NWB - Community Blog

29 Jun 2011

Being the amateur computer geek that I am...

Filed Under : Hello , Other

Posted By : ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ | Comments : 53

I designed us a new webby

I've always been a bit of a techie geek especially when it comes to computers and the word wide web...I'm usually more known to be surfing on redtube but over the last 12 months I've become really interested in the whole web design lark. It just fascinates me how you can customise and manipulate almost anything and make your own ideas come to life. Never had a computer lesson in my life or had someone tell me what to do...I'm just a self-teaching geek! Although have to admit knowing Photoshop inside out through my day job has helped me a lot.

Have a gander - www.thesugarbullets.co.uk

If any of you pro's out there have any advice or tips please feel free to comment...

Now off the read the SEO guide...

Tatta

EDIT: Twas only a few months ago I designed us a site using WordPress....2 words DON'T BOTHER unless you have the patience of a saint...which I don't!

Comments

# Posted by Jez (Route 69) - 29/06/2011, 22:07 (GMT)

"Surfing on Redtube" is now classed ad "Digital Drumming"!!! - see AYPs post !

# Posted by Jez (Route 69) - 29/06/2011, 22:08 (GMT)

as for the webpage - it fits on mine without scrolling sideways!! likey, likey!!

:0)

# Posted by TEX & THE HARDCORE TROUBAD... - 29/06/2011, 22:23 (GMT)

Sure hits the spot, I was checkin it out earlier on Facebook, I will be sure to post the Leigh n Atherton gigs on Wigan Punks closer to the time, superb effort Deano ;-)

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 29/06/2011, 22:23 (GMT)

Digital Drumming - its the future!

No scrolling!!

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 29/06/2011, 22:24 (GMT)

Ta Tex me mucca.

I need a holiday...my brain's frazzled...

# Posted by Alyerpal - 29/06/2011, 22:31 (GMT)

'Kin hell Deano - will you do a webby for Al'Signs?

That is superb!!

I can't even make sense on here, let alone design summat like that.

AYVGF

# Posted by Willow (of somebig™Fish) (Reti... - 29/06/2011, 22:36 (GMT)

clicking on the link gives me this :

http://81.21.76.62/thesugarbullets.co.uk/index.html

which is a 123 holding site ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

:0/

# Posted by TEX & THE HARDCORE TROUBAD... - 29/06/2011, 22:37 (GMT)

Thats just you Willow, lol

# Posted by Jez (Route 69) - 29/06/2011, 22:38 (GMT)

what browser - it's working in chrome on mine?

# Posted by JOHNNY MEERKAT - 29/06/2011, 22:39 (GMT)

Works for me Willow

Excellent Dean mi owd Punkster

# Posted by Willow (of somebig™Fish) (Reti... - 29/06/2011, 22:45 (GMT)

chrome

brb

# Posted by Willow (of somebig™Fish) (Reti... - 29/06/2011, 22:46 (GMT)

nope ...... "http://81.21.76.62/thesugarbullets.co.uk/index.html"

that's what i get

let me try Int Explorer ......

brb

# Posted by Willow (of somebig™Fish) (Reti... - 29/06/2011, 22:49 (GMT)

........oooops

think my PC may be bust!!

still can't get it!

"http://81.21.76.62/thesugarbullets.co.uk/index.html"

click on link, copy and paste link ...... what else do i need to do???????????

# Posted by Alyerpal - 29/06/2011, 22:52 (GMT)

Just clicky on linky should do it Willow - time you updated your Sinclair I think.....

AYVGF

# Posted by Willow (of somebig™Fish) (Reti... - 29/06/2011, 22:55 (GMT)

nope

just me then

Aaaaaaaaw Sugarbullets I'm no loss ....

:0)

# Posted by Steve Blease - 29/06/2011, 22:56 (GMT)

I wish everyone would make their own site, even a basic one would beat that bloody MYSPACE that people tend to use. I hate it with a passion, it's just not good in anyway.

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 29/06/2011, 22:57 (GMT)

@Willow - I only set up the domain 'pointing' as they call it a couple of hours ago. 123 reg (where I bought the domain name thesugarbullets.co.uk) said it could take up to 72hrs to take effect but it seemed to work pretty much straight away in Firefox & Explorer. Any other possible explanation is beyond me. I'm surpised its been a fairly easy process tbh, I mean what the f**k is a DNS and CNAME. Bedazzled. All in the learning I guess.

# Posted by TEX & THE HARDCORE TROUBAD... - 29/06/2011, 23:00 (GMT)

Willow, sure ya ain't invited in a virus from any dubious websites ya may have frequented in the pursuit of art ...........................pmsl ;-)

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 29/06/2011, 23:02 (GMT)

@Steve - Myspaz was one of the reasons I decided to take up this hobby, seriously anyone with half a brain cell could mock up something better than the current Myspaz layouts. The sooner they realise they'll never be Facebook the better - its horrible to use now. We have a profile there but never update it.

