Official Luthiers Forum!

Howdy all,

I have been putting the finishing touches on my new site, and I would like to see what you all think, or if anything should change. I still have lots of work to do, and a few more pages to finish, but here it is....

http://www.cncguitar.com/newcnc

Site does require flash, as I mostly do all my work in flash these days....also, use a "later version" of either explorer or firefox, as some earlier versions do not properly support the "transparency" tags on .png images...

Anyways, thank you all for your comments in advance...



PS: Music is all original, done on a strat, using guitar rig....also, can you recognize the woods?

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

Ok, cyborg,

You asked.

The animations end too soon...as in let the words sit still for at least 2.5 seconds so they can at least be read.

I had to play it 3 time before they were legible enough to be read.

This is a common problem with beginning animators...they know what them words say and as such are reading the word as a symbol which is instant recognition... but to those of us who don't know the symbols yet, well the consciousness has to break it down phonetically before the brain can interpolate the meaning of them words. This is especially true with an uncommon font such as you have used. Then, oh ya, then to top it off, the words are upside down for half the time they are up, and spinning spinning to boot, that coupled with the jagged, sharp, threatening font that says "stay away from me" is one hard web site to stay tuned too.

Suggestions

1) Loose the font...it is so out there that the CNC reads as TNT especially since there is no other letter "C" for the mind to read as a symbole, translate to a letter, then phonetically figure out the word and apply it to CNC.
All of this happens in about a second or two...but by then you have lost them. I clicked off immediately after the animation...now do you want that? No, of course not. So go to suggestion 2

2) Take this web site to a pro...show them the "rough" sketch and ask them to "clean" it up for you.

Sorry cyborg for what on the surface appears as a scathing critique... it ain't.

What you got is the workings of a really great site. You just need a visual person to tune and then tweek it.

or as they say KISS.

and that is a professional not a humble opinion.


blessings
the
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

.
me got to thinking...maybe me a bit hard on you

so me called my son over to see it. Him one of Western Canada's highly respected professional tattoo artists, specializing in heavy black tribal. Him also manufactures tattoo guns.

I let him read my post to you and them showed him the site.

His two comments were...ya, maybe a bit fast in the anim. but grampa...yer just getting too old to really get it.

So there,

now you got two takes on it.

Blessings
the
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Thanks for the feedback.....yes, the initial "flash" of the letters (no pun intended) is kind of fast....I was just trying to synch the letters to the tune, but I will probably wind up replacing both....just playing with a couple of ideas, and was looking for what others think....I totally get where you are coming from , so thanks for that!

Seems like you do this for a living, as such, do you have a couple of sites you designed for me to look at and get some ideas as to what you mean?

I am not big on intros, cause like you said, people will simply skip them, so I wanted to do something which is very short, gets a short message across, and dumps someone into the site...again, agree with you on that on as well...

peace...

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

If I may,

why use flash at all. I personally hate it. It slows down the pages for me and I have decent dsl. I am not specifically talking about your site, but flash in general. I personally much prefer static pages where I can go read what I want at the speed I want to read. I personally don't like music on sites, because most of the time it is music I hate! How do you know what music to put up? Again, I was and am not referring specifically to your music but making a general statement.

I would suggest that if you want animation, include it through a link, and likewise the same for music. If I were to come to your site looking for a guitar, I would love to be able to hear that guitar's tone, volume etc by clicking a link.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

I agree as well...but I am not talking about Flash just for music...Flash for the navigation as well. You see, doing it in other ways, like Java script, or with simple roll-over images gets to be a pain really quick...

So flash is used not just for some of the rich media content (which I agree, it will not be much at all...just for a short intro), but also for most of the navigation.....

Another thing which I will not do, is to have some music play on the background, like some sites do, and there are no buttons to turn it off! Talk about being annoying......

As to your comment about guitar sounds, that is EXACTLY the plan! Most of my work, is through Guitar rig, and I plan to have samples of different guitars through that...in fact, some of my guitars, including this one:

http://www.cnclutherie.com/Les-Paul/

Have a build it USB interface.....just plug a USB cable into your computer, and JAM!


See where I am coming from?

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

I agree with the statement of doing away with the Flash intro and other flash pages. I too find then annoying when viewing a luthiers site. It is nice to hear samples but it needs to be the views choice when to select them.

I am curious at if you have you licensed with Solid Works and MasterCam to represent their product? I am assuming so or else you have some legal issues when retailing tutorials and using there logos and copyrighted materials.

