Nominations - Web Site of the Month - August 2007 [Archive]

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01.07.2007, 11:15

Nominations now being taken for the Web Site of the Month, August 2007.

Please remember the WoM Nomination Guidelines. :)

andyh

01.07.2007, 21:10

I'll start the ball rolling, if I may:

http://woodbridgeexcelsiorband.org/index.shtml

Andy

GingerMaestro

05.07.2007, 12:49

I would like to nominate the National Methodist Youth Brass Band (http://www.nmybb.info/)

It is a good site with lots of info about the banding movement within the Methodist community. Allowing youngsters to express there musical talents

gawber

05.07.2007, 14:34

I'll start the ball rolling, if I may:

http://woodbridgeexcelsiorband.org/index.shtml

Andy

I would like to second this nomination :)

alks

05.07.2007, 17:57

I feel having spent the last 4 years developing and improving this website and coming close in the poll in the past i would like to nominate...

www.marshfieldband.co.uk

The site uses a 'horizontal band' style layout and php functionality. Designed to meet the wai 501 web accessibilty guidlines (see. http://www.w3.org/WAI/) and with a clear, clean and unique design.
Every graphic has been designed by hand for the site, even created a brand new band logo! that will be used for the band from now on. Ive tried to make it work in all browsers and screen sizes so it should look ok? I've generally hand -coded the whole website using XHTML/CSS and PHP, so this was no 5 minute job. In the future there will be more features added as and when i get time!

alks

Big Ste

05.07.2007, 18:20

danni1112

11.07.2007, 16:36

Hey, I'd like to nominate Old Silkstone 'B' Band:

http://www.oldsilkstone-b-band.co.uk/

winterman

12.07.2007, 10:57

Hey, I'd like to nominate Old Silkstone 'B' Band:

http://www.oldsilkstone-b-band.co.uk/

I'll second that.. good looking little site

MissBraz

12.07.2007, 11:13

I would like to nominate Chalford Band
www.chalfordband.co.uk (http://www.chalfordband.co.uk)

athompson1989

13.07.2007, 16:19

I would like to nominate Chalford Band
www.chalfordband.co.uk (http://www.chalfordband.co.uk)

Hey, ill second that site, some nice things on there.

BBCBass

13.07.2007, 16:36

I'd like to nominate both the BBC website (www.brassbandofcolumbus.org) and well as the SCABA website (http://www.scaba.co.uk/) if I may.

tubajo

18.07.2007, 07:59

I would like to nominate Wire Youth Brass's site
http://www.wireyouthbrass.co.uk
It was created by (and now is run entirely by) our 12 year old solo euphonium, who has included photos, videos and an email reminder service of band events for players and their parents.

MissBraz

18.07.2007, 10:55

Hey, ill second that site, some nice things on there.

Hey Cheers! :biggrin:

Graham Brand

18.07.2007, 13:07

I would like to second the nomination for the SCABA (Southern Counties Amateur Bands Association) website (www.scaba.co.uk) and nominate the Aberystwyth Silver Band website (www.aberystwythsilverband.co.uk) for August Website of the Month. Iechyd da !!!

jonesbp

18.07.2007, 14:37

I would like to nominate The Aveley & Newham Band (http://www.aveley-and-newham.co.uk) Website

Bungle

18.07.2007, 16:12

I would like to nominate Cranbrook Town Bands website after its update

http://www.cranbrooktownband.org.uk

andreab

18.07.2007, 16:36

tubajo

19.07.2007, 10:39

Thank you!

Texus

23.07.2007, 16:01

I would like to nominate The Aveley & Newham Band (http://www.aveley-and-newham.co.uk) Website

All London boys + galls together now...
You know you want to vote for this!

jonesbp

23.07.2007, 16:14

All London boys + galls together now...
You know you want to vote for this!

Is this a second for the nomination then Tex

del thomas

23.07.2007, 23:57

www.newtownsilverband.co.uk (http://www.newtownsilverband.co.uk)

I developed it and sorry but I haven't found a single band website that looks more professional

jonesbp

24.07.2007, 11:37

www.newtownsilverband.co.uk (http://www.newtownsilverband.co.uk)

I developed it and sorry but I haven't found a single band website that looks more professional

You may want to sort out the dead links on your home page (player profiles and engagements on the right)

Just a suggestion;)

dyl

24.07.2007, 11:55

You may want to sort out the dead links on your home page (player profiles and engagements on the right)

Just a suggestion;)
They worked for me. However, I did have some problems when loading the gallery earlier on - at first try only 4 images loaded, and when I clicked on two of them I got an image of some leaves? Also the Navigation bar doesn't always load properly on some pages.

del thomas

24.07.2007, 13:27

You may want to sort out the dead links on your home page (player profiles and engagements on the right)

Just a suggestion;)

Sorry, but there are no dead links on the right hand side. You may want to buy a new computer, Just a suggestion ;)

del thomas

24.07.2007, 13:29

They worked for me. However, I did have some problems when loading the gallery earlier on - at first try only 4 images loaded, and when I clicked on two of them I got an image of some leaves? Also the Navigation bar doesn't always load properly on some pages.

