Thread: Interactive Live Music Site

Hi, I've been working on this idea for a while now. Live video streaming from my Piano Bar on location. The video window is a live feed during performance times which are listed at the top of the page and on the schedule. I'd like some input on this site...it's my first attempt. Most performance times are early evening. Thank You! www.onlinepianobar.com

Interesting, will check back after 4pm when you go live.
- Are users going to log on and sing, i.e. karaoke style?
-The colors seem a bit loud.
-Consider making your pages a bit smaller, at 1164px, the horizontal scroll is a nuisance.
-There is overlapping at "Online Piano News" the border of the blue box strikesout the date below.
-"Halifax...Holiday Inn and Shark House" appear blurry, almost as if you had enlarged the jpg from a smaller original.
-The photos are ok, some appear out of focus (idem above comment) the others could perhaps do with a lighter tone of the red border.

Good luck, sounds entertaining.

Hi, only a personal view, but a bit two much going on in the front page for me. Think it want to be a little simpler. You have some nice images on the front page, but most seem out of focus. Maybe use fewer images & use the original sizes as they look fine.

Good luck.

Thanx Bill....I need this kind of feedback. The major customer base is older, which is why I chose the colors. I would like to tone it down a bit....1st effort, you know. The users can request a song or say hi to family or friends at the piano. There are 2 monitors on the piano for users to see either the video feed or words...whatever I put on there. I haven't seen a site in this format anywhere...so a model isn't available. Two music sites with live feeds, but non-interacive are: www.hogsbreath.com and www.sloppyjoes.com . These are bars in Key West. Thanks again Bill....stay tuned!!

Hi Mr Piano,

What a fantastic idea! a piano bar for me conjours up a dark smoky romantic scene, I'm a romatic you see :o)....Sorry to say I have to agree with Chris though...your home page is very messy to much going on and the page took an age to load even on my broadband...perhaps put the photo's on a separate page (Gallery) needs to be a bit more organised thats all and maybe a colour theme? ...Hope you dont mind but ive done a little suggestion for you click on the link...may give you some Ideas,

http://www.lindashouseemporium.net/piano.html

Love the idea i'll be putting you in my favorites :o)

Lincslady....thank you. I can't believe you did that for me before I got home from the Piano Bar. Ladyeye and some friends logged on while I was performing. We had a great time. I appreciate your effort and will use your input. I'm quite overwhelmed by learning this technology. The hardware I have to carry around and the software to make it work is definitely a challenge. Haven't had so much fun in my life, though. Please log on while I'm performing and say hi...request a song....watch the antics...it's a gas. Thanks again...I owe you a song!! ...Kenyon

www.onlinepianobar.com
www.kenyondye.com

It's an awesome spot for sure, live interaction, and the good news is within a month it will be live two ways, (there's a better name for that, lol) Kenyon will tell us, lol - but certainly a fun site.

Linda, that's an awesome looking template you made there, love the colors .... and agree with you and everyone about the gallery for photos.

Originally Posted by onlinepianobar

Lincslady....thank you. I can't believe you did that for me before I got home from the Piano Bar. Ladyeye and some friends logged on while I was performing. We had a great time. I appreciate your effort and will use your input. I'm quite overwhelmed by learning this technology. The hardware I have to carry around and the software to make it work is definitely a challenge. Haven't had so much fun in my life, though. Please log on while I'm performing and say hi...request a song....watch the antics...it's a gas. Thanks again...I owe you a song!! ...Kenyon

www.onlinepianobar.com
www.kenyondye.com

Glad to be of help Kenyon, ohhh I was watching you all ;O) I think your site will be a great hit also lots of lonely people out there on the internet, your site could be great and fun for a lot of people, such a fabulous idea.

Ive done a little more to your home page

http://www.lindashouseemporium.net/piano.html

The colours are just black, white,maroon and a splash of gold, the title font is called Curlzs MT size 36, not sure if this works but here are the image and buttons if you want them, to save the buttons in bv just click the buttons image below, then right click and
save as/my documents/program files/bluevoda/nav bar you will then have them on your drop down menu in bv.

Originally Posted by Lincslady

Glad to be of help Kenyon, ohhh I was watching you all ;O) I think your site will be a great hit also lots of lonely people out there on the internet, your site could be great and fun for a lot of people, such a fabulous idea.

