The second draft of my website (work in progress) as it's evolving.
http://williamdraven.co.cc/
design work complements of Efa Dunstan
http://williamdraven.co.cc/
design work complements of Efa Dunstan
theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
Website Evolution
- Thread starter William Draven
- Start date
i cant wait to see your product ideas. i thought it was an OK site. not mind blowingly beautiful, or grotesque, whichever you prefer.
Hmmm, I'm loving the designs, but I'm not to fond of it overall. I think one problem with it is there is too much purple. Just my thoughts on it though. Good luck with it!
Cheers
Cheers
I liked it. Some people might find all of the text hard to read with that font and color choice. The text itself read very well, though.
More pictures!
Scott.
PS: On the FAQs page, "Click Here" should be more noticeably a link.
More pictures!
Scott.
PS: On the FAQs page, "Click Here" should be more noticeably a link.
Looks good; I like the human blockhead performance! Your performing style is great; I had no idea you were on WGM.
I think it is a lot better than your last attempt. Spash / Enter page looks cool...I like it. Once you get in to the main page the purple is a bit much but the black and white stand out nicely on it. I'm still not decided on if the shadowing on the text makes it difficult to read or if there would be a better suggestion.
I would say you need one more photo of yourself on the main homepage.
Including your 3 videos is a good touch for people to see what type of "character" they are getting.
Keep up the good work. You could put music in the background possibly as well.
I would say you need one more photo of yourself on the main homepage.
Including your 3 videos is a good touch for people to see what type of "character" they are getting.
Keep up the good work. You could put music in the background possibly as well.
I would definitely vote against background music on the site.
Also, I am not sure you should have the "enter site" page. What is the point of having it?
People will type in the URL to go to your site in the first place. Just having an extra "enter site" page before getting to the actual page seems a bit unnecessary. Most web design schools/ online sources will advice against it for when building a professional site (ie w3schools).
I do like the overall design and layout, (color scheme etc), but do agree on the heavy purple vibe coming from it. I would also consider a smaller font for the entire page. It seems a little "bulky" in terms of content, and the overall look might seem better with a smaller font.
I noticed that the site loads a bit slowly when switching from page to page, and it loads in blocks, so I took a look at the source code and see that your web designer is using tables. I would highly suggest that you look into using an external .css file and use a <div> layout. This will allow you to make changes on your site in the future very very easily, and will provide for a more optimal memory/size economization (speed of the site).
Since the entire right side of each page is one entire graphic (the way the site is designed with tables and transparent cells, etc... this needs to be done I guess), is the main reason why the page loads slowly.
If you look into using <div>s and a css file, you will be able to update each page VERY simply, rather than having to adjust each individual graphic for each page.
Take a look at http://www.csszengarden.com for an example of how much more effective this is, and http://www.w3schools.com for CSS reference materials.
Also, I am not sure you should have the "enter site" page. What is the point of having it?
People will type in the URL to go to your site in the first place. Just having an extra "enter site" page before getting to the actual page seems a bit unnecessary. Most web design schools/ online sources will advice against it for when building a professional site (ie w3schools).
I do like the overall design and layout, (color scheme etc), but do agree on the heavy purple vibe coming from it. I would also consider a smaller font for the entire page. It seems a little "bulky" in terms of content, and the overall look might seem better with a smaller font.
I noticed that the site loads a bit slowly when switching from page to page, and it loads in blocks, so I took a look at the source code and see that your web designer is using tables. I would highly suggest that you look into using an external .css file and use a <div> layout. This will allow you to make changes on your site in the future very very easily, and will provide for a more optimal memory/size economization (speed of the site).
Since the entire right side of each page is one entire graphic (the way the site is designed with tables and transparent cells, etc... this needs to be done I guess), is the main reason why the page loads slowly.
If you look into using <div>s and a css file, you will be able to update each page VERY simply, rather than having to adjust each individual graphic for each page.
Take a look at http://www.csszengarden.com for an example of how much more effective this is, and http://www.w3schools.com for CSS reference materials.
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Tokyo,
Take a look at mine. I have background music and I think it flows well with my site so I'm curious why you are so against it. There are no lyrics.
www.everhartmagic.com
I use a template from bludomain.
You definitely know your stuff.
Take a look at mine. I have background music and I think it flows well with my site so I'm curious why you are so against it. There are no lyrics.
www.everhartmagic.com
I use a template from bludomain.
You definitely know your stuff.
rave ~
Yours is very nice indeed. I see you are using Flash however, which definitely complements the background music (I also really enjoyed this music in A Beautiful Mind, thus it is a great choice).
The problem with sites that implement background music, is that either:
1: The site content/ goal does not really warrant the use of music or need it.
2: The music does not fit the content (whether the site goal warrants the use or not).
3: Even if the goal/ content/ architecture of the site warrants the use of music, the music overshadows the design, thus making the music seem like another simple "added feature to the site just because I can" type ordeal.
4: There is not enough content on the site making the music seem "overdone" and or "trying too hard" to make the site stand out.
Remember that to have a successful website, you need to plan in depth and make sure that you have the following three things: A clear goal of the website, clean architecture that matches the goal and does not overdo or underplay the site, and enough content to fulfill your goal and warrant the architecture design that you have chosen.