That's a good point Dyl, They work when you click to them on the left hand menu bar but thanks for the feedback as there is a problem with the right hand side link

SuperMosh

24.07.2007, 13:36

...Also the Navigation bar doesn't always load properly on some pages.

Doesn't seem to matter Dyl, Del Thomas is clearly the developer of the best brass band website...

...and sorry but I haven't found a single band website that looks more professional

I will second this, mainly for the breathtaking arrogance of that statement.

del thomas

24.07.2007, 13:44

Thanks Pete, really didn't mean to sound arrogant but I stand by what I said. Just stating what I believe to be a fact. There are loads of frame-based sites or ones where every colour has been used or ones where every font available has been deployed. I haven't seen all banding sites but I think ours rates pretty high up the ladder even though I know we won't win cos I suspect it doesn't go on the quality of the website, just wanted to show ours off.

alks

24.07.2007, 19:26

del thomas

24.07.2007, 19:31

Note: your website does heavily use tables for its construction. This is now outdated.

alks

Fair point, but in the interest of fairness are you also now going to comment on the very black entrant who uses frames everywhere thius making it very difficult to read? What is outdated is irrelevant, it's the overall appearance that matters and some of the nominations use frames which looks horrendous particularly when coupled with black backgrounds

del thomas

24.07.2007, 19:39

Note: your website does heavily use tables for its construction. This is now outdated.

alks

and sorry but your members photos look like you found them down the pub or cut them out of a magazine. All our members are dressed the same and all have full profiles which again should count for something. Content is important as is the fact that the content is maintained and kept up to date

jonesbp

25.07.2007, 00:06

Sorry, but there are no dead links on the right hand side. You may want to buy a new computer, Just a suggestion ;)

Ok, all working now. Not sure what the problem was before. As someone else mentioned, all the pages were loading fine from the left Navigation Menu. Anyway, all working fine for me now.

alks

25.07.2007, 15:53

Fair point, but in the interest of fairness are you also now going to comment on the very black entrant who uses frames everywhere thius making it very difficult to read? What is outdated is irrelevant, it's the overall appearance that matters and some of the nominations use frames which looks horrendous particularly when coupled with black backgrounds

What is outdated is irrelevant? This is not the case. Using tables for construction is not good web accessibility and web standards. The web medium is more dynamic, its not all about what it looks like. Check out http://www.w3.org/WAI/

The reason i pointed out that your website used tables is simply the fact that you were citing it as an example of perfect web development and putting down other peoples nominations as well. No one else starts posting how great they are and how awful everyone elses efforts are on here?

I think all the websites nominated are individual and we should all congratulate the efforts going into building them. Well done everybody. Constructive criitque of others websites is probably more useful on this forum.

Saying that our bands member page looks like it was done down the pub is exactly correct! Band members took pictures of each other after band practice and emailed me the results, which i later cut out and put on the website. Interesting way of inticing band participation. Nothing wrong with that. In fact i am going to change the members page to use the band jacket pictures used for the random member bit on the left of the page when i get time. Im also writing a bespoke CMS for the news and events page so that other band members can take over parts of the website and update it themselves.

Its all suposed to be fun at the end of the day.....

del thomas

25.07.2007, 16:43

Ok, I accept my initial nomination statement was arrogant but I was not the one who started criticising others, I am merely using that as I was subjected to critiques relating to coding and geeky web formality. I dont know what the criteria that people vote on is but all I will say that it is on content and appearance then ours is well ahead. If voters are issued with the code and protocols for the websites then maybe ours falls short. Our website was criticised first which I note nobody else has and I blame my arrogant opening line for that - accepted. Ultimately, if web protocols are the best criticism that can be labelled at the site then I stand by my original statement which WAS NOT that ours is a shining example but that it does LOOK the most professional.

The number 1 aim was that it does not look like we are a bunch of beer-swilling musicians. A website is viewed by thousands of people from the general public and I dont think it portrays any band in a good light when we are all ultimately trying to market ourselves and get gigs to raise revenue. We do over 20 engagements per year and that revenue is vital.Just because bands tend to be charities there is no need to act or appear like one.

The second priority was to have everything up to date and complete. All our players had to submit professional photos and profiles BEFORE the site went live. I waited months but only when I had this did we get our site. There are no missing profiles of our players or the standard and annoying 'profile will follow shortly' line. We invested the money to absolutely guarantee that it did not look like it was prepared by a 12 year old in their bedroom.

Yes, I agree banding is fun and has provided me with experiences that I will never forget since I was 9 years of age and our band drinks as much as any organisation but the site isnt there to reflect our alcoholic tendencies, it is there to promote our activities as MUSICIANS.

