4-string-thing Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 (edited) I've spent a few hours this week, revamping my bands website (after realisng that the previous version done by our guitarist was hideous, bless him) I'm no expert but by using Wix and some templates, I think I've done an ok job. Anyway, if you fancied having a look and giving me your opinions, I'd be very grateful. I'd also be happy to receive criticism and for you to point out any grammatical errors... It's [url="http://www.gastricband.tk"]http://www.gastricband.tk[/url] Thanks in advance.... Oh and in case anyone thinks that the tk bit is odd, it's some island nation somewhere that has more domain names than the population and because it's a Buddhist country, they give them away for free.... (so I was told) Edited October 31, 2015 by 4-string-thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingsta Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 What's your main purpose for the site? Is it just to give you your own spot on the net and more for your own satisfaction,or a shop front for promoting the band and getting more bookings etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted October 31, 2015 Author Share Posted October 31, 2015 [quote name='mingsta' timestamp='1446297241' post='2898423'] What's your main purpose for the site? Is it just to give you your own spot on the net and more for your own satisfaction,or a shop front for promoting the band and getting more bookings etc? [/quote] Once the band is up to speed, it is a shop window, so I guess probably some audio/video would be useful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naetharu Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Band websites are one of the few places where I think auto-play media has a place. Might be nice to embed some video there which will run once someone loads it up (at least for the desktop version)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Some better live shots for the gallery is all that I'd add to the above. Otherwise, looks fine to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 [quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1446300266' post='2898451'] Band websites are one of the few places where I think auto-play media has a place. Might be nice to embed some video there which will run once someone loads it up (at least for the desktop version)? [/quote] Auto play media is never ok as far as I'm concerned. Guaranteed to put me off a website, regardless of its purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted October 31, 2015 Author Share Posted October 31, 2015 [quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1446301550' post='2898463'] Some better live shots for the gallery is all that I'd add to the above. Otherwise, looks fine to me. [/quote] Yes, I'm hoping my photographer mate, who did the photoshoot with us a few weeks ago, will come to our gig next week and take some better on stage stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smaz Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 [quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1446302729' post='2898473'] Auto play media is never ok as far as I'm concerned. [/quote] This. It's extremely annoying when a browser tab randomly starts shouting at you, or a pain in the ass on mobile. For a small, simple site, it's quite nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted October 31, 2015 Author Share Posted October 31, 2015 Not sure about auto play stuff....would rather people had the choice to play it if they wanted to.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoRhino Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Quite a good site, easy to navigate through. My only suggestions are to replace some of the grainy low quality pics with hi-res images and keep your Gigs page up to date, remove past dates or move them to another section if you want to show where you've played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnythenotes Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Spot on...... One thing I always look for on a band web site is those awful photos that have a dart board in the background, or posters advertising 'two meals for the price of one' that have crept in to the shot. A good band trying to create a professional image can ruin their credibility by using images, mates photos, (or even worse... i phone videos,) which portray them as a warm up act for the bingo. Your photos show the band in a positive light.... Nice one centurion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted October 31, 2015 Author Share Posted October 31, 2015 Yes, with a bit of luck we will be able to replace the grainy phone pics with something a bit more professional looking (sans dartboard, hopefully) fairly soon.... And I agree, dividing the gig page into "past" and "upcoming" sections seems like a good idea... I do have an iphone video on my laptop, I resisted using it and won't be considering it as suitable promotion material despite the fact that the actual performance is quite good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Depends on what your using the site for. If your band is focused on live shows the first thing you should see when you go to the site is where your next gig is. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Agree with most of the above comments. Two more picky ones... Viewing on a tablet the band title spills onto two lines - if deliberate then it seems to me to leave too much space above the band photo and looks unbalanced. So one to think about. If unintentional you need to reduce the font size slightly and check it out on a laptop, a phone and a tablet. Secondly, on my iPad only the top half of the hit counter shows - like it's been sliced in half.again, need to check the formatting on several media. Other than that it's a solid little site and seems to hit the right buttons. