Thread: Please review my new website for MandyN Music

Hi all, I have uploaded and linked all pages, but it is still a work in progress and always will be for updates and changes... but for now I have settled on a design and would like some feedback on what I have so far.
www.aussierewards.com/mandynmusic

Cheers,
Mandy

Forgive me - but the small white type against the black background on many of the pages hurt my eyes. If you could take it up a font size or two and maybe tone down the bright white to more of a very pale grey?

Overall the site is nice - very professional. If you have music, I can't comment, as I surf with my sound off. If you DO have music on, I suggest you add a control so people can adjust it.

Hi Mandy,

Your site design is great nice n simple n easy to navigate..love the colours to...but ..and I dont know how to put this without sounding like i'm being awful ...i'm not ok....so I'm just gonna say it

My first impression was...the photo on the home page doesnt look like your voice...

Your voice to me says ... rock chick, but the photo says ..opera singer, classical kinda thing...does that make sence to you?

While its a gorgeous photo, I think the one with you in the black n white shirt and your hair down looks much more like who you are..and matches your voice so much more....thats the one I would put on my front page if I were you.

Bravo! Mandy. I love your home page! But I have to agree with Linda in that the photo with the black and white top seems to go better with your site. You are a beautiful lady no matter what photo you use, but based on the sample music....yup...the black and white top is the way to go. On your bio page, I to would recommend enlarging the font just a bit! Great Job and do you have any more peforming photo's you can load up? Overall, though I LOVE IT!

Hi Mandy! I agree with Bethers on bumping up the white font a point size AND agree with Linda... the photo with the zebra jacket is much hotter and suits (pun intended) your style better. Great design and voice!

Hi Mandy,

I liked the way you did the site, the background, the flash clip, your voice, of course is outstanding............and you look very classy in the black dress. I think showing the different pics, shows you can dress for the occaision. Good job!

Thank you all for your feedback... some good points were given.

Bethers: What browswer are you using?
I ask this because there is no white font colour on any of my pages except for the signature on my corporate photograph. All font colours are shades of grey or red. I can't understand also that you are confused as to whether there is music on my site... did you see the Audio page link? Did you press the "PLAY" link beside every song listed? By default, the player is set at 100% volume, so if you have your speakers turned on, there should not be any reason for not hearing the music.

I have not as yet made the site friendly to browsers other than IE... so unless you are using a diffferent browser, I cannot explain why you had trouble.



I do realise now that I had the incorrect font type on the Bio page which I will change, and that will make it easier to read.

Dori, Dream Lady, Lincslady: I understand where you are coming from, and if I only sang 'Rock', I would agree with you 100%... But as Robyn (CL) pointed out, the different photos are meant to show that whatever the occasion, I can adapt to it. In a Corporate industry, you must look Corporate. I feel I need to change the audio rather than the pic, which is what I will do, and also I need to add more songs that are not Rock to show the versatility. Thank you for raising that issue.

I am yet to add a page with my full song list, and that will give a much better idea to the customer of my versatility as well.


Thank you for your comments and I will start making the changes, and hopefully that will improve the site. Like I said, it's a work in progress, and always will be.

Cheers,
Mandy

I have changed the font type on my Bio page making it easier to read... please tell me if this has made a difference.

Ok... I have made the changes to my index page.
I have changed the audio and also gave the picture a rollover effect with the other photo... this way you can hear and see that I am versatile.

What do you all think?

Mandy

Mama Mia Mandalia!! WTG Girl!!


.... Great to see you've finished your masterpiece. (Sorry, I'm late for the party) It's looking great, loading great and your fonts are totally readable (I realize you upped the size) and the image rollover is a nice addition to the home page. A slide show might even be cool and something you can think about as you gather more pics.

Wow .... I like your younger picture there, am I to understand you were 17 then? You look much younger.

I love the curtain backdrop behind you, love the color and you look very very classy!! A class act for you m'lady in whatever role you are playing. Nice that you can do it all!!

Great job!! I look forward to your additions over time, for the rest of our lives!!

MamaMiaMandalia!! Congrats!

Perfect idea Mandy...love it, your site looks great..well done nice job.

I got the intro to play and was realy excited to see the rest of your site and hear some of the audio clips. I was a bit bummed out when I went away from the main page and the music stopped. It would have been great if you could have kept tat track playing in the background while I was browsing your site. I couldn't get the audio clips on the audo page to play. I really like your site. Very well done.

Hello Mandy,

It’s my pleasure to look your new website congratulations and
nice touch from our BV Family member Carlos for script maybe you need put in website my Parlay box here lets visitors talk with you for free.