Ive done a little more to your home page

http://www.lindashouseemporium.net/piano.html

The colours are just black, white,maroon and a splash of gold, the title font is called Curlzs MT size 36, not sure if this works but here are the image and buttons if you want them, to save the buttons in bv just click the buttons image below, then right click and
save as/my documents/program files/bluevoda/nav bar you will then have them on your drop down menu in bv.

Nice one! Its sometimes quicker that trying to put it in words.

Originally Posted by LadyEye

It's an awesome spot for sure, live interaction, and the good news is within a month it will be live two ways, (there's a better name for that, lol) Kenyon will tell us, lol - but certainly a fun site.

Linda, that's an awesome looking template you made there, love the colors .... and agree with you and everyone about the gallery for photos.

Thanks Lady :o)

Hey we can go off to the bar together now ...the world is getting smaller lol

Thanks Chris.. fancy a pint at the piano bar? ...lol ...isnt the internet a great place

A cyber drinker eh!. Yep! Sounds good to me.
Got to be better there than here. I work in the loft room & the way the wind is blowing at the moment, I might end up at the bar via free flight.

Forgot to say...heres a little tip that someone gave me when I first started building.

When youve done the template for your home page to your satisfaction.

Keep your home page up and open a blank page for your new page.
You can clone it to, though I dont like using that, I like to copy n paste,
in BV there is a copy button next to the scissors icon (2 little pages) click on what you want to copy then click that icon, go to your blank page then click the paste icon next to it (little yellow file) and it will put what youve copied in the exact same place as it is on your home page on your blank page..handy little tool that...:o)

Originally Posted by Collectors-info

A cyber drinker eh!. Yep! Sounds good to me.
Got to be better there than here. I work in the loft room & the way the wind is blowing at the moment, I might end up at the bar via free flight.

lol ..i'll give you a wave as you go past my house :o)

Lyncslady.......you are the best. Love your work. I saved the buttons, but have trouble putting text on them. I saved them to the nav bar folder....then to ude do i click on "button" or "image button"? Then how do you put text on? That's why I used those ****py buttons. I used a photo program to layer text, then saved it. Probably a long way around...but it worked. Now I want to do it right. Please let me know. Thanks a million!!

never mind...Lynclady...figured it out. The nav button on the left tool bar.(duh) There is so much info, sometimes it's hard to find the simple things. ....Thanx

Hey guys...did some revamping..make things a bit simpler. Let me know if you think I'm on the right track. Thanks bunches!!

Hi Kenyon
enjoyed your site yesterday live, will be back.
Looks like you're coming along with your site,good progress.
Galleries are much tidier, like them.
The font on the buttons is a bit hard to read.
Will come back and more of a look later,
Cheers

Sorry Kenyon,

I just assumed you were already using the nav bar tool....well your doing great...when I first started I asked the forum ..."whats BV?" doh! lol

It maybe easier to start with a blank page...set your page properties (click on the link below to do this)...then right click on your blank page and set your background colours and font etc..then to add your content as you want them....easier than moving stuff and deleting as I think youve forgotten to delete some stuff at the bottom of your page :o)

Thanks.....yeah a couple of keyboard images were down there. I guess I have to decide which buttons open in a new window and which should not. I get comments from my customers and try to adjust accordingly. I do want to make navigation simple. A lot of my customers are older...not very computer literate (not like me.....ha!) Your tips are worth gold to me....thank you....thank you.....thank you.

............Kenyon

PS. Favorite song??

Originally Posted by onlinepianobar

Thanks.....yeah a couple of keyboard images were down there. I guess I have to decide which buttons open in a new window and which should not. I get comments from my customers and try to adjust accordingly. I do want to make navigation simple. A lot of my customers are older...not very computer literate (not like me.....ha!) Your tips are worth gold to me....thank you....thank you.....thank you.

............Kenyon

PS. Favorite song??

Your welcome .....oooh Favorite song ....well two have great memories for me ....That old Black Magic and a song called .."Its 5 o'clock somehwere Allen Jackson I think..reminds me of the good time I had when I was in the states...:o) so either of those would be fabulous...thank you so much.

Forgive me for going on here, but I think its worth it ..so here I go again

I still think you should get shot of those bright blues, reds and yellows, thier very hard on the eyes dazzling even, if most of your customers are older they will prefer more gentler colours toned down.. your best critiques are your customers why not ask them?...show them both your site and the sample and see which they find easier on the eyes or to navigate.

