new/updated website online .. feedback & bad typo's

[bendermastering]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

Hi Guys,

I've updated my webspace recently and it's on-line now ... so any feedback appreciated and bad typo alerts would be appreciated .. English is not my native language ..

thnx in advance ...

mastering & masteringstudio - www.inlinemastering.com

I'm not an native English speaker so I'm not the best guy around here to look for typos and others,but just to report that the website looks nice here on the iPad.

There's a lot of blank space (with just the background picture) after the main content and before the footer, don't know if it is intentional or a bug but it is weird.

[inlinenl]

Thnx,

No it's intended ... people can scroll up/down to see the picture ... saves me making a gallery page with just pictures ....

I just checked on an Ipad and few macbooks , and to me it looks killer ...

still some few mistakes in looks and fonts etc.

but thnx for feedback/comment

[Peakly]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

I've updated my webspace recently and it's on-line now ...

I think it's cool. The picture of your studio on the Albums page is sweet!

Mychal

[Tom McC]

Originally Posted by inlinenl;8205905[/B

... so any feedback appreciated and bad typo alerts would be appreciated

Typo/grammar nit-picking police here, Wim, responding to your emergency call :-)
Comments & suggestions below (only first 3 pages so far) are in no way intended to be squelchy - I thought you did a nice job.

In general:
"masteringstudio" -> "mastering studio

Welcome page:
Start each lne with a capital letter and end it with a period, not a comma or space plus comma.

"musical, professional experienced and a reliable mastering service." ->
"a musical, professional, experienced and reliable mastering service."

Home page:
"the Netherlands" " -> "The Netherlands"
Too many "tights"?. Perhaps -> "if you're in a hurry to meet a close deadline or have a tight budget."
"needs it's own approach" -> "needs its own approach"
"Lot depends on" -> "A lot depends on"
"styles en genres" -> "styles and genres"
"As a mastering engineer I'm" -> "As a mastering engineer, I'm"
"clean pristine dynamic sounding masters" -> "clean, pristine, dynamic-sounding masters"
"excel your expectations" -> "exceed your expectations"
"project you have worked on in the last 2 years , or" -> "project that you have worked on for the last two years, or"
"for you, no matter what , we love mastering" -> "for you. No matter what, we love mastering"

About me:
"Inlinemastering is founded" -> "Inlinemastering was founded'"
"projectstudio" -> "project studio"
"music as classical" -> "music such as classical"
"Around 20 I" -> "Around age 20, I"
"getting better I've got a beautiful loving/caring wife, and three great" -> "getting better, I've got a beautiful loving/caring wife and three great"
"mastering-engineers" -> "mastering engineers" (for consistency with other pages)
"( best sound )" -> "(best sound)"
Be consistent with an elipsis as 3 periods, not 4 then 2, then... :-)

[Michael E]

Call me a snob, but the only way to read the text, without stressing the eyes is:

[inlinenl]

Thnx Michael ( I know you Russians love to read ) ... sorry sticking to this font & size I feel it's okay ... and you can so.
Thnx Tom McC ... you made my day ... :-) all updated ... really appreciated ... will take the remarks ... into account.
Thnx Mychal ... it was still an old image ... I've updated it with a non stretched version .. hope okay.

[Michael E]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

Thnx Michael ( I know you Russians love to read ) ... sorry sticking to this font & size I feel it's okay ... and you can so.

No no, it's not about mysterious russian soul
I just work in design/advertising industry, so that's why.

The best mastering business web site I saw so far is:
Online Mastering | Audio Mastering - CD and Download

Of cause, my Safari Reader example was exaggerated, but anyway - good readability is so crucial for selling your services. (because people will actually read it)

[inlinenl]

Okay Michael I agree with you .. it should be readable ... but I checked on Ipads/Iphones and 4 different macbooks and few windows system ... maybe I'm to focussed on images .. but on all systems I could read ok .. maybe as designer you have a super-high resolution 2440/1660 :-)))

I like the site from Holger, I just go for a different feel/layout ... as we all are different ...

Going to 11/12 fontsize just looks so silly :-)))

[Michael E]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

we all are different

Yeah, you are right.

Anyway, conversion rate (percentage of visitors turned into customers) is a king.
If it's increasing after the redesign – everything is ok.

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by Michael E

The best mastering business web site I saw so far is:
Online Mastering | Audio Mastering - CD and Download

Of cause, my Safari Reader example was exaggerated, but anyway - good readability is so crucial for selling your services. (because people will actually read it)

Thanks a lot.

It's really interesting how a user friendly website will convert into more customers. An excellent investment.

Wim, keep track of your Google statistics and other feedback from customers and potential customers. That can be valuable in improving your web design.

One thing that would make your web site much easier to read: use sub-headers. I don't think you're using any right now.

I recommend that you remove the splash page. Right now it's not only a superfluous page, but it's confusing since it's not the home page. Since there's no top menu feedback (which you should fix in any case), a visitor will probably never click the "Home" page as he would expect the index page to be the home page.

