I just switched bands (and instruments). As many of you may know, I used to play keyboards with an Oldies Band (www.shallowsband.com).

I am now with a Wedding/Dance band playing drums and doing vocals.

I have designed both websites.

My new website is at www.cloudnyne.com.
My picture isn't updated yet, so don't look for me!

Anyway, please stop by the website and let me know what you think. It's still a work in progress. http://www.cloudnyne.com

Regards,
Al

Al,

The site looks great, but has some classic design flaws. First, the graphic resolutions are too high for those who wish to view the site using dial-up. At 33,3333 baud it took nearly four minutes for the site contents to appear.

Next, the person that created the site made the cardinal sin of applying the graphics in pixels instead of a percentage of the page. Consequently, a person using 600 X 800 vieing mode has to scroll across and down the screens to view them--they're much larger than the normal screen size. Conversely, the person using a high resolution screen sees tiny lettering and graphics.

To correct this, everything must be changed from pixels to percentage. For example, the page is 100% X 100% of the viewing area. This means it will cover the screen only, regardless of the selected resolution. Then objects within the page are set as a percentage of the page and positioned accordingly. For example, if a photo is to take up an area that is 20% X 10% of the page and positioned 10% from the page top then it would 60% from the page bottom. It would be positioned a certain percentage from the page's left margin, etc. In doing this, everything becomes relative. To view the source codes of a page, go to the top of this screen and click VIEW, then click PAGE SOURCE. When the screen opens, you will see what I mean about percentages.

BTW, I leanred all this from Mike Sutliff--he's the web design ghuru!

Good Luck,

Gary

Great Points, Gary!!!

I guess the only way to speed things up is to use color instead of graphics. But, the visuals will suffer. I guess it's a trade-off.

Thanks for the feedback!
Al

Thanks Gary,

As much as I like hearing accolades such as this (and I do), I figured I should clarify something....I don't do actual web design. I am in charge of several Microsoft web servers here at work. But I had nothing to do with creating the content on those servers. I've come to learn that when you're in charge of the box, then you mysteriously become in charge of the content. I've got a pretty good understanding of how things work and what to do to fix things, but I really don't design.

If you have questions regarding actual design, you might want to give Pennywizz6 a shout. If you're having a problem with the current code, then maybe I can help. For now, you could try some of Gary's suggestions and see if you like the look (that boy's a fast learner).

-mike

I like it... the dancing girl definitely provides impact. Being a photographer, I couldn't help but notice the 2 mug shots look a little bit like... well, mug shots. Having them done professionally would give a more professional look overall. Otherwise, it looks great.

Glenn

IMHO I don't like sites that I have to scroll sideways to see. It looks to me like poor planning. I also thought the the dancing girl was too big and distracting.
I don't claim to be a pro but when I see a site like that I move on.
I think Gary is right on.