# Posted by Alyerpal - 29/06/2011, 23:03 (GMT)

@ Tex - you mean digital drumming? ! ;-)

AYVGF

# Posted by TEX & THE HARDCORE TROUBAD... - 29/06/2011, 23:12 (GMT)

@Al, maybe analogue rhythmic beats !!! ;-)

# Posted by Tubthumper - 29/06/2011, 23:21 (GMT)

My anal retentive side feels compelled to point out a small spelling error in the about us section on the home page. It should read "extensive" not "extentive" unless you're making new words up in typically punk anarchic fashion.

Otherwise it's fantastic. Really easy to navigate and visually very appealing.

# Posted by ST Photography - VIVA LA COMMU... - 29/06/2011, 23:32 (GMT)

Classy that Dean. Lovin it.

# Posted by The Kasuals Solid Sixties Musi... - 29/06/2011, 23:32 (GMT)

A moonfruit site, very nice. Best site builder out there...........................

Lee :)

# Posted by Willow (of somebig™Fish) (Reti... - 30/06/2011, 00:23 (GMT)

@Dean .... your couple of hours has passed , and, oh bugger ......................... I'm on!!

Nice one buddy -all that I expected.

@

# Posted by Tony- Vocalist - 30/06/2011, 00:40 (GMT)

Redtube, Redtube ????????? Im shocked, horrified, I feel sullied, dirty...... I feel cheap........ Jennastube!!!! thats the site for filth!

# Posted by The Cottonhouse Shakers - 30/06/2011, 02:44 (GMT)

@N/A - Is it? ......what's the address?

# Posted by PINK FLOYDish - 30/06/2011, 08:19 (GMT)

I think it looks ace, big pat on the back for ya sir ;-)

Kev

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 30/06/2011, 08:24 (GMT)

Its bang on, really nice website. Good use of meta tags too!

# Posted by Point Blank - 30/06/2011, 08:52 (GMT)

What's a nice site Synthy Mike, Jennastube? Guffaw guffaw, yak, yak!

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 30/06/2011, 09:01 (GMT)

Well, that's obviously a wonderful site but I was referring to the Sugar Bullets site. I can't imagine frequenting Jennastube would do wonders for my proxy log at work.

# Posted by James - Metalleeka - 30/06/2011, 09:35 (GMT)

good effort... not keen on flash sites myself as they are mainly invisble to search engines.. but 'tis nice and clean, styled well and functional.

http://www.metalleeka.co.uk has just be rebuilt by me, still got stuff to do as these things are organic...

let me know what ya think..

# Posted by Face It! - 30/06/2011, 10:22 (GMT)

It won't work for me! Getting the 123 website. Any idea why?

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 30/06/2011, 10:49 (GMT)

@Face It - what browser you using?

# Posted by James - Metalleeka - 30/06/2011, 11:00 (GMT)

type it in and see if you still get the error..

# Posted by Andy Mack - 30/06/2011, 11:17 (GMT)

Delete your cookies and all internet history and try again=

# Posted by Andy Mack - 30/06/2011, 11:17 (GMT)

Nice site though- very very good!

# Posted by Face It! - 30/06/2011, 11:42 (GMT)

IE9. Just deleted the internet history and that did the trick, cheers. The site looks really good by the way, very professional. Particularly like the facebook comments bit, looks pretty smart. We'll certainly have to sort something like this out sometime.

# Posted by James - Metalleeka - 30/06/2011, 11:58 (GMT)

yeah I like the facebook bit too.. shame its not dynamic.. now that would cool.. hmmm thinking cap on methinks lol

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 30/06/2011, 14:54 (GMT)

James, you seem like a man 'in the know' - what do you mean by 'dynamic' refering to the facebook bit?

# Posted by James - Metalleeka - 30/06/2011, 15:17 (GMT)

@SugarBullets : "dynamic" = are they automatically taken from your facebook page.. ie. if I added one right now.. would it show up seconds later.....

or is it "static" ie. you copied them from screen captures and created one big montage....

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 30/06/2011, 16:07 (GMT)

@James - Ahh yeah I vaguely had an idea what you meant. The FB comments in the 'Press' area are just static gif images all bundled together...looks quite cool but text obv. not being read by Google etc.

I've researched the Facebook feed facilities a lot and managed to now incorporate an RSS feed on our home page instead of Twitter as more people seem to bother with FB. Plus it gives people the opportunity to 'Like' our page directly from our website...simple but effective. I already had a basic understanding of HTML so that helped. The only thing I've not managed to find out yet is how to also show fan's comments in the feed (currently its just ours)...it's a never ending challenge. Thats what I love about this.

