band website - whaddya think?

Gia · #1 09-01-2004, 07:09 AM

this is my new band's (a man of his appauling posture) website-in-progress, that i want your opinions on!

i don't know if i was allowed to show anyone, but i really want you guys to tell me what you think of it, so meh

it was made by my boyfriend, and designed entirely without flash!! whatever that means.

only the hi fi version works right now, and you need to turn off your pop-up blockers to see it.

bear in mind we're a indie/ska band with a tenor sax and fiddle

GO SEE IT. HURRY!

wulf · #2 09-01-2004, 07:38 AM

It's naff in Mozilla Firefox 0.8 - there's no usable information at all. Taking a look at the source code, I wonder if it would be better off using Flash than all that gnarly JavaScript?

Wulf

Gia · #3 09-01-2004, 07:50 AM

oh dear

he's working on the version for different browsers.

he really really hates flash. apparantly it takes to long to load, and he doesn't have £10000 to spend on the programs to make it.

Edwcdc · #4 09-01-2004, 09:23 AM

Can't see anything.

vbass · #5 09-01-2004, 09:50 AM

It works for me, but it's rather confusing as to how to actually get to the menu. I think most people would go to that site and never realize they have to "pull" up the buildings to get the menu. There's only a REALLY small place for you to even find the link to do that. I think the site would be much better coded using flash and would possibly function better than the javascript mess that it currently is.

If he doesn't want to use flash, understandably as the learning curve is kinda high, then you might have him make the menu A LOT more noticeable. There's no point in even having a site if it doesn't work for most people.

fastplant · #6 09-01-2004, 10:00 AM

Being completely honest, I'm not a fan. Took me a while realize what to click on to get it to work. One thing you need to keep in mind is that, for a band's website, you need to keep it as simple as possible. This is an ad for your band. If it takes more than a few seconds to figure it out, the average person will just leave in frustration and never come back. Take a look at my website, below. It's insanely simple. It was a little more complicated before but I got alot of complaints, and just kept it really dumbed down. Just remember that a vast majority of people that will be visiting the site have no connection to your band and don't really care enough to try and figure out how to use the site.

That being said, the idea is cool. I'd like to see it a little more fleshed out. I understand why it is so sparce (almost reminds me of the new beastie boys album cover) but like I said it's an ad so you might want to make it a little more appealing. That's really your choice though, obviously. One more thing, maybe he should make the window a bit bigger. Once you start adding things it'll be a pain to fit them all into that window. Good luck with it. It looks like you bf really knows what he's doing.

Christopher · #7 09-01-2004, 10:06 AM

It's very zen. Isn't "appalling" spelled without a "U"?

The Golden Boy · #8 09-01-2004, 10:27 AM

It's neat, but I'm a fan of having everything splayed out in front of me for my choosing. Not digging and picking...

Passinwind · #9 09-01-2004, 10:29 AM

only the hi fi version works right now, and you need to turn off your pop-up blockers to see it.

Lost me, right there. And a lot of other people, I'd bet.

When I did turn it off, no joy anyway. I notice it says IE 6.0 . Boo to that as well, Mozilla-only in my world. At least have him make a simple text page for us heathens. I hate Flash too, but I hate animations and popups of any flavor, actually.

Oysterman · #10 09-01-2004, 10:38 AM

Sorry. Form over function. User-unfriendly beyond acceptance. Where is the instruction booklet?
Decide whether the site supposed to be informative (at all), or merely art. If the case is the former - I'd say you have to rethink and redo.

Kudos to the webmaster for rejecting Flash though. I hate it myself.

Gia · #11 09-01-2004, 12:04 PM

it's supposed to be very pretentious and arty, so i guess it worked

he says - "if you can't figure out how to work it, then i don't want you listening to the band anyway"
he's mean.

thanks for your input guys, we're not to worried about it being user-unfriendly because that's kind of the point.

ever seen the donnie darko website?

Aaron Saunders · #12 09-01-2004, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gia

it's supposed to be very pretentious and arty, so i guess it worked

he says - "if you can't figure out how to work it, then i don't want you listening to the band anyway"

he's mean.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Lost me, right there. And a lot of other people, I'd bet.

When I did turn it off, no joy anyway. I notice it says IE 6.0 . Boo to that as well, Mozilla-only in my world. At least have him make a simple text page for us heathens. I hate Flash too, but I hate animations and popups of any flavor, actually.

+1

vbass · #13 09-01-2004, 12:14 PM

Yup, good luck with your site that doesn't work for anyone.

**baba** · #14 09-01-2004, 12:32 PM

I was about to type that it wouldn't load and then I read the other posts. I have little tolerance for non-intuitive web sites.

Passinwind · #15 09-01-2004, 02:30 PM

it's supposed to be very pretentious and arty, so i guess it worked

Not really, if the majority of people can't even see it. Why bother with all that code? A blank page would do just fine for your purposes, no?

he says - "if you can't figure out how to work it, then i don't want you listening to the band anyway

His wish is my command.

I'm all about arty pretentiousness, but with all due respect, this ain't it. Take a look at this: http://www.holeworld.com .

Oysterman · #16 09-01-2004, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gia

he says - "if you can't figure out how to work it, then i don't want you listening to the band anyway"
he's mean.

He's arrogant and unrealistic. If I don't want to convert to Windows/IE and figure out an unintuitive interface, I'm not "worthy" of your music? Dumbest thing I've heard in quite some time. "It takes two to tango" - if you don't put in some effort in trying to be heard, I won't bother trying to hear you.

Quote:

thanks for your input guys, we're not to worried about it being user-unfriendly because that's kind of the point.

Well then, I guess you only have yourselves to blame in case your message won't reach out. Don't for a moment think it's our loss - quite the contrary, the loss is yours. I definitely have better things to do than support a pretentious band with an arrogant fool of a webmaster. Such as being a pompous prick on TB.

**john turner** · #17 09-01-2004, 02:49 PM

i'd suggest that, pretense and cleverness aside, there be a way to get into the site quickly that's somewhat arcane. this way, the folks who make it through the "pretense gate" can return again without having to wade through all the tests.

then again, i'd offer that if the guy wants his band to not have anybody know about them, he shouldn't put up a website at all. that's really phony. seriously, he should really examine why he wants to be in a band in the first place.

all that being said, i kinda liked the general look, it was very different.

bassturtle · #18 09-01-2004, 04:09 PM

It worked just fine for me. I liked it. My favorite download was 'nothing to report.' My favorite picture was 'nothing to report.' My favorite news info was 'nothing to report.'

Just kidding ya. Cool site.

cb56 · #19 09-01-2004, 05:20 PM

I like plain and simple, to the point fast loading web pages. Band photo,logo, song list, show shedule, band bio, gig photo page, guestbook etc.... When I go to a band website I want band info. I don't want to play a video game. I don't need the webpage to make my socks roll up and down and cause sparks fly out of my butt.
Dig

Petebass · #20 09-01-2004, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oysterman

He's arrogant and unrealistic. If I don't want to convert to Windows/IE and figure out an unintuitive interface, I'm not "worthy" of your music? Dumbest thing I've heard in quite some time.

+1