On a larger scale, as I said, we are all projecting ourselves to the general public who may know nothing about banding and if you want to continue to perpetuate the pom pom pom, beer-swilling, whippet-keeping stereo-type that exists with the public at large then fine but I think we should all want to move away from that.

Fine, if the website of the month is to reward mediocrity or 'who is most popular' or 'who is the youngest website designer' then great, I will withdraw my nomination.

athompson1989

25.07.2007, 17:58

and sorry but your members photos look like you found them down the pub or cut them out of a magazine. All our members are dressed the same and all have full profiles which again should count for something. Content is important as is the fact that the content is maintained and kept up to date

Alwyn Nutting - No Profile Submitted

Del Thomas - No Picture

Eifion Thomas - No Profile or link

Dave Pugh - No Picture

Neil Vaughan - No Profile Submitted

del thomas

25.07.2007, 18:02

Now Mr Thompson would you like to do that test with all other nominations and indeed your own band website? 5 out of 28. Apart from mine, the others are very recent additions to the band

athompson1989

25.07.2007, 18:14

Now Mr Thompson would you like to do that test with all other nominations and indeed your own band website? 5 out of 28. Apart from mine, the others are very recent additions to the band

Im not arguing on this forum as it is not the place to do so and I think this thread has become very off topic. However no one else is claiming to have full profiles and and amazing website, we are simply posting for recognition, and I only literally started the profiles for our band website yesterday afternoon, and they are the only people who have emailed me back, but after a day, who am I to complain.

alks

25.07.2007, 18:57

Gosh!, No Need to withdraw your niomination! I actually quite like your website! Dont take things so seriously!

What makes a website professional really is different in everyones eyes. Just take the recent olympics logo, some people liked it others didnt. In your opinion your site is the greatest, all webmasters feel the same for there work....even bad websites. I wouldnt say your website was "well ahead" however.

Your web site is simple clear and clean and does the job. Bravo. However i would change (increase) some of the gaps between the headers and paragraphs, and possibly increase the default text size a little as its just a little on the small side. IE on the news page the headings and text look a little squashed together.

I must admit , however that i've always liked a little artistic licence in web design. Websites do not have to be boring and corporate looking or follow a tried and tested design pattern to look professional. However a clean website with a white background always looks good. As can be seen from our bands website iv'e tried to keep it well spaced with plenty of white space, but also added a bit of artisitc endevour to the navigation and heading. Its not the best site in the world but then i did the whole thing in less than a week. There is so much more i would like to do, but alas im working on computers all day at work and find looking at the screen while at home a bit much. So therefore i have to do it when i can.

As for beer sweling this and that ...well i think those comments are a little extreme.

All the best.

alks

dyl

25.07.2007, 20:00

Ok folks, I think the time has come to stick to the topic in hand, which is of course, nominating and seconding sites!

Having said that, if sites are put forward for nomination people are leaving themselves open for comments, but I don't think this thread is the place for continued debate on what a good band site should be, or for tit-for-tat critiques, especially about sites which aren't part of this month's competition! Perhaps someone would like to open a new thread specifically for that purpose, as it's obviously an interesting topic and such a discussion can only help enhance the quality of sites that are currently 'out there'?

Mokey

27.07.2007, 14:01

The second priority was to have everything up to date and complete. All our players had to submit professional photos and profiles BEFORE the site went live. I waited months but only when I had this did we get our site. There are no missing profiles of our players or the standard and annoying 'profile will follow shortly' line. We invested the money to absolutely guarantee that it did not look like it was prepared by a 12 year old in their bedroom.

I would agree that we shouldn't get in a slanging match here, after all we've all got the same interests, but you have shot yourself in the foot Del, You haven't even got your photo in your profile, after waiting all those months as well.`
Your site is nice, but I wouldn't accept that it is "more professional" than many others. It will be interesting to see how the voting goes.
What needs to be understood is that, in my opinion, most band sites are created by a band member or friend as I guess we couldn't really afford a pro designer. In my case I am the only one in the band who has even the slightest knowledge of web design which is self taught over the last couple of years. My design is www.phoenixwmbrass.co.uk (http://www.phoenixwmbrass.co.uk) which is in the WOM voting for June, it is based on Frames and tables, and I certainly aim to get rid of the Frames on a upgrade quite soon.
What might be a good idea is a specific forum on web design, where we designers, both good and bad, could share our ideas with hints and tips on how things are done. I find a lot of stuff by trawling the internet and finding scripts etc that help me do what I want; the problem with this is that I dont know how old it is and whether its best practice.
I'll be interested to hear what others think, and a comment from the mediator/admin whether they would support such a forum.
John

del thomas

27.07.2007, 19:05

Good and fair points made by Alks and John....matter closed and yes I did get a little bit carried away....maybe I will renominate the site in a couple of months time when my photo is there for people to print off and throw darts at but will withdraw my nomination for now having made my points but would support a web design forum as a sharing zone for tips and hints and critiques..cheers guys