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 You mention the .tk , but this, and the lack of information in the about section doesn't give anyone a clue where you are based until you go to the gigs page. I'd seriously think about getting a UK domain and flagging up your locality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musashimonkey Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Just opened it on my iPhone but it is not optimised for this platform. Narrow letterbox down centre of the screen only. So many people use smart phones, it would be smart to get this looked at. 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeEvans Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 It needs a video of the band playing, with decent sound quality; I would also make sure that there are some decent downloadable (i.e. not picture gallery) hi res pictures that people who have booked you can use to make posters (min 2000px wide). Purely from personal taste, I'm not that keen on the arrangement where the background stays still but the images and text scroll over the top, but maybe that's just me... But the site is very clear and easy and definitely does the job overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 The look of the site is good and, in my opinion, suited to what you play. I agree with all the above comments. On the home page you suggest a "shot of ""Rhythem & Booze". Maybe extending this to promte where and when the next dose is available would be good. As Blue says - promote the forthcoming gigs. Also, get your contact details on every page if you'd like bookings. The aim of every pro web designer or software programmer is to: 1. Make everything work in the way that the user expects it to work. 2. Get the user to be where he wants to get to with the smallest number of clicks. So with almost nothing on the home page except a picture, a slogan and a link to leave the site to go to facebook I'd argue that you're possibly missing anything really, other than my curiosity, to get me to WANT to find out more. Maybe a few testimonial quotes would be good at the side. Such as "Dr K really made my Hen Night one to remmber!" Denise, Groby. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Your list of gigs: 02/04/2016: Burton Music Festival, Burton Upon Trent, Staffs. 06/11/2015: Local Band Festival, Thringstone, Leics. 28/08/2015: The Lady Jane, Whitwick, Leics. 20/06/2015: Groby Street Fair, Groby, Leics. Reading this it's easy to read the first and think of that as being your next gig. Surely the one you want to promote is the one on the 6th November? I think you need to separate your past gig from the up and coming. As a visitor wanting to see you do your stuff, I'm not interested in your memory lane stuff. You need to aviod confusing me by keeping them together on the same tightly compact list. Regrettably this does mean the site needs to be updated regularly. But then hopefully you will regularly have gigs to add to the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 (edited) [quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1446302729' post='2898473'] Auto play media is never ok as far as I'm concerned. Guaranteed to put me off a website, regardless of its purpose. [/quote] +1 definitely this - if i browse to an autoplay page the first thing i look for is the stop/pause button bear in mind that many potential viewers may possibly have spotify or music app or similar playing in the background! personally i would make a soundcloud profile a priority and would recommend investing a couple of hundred squid to record a few live tracks at a local studio - naff phone quality vids can be mixed and tarted up with effects to produce a 'quirky' looking video, the main emphasis being the sound quality and the fact it is recorded 'live' in studio so any listeners will get a fairly reasonable idea of what you sound like as a live band a downloadable pdf generic A3/A4 poster for venues might be an idea (with blank spaces appropriately to fill in venue/date unless youre playing at well known/established venues in local areas then links to venues is usually a good idea for people to click through if you get booked for private parties remember to add them to your gig list (but keep them anonymous) - a band that has a gig list with plenty of private party bookings is indicative of a band that pleases the crowds edit - on a technical note i would personally recommend Wordpress but stick with Wix if youre not tech savvy and it is working for you) Edited November 1, 2015 by steve-bbb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 Thanks for the comments everyone, I am trying to take it all on board! The site is very much "work in progress" though I don't really want to go too far with it. I like the idea of keeping it simple. Technically, I'm not very savvy with this kind of thing, so Wix seems ideal for me, though I'm guessing it has it's limitations.... We are planning some demo's soon, so something will be added, and probably a links page too, though I'm wary about adding too many pages... Anyway, it's (in my mind) a massive improvement on what we had before and with your input I'm sure it will soon get the gig offers rolling in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 [size=4][quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1446295512' post='2898408'] I've spent a few hours this week, revamping my bands website [/quote][/size] [font=Helvetica][size=3] [size=4]Honestly? It looks like a few hours work. That’s not meant to sound deliberately aloof. It’s just a bog standard band website: it doesn’t really slap me around the face with interest; but equally I’ve seen worse! [/size][/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3] [size=4]Likes:[/size][/size][/font][list] [*][size=4]The black and white theme.