[inlinenl]

thnx Holger ..

you suggest coming into this page as the start : mastering & masteringstudio - www.inlinemastering.com - Home

and just skip the bigger intro page ??

[Lagerfeldt]

Yes.

Make it more appetizing by using sub-headers and less text. Short and sweet.

Please Scan Websites
People don't read web pages - they scan. Once they find a relevant or interesting sub-header they'll read the text below - if it's not overwhelming.

A big chunk of text will be skipped by most visitors. I would never read the chunk on your home/index page, unless it was extremely important for some reason. I'm not trying to be mean, but it's time management, really.

Web Design Usability Checklist
I wrote this PDF for fun and to help others:

Web Design Usability Checklist [7 Mb PDF]

Actually, not just for fun. ;-) I'm also a guest professor in audio engineering and business development at the university, and good web design is one of the subjects in the business development course. A lot of thought and research went into the PDF. I hope you find it useful.

[inlinenl]

Holger ,

aargh ... I miss my splash page & my mission statement ... back & updated ...
somehow I need a front door, otherwise it feels they caught me sitting on the toilet ..
added the menu and replaced home by main ... makes more sense .. home was confusing I agree.
I've always done the front_door .. that's me I guess ..

[Joe_caithness]

the gap between "contact and info" and "clients"
is smaller than the others on the nav bar

[Peakly]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

somehow I need a front door, otherwise it feels they caught me sitting on the toilet ..

Haha. That can be embarrassing.

For what it's worth, I wasn't at all confused by your website, even the first version. And the first time I looked at it was on my phone.

Maybe it's just me, but when I go to the website of someone who is going to do something really important with me, like mastering my music, I read pretty thoroughly. Other sites, yes, I rip through them barely reading at all. But something important like this, I slow way down, and take a good look, and a good listen.

Wim, your website really gives a sense of who you are, and what you would bring to the music. Plus, your gear list is fatness, and your studio looks so cool. It looks like a room I'd like to be in. The News page is nice, with links to videos with music you've mastered.

Your website doesn't look like other websites. But I think that can be a good thing.

Mychal

[finetuner]

Hey Wim,

Nice upgrade, especially the large b/w background pictures.
The album cover overview looks great also.

About the narrow color image collage that appears on each page:
Besides adding some color and a consistent element, these small images don't tell me much more than the large ones. I wonder if you could lose the whole collage thing or replace it by a simple colored dash, something like:

[inlinenl]

Thnx Peter, I really like the color touch, some color to lighten up the darker b&w images ... sticking to it ...
Thnx Mychal for your kinds words .. we all know how much time has gone into music & related work ...

Thnx Tom McC for sending a PM with all typo's on all pages ... amazing !!! Thnx 1000 times ..

On we move ...

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

Actually, not just for fun. ;-) I'm also a guest professor in audio engineering and business development at the university, and good web design is one of the subjects in the business development course

Considering the above, I am very curious about your thoughts about my relaunched website www.ebonycuts.com...
(Full view pictures of the studio will be added when it's finally cleaned up and presentable after the move)

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but similar to Inline's website I feel that I want to communicate a lot through the visual appeal backed up by the written content and not vice versa.

Being such a hybrid medium, I think it is very hard to maintain the perfect balance between communication, individualism and marketing...

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

Okay Michael I agree with you .. it should be readable ... but I checked on Ipads/Iphones and 4 different macbooks and few windows system ... maybe I'm to focussed on images .. but on all systems I could read ok .. maybe as designer you have a super-high resolution 2440/1660 :-)))

I like the site from Holger, I just go for a different feel/layout ... as we all are different ...

Going to 11/12 fontsize just looks so silly :-)))

I am a sucker for small fonts as well. Used to LOVE standart verdana non-aliased at 8pt.

What can help improve readability without having to sacrifice font-sizes is to simply increase the line-height.

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by cuebism

Considering the above, I am very curious about your thoughts about my relaunched website www.ebonycuts.com...
(Full view pictures of the studio will be added when it's finally cleaned up and presentable after the move)

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but similar to Inline's website I feel that I want to communicate a lot through the visual appeal backed up by the written content and not vice versa.

Being such a hybrid medium, I think it is very hard to maintain the perfect balance between communication, individualism and marketing...

I hope it's alright I reply to this since it's partly relevant to the OP as well.

It's got a clear identity and personality, which is good.

Font size and page width (and use of the width) is not optimal.

Use of bold is not consistent. Sometimes it's used for what looks like emphasis or a quote and sometimes its used for sub-headers.

Consistency in general: the links are regular links on the links page, while the audio links on the restoration page are bold. There are superfluous line breaks on the reference page, but correct line breaks on the studio page. Consistency is important because it allows you to relax and focus on the contents, not the presentation.

