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 DJ Web Sites: Revisited

Sid Vanderpool

A September issue of a very popular DJ magazine ran a story reviewing various DJ websites. The writers at DJzone thought the article was good, but only scratched the surface of what could be done in a webzine medium. So here it is, all the same sites that were in that issue reviewed by our staff of professionals a Bride, a Graphic Artist and an award winning Web designer (me). As you will see beauty is in the eye of the beholder and DJs are not always the best critiques.


http://personalpages.tds.net/~funfact/
Fun Factory

Our Webmaster:
The navigation on this site was excellent if not a little too much. The campy graphics added to the fun atmosphere of the site but I found them to be a little much carried throughout the site.

The pictures in their photo gallery would be much better used if they were placed on the pages that needed them. Such as the equipment shot on the PA page and the bride and groom dancing on the Wedding page, etc.

Our Bride:
I would be changing channels already. It's just way to slow to load. This site has nothing that jumps out and gets me. The text under weddings is informative but boring. The cartoonish wedding bells take away from the professionalism of the company as a whole. I probably would not hire this company off of what I saw on their web site.

Our Graphic Artist:
Little on the lame side.


http://www.link.ca/celebrated.sound
Celebrated Sound

Our Webmaster:
From my point of view I found the frames on this site most annoying. Some of the pictures on the gallery page took too long to load. As for navigation it was hard to find your way around. Here also is the perfect case where the company should be on their own domain and not on a

Our Bride:
The little animated notes on the logo are cute. The layout is nice but the text is very wordy. More color should be used to emphasize important features of their service. I would like to see more pictures also. On a page this long it would help put me in the section I want to read. I might hire this company.

Our Graphic Artist:
One ugly site.


http://www.ambassdj.com
Ambassador DJ Service

Our Webmaster:
For this site I found the opening page to be very slow loading. As I paged through the site I became aware just how much they like to use graphics and this has to be one of the slowest loading sites I found. A small tip might be to either cut back on the graphics or use a program to shrink them down. Although the use of a black background went out long ago it seems to work for them making the colored buttons jump off the page.

If I could give any advice it would be for them to add some continuity to the site. Right now it seems like a haphazard mix of different styles throughout.

Our Bride:
I needed to be woke up after this site loaded. The black was a big turnoff and made me tired of the site before I even read any of the text. In the wedding section the boost of "thousands of clients give the us the experience", does this mean the first clients in line had to teach the DJs what to do? Why do they have to take $100 off their prices? That scares me. Nope on hiring these guys either.

Our Graphic Artist:
Looks like a hacker put it together.


http://www.nightmovesdj.com
Night Moves, Ca

Our Webmaster:
Once again the designer of this site must run a cable modem because it took forever for it to load on a 56k modem. After the opening page loaded I found that the only thing the other pages needed was tweaking in the picture department. The pictures could load ten times as fast if they ran them through a program like Ulead Webrazor. As for the glut of information for brides it appears they want to help their wedding client beyond the call of DJ duty by providing a little extra information. This is a plus for the novice web surf for she will not have to go in search elsewhere.

To take away from the simplicity and cleverness behind using a premade music list would be ridiculous. Since they probably played an active role in creating the list with Mobile Beat by sending in their Top 200 it was only right they use it on their site.

Our Bride:
I found the background colors pleasing. The pictures were slow loading but, by the time I read the text on the wedding page they had popped up. The extras on planning a wedding could be useful for brides just starting to plan their wedding. Yes, these guys could be a candidate for my business.

Our Graphic Artist:
Hideous background. Impressive clientele.


http://www.djcrazy.com
A Spinnin' Cray Production, FL

Our Webmaster:
Anyone in their right mind can see this is truly a work in progress. The hodgepodge of styles are the result of some labor intensive restructuring and thinktanking. From what I can tell the original site was created at a time when the designer was a novice to web site creation and over the months or years they have slowly recreated portions. This is a backwards way of doing things but as long as it works for them that is great. This site also had a few slow loads on the graphics side, but as I dug deeper I liked what I saw in the new designs.

Our Bride:
I like the look of the opening page. The wedding section has that wedding invitation look and feel. The text could be a darker color to make it more readable. The script font is a nice touch. As long as I stay in the wedding section and don't click on anything I am fine but where the heck did the checkerboard come from when I clicked "Booking Information"? If they get rid of the checkers I might hire this company.

Our Graphic Artist:
Most impressive site on my list. They appear to have this "Star Wars" thing going on with the light and darks side.


B&B Music, Pa

Our Webmaster:
This is a simple one page site that needs some work. The type style chosen came up as blocky and huge. Some of the links on the initial page work and the bright red sidebar is a real turnoff. Since your website is suppose to be representative of your business this site leaves question floating around in my head.

Our Bride:
Too much black and red. It is too depressing. The site looks cheap and void of class. The look and feel of the site just did not say wedding professional. Another DJ company I would not hire for my wedding.

Our Graphic Artist:
Way too much scrolling. No pictures?


About our review staff:

Our bride now married Tiffany Muff (that is her real name) is an ordinary bride like what we as DJs deal with everyday. DJzone thanks her for taking the time to sit with us after our meeting and go over these sites. Our Graphic Artist, Brad Nichols is co-owner of Blip Communications a multi-million dollar print/design firm based in Idaho. Brad is head of the computer and graphic arts department and has taught classes at our local community college. Sid Vanderpool is editor of DJzone Magazine and winner of the 1999 Technical DJ of the Year Award for his accomplishments with DJzone.

 

 

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