# Posted by James - Metalleeka - 30/06/2011, 16:35 (GMT)

@SugarBullets... I like the facebook wall widget.. reverbnation have some nice ones too I daresay..

I like the comments.. perhaps if you made the actual text content the alt tag of the gif for SEO.. ?? if you dynamically draw "guests post" it may lead to a free-for-all of unsavoury content.. I hark back to the days of "Guest Books" on websites being attacked by link spammers..

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 30/06/2011, 17:42 (GMT)

@James - we have a reverb profile, it was the only way I knew how to get our recorded demos on our Facebook page (through the reverb FB app). To be honest apart from that I see the whole reverb thing as useful as Myspace.

I've started adding alt tags around the site to images, starting with the gif comments. All good for SEO. As I mentioned earlier the Facebook comments feed on the home page is just displaying 'our' updates and not our fan's comments...I'm presuming there is a way to implement that but I'm happy the way it is for now...I'd rather concentrate on the SEO side of things for a while before looking at editing the actual site. I'm a bugger for adding new features, I did it with our last site but I really want to keep this one looking simple and to the point.

Thanks for the alt tag advice.

# Posted by mr.nwb - 30/06/2011, 23:29 (GMT)

Nice site

Just missing a link to nwb ;)

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 01/07/2011, 09:19 (GMT)

Mr. NWB there are 7 links to NWB...in the footer of each page and TOP of the logos in the Contacts page...

You didn't think I'd miss the great NWB out did you?

# Posted by The Dawg - 01/07/2011, 09:29 (GMT)

Very nice that. Easy to read and get around. Classy looking.

# Posted by mr.nwb - 02/07/2011, 22:23 (GMT)

Ahhh, I was viewing from my iphone - It dosent render any FLASH stuff.

Just a word of warning, your site will probably get ZERO seo credit from google. It's a nice FLASH site, but if it's SEO rankings you are after, ensure you use normal HTML/CSS. Google cant read/see Flash content.

SEO is my day job, and something which I do successfully to make £$£$ to pay the bills.

Tbh I wouldnt bother with trying to SEO your site, as 9/10 people will get to your site either directly (web link on a flyer,poster, facebook, twitter, word of mouth)

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 04/07/2011, 09:23 (GMT)

Mr. NWB, I hear what you're saying & understand Flash isn't as effective with SEO. I've filled in all the keyword data, meta tags, alt tags etc. that Moonfruit allow you to do...we'll see it if helps.

I'm pretty sure the majority of people visiting will be those who've seen us at a gig and link directly into the site OR link from other sites ie, NWB, Facebook. Although having said that we are actually featuring high in search results already for example 'classic punk tribute band' and 'punk covers band'....BUT I mean do we/would we really benefit from that in terms of gig offers? I don't think so.

To be honest I think it's more about my genuine interest in the field of web design than anything else, which probably stems from my day job in marketing.

Thanks for the heads up anyway...
Dean

# Posted by Jez (Route 69) - 04/07/2011, 09:31 (GMT)

not quite sure about the technical stuff SEO etc!!! but to the average joe like me (or average jez even) if you type in "thesugarbullets" on google your page is there (in fact top 4 listings are your NWB/facebook/myspace and own website.

Looking well by the way - one day i'll finish ours!!! (got a round tuit anyone?!!)

:0)

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 04/07/2011, 10:12 (GMT)

@Jez
Thats all well & good Jezza but I reckon those people typing that into Google are very few & far between, in fact I think all this SEO stuff isn't so important in this case...I mean who are we competiting against for search engine listings...really? And who cares? None of us are really affected by it anyway.

SEO important?...for a business making money, someone's livelyhood YES....for a covers/tribute band hobby NO.

Like I said this is more about my interest in website design rather than where it appears in whatever search engine. I'm proud of what I've achieved with the site and I've learned a lot.

PS. Did you go to Party In The Park yesterday?

# Posted by Jez (Route 69) - 06/07/2011, 12:04 (GMT)

I'd be stood a bit further left, in the beer tent!!!

Was there for an hour or so, belting day for it. Thought the young piper got too many encores though - and when the celtic drummer joined i was seriously think "down it one.... to the Towler"!!!!!!!

# Posted by ~ THE SUG4R BULLETS ~ - 06/07/2011, 19:21 (GMT)

@Jez
I was in me deck chair just to the right of the sound tent...with a crate of Becks at the side of moi.
Yeah enjoyed the piper but was on waaay too long...the Irish band should have stayed on longer.
Wasn't the best line-up I've seen overall I thought...

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