My new site - looking to improve it!

[hiremattblack]

Hi,

This is my new site: http://www.hireamusician.com.au/

I'm looking for any tips I can get on how to improve it, and would appreciate any constructive criticism you might have.

Cheers!

Matt

 

[d a v e]

logo should be a gif or png

navigation icons are nice but don't fit in at all with the simple monotone feel fo the site - you also have to rollover them to understand what they all are

white text on black is a bit stark - as are the borders - try css3 borders with a small rounding of the corners, and maybe make the background #333 so not so much contrast with the text and background

tables should be for data only, not for layout

the front picture is a bit uncomfortable - i think it's the angle of it, and the heavy metal pose not sure whether that fits as well as the image on the media page

could all do with a bit of breathing space too - more padding around text and elements

it's not bad but it looks a bit amateurish, which in turn reflects on your image

arial is a really boring choice - how about trebuchet or georgia (quite class but also approachable)? or have a look at fontface (e.g. from somewhere like http://www.fontsquirrel.com/)

 

[abd_webdesign]

Hi,

This is my new site: http://www.hireamusician.com.au/

I'm looking for any tips I can get on how to improve it, and would appreciate any constructive criticism you might have.

Cheers!

Matt

I actually like the rollover aspect of the buttons but I agree with the other poster about the icons not fitting with the look of the site. I also agree about the photo being an unusual angle that just doesn't fit for some reason. Other than that, I like the look of the site. I like the borders as you have them now.

 

[hiremattblack]

Thanks for the feedback, very helpful!

 

[Dakota]

Looks great, nice variety on the front page, easy to navigate.

 

[hiremattblack]

Have made some changes based on feedback received here and on another web design site.

http://www.hireamusician.com.au/index.html

Didn't have the time to redesign the site without tables (will look at this down the track) and was unable to work out how to put rounded corners on the borders using CSS, but otherwise I hope this is an improvement and that the site is slowly getting there.

Better? Worse?

Regarding fonts, is there a way around the problems with fonts not rendering properly on different browsers/computers? Isn't that the reason you stick to standard fonts for website text? I'd like to use BodoniTown, which is the font on my logo, but am concerned that it will be a mess on someone else's browser.

And is there a good reason that graphics can't be rendered as jpegs? I can convert the logo to a .png if necessary.

 

[d a v e]

http://www.cssportal.com/css3-rounded-corner/

look at using @font-face but remember that you need to own the rights to use the font on the web or use a font that's free

logo is not a photo or has complicated gradients so will be smaller and look cleaner as a gif or 8-bit png

better photo on the front now

 

[hiremattblack]

Ahh beaut! Thanks again Dave.

 

[Phreaddee]

It's a shame that you don't have the time to remove the tables, because it really will help and make a difference.

For a start its too skinny. even on my laptop its skinny.
but then all the content is squashed into these little boxes.
it needs room to breathe. the borders only add to that cramping.

I really don't like the menu buttons. I don't think they suit your style or your aesthetic. Again being a vertical menu adds to that odd downward flow. (remember widescreen viewing is more commonplace these days)

Start from 960px wide or higher.

As for your content, more interactivity.
less clicking to get to content.

If you write originals, put them up on there.
Videos - set up a vimeo or youtube account and embed them.

Music - you could use html5 if you were keen, or integrate a bandcamp account. Add a regular contact as well, not just a "booking form"

integrate a blog, your facebook wall, whatever, interaction.
more interaction, more traffic, more work.

 

[hiremattblack]

Thanks for the feedback Phreadee.

You must be in a rush or something , because you missed the video on the homepage and the 5 videos embedded on the "media" page, as well as the regular contact (email addy on email page + phone number on every page of the site.) Anyway, points taken about page size etc

As you can see on the homepage there is a Facebook link, with the information of the news feed repeated on the Facebook page (I didn't want them to be identical because I only wanted the best content on the site itself) and am currently writing content for a blog, which I will hopefully publish next week. I have pages on Bandcamp, Reverbnation etc. but don't like to use their players (bad quality, slow loading, etc), and they can pull traffic away from the site. I like to have the audio files hosted on the site itself because it's more content, plus I get to dictate the quality of the audio.

Anything else I should consider including on the site?

 

[NYWebWorx]

I'm not a big fan of white text on black backgrounds and not a fan of the rollover icons as navigation. It is a good looking site and the message is there for visitors to understand. Which is the most important aspect. Good Job

 

[WebBooths]

Nice work.

 

[reverseengineer]

Personally, I like it. I love the tabs on the left side and the icons. Did you design them yourself? Perhaps add more social media functions and maybe a live feed. But overall, great job.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Love the mid-tempo featured audio, and the navigation set-up.

The only thing I don't like is the shadow the table border casts on the blue headers.

 

[TheWebTaylor]

It all seems a bit bland to me. I like the layout, but the icons and boxes don't stand out enough and just seem dull.