CREATING WEB SITE WITH DEMOS

Amy Snively · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 1028

I love ya, Nonie, but it's very important for a VO person NOT to say something automatically when you open their site. Auto-starting sound is one of the most annoying site misfeatures you can include on your site, and it's a great way to tick off people who might otherwise want to hire you.

Nonie Craige · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Posts: 46

I'm all ears...is that the feed back you've heard? In other words if I feel I must, then it better be short and to the point. Would you beleive I am on the phone with him right now as he is making the changes.

Nonie Craige · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Posts: 46

My intro message is too long even if I do like it..I don't like it that long...it's annoying as you say. I might have him try to shorten it. Also if someone doesn't like the intro maybe they will be turned of to hearing anything more. Hope not.

Amy Snively · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 1028

Nothing good ever comes from having audio play automatically when a page loads.

Audio should play as the result of the site visitor taking some action-- like clicking "play."

If you have your speakers cranked because you were editing a commercial, and then, while on the phone (or while in a meeting, or while nursing a baby) you visit a VO talent's website to see what she's about and then THE SITE STARTS TALKING TO YOU COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE AND AGAINST YOUR WILL AND TOTALLY SCARES THE BEJEEBIES OUT OF YOU AND WAKES THE BABY AND SCARES THE CAT AND MAKES THE PERSON YOU WERE ON THE PHONE WITH SAY "WTF"
... he or she will click away from your site as fast as possible.

Debbie Deutsch · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 1338

Todd Ellis · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007, 12:56 (GMT) Post subject:

could not agree more - cannot bear websites shouting at me unbidden. i also hate to scroll left to right and i don't like grapes in my chicken salad..

Nonie Craige · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Posts: 25

Oh Boy, thanks for the feed back!! Just reading it Monday evening. I've opened sites and enjoyed the audio so I had no idea people would find it intrusive, but you're right.

As it turned out, my dear sweet web designer, turned ugly and was insulted so he pulled out and now I have no web site person at all, at least not at this writing. I will get on it as soon as I can. Will get back to you all. Thank you again!! Boy did I learn a lesson from all this, a few lessons.
My best,
Nonie

Colin Campbell · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007, 19:44 (GMT) Post subject:

I agree on the "don't force voice" on them theory. I did that for a while and noticed it annoying me every time I went to my own site. If it annoyed me, it probably was going to annoy everyone else too. Whenever I hit a site that forces audio, I invariably mutter under my breath "SHUT UP."

September Day Leach · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1526

lol..well, my site must irritate the piss out of you guys! Wink

I've been considering changing it a bit, but I've gotten really good positive feedback on the music. It's quiet and acoustic and I've also put an option up at the top of the page to let people turn the sound off. I just wanted to have a site people remembered. hmmm..perhaps I should revisit the intro idea again....

Colin Campbell · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007, 20:15 (GMT) Post subject:

In this age of popup ads and other things forced on you, I think people just have an aversion to anything they didn't instigate (a button push.)

September Day Leach · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1526

I totally hear what you, Maggie, Amy,Debbie and Todd are saying. I'll have to see if I can design something classy to let people push to start the sound.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007, 21:29 (GMT) Post subject:

Well, Nonie, I didn't read all three pages of responses here, just page one, but I'm going to have to rudely stick my nose into this because for the past 10 years I've been a professional web-designer (see my stuff at: www.spasticlizard.com). I've also done my own site ( www.voicebyscott.com ) and other v/o sites ( www.reevesvoice.com and www.creativesoundconcepts.com ).

For starters, I personally am not wild about your site:
- it's disconnected... various images having nothing to do with the subject matter splayed at random around the page
- takes too long to load: and I'm not talking audio: I'm talking the home page. I suspect your designer did NOT optimize the images for the web and, instead, put hi-resolution images out there which you do NOT need (or want!) on the web. A site like this should load VERY quickly.
- Navigation on the bottom? why? Plus he didn't even put a 'rollover state' on the nav. That's when you mouse over a button it changes to let you know where you are before you click on it. You'll see that on every site I create.
- I personally hate contact forms. I never fill 'em out. Why not simply have a link that says "e-mail Nonie" that goes to a simple e-mail form? Plus the white contact info text is hard to read on a light background. AND, there's no way to get BACK to your site from the contact page other than hitting the 'back button' on your browser.
- I'm not wild about the colors (or lack thereof) of the site. It's cold, steel, metallic. That's not you. The only thing that has color on the site are the totally non-related pictures that link to the audio demos.

I gotta be honest with you as a voiceover friend and a professional web developer... I'd consider starting it all over from ground zero, starting with a DESIGN that is YOU. Did this guy even offer a design or merely put it together over the silvery background?

I'm sorry if my assessment seems harsh, but I have little patience for all the so-called wannabe 'web designers' out there who shouldn't be doing it.