Nice job God Bless!

Zlatko

MandyN,

I don't agree about the photo, I think it is fine and for the reasons you stated. You look to me, by the photo to be a very attractive sophisticated lady and the music needs no off button for me. Love the colors, they too suggest a certain sophistication, it is a job well done. I enjoy your music and cannot complain about anything on your professionally done website.

I also agree with Lincslady about the pic and the sound of your voice. Is it possible to have your opening track paly the whole time?

Originally Posted by LadyEye

Mama Mia Mandalia!! WTG Girl!!


.... Great to see you've finished your masterpiece. (Sorry, I'm late for the party) It's looking great, loading great and your fonts are totally readable (I realize you upped the size) and the image rollover is a nice addition to the home page. A slide show might even be cool and something you can think about as you gather more pics.

Wow .... I like your younger picture there, am I to understand you were 17 then? You look much younger.

I love the curtain backdrop behind you, love the color and you look very very classy!! A class act for you m'lady in whatever role you are playing. Nice that you can do it all!!

Great job!! I look forward to your additions over time, for the rest of our lives!!

MamaMiaMandalia!! Congrats!

Thank you Holly, your praise is reasurring to me.
I didn't actully change the font size at all, I just changed the font and kept it the same size... it did the job, and that's all that matters.

Now I know you're trying to pull my leg when you say that my younger pic is at 17... I was 31... lol It was taken 5 years ago, the corporate and zebra jacket pics were taken 2 years ago, and the live pic was early last year... but hey, thanks for the ego boost anyway...lol
I do have a pic from my first band at 17 years of age, but the fashion back then is embarassing to me now, and wouldn't dare show it... lol

Originally Posted by Lincslady

Perfect idea Mandy...love it, your site looks great..well done nice job.

Thanks Linda... I'm glad you raised that issue.

Originally Posted by motoxxx

I got the intro to play and was realy excited to see the rest of your site and hear some of the audio clips. I was a bit bummed out when I went away from the main page and the music stopped. It would have been great if you could have kept tat track playing in the background while I was browsing your site. I couldn't get the audio clips on the audo page to play. I really like your site. Very well done.

Thankyou motoxxx, are you using IE or a different browser?
The audio will not play from the audio page if you are not using IE, as I have not put the scripts on that page as yet for other browsers to function properly... but will be as soon as I can.

I can let the music continue from the front page, and was considering it already... I am deciding the best way to do this.

Originally Posted by zc290549

Hello Mandy,

It’s my pleasure to look your new website congratulations and
nice touch from our BV Family member Carlos for script maybe you need put in website my Parlay box here lets visitors talk with you for free.

Nice job God Bless!

Zlatko

Thank you so much for your kind words Zlatko. Carlos thanks you too, although, he did say that he was no longer part of the VH Family, he is nonetheless part of "The Family" and has taken up wearing black hats... lol.

The Parlay box could be a good idea, but people in my industry seem to not only attract sincere legitimate customers, they also attract wackos that just want to say unsavoury things to you. I never give out my phone number unless I'm convinced the person is a legitimate customer... they can contact me via email first, and any dodgy one's will be dealt with by my very protective man... lol.

God Bless you too!

Originally Posted by choco777

MandyN,

I don't agree about the photo, I think it is fine and for the reasons you stated. You look to me, by the photo to be a very attractive sophisticated lady and the music needs no off button for me. Love the colors, they too suggest a certain sophistication, it is a job well done. I enjoy your music and cannot complain about anything on your professionally done website.

Thanks choco777, it gives me confidence that I'm on the right track.

Cheers!

Hey Mandy! Great!! I love the mouse rollover change of picture. It does show the look of versatility. The font is much easier to read on your bio page. I have no problems with the audio tracks, they start and play just fine. What can I say! Love the red and black theme and I really like the scripting that Carlos did. I was wondering where Carlos went...didn't realize he wasn't part of the bv community anymore...sad..I really like him!

Anyway, Love it all now!! Great Job Mandy!

You are 31 here Mandy??

Holly obviously has too much free time.......she finds stuff like this when I would have given up long ago!
LOLOL

Originally Posted by Vasili

Holly obviously has too much free time.......she finds stuff like this when I would have given up long ago!
LOLOL

"Free Time" - what is that ... lol ... never mind, I can guess ... lol

I should be sleeping, instead I am creeping ... lol It's 5:15 am here and no, I've not had yesterdays sleep yet, lol ...........

Mandy,

Excellent work on the site and beautiful voice!