For Draven's site, I think the architecture is simple enough yet user involved enough to keep it interesting. I think that he has enough content for each page and it is clear what he is trying to achieve through the website. I also feel that the design is good (though should work on the color scheme and font size, as I mentioned before). That being said, I think the music would do nothing really to "improve" the site, thus leaving only the possibility of making it seem a little "corny," or "cliche".
There is definitely a time and place where BGM can be useful for improving a sie, but for a professional magician's site, we should think about "what am I trying to sell here."
To be quite honest though, I could see it working a bit better on Draven's site than on your own, since the music would play well with the fact that he seems to do a bit more with Stage and Theatrics, where you concentrate more on Close-up.
However, I do like the way your site is designed (dont get me wrong here).
Anyway, my two cents again =)
Yours is very nice indeed. I see you are using Flash however, which definitely complements the background music (I also really enjoyed this music in A Beautiful Mind, thus it is a great choice).
The problem with sites that implement background music, is that either:
1: The site content/ goal does not really warrant the use of music or need it.
2: The music does not fit the content (whether the site goal warrants the use or not).
3: Even if the goal/ content/ architecture of the site warrants the use of music, the music overshadows the design, thus making the music seem like another simple "added feature to the site just because I can" type ordeal.
4: There is not enough content on the site making the music seem "overdone" and or "trying too hard" to make the site stand out.
Remember that to have a successful website, you need to plan in depth and make sure that you have the following three things: A clear goal of the website, clean architecture that matches the goal and does not overdo or underplay the site, and enough content to fulfill your goal and warrant the architecture design that you have chosen.
For Draven's site, I think the architecture is simple enough yet user involved enough to keep it interesting. I think that he has enough content for each page and it is clear what he is trying to achieve through the website. I also feel that the design is good (though should work on the color scheme and font size, as I mentioned before). That being said, I think the music would do nothing really to "improve" the site, thus leaving only the possibility of making it seem a little "corny," or "cliche".
There is definitely a time and place where BGM can be useful for improving a sie, but for a professional magician's site, we should think about "what am I trying to sell here."
To be quite honest though, I could see it working a bit better on Draven's site than on your own, since the music would play well with the fact that he seems to do a bit more with Stage and Theatrics, where you concentrate more on Close-up.
However, I do like the way your site is designed (dont get me wrong here).
Anyway, my two cents again =)
I certainly don't know web design like Tokyo does, but I do know what annoys the crap out of me. Websites with music/sounds I can't turn off. Seriously.
If I'm on the computer I'm probably listening to music already. If I'm not, then I want it quiet. If I load a site and music starts up, I take a second to see if I can turn off the music. If I can't, I close the site.
If I'm on the computer I'm probably listening to music already. If I'm not, then I want it quiet. If I load a site and music starts up, I take a second to see if I can turn off the music. If I can't, I close the site.
Christopher, couldn't you just hit the mute button on the computer or do you mean while you are listening to some mp3's or iTunes?
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Yes, MP3s. Pretty much everything I watch or listen to is through my computer.
Edit: Also, my name is Christopher, please.
Edit: Also, my name is Christopher, please.
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Looking good William. The only thing I would personally change at this point is the backgrounds. You have some subtle black graphics in the background, although they look good, they are very hard to see. The purple/maroon color tends to blend them out. If you could get the black to be a bit more prominent, I think it would dress it up quite a bit. Just my two cents.
Since this is basically your online business card, I would loose the "Enter" screen...unless you could have some awesome Flash animation to lead into your main page. People might associate your site at first glance with "Adult" sites, which could hurt hit counts. But that is totally up to you.
PS. I enjoyed the videos. I have read countless posts from you on the forums, but have never really seen your performances. Very good.
Keep up the good work.
Since this is basically your online business card, I would loose the "Enter" screen...unless you could have some awesome Flash animation to lead into your main page. People might associate your site at first glance with "Adult" sites, which could hurt hit counts. But that is totally up to you.
PS. I enjoyed the videos. I have read countless posts from you on the forums, but have never really seen your performances. Very good.
Keep up the good work.
Okay i'm sorry Draven but i agree with tokyo.
The angle on which the site has been developed is by a guy who probably started 10 years back with netscape and has not really evolved that much.
Tables are only used on some nearly utopical site which cannot stay together with Divs.
Also the ENTER SITE thing is bad for two reasons:
a) most people wont bother
b) most search engines wont find your site
Also having content in plain text is always better. For loading and for viewing purpouses. Also it makes your site search engine friendly.
Background music is always a bad choice, if im listening to a song and yours comes on top i will most likely close it because my song is superior.
M.
The angle on which the site has been developed is by a guy who probably started 10 years back with netscape and has not really evolved that much.
Tables are only used on some nearly utopical site which cannot stay together with Divs.
Also the ENTER SITE thing is bad for two reasons:
a) most people wont bother
b) most search engines wont find your site
Also having content in plain text is always better. For loading and for viewing purpouses. Also it makes your site search engine friendly.
Background music is always a bad choice, if im listening to a song and yours comes on top i will most likely close it because my song is superior.
M.
Excatly what I was thinking. The design looks tacky. And I dont dig the dark thing going on, but I guess thats your performance style.
As for reverhart your website looks very good, looks professional, I would add a mute button for the music, but I like it.
J.