I find myself with nothing but time tonight and feel zero inspiration. I was all set to begin testing a new layout for BadTown tonight, but due to technical difficulties with my host, that ain't gonna be happening. But I can at least tell you what I'm gonna do.
When I began with my two domains back in late October/early November, I wanted to showcase my design capabilities while remaining absolutely true to my vision for each site. What I mean is, I wasn't going to go fill the sites with gratuitous shit just to show that I could. What I decided to do was make this site fully CSS 1 and 2, no java for design purposes (lo, java is employed for the pop-up comments via movabletype). BadTown, on the other hand, was to be a more old school site, little to no CSS, but toss in a heaping helping of java for design. As you might notice, or might not, that's exactly what I did.
My idea was that if I ever found myself in a position to gain employment for my web skills, I would be able to show prospective employers that I can do both (with CSS definitely being my strong suit). Since I now realize, but should have realized much earlier, I'm not going to find a job as a web designer.
So I'm going to convert BadTown into a fully CSS site like this one. Since its scope is much, MUCH larger than this one, it's going to be a nice task to undertake. Maybe two weekends worth of fun (no sarcasm here, I love it!).
In lieu of the full conversion, though, I was able to make some changes. I opted out of the flash splash screen for awhile, so when the site loads up it goes straight to the Nav page. Further, I jiffied off a quick and easy new flash ad for the new GT album. In addition, I slipped the mp3 of John Lee Hooker's "Ride Til I Die" into a 5x5 black static flash and hunkered that puppy down into the Nav page as well. Nifty. I could've spent more time on it and made it even cooler, but I'm AOK with the way it is now. Looks and sounds nice. Might take a minute to load with a modem, but fuck'em. It's not like anybody is visiting anyway.
And why isn't anyone visiting? Hmmm. Let's see:
1. Stupid Yahoo! directory. When you do a search for GT&D on yahoo, the results bring up a directory listing for them and then a long list of web matches. Well, I'm listed directly underneath the official site in the directory listing, but who the fuck clicks there to find me? And to make matters worse, I'm not listed anywhere in the web matches! WTF??
2. Stupid Google. Yes, it's there. But it's wayyyyyyyyyyy the fuck down on the list. When the site was on geocities and insightbb, it was listed page one and page two, but now that the domain is actually DELAWAREDESTROYERS.COM, I'm on page fifteen. WTF??? I know, I know. Give it time. But I've gotten the link up from several mid-range music sites, so that should help. But damn!
3. The Capitol Records Message Board group. I was getting some nice traffic from those folks. Since I severed ties with the group last month, hits have fallen dramatically. I'll accept that, though. 90% of the folks on that board are inbred neanderthal fucks. They pissed me off one too many times. I just don't need the hassle of wading through the shit to find the diamonds. Not worth it.
That all being said, this is all great fun. I love the net. I love designing. I love writing and researching and everything else involved. It's my job to make it. If no one ever sees, it's still ok by me. I know what I've done. And if I ever needed to confirm my status as GT fan #1, all I have to do is say, "delawaredestroyers.com, go there motherfuckers."
