Check out my new web site

Hello

Here's a new web site I just built. It is in has the basic set up I was looking for although I'll probably continue tweaking it.

I am especially interested in load time for people that don't have DSL/Cable.

I am also wondering how the sound turned out as I have only one speaker working on my computer right now.

If you have the time, I invite you to sign my Guestbook.

Curious as to your thoughts how it comes across.
http://www.ScottLMusic.com

Thanx
Scott Langholff

Scott: Impressive site in ALL respects. Terrific website design & navigation. Pages & song demos load near instantly on my DSL connection. OUTSTANDING music. Curious what keyboard(s) was used for each of your songs. Which ones were performed on the Tyros? Congratulations on your new website, of which I'm confident will reward you with terrific $ gig bookings. - Scott

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http://scottyee.com

Scott,

The site looks great. The only problems I had were with the navigation. Once you get to the guest book page, there was no link back to the home page. Same for the calendar page. Just minor things. As for the MP3s, I would have had to download a plug in to listen to them, and I just don't do plug-in downloads anymore. One caused my desktop to crash last summer and I spent two weeks working from the laptop until I was able restore everything. How did you post the MP3s on the page?

Gary

Hi Scott,
I like the looks of your web site. Very nice. I think there is much more music on your demo page than necessary. Especially since one has to liten to them in their own oeder and can not skip around. I think some people may lose interest long before hearing the entire routine, which I think would be a shame but I still think that's what will happen. And if they want to hear a particular number at/near the end of your list but have to sit through the whole thing, well....

This is just my opinion however. And I do applaud you on your general idea as well as the nice performances.
Btw, the sound was fine on my pc, though perhaps a little soft.

Very nice site Scott. Don't let my negativism throw you. Heck, what do I know anyways?

Thanks for sharing,
Best regards

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The old Newb

Scott.....loved the site...great music... good layout...loaded fast...clear beautiful
sounds.....and a plus...a Frank Sinatra Jr.
look-a-like photo.....good show....

Hi, Scott, well done.

The only thing that I donot like is the Quicktime plugin. how about Real Player? I use Firefox and I hate quicktime.

Thanks for the good feedback.

ScottY: I used my Tyros on everything except the jam song I did on the "About" page. There I used my old Technics KN1000.

I thought I'd stick that tune in because I decided to play it pretty straight on the main demo page so that prospective clients could hear a rather wide variety of the kind of songs and styles I do, as well as the sounds of the Tyros. I also decided for me, it was just as important to use the intro and endings on most of the tunes even though I sometimes only played 8 measures, because it is really part of the package.

Gary: Plug in? I thought this would play pretty much on everyones computer as I used Windows Media Player.

As far as the MP3's, I used Yahoo site builder. I just press insert and pick the mp3, and position it however I want.

OldNewB: I know what you are saying. Originally I was going to do each song seperately. But, I will have to learn how to do that. I tried it and got one of those little "players" for every tune. I thought all I would need is one player and somehow link the songs to the one player.

On the other hand a serious client would probably be willing to hear the whole thing and is liable to hear something they like that they possibly would have missed otherwise.

Thanks Tony

tigerfool: I used Windows Media Player. I figured most people already have that. Any other ideas on this. I don't want to limit who would listen to my demos.

Thanx
Scott

Scott,

At the bottom of the page was a download icon that said download plugin.

You should be able to post the MP3 independently on the page. It's just a matter of creating links at each song title. In doing this, the client can listen to the type of music they enjoy, download time is much faster, and they have an option. The way it is set up currently, they have no option. On dial-up, someone my age would be eligible for Social Security the second time around before the songs downloaded, and that would be if I could hook up at 56K, which is extrmely rare.

I'll give you a call tomorrow after I clear the snow from the driveway and try to fill in the blanks on how this is accomplished.

Overall, the site really looks great, initial loading time was very fast at 33,333 and I really liked the layout.

Gary

Happened to remember that one can advance the player anywhere they want to. Just like a cassette player. Fast Forward, Rewind, Pause, ...............

I'm also going to call the free phone help that is available again. This time I will make sure I find someone who knows more about it than I do.

I'm still undecided on the demo set up. I will probably continue to try different things as I go. I found it kind of enjoyable working on it actually.

ScottL, For whatever it's worth, I personally really LIKE your demo setup the way it works. I found it convenient to easily skim thru & select songs this way. Curious what website developer you used to help you create site. I assume it's them that is providing the FREE phone help, right? - Scott

Hi ScottY

Actually Scott, any compliment from you on my web site is really held in high regard because I think you have about the classiest site of any not only for arranger keyboardists, but in comparison of any web site in general. It is soooo classy.

YOu must have either one real expensive program or had someone else do yours for a bundle of $$$ is all I can figure out.

I use Yahoo. I really have learned it as I went. I did call once for help but must have got somebody new.

Otherwise they do have an 800 number for help 24/7. Yes, the phone help is free.

Best
Scott

Congrats on your good looking Website Scott.
Guestbook signed, I can see your is already
passed the amount of entries than mine
GJ

That's a nice site Scott.

Well done with your site Scott - It looks and sounds professional. I agree that the volume of the sounds could have been a little louder and you could perhaps have included a couple of vocals from your vocalist as well as you are advertising his/her services.

Nicely done - KF

[This message has been edited by KFingers (edited 02-25-2005).]

