SirCharls wrote:Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!
Nice, clean design, with a minimum of font effects and other things that expose first-time graphic designers.
One thing I'd lose: The page-to-page effects. You want your title logo to remain on the screen, and your page effects are erasing it as they do their wiping action, before putting it back up. And it's slow.
I would also set up the graphic images to display as they load, using progressive-scan JPEG's. That way, dialup users can see something happening, even if it takes a while for the full image to appear. I always test my web work using a dial-up computer and a small window to simulate a lo-res monitor.
I would also loose the crawling marquis. Most folks like to use their IE status line to see where links are pointing, rather than your news crawler.
Your opening page has all the important bits: Who you are, what you do, where you do it, and it even asks for the sale (Come see us!). But I would make sure the next performance is visible on the screen without scrolling, so that the casual viewer sees the time and place without having to look for it.
Finally, the "Sign Guestbook" and "View Guestbook" wrapped on my hi-res monitor set to use large text. You might give it a little more room to be resized by browsers.
But all that is mostly little stuff that would improve what is already a nicely done web page. I like the simple approach; I think it shows taste and class which is consistent with the role of a brass quintet. The plain gray background and the black and white images of the Apollo statuary is nicely done, and it makes your color pictures pop better. It gives you a subtle culture theme, too.
And just so you won't think I'm just being critical from a protected distance, I'll give you a crack at a web page I designed and maintain:
http://www.lcbandinc.org
Rick "comments welcome" Denney