I look forward to seeing you gallery with images when completed

You do have another site that may get confused with your now and then. John Watkin’s long established site has a very similar URL name cncguitarparts.com. So you may have some inadvertent traffic and inquires.

One more curious question: Are you going to offer unfinished cores or only completed guitars? I ask because there is a fairly good market that is barely taped for custom unfinished guitar cores (routed unfinished body and neck only combos)

I really quite dislike flash for web navigation purposes; it has no advantages over good CSS. And not just because it means I can't look at the site on my iPhone

You lost me there....

What does CSS have to do with Flash and buttons? CSS is a way to arrange content on your page, and do it in a precise and consistent manner. In other words, it allows one to create the content for the site (text, graphics, etc) and not have to worry about their placement. One then creates CSS rules, and those rules determine the placement and appearance of those items on the page....it is not a replacement for flash, because it is simply a way of defining the placing of elements...not sure what you meant....

I hear you about the flash however....and I suffer from the same on my Iphone 3gs...have you tried hitting a flash page, and then hitting the flash icon on the iphone browser??? Funny thing how adobe sticks it to apple for not supporting on the phone!!

"apple restricts use of technologies required by products like flash player....until apple eliminates these restrictions Adobe can not provide Flash player for the iphone..."

LOL!!

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

You can build entire menu tree structures in CSS, see here for example:

http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/tutorials/testMenu.html

A friend of mine built me a site (currently down) which is database driven with a CSS interface and some basic integrated graphics, clean and elegant, and allowed me to 'log in' via an admin panel to add or remove menus or submenus as I saw fit.

Cyborg-
(Personally, I find it a bit weird to be giving advice to somebody without knowing their name, but.....)

Just for background, I'm over 60yo, don't see any point for a iPhone or Blackberry, etc

However, I have been using the computer since the Commodore64, and the net/web since it replaced my local BBS.

I can't figure out what your site is about, and I spent 2-3 minutes looking around-
Is it an educational site, or are you selling something? If the latter, your home page is a bit vague.
I think you need to spend more time on the 'message' and less on the medium.

I won't use sites that 'push' music at me- fortunately I'm using a computer without speakers right now. Looking at the font you use in the intro, I'd guess that I'd be in for 'metal/headbanger' stuff.
Similarly, I don't like sites that make me 'do something' to skip an intro. What's the point?
I also like a 'clean' look to websites- no gimmicky 'knobs' and 'switches', etc... When I put the cursor over the letters 'FAQ', I expect a link.

I would have to be VERY motivated to download/update/install software to see a particular website. (I do have Flash in this machine). So you might be turning some potential customers away if you make your site at all difficult to see or use.
Clean and simple is what I like. I have a DSL connection, but not everybody does.

Sorry to sound so negative, but that's my quick take.

John

Thanks John....

This is why I decided to show it here first, before going live with it...for feedback exactly like this!

Very well made points, and I definitely see where you are coming from, as well as others here.....

Ahhh yes, the good 'ol C-64....LOVED that machine! I still remember the thrill when I got a 300 baud modem (still remember the name: "mighty-mo") and dialed into my first BBS....kinda wish those days were back, as somehow, they seemed simpler....(maybe because they were...).

One thing about flash: If you do not have it installed these days, half the sites you will visit, will simply not work...it is part of the Internet DNA....but I get your point, and it is well taken..,.

-As far as what it is about, it is about using a CAD process to design guitars, and then a CNC process to machine them....with all of it's associated headaches and complexities....

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

Me, the Padma, do something for a living .... sorry no, I don't , I'm already alive.

blessings
the
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Feed back is a hard thing to give and receive especially if you've put so much time and effort into something.

As an older person the site is a bit to warcraft like. Just because you are using a CNC and computer it doesn't have to look like you spend all your time on the computer if you know what i mean?

Simple no flashing lights etc. It's great to see some things done with the CNC but at the end of the day what is needed is guitars. High quality pictures of guitars that show off your work. You don't want the site to be the art you want the art to be your work.

Just the advice of an older person.

_________________
Disappointment is an empty box full of expectation

I agree with the general feedback so far. I don't think Flash is a viable web technology anymore for anything other than media playback. I used to develop sites professionally and used flash extensively, but I wouldn't anymore. I would love to give you examples of my work, but they've since been updated

I had a bit of trouble figuring out what the site was about, too. Offering guitars, machines, or instruction? I think you have way too cool of a product and would hate to see it represented this way.

I'm sorry the feedback isn't more positive. I think you should move in a different direction. Check out the website thread in Off Topic. There are a few good recommendations there. You deserve to have the best site possible, and this isn't it.