Check for typos, spelling, etc. E.g. "We will not rest until the artist is a 100% satisfied.". Items on bullet lists should begin with a capital letter, e.g. "analog/digital mastering for digital/vinyl distribution" should be "Analog/[...]". There are full stops and colons in the sub-headers and headlines, i.e. "Mastering." or "Links:".

The title tags need work and should be logical. Definitely read the section about title tags in my PDF, and don't use ALL CAPS.

It loads somewhat slowly for what appears to be a very simple design, and there are not a lot of pictures. Try emptying your browser cache and test with similar sites. How are you displaying images, using a script for some reason? Did you web optimize the pictures for size?

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

It loads somewhat slowly for what appears to be a very simple design, and there are not a lot of pictures. Try emptying your browser cache and test with similar sites. How are you displaying images, using a script for some reason? Did you web optimize the pictures for size?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to have a look!

I used Fireworks for web-compression (in tube-opto mode) although very gently (88%) - the images are around 300-400kb, depending on the overall dimension of each page.

I must confess I was wondering why it loads so slow as well. I did not want to cut the images up into slices - will have to look into that again!

About the bold/headers - I was aiming for a compromise there. Because I'd like to keep the text blocks rather short and compact, I did not want to insert too many headers. Might have to rethink that.

And thanks about the heads up with the Page-Titles. I don't mean to should at my users really...

Again many thanks for your feedback!

[Lagerfeldt]

300 - 400 Kb per file is way over the top for such small and nearly monocromatic pictures.

Use Photoshop's web optimizing JPEG algo with medium setting for those pics and you'll get similar quality at a fraction of the current file size. If you slice the background pic in two before optimizing them it will allow for better optimizing: one for the blank part and one for the detailed graphics at the bottom.

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

300 - 400 Kb per file is way over the top for such small and nearly monocromatic pictures.

Use Photoshop's web optimizing JPEG algo with medium setting for those pics and you'll get similar quality at a fraction of the current file size. If you slice the background pic in two before optimizing them it will allow for better optimizing: one for the blank part and one for the detailed graphics at the bottom.

Thanks for your feedback - I've compressed them a bit further so now I am around 120kb per image. The files are not small though, dimensions are around 1000x1200px approx.
Slicing might be an option actually!

What bothers me is that the progressive loading display only works on the iphone, but neither on safari nor firefox on a regular MacBook or PC.

Thanks again! And now back to the Inline website

[Lion]

Hi Wim,

Nice work !
Have you changed the index page ? I think the first version (with the big picture) or the second (the same as now but in black) was better than in white. In the white version it would be better if you can have all the text (below the photo) on the page without the need to scroll the page to see the entire text (note that i use IE on PC with something like the google toolbar on the top of each page), before the white version it was good so it should be ok to change it...

Then i see the small pictures below the menu are like low quality (pixellized), it's strange since all the other pictures are excellent quality.

And i find that there is a lot of pictures at the same time (wallpaper, below the menu and above the main test), it's a bit disturbing.

On the good note, i think you have beautifull pictures !

The thread is interesting since i need to update my website before the end of the year, with pictures of the room and update the design...

By the way congrats for your work on the Studer

Keep up the good work,

Lionel

[inlinenl]

thnx guys,

okay layout has been stripped & ordered & listened to your remarks , added new photos .. & still some small issues ...
not sure on the main page picture .. but okay will settle for now ...
if the schedule lets me I'll update the text etc. in the next week or so ...

really love the blue reel shot on the studer 1/2 inch on the gear page .... so nice ...

any funny/strange/stupid stuff you see .. please let me know ...

mastering & masteringstudio - www.inlinemastering.com - Contact

to cuebism : like te feel of your site, but get it faster loading .... like holger said .. reduce picture sizes ... if your having trouble doing that .. just send me the pictures, I'll help you out ...

[Lagerfeldt]

Still got the splash page and main page, which doesn't make sense. Splash pages in general don't make sense, they're an annoyance.

If you insist on having a splash page then merge the "Main" and "About Me" pages, i.e. combine those two texts, but reduce it considerably.

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by inlinenl

to cuebism : like te feel of your site, but get it faster loading .... like holger said .. reduce picture sizes ... if your having trouble doing that .. just send me the pictures, I'll help you out ...

Thanks a lot for your feedback!
The strange thing: I did reduce the image size right after Holger's comments - now they're in the 130-150kB range.
But it still loads very slowly. Maybe it has to do with the fairly large image-dimensions?

I guess I will need to do some slicing now...

[cuebism]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

Splash pages in general don't make sense, they're an annoyance.

I disagree - at least to the generalization:

If well done and on point, a static (NOT animated as in flash etc) splash page can give an arriving potential customer a sense of confidence that he/she has found the right place.
Free from the constraints of readability and the likes, the visual created for the splash page can be optimized to both transport the main message and your work ethic of your service.
A well done visual can impress and hit you on a different level than written text.

Of course - it has to be really good, specific to your business and message, and that is indeed quite rare on the web.