Strange Weather construction blog

[Marc Alan Goodman]

and we are FINALY WORKING AGAIN!

I'll have some more updates soon. For now enjoy all the photos on our new website (link in my signature)

[Snarl 12/8]

and we are FINALY WORKING AGAIN!

I'll have some more updates soon. For now enjoy all the photos on our new website (link in my signature)

Dude, your new web site has some serious flaws. Frames and splash screens were usually a bad idea back when they were popular, and they haven't gotten any better with age.

Take a look at your traffic logs and watch the die off in traffic between people that see the home page (just the logo) and people who get to the actual content. I bet it's something like 10:1. I created a site once that was actually required reading at a place I worked. They insisted on a splash screen to make it cooler and more brandier and we had something like 10,000 hits to the splash page and 400 to the next page in a month (or week? it was a long time ago). People want real content when they hit a link. To me, a splash page with just a logo or something (no real, useful info) says "I want to waste your time."

The frames make it impossible for someone to send a link in an email to a specific page (say gear, or contact info). Everyone's got to sit through that splash page every visit unless they know how to rifle your code to get to the good stuff.

Sorry for the harsh critique. Normally I don't say anything to owners of splash screens even though they are a serious pet peeve of mine (if you can't tell), but I'm just trying to help.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

and we are FINALY WORKING AGAIN!

I'll have some more updates soon. For now enjoy all the photos on our new website (link in my signature)

Dude, your new web site has some serious flaws. Frames and splash screens were usually a bad idea back when they were popular, and they haven't gotten any better with age.

Take a look at your traffic logs and watch the die off in traffic between people that see the home page (just the logo) and people who get to the actual content. I bet it's something like 10:1. I created a site once that was actually required reading at a place I worked. They insisted on a splash screen to make it cooler and more brandier and we had something like 10,000 hits to the splash page and 400 to the next page in a month (or week? it was a long time ago). People want real content when they hit a link. To me, a splash page with just a logo or something (no real, useful info) says "I want to waste your time."

The frames make it impossible for someone to send a link in an email to a specific page (say gear, or contact info). Everyone's got to sit through that splash page every visit unless they know how to rifle your code to get to the good stuff.

Sorry for the harsh critique. Normally I don't say anything to owners of splash screens even though they are a serious pet peeve of mine (if you can't tell), but I'm just trying to help.

Ha. Thanks I think? Yeah, I spent a bunch of time going over the idea of the splash screen with the designer, but he liked it and in the end I grew to as well. I don't really care how many people hit the first page compared to the next. Anybody who's looking for us will get past it, and if they're not it's pretty unlikely that they're we're what they want.

The site was originally designed in flash (?!) which we ended up scrapping for the frame setup, but again who cares when everything's nice and easy to find? If you want to send something to someone just tell them the site. If they can't take the time to click one menu item then they probably wouldn't have cared about what they'd be looking at anyway.

[Snarl 12/8]

Please take a look at your visit logs at the end of this month and see if you still feel that way. I'm trying to think of an audio analogy for you... how about, it's like if you tracked everything all funky and weird and phasey and out of tune and trebly and then said, well, if they don't like our songs enough to listen to it, then we weren't their cup of tea to begin with. Or something. The web's been around for a long time now, you don't really need to guess about what's going to work and what's not any more.

[vxboogie]

Ha. Thanks I think? Yeah, I spent a bunch of time going over the idea of the splash screen with the designer, but he liked it and in the end I grew to as well. I don't really care how many people hit the first page compared to the next. Anybody who's looking for us will get past it, and if they're not it's pretty unlikely that they're we're what they want.

The site was originally designed in flash (?!) which we ended up scrapping for the frame setup, but again who cares when everything's nice and easy to find? If you want to send something to someone just tell them the site. If they can't take the time to click one menu item then they probably wouldn't have cared about what they'd be looking at anyway.

A couple of thoughts if you want to do something about it. You can write a script that will automatically go to page 2 after a few seconds or will drop a cookie and bypass the splash screen on subsequent visits. I agree with Snarl that they annoy me more than excite me, but I'm usually more about the functionality than the artistic element.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Please take a look at your visit logs at the end of this month and see if you still feel that way. I'm trying to think of an audio analogy for you... how about, it's like if you tracked everything all funky and weird and phasey and out of tune and trebly and then said, well, if they don't like our songs enough to listen to it, then we weren't their cup of tea to begin with. Or something. The web's been around for a long time now, you don't really need to guess about what's going to work and what's not any more.

Your analogy seems pretty flawed to me. The equivalent of a song where everything was tracked real poorly and sounds broken would be more like a site where it's difficult to find the information you're looking for, or doesn't function properly. My site works perfectly, you simply don't like the aesthetic. That would make it more like Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians". It's totally weird sounding, and not intended for general consumption. More of a niche item. But if you like listening to an hour of instruments phasing against each other you'll be drawn right in. And again, I'm not really worried about visit logs. People who specifically want the information that's available will find the site without any trouble.

More importantly: I didn't post it here in order to get a critique, more of a general update of the state of the studio since people seemed to be interested. Aren't there web design message boards for this stuff? Thanks for what was obviously attempt to be helpful (though personally I read it as a tad harsh), but I'm not particularly interested. I'll get myself back on topic and stick to posting about the construction process :)

[Snarl 12/8]

Sorry.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

No worries. Back to business.

There's a new blog entry up on sonic scoop:

http://bit.ly/Hmpiw6

[HeavyHand]

any progress lately? love reading the Sonic Scoop entries. NY DoB sounds like a fucking nightmare!

[Marc Alan Goodman]

It is. Or was. Only thing's I have left to do with them are a boiler inspection (should be relatively easy) and getting the Certificate of Occupancy at the end, but since we're not changing that just getting it updated that should be relatively simple too (I'm hoping).

New blog entry went up on sonic scoop today! Here:

http://bit.ly/LrqIIl

[Marc Alan Goodman]

The place is all framed up! More photos on the photoblog at http://strangeweatherbrooklyn.blogspot.com

[fossiltooth]

YES. THIS.

[evilaudio]

Yay Marc!!!

[Marc Alan Goodman]

There's a fresh blog entry up:

http://www.sonicscoop.com/2012/08/03/ma ... ng-wiring/

and plenty of new photos of the technical wiring, framing, electrical, hvac and now sheetrock going up over at the photoblog:

http://strangeweatherbrooklyn.blogspot.com

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Our live room has soffits and our control room has sheetrock! check it:





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