I have to ask a question... how did you get that "video" or animation on your front page and what did you add to make it? Is it a video? a Flash animation? I like it... nifty! :)

Originally Posted by Dream Lady

Hey Mandy! Great!! I love the mouse rollover change of picture. It does show the look of versatility. The font is much easier to read on your bio page. I have no problems with the audio tracks, they start and play just fine. What can I say! Love the red and black theme and I really like the scripting that Carlos did. I was wondering where Carlos went...didn't realize he wasn't part of the bv community anymore...sad..I really like him!

Anyway, Love it all now!! Great Job Mandy!

Thanks Cindy, glad you like it... it's getting closer to what I want it to be.
I'm very thankful to Carlos the genius!

Carlos got sucked into an internet vortex, but pops his head out every now and then to grab a bite to eat and have 40 winks... lol He said something about a spam problem he is no longer having to put up with now...? I really really like him too!.. lol

Originally Posted by LadyEye

You are 31 here Mandy??

Yes... is that bad?

Hmmmm... where is Holly going with this? Scared to think... lol

Originally Posted by Hester

Mandy,

Excellent work on the site and beautiful voice!

I have to ask a question... how did you get that "video" or animation on your front page and what did you add to make it? Is it a video? a Flash animation? I like it... nifty! :)

Thank you Hester for your comments... the video you are talking about was created with WMM (windows movie maker) it is very simple to use, but can be quite effective. Everything was created within the software itself.

Okay Mandy ...

We need a poll taken here, lol ... you are 31 in that picture .. ???

Honestly, you look like you are still in High School ... you have changed your looks so much in just a few years ... not a bad thing ...

But seriously, I thought that was a pic before you would have even graduated from high school .....

Unbelievable ... lol

Great site - very sophisticated and charming - great voice keep up the good work

Originally Posted by LadyEye

Okay Mandy ...

We need a poll taken here, lol ... you are 31 in that picture .. ???

Honestly, you look like you are still in High School ... you have changed your looks so much in just a few years ... not a bad thing ...

But seriously, I thought that was a pic before you would have even graduated from high school .....

Unbelievable ... lol

Awwww...that's nice. Maybe the secret has been that because I never actually graduated from High School, I stayed looking younger than my age... lol I have been known to change my look every year, but the past few years I've just let my hair grow as long as I can get it... I can't afford a jacket you see...need my hair to keep me warm... ... lol

Originally Posted by asirimarco

Great site - very sophisticated and charming - great voice keep up the good work

Thank you Ann... I appreciate your praise.

Looking and sounding fabulous Mandy! I can't wait to see/hear more!!!

Originally Posted by Dori

Looking and sounding fabulous Mandy! I can't wait to see/hear more!!!

Thankyou Dori... I have more to hear now.

I have just added 10 new tracks to the audio page, and will hopefully have the songlist completed soon. Enjoy.

Mandy! I love your additions...especially...Unforgetable! You did a GREAT job on that song...I love it.

Very nice Mandy. You are becoming famous here!

Originally Posted by Dream Lady

Mandy! I love your additions...especially...Unforgetable! You did a GREAT job on that song...I love it.

Thanks Cindy I'm glad you like it... it's a beautiful song.

Originally Posted by motoxxx

Very nice Mandy. You are becoming famous here!

Thankyou motoxxx... me famous?... well just as long as it is only here... I don't want the paparazzi ruining my peace and quiet... lol...

Hi all, I have completed and uploaded the songlist for your much wanted opinions.

Thankyou so much to all who have given me feedback, it is really great to get different points of view.

Cheers,
Mandy

cool voice and site! keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by Jimmac

cool voice and site! keep up the good work!

Thank you Jimmac.

Hey Mandy

Great job again .... Nice addition ... The Song List ...
psst.... (catergory, take the r out)

Gonna listen to all the new songs now ...... ahh, great collection you have going ... nice to see all the categorys too

I think I like the choice pics that you have with each category, but would really like to see you in those pics instead, maybe as you get more pics taken appropriately for each category, you could change them, maybe eh!!

Love the one you're with ... listening now ... nice ..!!

Originally Posted by LadyEye

Hey Mandy

Great job again .... Nice addition ... The Song List ...
psst.... (catergory, take the r out)

Gonna listen to all the new songs now ...... ahh, great collection you have going ... nice to see all the categorys too

I think I like the choice pics that you have with each category, but would really like to see you in those pics instead, maybe as you get more pics taken appropriately for each category, you could change them, maybe eh!!

Love the one you're with ... listening now ... nice ..!!

Ooops! I missed that one... thankyou for alerting me.

