Please help - Website review time

[Paul The Party Dj]

My current website has been up for around a year and obviously it's time for a review. I have a number of changes in mind but before I start I thought I'd put it here for you good people to shoot at.

I've spent a fair amount of time looking at other sites here, in the States and Australia - then, when I've gone back to look at mine I'm fairly pleased with what I have already. Some of the pictures definitely need to go but I think the wording is good. It's very simple, whole page to view, loads quickly (I think).

I also have a couple of blogs which I'd like to develop more - maybe we could look at those another time.

To me, it maybe looks a little "Jack of all trades - master of none"!

I've seen many sites that look better, I know it needs to be smarter, so what would you do?

Your help would be very much appreciated, thanks in advance.

www.thepartydj.co.uk

Paul the Party DJ, Southampton, Hampshire.

[Paul The Party Dj]

I'm really looking for feedback on the main site which is accessed via the centre icon "The Party DJ".

Cheers

Paul

[Charlie Brown]

I love it! Very nice...elegant...perfect!

[yourdj]

Rubbish! :p

i would split the sites in to three. Add a flash slidshow on all the static pics and get some really good pics and Bigger vids of you in action with a crowd.

I love the intro party DJ thing with the light.

Other than that its great :)

Who designed it?

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I love it! Very nice...elegant...perfect!

Not sure elegant is the right word Charlie...


I don't like the navigation, having to go from one page to another and then there's no way of getting back again if you see what I mean.

Easy to read though and well set out.

[Charlie Brown]

Not sure elegant is the right word Charlie...


Okay...Stylish, modern, contemporary and it get's your image across easily.

Refreshing to see a site that doesn't have a black background.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Okay...Stylish, modern, contemporary

Not sure I agree really.

[Charlie Brown]

Not sure I agree really.

Really?

Modern...Yes.

Stylish...I like the "Party DJ" produced by the LED Messenger and how it flows through the site.

It's also nice to see a few pictures of the DJ's.

[Paul The Party Dj]

Thanks guys for your feedback - constructive and kind bless you!
More welcome please.

My mate designed it under direction from me (I told him what I wanted and he produced it). It was produced before we had many gigs of this latest version of the business under our belts so we didn't have a lot to work with. Now we have loads so I wanted to gauge opinion before I started to make changes.

The Party DJ / Gold / Pulse thing will be separated at some point.

The ADJ Messenger was the inspiration behind the branding and I'm not sure if I should change this already. I could develop a separate wedding brand under my original DJ name "Paul Leighton" - but I like to keep things simple (like me).

Thank again.

[Marc J]

It's painfully slow. Not just the loading, but kills my browser as well (IE8 on WinXP). Even the first "choice of 3" page loads very slowly and then dies on scrolling. Something very strange going on.

Lose the frames. What's the connection with www.serendipitysams.co.uk?

The Children's Parties page (http://www.serendipitysams.co.uk/tpdj/newpdj/The_Party_DJ/Childrens_Parties.html) doesn't display correctly (agin IE8 WinXP), the first paragraph of text is shown against the image background so can't be easily read.

Actually, I just checked and most pages suffer from this, but most just block the text with the image completely.

I'd replace the Quicktime with Flash video. Quicktime might be the reason for browser(s) slowing.

[yourdj]

original DJ name "Paul Leighton"

Why did you choose that as a stage name out of interest :confused:
I think paul Taylor is better and thats your actual name :)

Is it if you screw a gig up they cant find you :p

[Paul The Party Dj]

Again, thanks.

Site now moved away to stand on its own (no serendipitysams - my other business).

Leighton was my mums maiden name, Taylor was the a very common surname back in the day. In the old days many of us used a different name for all sorts of reasons - some DJ's, bar staff and doormen used have names like M Mouse and D Duck - I was always straight up about who I was and where I lived.

Toby - were you christened Toby?

Thanks again - please keep them coming.

[Charlie Brown]

That's odd...it works very fast in Nottingham. :approve:

[Marc J]

That's odd...it works very fast in Nottingham. :approve:

I don't think it's a server speed issue Charlie. More like the content is killing particular browsers. There's a load of javascript which, given the content, is just unnecessary and will be the likely cause, along with the QT video.

[yourdj]

Toby - were you christened Toby?

Don't know what that has to do with anything :confused:

I was just wondering as most DJ's would have chosen Paul Power or something?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stage_names

My mums maiden name was De La Fuente which I used to use for my latin night in Que Pasa. :)
My business partner back in the day was De La Cruise (his spanish) so it seemed to fit.