Scott,
My Face is red!
I wrote my review of your site without really knowing the correct facts. So very sorry!
Silly me, I never even scrolled to bottom of page and never saw the player there or that it could be fast forwarded. I thought it was just playing through and I was forced to listen from beginning to end.
I take back what I said in my previous post.
I DO like the way it is designed, now that I know that the songs can be scrolled through.
Great Job!
Like I said before...What do I know anyway? lol

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The old Newb

[This message has been edited by OldNewb (edited 02-25-2005).]

Good-looking site. Like others, I'm not going to load another plug-in player though. I have Winamp, Windows Media Player, Van Basco and probably more. If they don't play it, I probably won't hear it.
Good luck, I think you're on the right track.
DonM

It's ordinary mp3 files who are played DonM,
so just configure one of your players to
admit autostart of that extention
GJ

O.K. Thanks,
DonM

Scott,

Great job on new site! Just ordered your Celtic Collection for Piano Music Book\CD from your eBay store. Look forward to doing more business in the future!

Take care,

Michael O'Comain

I used my Tyros on everything except the jam song I did on the "About" page. There I used my old Technics KN1000.

As I said on the technics page ... "my kn1000 NEVER sounded like that ... neither does my kn6000 ... ...
t.

Scott,
congratulations for a very professional looking website. I liked the music as well.
Good luck with your new endeavour!
Andrea

Man, only a few things I would really change.

First your demo songs...get those so they loop all over your site after you visit the page.

Next the "off the cusp" track that you have back a few pages...I think that would work great as the sites intro/main page song.

Next ( also on your demo page ). Some text I would change. Drop "these songs sound like this due to mp3 format" thats just insulting to those viewing/hearing your site. I think you would be much better off if you replace the " mp3 format " excuse...with a description of your live sound setup. Then you could also avoid the " but its sounds almost like a full band live!" lol you wouldn't need to even speak of that if you described your live sound setup...some crap about speakers this, mixer that, eqed for the room something. As for description of the demo recordings...just be direct and honest, let everyone know " to provide this demo mixture I utilized direct stereo recording from my main keyboard, for more on my live sound read below."

Beyond that...next live show you do RECORD IT. Record your keyboard direct, and mic whatever your speakers are to capture the air of the performance. Hell even put a mic to pick up the crowd, cause if you got laughing and happy folks with glasses clinking in the background. You live and good times will not be at all hard to convey...and out of an entire night your sure to have at least one song that comes off how you want it.

Hey Scott,

I think the site looks good. I'm glad you included the audio navigation bars on the pages that you embedded your sample mp3s. It's a good rule to follow, if you're gonna embed audio, give the user a way to control it.

On that note, I noticed that the first page, the home page includes an audio navigation bar but on my setup here, it gets hidden behind the large, centered main table. I wasn't sure why so I investigated. I noticed in the code that the nav bar placement is coded in a different way than the other two pages that also include the mp3s (Listen & About) which show up just fine on my setup. I proceeded to code the first page mimicking the other two pages and provided a URL to illustrate my point.

http://genny.lib.umn.edu/scottlanghoff/pagetitle.htm

I'm not saying I'm right, just wondering if that is what you had intended. If you intended it to be the way it is currently coded, then I have to report that I'm not getting the nav bar on the home page using IE6 at a 1280 X 1024 resolution.

Another thing I noticed is in the TITLE tag of the pages. You're using "Page Title". Put in something snazzy like, "Scott Langhoff's Greatest Web Page Ever!!" or an equivalent.

The mp3s sounded great, by the way.

-mike

Since the goal is to maximize site effectiveness, I looked at it from dial-up on a five year old HP monitor. Then, I used newer equipment...DSL and a flat panel monitor.

* Load time on dial-up was fine.
* On the oldest equipment, I couldn't read
the reverse type very well...a real eyestrain.
* No access to music at all on the old equipment.

Design is attractive, but sometimes, you have to make design concessions to make things work in the majority of situations. That means that tinted-reversed type out of a dark background is sometimes a real problem.

This is sort of like listening to the mix of an audio piece on the worst equipment likely to be used (I'm thinking audio for a film played at a retail store). Sometimes, you need to mix for that situation, rather than making a great mix for a premium stereo or surround system.

Goos site..just my take on things as a producer of collateral materials for businsses.

Keep up the good work,


Russ

Scott:

Your site is exceptionally nice. Thanks for sharing the details with us. Rice

Hi, Scott,

I have downloaded all your music. Fantastic work. As to the MP3 music, do you know that every MP3 file got a built-in header in it that bear the information about that file. You can add like: title, album, author, time, etc information into it. I donow see those information. you can use a wonderful software called Media Tagger to edit it . http://www.volny.cz/media-tagger/eng/

Those information will help people identify that those music actually comes from you.

About the Quicktime player, I know Firefox is not compatible with it. My firefox workes with RealPlayer very well.

Hello

I'm testing this site over on the Yamaha style forum as well.

A couple problems were mentioned:

"As a dial-up user, I did not go
far: I was offered the total demo at over an hour, and when I stumbled
on a one-minute demo, it was scheduled at 10 minutes' download."

"Clicking on the buttons on the left-hand side of the screen causes the centering of the whole screen to shift left. Very distracting visually."

Anyone else having this or any other kind of a problem I need to know about?

Thanx

Scott

Using mp3 files as autoplay is rather large for the
dialup connections, better use midifile or just a link
to the mp3 file to make it optional for the visitors
to play or download the music.

The pages look OK in both Firefox and IExplorer at my
PC, but some older web browsers may have problems?

GJ