That could be a good idea with the pics... it will cost me a fortune though... these bloody professional photographers cost an arm and a leg per pic for commercial usage rights. Maybe when I start selling C.D.'s I will be able to generatre enough sales to cover the cost..? Wouldn't that be nice... selling C.D.'s!

lol Mandy ....

Better idea, when you show up her for lunch next week, and your "gig" I have you booked in for, I'll start snapping pics of you and we'll have them up there in no time ... we won't wait for "scripting" lol ....... we'll just snap, shoot and roll .... lol

LOL... sounds good to me

Voda TV Presents

Sounds Gr88888888888888t to me Mandy!!



Ladies & Gentlemen ... you are listening to "Mandy" Live .... Mama Mia Mandalia !!

LOL... that's cool...

Holly... I checked for the proper grammer with the sentence below... and it says it's ok.

" on a T.V. music program called “Count Down” in 1991. "

It sounds right to me to say on a T.V. show rather than in a T.V. show... it maybe wrong, but when I did a grammer check it didn't tell me to change it. What do you think?

Originally Posted by MandyN

Holly... I checked for the proper grammer with the sentence below... and it says it's ok.

" on a T.V. music program called “Count Down” in 1991. "

It sounds right to me to say on a T.V. show rather than in a T.V. show... it maybe wrong, but when I did a grammer check it didn't tell me to change it. What do you think?

I think it looks great, I think in the case of that one phrase, there was one extra word wasn't there ... it looks wonderful my dear ...

Excellent!!!!


More!!!!!!!!! Just another little push from the pusher, lmao

Cool... I have changed the pics on the index page... what do you think?

Hey Mandy! I just accessed your index page and welllllll...not sure whats happening. Did you change it to be like a music skin to change/flicker withthe music? The photos come and go with what appears to be static. Is that what it is suppose to be? Nothing comes up on the left side, until I click in there and hit my space bar. Just not sure it's doing what you want....but then....it could be me. Let's see what others are experiencing. Just can't get enough of your singing....la.la.la...

Hi Cindy... not sure why it's doing that... I'll try to fix it.

What about now Cindy? Is it still doing the same thing?

Mandy: Ok, not doing that now, whew...I thought it was me. Looking good. The photos fade in and out with various styles. Looks nice. I like the flash on the left, but it doesn't last as long as the picture rotator does, so it doesn't repeat, right? Whereas the picture gallery appears to start over and repeat. I get the feeling like I'm missing something on the left. Can you have that keep repeating as well? I think it would look better than just having a blank box there. Gotta go listen to some more music!! Have a good night!!

Hey Mandy: You must be working on it again, because it's flashing at me again! I'll check back later because I notice your signed on again. What time is it in Australia now? It's about 10:20 here.

Ok, now I'm confused... the pics should be on the left, and the text should be to the right of it. They are both set to loop... they function properly when I view the page... what browser do you use Cindy?

Mandy, I use IE7 on dsl. I just checked it again, the words and pictures are flashing at me on the left side. Then I refreshed and now they are flashing on the right side. Like overlapping each other. Let me clear my cache and try it again and see if that helps. Like I said, it could be me, but I'm not having any problems on any other sites. I'll be right back.

ok... that usually works for me...

oh, it's now 4.33pm

Well, sorry Mandy..that didn't help... When I brought it back up it sat there for about 10 seconds, then the words on the right started to appear fine, then jumped to the left and started the flashing business again. ummmmm I wish someone else was on here so they could tell us if it's happening to them. Where is that Holly when you need her!! lol

I'll try putting more space between the 2 and then see if it still does it.

Ok... done that.
What happens for me is the text comes up first, then the audio followed by the pics... give that a try now Cindy.

Ok, something wierd is going on here. When I first accessed it, it came up just as you mentioned above. text, audio then pics pretty fast working great. I closed it and clicked on your link again just to make sure and it starts flashing at me again. So I take it you are not having that problem on your machine? What browser are you using? I see where you put a little more space in. I'll try it again and see what happens.

Same thing...darn it... Your other pages work just fine and the audio is just fine.

I use the same browser as you do... you might also want to delete all temp files and cookies again, and also check the box when it asks "delete files and settings stored by add ons.

Let me try a bit more spacing.

Hey Mandy....gotta go (phone call) may be awhile. I'll check back later or in the morning. Let's get some others to take a look before you spend anymore time, in case it's just me. Have a good evening!!

Thanks Cindy... you have a good night too

Good Morning Mandy! Well, first thing everything worked great. text, then audio kicked in and then the photo gallery. Watched for about 1 min. Closed the browser and accessed it again. The flashing started. Anyone else reading this thread, can you test this for Mandy and see if it happens to you? Holly does this happen to you?

