Website Review Please

[avguste]

Hey all

I have began re-working my website. My thinking is that it is not user friendly enough and maybe too much text in some parts.
I would appreciate if any of you would visit and review my site.
Any comments are welcome and appreciated

Thanks

[stevebob]

I checked out your site.  It was my first visit, so I wondered if it reflects the result of work already done to tweak its appearance or if you've not yet begun making the changes you speak of.

I like it (very much!), and I have just a few suggestions.

I think your color palette is really beautiful; it complements the leafy green background in your photo, too (and even the shirt you're wearing).  The subtle shading of the large horizontal bars in the background of each web page is also very nice.

Unfortunately, the text isn't as readable as it might be.  It's not a question of too much text, but rather the color (and perhaps the typeface as well).  That light grayish-green text simply offers the reader's eyes insufficient contrast; in my opinion, it should be changed to black.  (Personally, I don't find Times New Roman to be easy on the eyes either and would choose a plain sans-serif typeface like Verdana instead—but changing the font color to black should be the immediate priority.)

Finally, I recommend a bit more attention to certain details of format and punctuation.  For example, none of the sentences on your Links page ends with a period (i.e., full stop); other instances can also be found on other pages.  The material on the Links page needs to be proofread carefully, too; "artist" should be "artist's" in a number of places, and him,including politics,dating,video games,tv needs to be fixed.

Another element that should be consistent is the spacing around paragraphs.  On the page titled The Pianist, for example, there's too much space under the heading "Avguste Antonov Press Kit," but no space at all before the paragraph that begins "Following his stay in Bordeaux ...."

I would also reconsider the use of underscoring for your links.  It wasn't apparent to me that they actually were links unless I hovered my mouse over them.

I hope these suggestions are helpful.  I know they may seem like small and inconsequential details, but addressing them will certainly give your site the more polished and professional appearance I believe you're seeking.  (Perhaps you may have had more responses if you'd included in your post a link to your website; I wasn't sure where to find it, and could only locate it through your Piano Street profile.)

[avguste]

Oups
My apologies for not including my website in the original post.
An oversight.

My website is https://avgusteantonov.com

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Thank you for your comments and suggestions.
To answer your question, I haven't done any tweaking as of yet, except the addition of my logo.

I will try the different text format and black color. To be honest, I never really played with different formats and text colors. Always went with the originally selected. Something I need to try and see

Format and punctuation has been a problem for me for a long time.  By fixing the "him, including politics" and such, I am assuming you mean space between the coma and the word.

Concerning the spacing, the example you are referring to was done in purpose.
And I will check the other pages about such issues.

As far as links, I will check, but if I recall, this is how my host coded the feature. Will check.

Thank you for the comments. Keep them coming

[makeanote]

Hey there Avguste.

I have to say that my first impressions of your site were a little different to SteveBob's. It looks too generic, almost like the pages that come up when a domain name is up for sale. Your personal graphic was too low a resolution - or you've used too small an image for the size of the picture. To me, your fonts were plain and your piano keyboard graphic too blocked (like a PaintBrush created bitmap).

Comment has already been made on punctuation.

I liked the ability to navigate around the site without disturbing the music playing (which was very enjoyable to listen too).

I would recommend looking at other artist's sites (it is amazing how much variety is out there). I don't know any of the people at the sites below - I just did a google search:
https://roberthenry.org/
https://www.amirafouad.com/home
https://www.wnukowski.com/
https://www.jacevek.com/
https://robilette.com/index.php?p=home
https://wesleyfishwick.com/
https://telerisian.com/en/home/

All the best putting your site together - and keep enjoying playing

[lostinidlewonder]

I think the website is very easy to browse which is important. The Skype lessons is a good idea but it needs to be promoted more, you should offer it for cheaper (although $20 for 1 hour is nothing really, but most people would like a trial to start off since piano lessons over the internet is very unknown to the majority of people in this world) for a first time trial students, that is if you are still trying to get more people interested. Then offer deals to prospective students, let them buy in greater chunks for cheaper price make a deal with them.

Also with the skype deal how do you present it? What views do you offer for your webcams, for instance, which angles of the keyboard/hands etc, do you have close ups of the score as you mark it to highlight what the student needs to pay attention to? Highlight the layout of your Skype lessons and sell it more. Videos of your "in person" lessons would be good for promotion too or any videos of you teaching a particular musical concept. It would personalize your website more being able to hear you speak about music.



Btw, that Gershwin piano concert in F is one of my favorite piano concertos and you play it so well, wonderful to listen to.

[avguste]

Thank you for the comments
And now to responses LOL

To makeanote

-about my main picture. The picture looks much better in small format. Better pictures are scheduled, but I sure need to have the current one improved. Will work on it.
-I really need to work on the punctuation.....
-thanks for those links. Some of those actually use the same hosting company as me.

To lostinidlewonder

The Skype item is for intermediate/advanced pianists when preparing competitions, masterclass and the likes. Regular Skype lessons are also for intermediate/advanced pianists.
But you are right. I need to sit down one of those days, rework on that and include a link to home page.
Thanks for the suggestion on the teaching videos. It is something I have been thinking about doing. And not just about teaching, but music in general.

As far promoting the Skype lessons more, as of now, I am doing that with links on my signature. I had those on here as well, but an admin for PianoStreet messaged me saying that it wasnt allowed.

Thanks for the kind comments about the Gershwin

Keep the site comments coming.
Working on a new site theme, and once that is done, I will be looking to use the comments posted.

Thanks again

[avguste]

I just modified the font, size and format of the text in a couple of pages.
Made the text more darker and hopefully better size