Review : 124BPMS.COM

EBORG9 · 04-18-2007, 06:27 PM

Everyone has been so helpful with all my questions about getting my new blog online from theme suggestions, to SQL shutdown, and uploading files, I though I would get your opinions thus far on what your advice has lead to.

I hope to have it fully functional with all of the content and links from the old, free hosted blog, by Sunday.
I may have gone plug in crazy, but I would be interested in your opinions.
Thanks for all the help so far, but don't hold back on the critiques,
Thanks
124BPMS.COM [124 beats Per Minute]
(still can't get the global translator plug in to work, but I'll figure it out)

chicgeek · 04-18-2007, 06:37 PM

Moved from the Blogging forum.

EBORG9 · 04-18-2007, 06:43 PM

Oops, sorry. Thanks.

EBORG9 · 04-30-2007, 07:54 PM

C'mon! Nobody feels like tearing me down? Just though I would add that the old blog: http://thisoldhouse.wordpress.com, got a huge surge in traffic and some PR (4), AFTER I STOPPED USING IT!
What a crock!
This is the new one

Costin Trifan · 04-30-2007, 08:25 PM

Hi!

- on the front page you've misspelled the word "subscribe"
- at the recent posts: I think you should try to differentiate them somehow; insert a line (<hr />) or make a bigger space between them
- the same to "U.K Dance Charts"
- "Weekly Night Clubs and Event Updates" : if that's a treeview then show some lines or something...
- When I click on some item in the "hot topic" list, nothing happens...
- Still there...the cursor doesn't change its "default" value (which is the arrow) until I click the list item (then it's changing to "hand")
- more to come...(if you still want to hear...)

waffles · 04-30-2007, 08:25 PM

Alright, if you want to be ripped apart, here goes...

Just out of curiosity, what language was it in before I switched it to English? Not that that's important, I'm just wondering.

Moving onto real stuff though, do you know if there's a way to have it recognize where I am and setting the default language based on that? That would be cool, although not essential. If you can't, set it to the primary language of your audience.

Onto the first real problem though. Fix up your permalinks. Remembering those is a bitch. There are plugins I can show you that help switch things by adding a 301 Redirect for older posts. Something involving the post's name usually works best, and it's sometimes a good idea to put at least some part of the date. I do year and month, but you can also include day. Not sure about anything beyond that, but I don't know why anyone would want to either.

That's an awful lot of stuff in your sidebars. Try to get enough more content on some pages to even that out some.

What's the purpose of the travel page? I can't see one, which makes it wasted space and resources in my eyes.

You know how blogs can show part of a post and make you click a link to see the rest? That might be a good idea with the articles. The titles aren't all very descriptive, so any other clues that could tell me what I'm about to read would help a lot.

Your list looks a bit messed up on the Nightclub Info page. Why are the US and Europe a list inside of the Tokyo list? Right now, it looks like they're subsections of Tokyo.

Best part of the whole site though is that you didn't hijack my speakers and start playing music once a page loaded. Thank you for that, it's about the most annoying thing in the world.

EBORG9 · 05-04-2007, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by costin_trifan

Hi!

- on the front page you've misspelled the word "subscribe"
- at the recent posts: I think you should try to differentiate them somehow; insert a line (<hr />) or make a bigger space between them
- the same to "U.K Dance Charts"
- "Weekly Night Clubs and Event Updates" : if that's a treeview then show some lines or something...
- When I click on some item in the "hot topic" list, nothing happens...
- Still there...the cursor doesn't change its "default" value (which is the arrow) until I click the list item (then it's changing to "hand")
- more to come...(if you still want to hear...)

- Subscribe fixed

- I have been thinking that, but not experienced with code, just a hack, I will have time this week end to play around with that section, it bugs me too.
-It's a feed from iTunes, can't do much about it
-Didn't know that, I'll get right on it, thanks.
_ don't know how to fix the cursor thing, if you have any suggestions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by waffles

Alright, if you want to be ripped apart, here goes...

Just out of curiosity, what language was it in before I switched it to English? Not that that's important, I'm just wondering.

Moving onto real stuff though, do you know if there's a way to have it recognize where I am and setting the default language based on that? That would be cool, although not essential. If you can't, set it to the primary language of your audience.

Onto the first real problem though. Fix up your permalinks. Remembering those is a bitch. There are plugins I can show you that help switch things by adding a 301 Redirect for older posts. Something involving the post's name usually works best, and it's sometimes a good idea to put at least some part of the date. I do year and month, but you can also include day. Not sure about anything beyond that, but I don't know why anyone would want to either.

