mix than the one on our Myspace page if anyone cares. :p

Lets hear your thoughts...
 
Last edited:
Hello,

I'm going to be a little blunt and it's not ment at all to be taken as an attack... just constructive critism..

that being said I think you still have a long way to go with this website.
I'll start with what I like though.
I like the color scheme. Simple and easy to read which makes this website alot better than 50% of junk out there.

First the layout seems incredibly awkward.
The nav bar seems like it's floating out of place. The flow of the website is all over the place. The first thing I want to see when I go to a band website is the name of the band (if i know the band it's to make sure i'm at the right site if I just happened to find this website I won't know who you are)
I found i had to look for a minute to find your logotype. I know you're sick of the "corporate" generic template but you wouldn't but I company name/logo at the bottom of the page and risk the viewer not seeing it right? The same concept has to be applied to your band.
What I would suggest is your logotype in the top left with the nav bar underneath or beside (play around with it)
You might want to take the border off the nav bar as well.. it makes it look a little amaturish and will actually make the site a little cleaner..

Next is the picture on the left side. Maybe i'm not in tune with what you're trying to convey but I just don't get it. It's busy and random and doesn't add anything to your site... also the picture is a little pixelated and doesn't look too good. Does this have something to do with the band? if so then by all means work with it but try to clean it up a little bit ( you can break it up and make it more interesting like you've tried to do i just have a hard time with it)

As i said i'm only trying to give you some constructive critism... as a graphic artist to a web developer type thing! :) i'm sur ethe final product will look just great!
 
eeb, it's true there's still work to be done. we are still working to find a photographer we can afford for some good band shots. There are more actual pages in the planning too.

I'm glad you like the color scheme. I actually stole it from the boxes my Yamaha Monitors came in which have a black, white and purple theme :rolleyes:
You mention the layout looking wrong, which web browser are you using?

I found i had to look for a minute to find your logotype. I know you're sick of the "corporate" generic template but you wouldn't but I company name/logo at the bottom of the page and risk the viewer not seeing it right? The same concept has to be applied to your band.
What I would suggest is your logotype in the top left with the nav bar underneath or beside (play around with it)
You might want to take the border off the nav bar as well.. it makes it look a little amaturish and will actually make the site a little cleaner..
Click to expand...

I like the logo where it is. We are not a conventional bunch and that's pretty evident in the music. I don't think there is a problem with people not seeing the logo because it's set to always be visible. I positioned it at bottom and right 99% so no matter what their screen resolution or browser window size it's always in the same place and visible without scrolling.

Regarding the border on the navbar I think it's fine. Maybe I am an amature... It's a decoration that doesn't interfere with usability so no harm done.

Next is the picture on the left side. Maybe i'm not in tune with what you're trying to convey but I just don't get it. It's busy and random and doesn't add anything to your site... also the picture is a little pixelated and doesn't look too good. Does this have something to do with the band? if so then by all means work with it but try to clean it up a little bit ( you can break it up and make it more interesting like you've tried to do i just have a hard time with it)
Click to expand...

This actually has alot to do with the band. In every song we use sounds which have been deliberately soiled with processes like bit reduction, resampling at very low rates or many different types of effects and filters. I wanted to use images that were just as disturbed as the sounds. It actually took alot of work in photoshop to get these results.

Thanks for your input. :)
 
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