Total Newbie...

mmgjessie.TakeThisOut@cs.com (Mmgjessie) wrote in
news:20040126002948.27224.00000824@mb-m11.news.cs.com:

 > My name is Mitchell Jessie and I'm a musician from Ohio. I'm trying
 > to use the web to market my band and my music, but the webpage is
 > certainly not building itself... I don't necessarily want to become a
 > master webpage designer, I'd just like to get the word out about the
 > things I've got going on. You can see what I've got so far at
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.mitchelljessie.com." target="_blank">http://www.mitchelljessie.com.</a> Frontpage just ain't getting it done
 > for me. Recommendations about a cheap program that's better would be
 > great. Thanks.

Ouch.

With the greatest of respect, you should stick to what you're good at -
music - and pay someone (or find a talented volunteer) to do your site
professionally. (I *know* I can neither sing or play an instrument, so
I'd rather pay for a ticket to see someone like you, than to entertain
myself with my own singing

A couple of things with your site:

Lose the weather link: You're a band site, not the Weather Network

Break up your content into easily navigable sections;

About The Band
Our Music
Our Gigs
Our Crew
News
Fan Board

Something like that. Right now, you've got this wickedly long scrolling
front page that will just lose people.

Lose the clip-art animation - it's all over the rest of the web, so it's
not presenting anything new to your visitors.

There are others in this NG with a much better aesthetic talent than I
who could/might comment on it (I'm a programmer, so I'll leave that area
alone

For a first effort, you've done well - it's better than putting *nothing*
up at all, which means no one could find anything about your band.

Now that you've got a foothold on the 'net, however, take the next step
and let someone design it for you with a professional touch that will do
both your band and your fans justice.

(Again, this isn't meant to be rude or critical of you personally, but
simply to point out where there are improvements needed)


--
Marc Bissonnette
CGI / Database / Web Management Tools: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.internalysis.com" target="_blank">http://www.internalysis.com</a>
Something To Sell? Looking To Buy? <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.whitewaterclassifieds.ca" target="_blank">http://www.whitewaterclassifieds.ca</a>
Looking for a new ISP? <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.canadianisp.com" target="_blank">http://www.canadianisp.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

Your comments are very appreciated for sure. No offense taken. I suppose
there isn't a program that will do all that stuff for me, huh? Just like there
isn't a program that can turn someone into a musician... If there was, I'd be
a better musician with a better website....>and let someone design it for you
with a professional touch that will do
 >both your band and your fans justice.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

Mmgjessie mmgjessie DeleteThis @cs.com wrote:
 > Your comments are very appreciated for sure. No offense taken. I suppose
 > there isn't a program that will do all that stuff for me, huh? Just like there
 > isn't a program that can turn someone into a musician... If there was, I'd be
 > a better musician with a better website

that pretty much sums it up

the analogy is closest with keyboards...software can do all sorts of
brilliant sequencing and so on, it can transpose and print out sheet
music, pretty much anything...except think

the trouble with building a web site is that it's ALL thinking...since
nobody else will view the site on your set up you can't even simply do a
desk top publishing type thing

OTOH musicians are generally well equipped to learn web design...aside
from myself I know quite a few musos and former musos who build sites, and
a LOT of web designers and developers who do music as a hobby...the two
fit well together

to make a web site work well you have to set up a framework that it works
within rather than trying to control it precisely...so there are plenty of
analogies with setting melody and rhythm...and people who are used to
being creative but not totally prescriptive tend to find web design easier
than people who are used to controlling all aspects of what they create

you may find 1st Page a lot easier to use than Front
Page...<http://www.evrsoft.com/>...it was free last time I looked...it
will mean learning html to get good results, but honestly that isn't
particularly tough...the web stuff section of the site in my sig has a
bunch of tutorials, at least one of which should suit you...others here
can point you to even more...you'll need to learn html 4 and css 1...it'll
take a few hours a week for a couple of weeks to really get going, after
that it'll probably be plain sailing

OTOH you could use the time to chase up more gigs and pay somebody to do
it for you out of the proceeds...only you can tell which is the best
option

--
eric
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ericjarvis.co.uk" target="_blank">www.ericjarvis.co.uk</a>
all these years I've waited for the revolution
and all we end up getting is spin<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

"Mmgjessie" <mmgjessie.RemoveThis@cs.com> wrote in message
news:20040126011033.27224.00000829@mb-m11.news.cs.com...
 > Your comments are very appreciated for sure. No offense taken. I suppose
 > there isn't a program that will do all that stuff for me, huh? Just like
there
 > isn't a program that can turn someone into a musician... If there was,
I'd be
 > a better musician with a better website....>and let someone design it for
you
 > with a professional touch that will do
  > >both your band and your fans justice.