That's an awful lot of stuff in your sidebars. Try to get enough more content on some pages to even that out some.

What's the purpose of the travel page? I can't see one, which makes it wasted space and resources in my eyes.

You know how blogs can show part of a post and make you click a link to see the rest? That might be a good idea with the articles. The titles aren't all very descriptive, so any other clues that could tell me what I'm about to read would help a lot.

Your list looks a bit messed up on the Nightclub Info page. Why are the US and Europe a list inside of the Tokyo list? Right now, it looks like they're subsections of Tokyo.

Best part of the whole site though is that you didn't hijack my speakers and start playing music once a page loaded. Thank you for that, it's about the most annoying thing in the world.

*Travel section is waiting to see which travel provider has what I need. forgot to disable it while checking the space on the menu bar.
*I have been having some problems with the language translator, do you think it's even necessary?
* I did the permalinks last week end,
* Content on the sidebars is a lot, I know, I still have content that I don't know where to put, but I am trying to trim the whole thing down, as well as the page navigation which is a bitch, I agree. I need to get into the sheet and figure out how to make them bold, or something.
*Subject matter ...I have heard that from pother people, "What is the site about?", but those into House and Trance and the club scene, know right away, but I do agree it is not as organized as I would like to to be, and I have a crap load more clubs, schedules, and other content to add.

I will get working on those things this week end, thanks for the outside opinion.
Any more?

OH and the cities that look to be under Tokyo, are actually under "Night Clubs", but I agree, it is not structured properly.

waffles · 05-04-2007, 11:06 AM

Needing the translator is something that can only be determined by your audience. If people use it, then keep it. Otherwise just let it go.

You could cut down the sidebar by
1 - Reduce the recent posts from 10 to 5
2 - Lose that Earth thing. While cool, I don't think it adds a whole lot.
3 - Lose the 'Weekly Night Clubs and Event Updates' box. That's what the Club Updates and Events pages are for.
4 - Get rid of the box that tells us what directories your site is in
5 - Get rid of the 'The Detroit Connection and The Godfathers' box.

Just remember that I don't know about this type of music, so some of those things might actually need to stay.

But that could be a concern in itself. Are you making the site only for people who are already in the loop? Or would you like people who are interested but don't know very much to be able to come to your site to learn?

EBORG9 · 05-04-2007, 11:43 AM

*Can't get rid of the "Godfathers" box, Sorry.
*The Earth thing is also a directory and sends worldwide traffic, maybe I'll move it around, but it brings visitors, as it tracks on the stats.

-Cut down posts to 5 -Agreed
-Club updates-Agreed- as soon as I make that page more attractive
-The Translator?...I am targeting more international than U.S. because it is the most widely listened to form of music, by the most amount of people around the world, and has been steady for the last 20 years. Still don't know.
I have noticed an equal amount of translated pages in a variety of languages, but I'm just wondering if people are used to translating pages anyway, or do they need it.
-the directories - yeah, I need to figure out where to put the reciprocal links, but surfers don't know that stuff, only we do.

Most people if they are not into it, won't suddenly change, I am targeting the masses around the world that follow it, are fans, buy the records, and travel to see shows, and it is in the millions, and millions outside of the U.S.

If you know the music and the artists, you will immediately know when you load the page, but I would like to make it more appealing to all.

My biggest problem is organization. I have a crap load of content that is still not in it, and new clubs sending stuff every week that I haven't even added.
And my limited coding skills.

Believe it or not it has come light years in the last 2 weeks

Thanks for the suggestions and tips, I really appreciate a fresh pair of eyes, especially one not familiar with the "scene". It makes a big difference.

waffles · 05-04-2007, 11:53 AM

I'm thinking about people like me who have a slight interest and would like to know more, but just don't know where to start.

And don't worry about not being able to lose things, those were just things that caught my eye that I didn't know what they were there for.

Omega17 · 05-04-2007, 01:45 PM

It is a pretty heavy website,people with slow connection will struggle to load it.

EBORG9 · 05-04-2007, 03:12 PM

Yeah, I know. It wasn't supposed to be this much, It was supposed to be a simple little blog about House Music, but one thing led to another, and now, I need to simplify some things to get it complete.
It takes a few hours on Wed and Thu, just to get all the weekend updates in.
That's another reason I need to simplify it, Holiday Weekends, are going to kill me, and a New Years Eve promo is already in the works, not to mention deals with VIP Club Companies (That sell passes, booths and bottle service).
We'll see what happens. It was free hosted wordpress 4 weeks ago, and on the last update it went from 0 to PR4, (Talk about a waste of time).
So I'm trying to get it right, now.