[/size] [/list] [font=Helvetica][size=3] [size=4]Dislikes:[/size][/size][/font][list] [*][size=4]The visitor counter at the bottom of the page. Outdated, pointless and detrimental. I don’t want to know that I’m one of only 200 or so people who have visited your website.[/size] [*][size=4]Image gallery: some of the photos are very poor quality. You’d be better off removing them - and ideally adding some video.[/size] [*][size=4]It doesn’t optimise on my mobile: it appears as a thin strip in the middle of my mobile browser (iOS 9.1).[/size] [/list] [font="Helvetica"]Simply put, it looks very amateurish. But then you've so far only spent a few hours on it, granted. And maybe amateurish is perfectly fine for the purpose of your band - ? That's not for me to say.[/font] [font="Helvetica"]I'd personally prefer to run a Facebook page rather than a website of this sort. Most people/punters are familiar with the limitations of Facebook; whereas the bar is being raised increasingly high in terms of our expectations when it comes to websites. Unless web design your profession (and I'm assuming it's not), then I'd strongly recommend investing some gig earnings in getting someone to do a proper job of it. Unless, as mentioned, a website of this type is perfectly fine for the purpose of your band and what you hope to achieve.[/font] [font=Helvetica]In which case ignore everything I've just said and keep having fun [/font] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 [quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1446380810' post='2898874'] [font=Helvetica][size=3][size=4]Honestly? It looks like a few hours work. That’s not meant to sound deliberately aloof. It’s just a bog standard band website: it doesn’t really slap me around the face with interest; but equally I’ve seen worse! [/size][/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3][size=4]Likes:[/size][/size][/font][list] [*]The black and white theme. [/list] [font=Helvetica][size=3][size=4]Dislikes:[/size][/size][/font][list] [*]The visitor counter at the bottom of the page. Outdated, pointless and detrimental. I don’t want to know that I’m one of only 200 or so people who have visited your website. [*]Image gallery: some of the photos are very poor quality. You’d be better off removing them - and ideally adding some video. [*]It doesn’t optimise on my mobile: it appears as a thin strip in the middle of my mobile browser (iOS 9.1). [/list] [font=Helvetica]Simply put, it looks very amateurish. But then you've so far only spent a few hours on it, granted. And maybe amateurish is perfectly fine for the purpose of your band - ? That's not for me to say.[/font] [font=Helvetica]I'd personally prefer to run a Facebook page rather than a website of this sort. Most people/punters are familiar with the limitations of Facebook; whereas the bar is being raised increasingly high in terms of our expectations when it comes to websites. Unless web design your profession (and I'm assuming it's not), then I'd strongly recommend investing some gig earnings in getting someone to do a proper job of it. Unless, as mentioned, a website of this type is perfectly fine for the purpose of your band and what you hope to achieve.[/font] [font=Helvetica]In which case ignore everything I've just said and keep having fun [/font] [/quote] I agree some of the photo's are poor, hopefully we'll have some new ones up there soon. We are a new band, and as such, we've not had many opportunities to get some live pics taken. I understand that the counter looks a bit old hat, I may be able to make that invisible on the site, but visible to me when I update. No, I'm definitely not involved in website design, lol, I believe that's obvious, which is why I've asked for advice on here And yes, it is only a few hours work, using a generic band template, but compared to our guitarists previous attempt it looks (IMO) a lot more professional. I'm not sure it's possible to optimise it for mobile viewing, I will try and look into that when I have time. We are a bunch of amateur, weekend warriors who really only need a website for people to find out where our next gig is, or to contact us if they want to book us. I doubt that we'll ever be selling anything from it or anything like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 [quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1446383017' post='2898901'] We are a bunch of amateur, weekend warriors who really only need a website for people to find out where our next gig is, or to contact us if they want to book us.[/quote] In which case it'll serve its purpose just fine I would however ditch the visitor counter and try to improve on the image gallery. More of the black and white images would fit the theme nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 It does the job...I agree with the comments about gig dates, new pics (obv), and I would have liked the (optional) chance to hear the band in action (gigs are always better than rehearsal rooms imo)....keep tinkering.....it's up & running, so it's all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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