Also and its just my opinion, the focus of your site is that its a piano bar so I think there should be nothing else on your piano bar (home) page except the main things,
1. Title banner
2. The Piano bar video
2. Navigation
3. Welcome message
4. Tip Jar
5. Next session/bars ad

everything else can be put on other pages for people to browse then when they want to go back to the piano bar they just click "Piano bar"

Remember ...less is more ;o)

Thanks again Linda....I had limited time today (just returned from setting up), so I wanted to reine as much as I could per everyone's suggestions. I value each and every comment...you all are very generous with your time and I do appreciate it. I will work on the colors tonight. I agree with you about just the piano bar essentials on the front page...good idea. That sets some parameters for my content....won't be as busy or abstract. I'll start with a blank page tonight and try to incorporate these ideas. Maybe I'll see you tonight. The picture quality will be less tonight and Friday......working on that also. Did you notice I made the Chat box bigger....maybe I'll be able to keep up w/converstions better. Old Black Magic for you tonight!! ......................Kenyon

Look forward to it :o)

Hey Guys......
I've been burning the late night oil revamping my site. I have to work in the wee hours because I'm online Streaming most nights. A great big , huge thank you to Lincslady....she has helped me tremendously. She has logged on during the show and her view from a "user" and "web guru" is just what I needed. The site looks less like a Warner Bros. Cartoon now, but I want you guys to have at it. What did I miss...what do I need? Remember that this is a bit different site....it's live and interactive and that really changes the way I look at this. It seems to be getting positve feedback from my online patrons...but it's still in the basic stages.
I could never have done this this without the confidence that the Blue Voda Community has given me. This is the best....thank you all so much!! Pleas log on during performance times and request a song...and chat with me while I'm playing/singing.


.Kenyon

www.onlinepianobar.com
www.kenyondye.com

Sorry guys...I started another thread by mistake...how do I delete it?

Duplicate deleted as you requested.

Now, I don't know how I missed this thread up to now - but I LOVE YOUR SITE. I love piano bars - my favorite is in Chicago and I always go to it when I pass through - I will definitely come to your site for the "live" action one night.

I think this is a great idea.

Thank You Bethers..the other thread was just a couple below this one. The site is a blast!! I'll be LIVE Tuesday starting at 6pm. I'm actually in my Home Studio tonight..if you come to the chat room and request a song, I'll play it for you live. Where else can you do that? Thanks again......Kenyon

www.onlinepianobar.com

Well, I to missed this earlier! Isn't Linda Great!! She is so helpful!

Love your site Kenyon! I'm going to try and make it to the live Tues night. Visited your site tonight and watched some of the pre-recorded video. Great Job and how fun this is!!

The one song no one's ever been able to do for me at a piano bar is "You May be Right" by Billy Joel and it's not on your song list either :(

I'm going to try to come on and listen for a bit at 6 tomorrow - is that eastern time? You need to include the state in your location - and the time zone up where you have the times.

Thanks Bethers.....fixed date/time. You may be right..Billy Joel...I think I have it in a book. I'll work it up for you. Oh sorry about the time: 5pm rather than 6pm....I forgot we changed it starting this week. Thank you much for the tips....keep 'em comin!!!

Kenyon

www.onlinepianobar.com
www.kenyondye.com

Hi Kenyon,

Its been my pleasure, i'm a regular now lol even have it playing while i'm working, love the live shows tho ther great fun!...folks you will love it...now back to the website

Your forgetting to fine tune the pages as you do them.

1. Your pic in the top left of the page is overlapping the bottom and right hand side borders on most pages.

2.The right hand border needs to be pushed up to the top.

3. You dont need a Halifax button on the Halifax page same with the others.

4. Your contact page is to long, only make your pages as long as you need them.

5. Those yellow tip buttons, maybe make just a text link?

6. Some of your pages arent centered.
Last thing you should do when changing or working on a page is make sure your page is at 800 and centered ..only after you do that do you then...save and publish......save a lot of work if you do :o)

Well done Kenyon .. you've done a great job.

Thank you Lincslady! I took a day off yesterday...I was cramming all weekend. Lots of fine tuning....I'll attack each of those items today. I'm doing a bio on the piano construction and special features on the "the piano" button. Yes I know about the location buttons on the respective pages, but not quite sure what to replace it with. Suggestions on that?
I'll fix the alignment...I've read your threads on centering and guidelines. I'll get some coffee and start. Thanks again...showtime tonight at 5pm....New Time.

i'm on cable and your site loads very slow, a turtle will win if this was a race.

5. Those yellow tip buttons, maybe make just a text link?

Not sure which buttons you mean. It's hadrser to align everything with a black background, isn't it?

