Paul S Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Basschatters! I have just put together an extremely basic website for my band. Disclaimer is that I have no firm idea what I am doing and used a simple site builder thing to put it together. But I know what I wanted to do - my aim was to make it basic and no frills, just a place for people to get the bare facts without loads of extraneous twaddle about where each of the band members gets our shopping etc. We only have the one bit of live film/recording, so that is what is up there. And we don't have many pictures to choose from, so I have put the best of a bad bunch on there. [url="http://www.xerocks.co.uk"]http://www.xerocks.co.uk[/url] Does it work? Can it be seen ok on a variety of browsers? Should I add/delete anything? What might I consider for the future? Appreciate any/all comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I'm running Chrome on a PC. When I click on [u][b]WHAT[/b][/u] your text comes up briefly, before a video box superimposes itself in the middle of the text and makes it unreadable. I quite like the Scrabble motif, but it's not awfully Rock'n'Roll. IMHO you could use a selection of MP3s, allows people to hear what you sound like and at the same time give them a flavour of a typical set list. The Junkyard Dogs website (see below) was created by[i][b] Stingray 5[/b][/i] of this parish ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Thanks HJ. I wondered if different browsers might show different things. Scrabble thing - a conscious effort to not do the usual macho rock n roll thing, really. Probably run with the idea for a while but see how it goes. A selection of Mp3s will be up there.... just as soon as we have them! We would rather live than studio/rehearsal stuff and our problem is lack of gigs. And set list rather than an overview - probably worth doing. Ta! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 uh oh flash splash ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul h Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I wrote a nice long reply a few minutes ago but dropped my mouse and closed the browser by mistake I had the same problem on the "What" page...again using Chrome. I really like the scrabble idea and I applaud the attempt to do something a bit different. I however would take it a bit further. Nothing says rock band website like a black background. If it was me I would probably set the background to be the same colour as the scrabble tiles and use a dark text. Or if that's going too far try styling the text links to match the scrabble tiles a bit more and change the white copy text to the tile colour. All just my preference of course. I encourage you to ignore me because it looks fine as it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Hmm, can't seem to find an easy cure to pin the video. Any clues, anyone? Flash Splash? Que es, por favour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 The active links from the last two lines on the 'What' page don't seem to be working, at least not on my browser. I assume they just link back to the 'Who' and 'Where' sections? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Honest opinion here... The site looks ok. It looks home-made, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't "wow" me, but it gets the information across and it's not a pain in the ass to navigate. Which is a good thing! What I don't get is the Srabble imagery. Your band is named 'Xerocks' as a pun on the famous printer brand, right? So personally I'd recommend carrying that pun through to the design - make a connection between the band name and its brand (sorry, I work in branding and am slipping into shop talk here ). There's obviously a world of difference between 'Xerox' (a dull office stationery supplier) and 'Xerocks' (a lively rock band - that's you), so maybe play on this contradiction and have some fun with it. I get the link between Scrabble and Xerocks being a high-scoring word (I'm a mean Scrabble player ), but when I hear the name I'm not immediately thinking Scrabble - I'm thinking photocopiers. Just my tuppence worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Thanks again. No, the links aren't on there - they were, earlier but I managed to delete them when fiddling about with the *&%ing video, which I am still trying to get pinned so it is the same place in each browser. But I can fix the links soon enough. The whole Scrabble thing was a bit of odd idea sparked off by seeing something else. Not brilliant, but DIY-do-able. I do like the idea of the play on Xerocks/Xerox (we copy rock, you see...) and would, ideally, have some sw***y graphics with album sleeves going into a copy machine or similar. But, until or unless we get rich and famous, that will have to wait a bit. Anyone got a clue how to pin the vid in place? Looks like MoonFruit FAQ is less then helpful on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 [quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1370955994' post='2107890'] Anyone got a clue how to pin the vid in place? Looks like MoonFruit FAQ is less then helpful on this. [/quote] I can answer this myself - I had a trawl through the Moonfruit FAQs and forums and it would appear it is tough luck - the embedded YouTube will end up where it wants to be, not where I want it, depending upon which browser is being used. Which is fairly annoying. I have changed the layout a bit so at least the video doesn't cover any text. At least, I don't think so. If the band decide we can't live with this compromise I guess we'll move to somewhere else and give Moonfruit a miss. Thanks for highlighting this - I would never have noticed! Other links are fixed now. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 All navigates fine here on chrome. The 'What' page opens ok and the Video appears on the right hand side. Uncomplicated site, however the Video clip don't come across well. Very dark and doomy. Always good to have good media floating around a site to keep the interest flowing. After all, you are in the business of entertaining. Good luck with the site, just needs a bit of tinkering. Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 Thanks for that - confirms that I changed it ok for Chrome. With IE10 it is now off to the right somewhere but at least not obscuring text any more. I know what you mean about the vid. Unfortunately, that is the most useable bit of film we have. They filmed it from the sound desk at the venue but it went 'wrong', apparently. Nor do we have many pictures of the band, either. As you say, room for improvement! Ta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Lord Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 This is good. Well done. As you say, it's quite simple, but it gets your point across. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 Thank you. I just had another look and that *&^#ing video appears on each page now over the top of other stuff. Maybe it is just on my browser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthevan Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Not a fan of flash based freebie sites, but visually it looks good run it through browsershots.org and you'll get an idea of how it displays in other browsers. Also, run a validation check on the site too http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ which will give an idea of any glaring mistakes. Personally i'd add a footer with contact details on it, and maybe make the text a bit smaller and nicer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauster Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 I like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero9 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Nice 'n' simple, does the job. I concur with the somewhat homemade feel. With a bit of tweaking / snazzier graphics, it could be turned into a punchier, more professional site imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 As a web developer - it's ok on an iphone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 Thanks for having a look. I appreciate the feedback - some of which will be taken on board when it comes to giving it a tweak. I've just landed a big pile of work to do so it will all have to wait a while now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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