20-02-2009, 16:20
Palmer Wrote:Gee Iota,
was there anythng you liked? :wink::laugh:
I just thought some constructive criticism could be helpful.
Palmer Wrote:Just so I am clear, are you talking the layout of the magazine itself? If so, then I am not sure how much more "cleaner" it can be, honestly. It is designed to be MORE then just your "basic" blog format e-zine. The whole purpose of this format is to give you the feeling like you are actually flipping through a newstand magazine. While taking full advantage of the multi-media availability the digital world provides, using embedded MP3 samples, allowing the reader to HEAR as well as SEE. I understand to many, this format is different to many digital magazines, but that is what makes The PORTAL unique. As to maturity of the layout, again, to my mind, it's a classy, graphically pleasing publication. Of course I welcome any and all feedback, but I am not sure how one could make it cleaner and more functional.
If you are talking about the website design, again my instruction to my web designer was the same, clean, bold and easy to navigate. Nothing ticks me off more then when I go to a music site, and I am blinded by a MESS of links and banners and I get a headache trying to find anything! I feel he gave me exactly what I wanted; a clean site, easy to navitage, as well as bold and unique in design (just like the magazine).
Maybe I did not make myself clear. I wasn't saying that the website was crammed with useless shit. What bothers me most is the coloring of your site. I'm not against multicolored websites per se but I think that your design isn't color coordinated. The transparent and distorted backgrounds, the satin stainless steel background itself; too much for my taste. But as I said before, this is just my personal point of view. Compared with your website the layout of your mag is exquisite, which is perfectly okay since the focus obviously is on the mag itself.
I like the flipping feature though.
Palmer Wrote:The concert schedule idea, is rather difficult within the magazine itself, as this will not be published weekly or even monthly. Our plan is to publish bi-monthly, so you see how scheduling for concerts would be difficult, as timing is of issue. My plan is to utilize the news section and the blog for that. With posting CD and concert reviews in the blog, and links to concert listings in the news. Again, I want to say, this site is just in its infancy, with the basics there, but much more to add.
Yeah, I also think that it isn't practicable to do this within the mag itself. That's why I suggested adding a concerts section on the site.
Palmer Wrote:As to font size on the blog. Too flashy? I had thought the font style (and size) was pretty basic, but again .. perhaps I am off.
I'll give you an example of what I think is optically appealing: Example 1, Example 2
Your size just takes up too much room. Decrease your font size, eliminate your unnecessary blank lines (see Hybrid Dawn review) and it will be a greater pleasure to read your blog.
Btw: the just mentioned review shows that you're clearly more rhetorically able than Mrs Peggy Murphy. While you combine your sentences and try to build bridges bewteen the different songs - which is stilistically on a much higher level and is actually fun to read- reading Mrs Murphy's review is , excuse my diction here, a pain in the ass becaus she's just like "song a is like this, song b is like that" etc.