Wow, looking Grate. i love music but don't go to that sorta thing do to the crowd noise I'm prone to migraines. I was a Little hard to hear him over the crowd is the Mic placed near him, or closer to the crowd?

Jolen

The grey button with the yellow on in yur tip jar :o)

If you find it difficult to line everything up with the black background...change it to white while your working on it then change it back when done ;o)..just right click your background go to properties n background... easy peasy

Jim do you know what it is thats loading slow? ..i'm on broadband its ok on mine...

Hey Lincslady....okay this is scary...you've got me starting to think like you...that's just what I did with the background. Chang to white..aling...then back to black. The Tip Jar buttons..you think they should be textlinks? I mad them using HTML because of Pay Pal. I'll have to look at those a bit later. I'm working on the Piano page now. Check it out ...so far "The Piano"..
as always..thank yo thank you thank you.
Windameer....i saw your site some days ago....great stuff. Forwrd thinkin for a farm...best of luck to you. If you guys have a favorite song...let me know.....

.Kenoyn

ps. The guy at the piano is me. I run everything from there. The video remote/pan/tilt/zoom, the chat room, and all the performing. Makes for a busy nite! Thanks everyone...keep up the comments..I need you all!!!

haha spooky!....your picture at the top of every page is still overlapping..it needs pushing up to the top..its really annoying... you know, like a painting hanging crooked on someones wall :o)

You need a bit of content on your site (text) ..a suggestion...how about a page telling us a bit about yourself ? an about us/me page, instead of the piano page? ...

Well you should be very Proud, you play beautifully, have a nice voice and are doing a great Job with the web site. I checked you tip buttons they all went to pay-pal like you want but you may want to set them to black so it opens a new browser and they don't loose your site i had to use a back button on the browser.

Thank you about my site.

Keep up the good work.

Jolen

Originally Posted by Lincslady

haha spooky!....your picture at the top of every page is still overlapping..it needs pushing up to the top..its really annoying... you know, like a painting hanging crooked on someones wall :o)

You need a bit of content on your site (text) ..a suggestion...how about a page telling us a bit about yourself ? an about us/me page, instead of the piano page? ...

Your Right Lincslady, I didn't see that till I saw your post :)

Jolen

Love your site....What fun! You have a little overlapping on (Live! and) What a great job, I'll check in tonight

Hi, just an idea for your site as there a so many time zones it might be nice to have a clock that shows the time at your bar.
http://www.clocklink.com/ENG/gallery_analog.htm

Thanks Chris...great Idea!!! I'm live now...when I get home tonight...thabks for the link.
.....Kenyon

Originally Posted by onlinepianobar

Thanks Chris...great Idea!!! I'm live now...when I get home tonight...thabks for the link.
.....Kenyon

No kidding Kenyon - you are very very much alive!! .... Linda has you looking awesome "A Class Act"!!

What a job on the remake of this site .... I so love the color scheme, Linda, you've got it my dear!! "Make-over of the Year" and the award goes to you both!!

Just wows me ....

A++++++++++++++++++++++ Great Job!! So nice to see .....

I need a new site in these colors now, lol, I'm jealous ... hee hee

You're a real sweetheart , Ladyeye....nice to SEE you!! Yes, thanks to my new best friend Linda....the site looks AND runs better. Still loads of work to do. Right now I'm tring to set up so that I stream the previous night's performance (like right now) until the next LIVE stream. So, Ladyeye...you are now watching tonight's gig. Real nice crow, too. Thanks for the help....back to work for me..

.Kenyon

I need some help here, is there anybody to help me please.

sure.....help if I can.....kenyon

site looks very good would like to figure out how you did it so i can use it for ghost cams live.

went on at night couldn't find a sign up button or nothing how do you sign in and interact?

Oh and it loaded quicker this time must be my cable company we are getting a lot of snow but loads quickly now

Hey Jim...Thanks....but direct some of that to Lincslady for her visual help. No sign up required....you click on the connect button....enter your name in that space ...click connect and you're in the live chat . try it anytime...it's open 24/7. Stay tuned for constant development!! Appreciate all of your comments and help.

..Kenyon
www.onlinepianobar.com

thanks for info..now LINCSLADY!!!!!! LOL

Thats me .. lol

Holly i'll send you the money in the post lol ...i'm blushing here.

Heard of santa's little helper?...well i'm Kenyons little helper lol....he's a very clever n talented dude...(bit of american there for you)