I wouldn't normally suggest this, but try net objects fusion, its actually
pretty good...

also take a look around <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.CoolHomePages.com" target="_blank">www.CoolHomePages.com</a>

HTH's

Gerry<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

On 26 Jan 2004 05:29:48 GMT, mmgjessie.DeleteThis@cs.com (Mmgjessie) wrote:

 >My name is Mitchell Jessie and I'm a musician from Ohio. I'm trying to use the
 >web to market my band and my music, but the webpage is certainly not building
 >itself... I don't necessarily want to become a master webpage designer, I'd
 >just like to get the word out about the things I've got going on.
<font color=purple> >You can see what I've got so far at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.mitchelljessie.com.</font" target="_blank">http://www.mitchelljessie.com.</font</a>>
 >Frontpage just ain't getting it done for me. Recommendations about a cheap
 >program that's better would be great. Thanks.


When I first started making websites years ago I was at the point you
are now. Not being able to make the step from amateur to somewhat more
professional. Then I found the concept of templates: ready made
graphical designs that you can use as a complete website, or as a
basis to work from. They often come complete with HTML code and are
ready to use. However, the code is often automatically generated by
software and is not optimized. Anyway, I learned a lot from tinkering
with templates, seeing how the graphics, code and scripts were made
up. Changing stuff, moving things around etc. You run into troubles,
you search for answers and solutions, read articles and books and
learn learn learn. My point is: it is much easier to start from a nice
graphic design and trying to modify it, than to make the giant leap
from an amateur frontpage thingy to a semi-professional site yourself.
There are lots of free and cheap templates around. And the
professional ones cost you about 30 to 60 dollars. Mind you, you will
have to work on it and it will cost you tiem and effort. If you don't
want to do that, just hire a webdesigner

Of course templates are not unique, so you might run into another site
with somewhat the same design. That chance is very small, since most
templates are used only a couple of times, and there are zillion
websites on the web.

Regards,
Jurgen Nijhuis
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.tiptoptemplates.com" target="_blank">www.tiptoptemplates.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

"Mmgjessie" <mmgjessie RemoveThis @cs.com> wrote in message
news:20040126002948.27224.00000824@mb-m11.news.cs.com
 > My name is Mitchell Jessie and I'm a musician from Ohio. I'm trying
 > to use the web to market my band and my music, but the webpage is
 > certainly not building itself... I don't necessarily want to become
 > a master webpage designer, I'd just like to get the word out about
 > the things I've got going on. You can see what I've got so far at
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.mitchelljessie.com." target="_blank">http://www.mitchelljessie.com.</a> Frontpage just ain't getting it done
 > for me. Recommendations about a cheap program that's better would be
 > great. Thanks.

Not bad for a first effort, you just have to keep improving it. Lose the
animations and colored text on a black background and it'll be a lot
better. Then organize it in the way that was already suggested. You
don't have to make a huge project out of it. Just take it one step at a
time.
--
Red E. Kilowatt
Advertise your webmaster-related products
and services in news:alt.www.webmaster.ads
Read the FAQs at: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://aww-faq.org" target="_blank">http://aww-faq.org</a> and <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://awwa.aww-faq.org/" target="_blank">http://awwa.aww-faq.org/</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

 >Not bad for a first effort, you just have to keep improving it. Lose the
 >animations and colored text on a black background and it'll be a lot
 >better. Then organize it in the way that was already suggested. You
 >don't have to make a huge project out of it. Just take it one step at a
 >time.

I really appreciate all of the excellant advise. I've lurked about this
newsgroup long enough to know that it is packed with very knowledgeable
professionals. By the way, I spent hours today reading about RtS (The
Stoopid)... I haven't been that entertained in a long time, but I can't find
the page... I've misplaced it. Could somebody be so kind as to provide the
link or an update on this goofball, Richard? My friends are gonna get a huge
kick out of it all.
Thanks again for the great advice.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie... 

Mmgjessie wrote:

  >>Not bad for a first effort, you just have to keep improving it. Lose the
  >>animations and colored text on a black background and it'll be a lot
  >>better. Then organize it in the way that was already suggested. You
  >>don't have to make a huge project out of it. Just take it one step at a
  >>time.
 >
 >
 > I really appreciate all of the excellant advise. I've lurked about this
 > newsgroup long enough to know that it is packed with very knowledgeable
 > professionals. By the way, I spent hours today reading about RtS (The
 > Stoopid)... I haven't been that entertained in a long time, but I can't find
 > the page... I've misplaced it. Could somebody be so kind as to provide the
 > link or an update on this goofball, Richard? My friends are gonna get a huge
 > kick out of it all.

Don't buy into it. You can't believe anything anyone says about it
(unless that someone is me ). There are only two possible
explanations for all that bullshit.
1. It is created entirely by a seriously unstable person with advanced
multiple personality disorder.
2. It is created entirely by 2-15 seriously unstable persons with
advanced multiple personality disorder.

Don't waste your time. Killfile them all.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Total Newbie...