GoodMorning Cindy & Mandy

Cindy, maybe it is all sorted now, as it appears to be working okay for me ...

Wow Mandy, that is awesome, looks real cool .....

Is it still doing that for you Cindy??

Working for me this morning too

Well that's crazy. It must just be my computer then. When I first open the site, everything works great. If I close the browser and reopen again, the audio works fine but the text and gallery are overlapping each other on one side or the other or both in a flashing jumbled up effect. Last night I went though and deleted my cache, temp files, history, cookies, etc. and it still did it. I guess I need to find that computer hubby of mine and have him take a look. Sorry Mandy....and here I thought I was helping!! lol

Cindy: Don't be sorry... it was no big deal to me, I only spaced the 2 apart a little further anyway. I am grateful that you stayed on trying to figure out what was happening. I just wish I had an explanation to offer you about your PC.

Holly: Thankyou, the more I play with photoshop, the more I learn.

larazovich: Thankyou for checking it for me.

How did you do your homepage? I love the effects of it. A little direction on how to do that would be very much appreciated!

Thank you,
Sherry

Thankyou Sherry... I assume you are referring to the animated text and pictures... I created those with 'Windows Movie Maker' a very easy program to use. If you use Windows OS, and have service pack 2 downloaded, then you will already have the program.

Your website looks great. I love the music but one thing i would suggest is adding a stop button so people can stop the music if they want. You could be turning people away from your site just because you have not stop button.

Aart from the button thing your site is well layed out and the colours work well, I don't normally like black backgrounds but yours works well. Good work

Originally Posted by Mook25

Your website looks great. I love the music but one thing i would suggest is adding a stop button so people can stop the music if they want. You could be turning people away from your site just because you have not stop button.

Aart from the button thing your site is well layed out and the colours work well, I don't normally like black backgrounds but yours works well. Good work

Thankyou for your compliments Mook25.

The way I feel about adding a stop button to the homepage is like this:
There is not much to look at that would keep you there for a long time, and if people don't like my singing, they are not going to like my website full stop, simply because the website is all about my singing and offering that service. So I guess if they don't like what they hear first up, then that is the customer I'm not interested in pleasing... make sense?

Music is all about how it sounds to us and how it makes us feel, so if it sounds bad or makes us feel bad, then best thing is to either remove yourself away from it or simply don't listen. So let them turn away I say... I'm not forcing myself onto anyone that does not appreciate what I do.

Hello Mandy and everyone!
This is my first post, but I have been visiting quite often! I started building my site a few months ago, and am not quite ready to publish it. All i have to do is my photo gallery, but I have tried and tested so many web gallery generators, free slide show creators and more.
I also played around with the BV gallery and banner rotator, but can't seem to get excatly what I want.

mandy, your site is beautiful ! love it! and I especially love your gallery...how did you do that, that is exactly what I want! I want to have the thumbnails on one side while the bigger picture appears, but couldnT find how to achieve that effect. Could you tell me what you used? I would also like to add text next to the pictures, but will start with the gallery alone!!

thank you so much in advahnce for your help!

great job with the site, very professional.

Originally Posted by nancyx25

Hello Mandy and everyone!
This is my first post, but I have been visiting quite often! I started building my site a few months ago, and am not quite ready to publish it. All i have to do is my photo gallery, but I have tried and tested so many web gallery generators, free slide show creators and more.
I also played around with the BV gallery and banner rotator, but can't seem to get excatly what I want.

mandy, your site is beautiful ! love it! and I especially love your gallery...how did you do that, that is exactly what I want! I want to have the thumbnails on one side while the bigger picture appears, but couldnT find how to achieve that effect. Could you tell me what you used? I would also like to add text next to the pictures, but will start with the gallery alone!!

thank you so much in advahnce for your help!

great job with the site, very professional.

Hi Nancy, firstly, welcome to you, I hope you have an enjoyable time here on the forum, and I am flattered that you chose my thread as your first post.
Thankyou very much for the compliment.
I created the thumbnails myself, and I used a script "get element by id" to display the pics which was provided to me by adsenseproject.com .
Do a search for instructions of how to place on a page and use that script I mentioned on the net. This will help you do it step by step.

I hope this helps you.

Regards,
Mandy

I've been working on my site and I feel I'm ready to publish it, but I was wondering how do I publish it where people on this forum can give me feedback? Do I have to publish it per the tutorial and then you guys and ladies check it out on the web or is there a "special" place I publish it to so only people on this forum can see it?

Go HERE and about 1/4 of the way down over on the left it says NEW THREAD. Click there and you can post your website for review

Thanks
I'll go ahead and publish it and then open a thread for everyone to review.