• Finally getting my act together: new website at last.....

gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
edited November -1 in Miscellaneous
Hi, like many of you, I have more than one "creative pursuit" (for want of a better term). Not only do I enjoy GS and eventually want to get up to speed to publish my 5 games/apps – (all lined up – but none finished yet ;-) – I'm also a writer of novels, and have been an electronic music composer since the 80's.

I've had trouble (and/or never got round to it), in pulling all these creative threads together. Part of the problem were aspects like: my writing pen name, as well as the name used for my music albums, was Spider Griffin. (Why Spider? Just an old nickname from my happy hippy days...) It didn't help that I was going to get a company name for my iPad apps called Spiral Gyro Apps. It all needed to be somehow pulled neatly under one umbrella, as it were.

After a bit of soul-searching, I decided to ditch Spider Griffin (more difficult than it may seem to you for me to do, for a few reasons) and stick with my real name. And now Spiral Gyro Apps is no more – or rather, never was – my splash screen will now say David Griffin Apps.

(On that last point, a couple of you guys suggested I shortened it to Griffin Apps, but after much thought, I decided to keep it as David Griffin Apps - sorry guys, but still your suggestion was appreciated...)

So, previously, all these minor problems, and approaching website design with a bit of a fuzzy mind, meant that the 2 or 3 times I attempted to get a website together, I was never successful. I'm like most other designers in as much as I know what I like/want when I see it. But could never get to that point...

But now everything is under the one "umbrella" – my real name – and it all seemed to click into place this time. I've been designing my website for the last 6 or 7 days; and now, finally, it's finished.

There's a few more tweaks to do tonight, so I'll be uploading it to my host tomorrow. I'll post the website address in about 20 hours time or less (that'll be Tuesday, early/mid evening) and would be really glad if you'd take a look.

:-)

""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

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Comments

  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    look forward to it...

    I love my little old website now, it takes a lot of time to get something looking nice but worth it in the end...
  • beefy_clyrobeefy_clyro Member Posts: 5,394
    Indeed, i had a crap website up for ages that i wasnt happy with, i kept tweaking it but never was satisfied with it. 1 day i gutted it out and started again, im now really happy with what i have :)

    Look forward to seeing yours
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  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    I could echo beefy again, but I'm still not happy with my website :P

    Look forward to seeing yours!
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Thanks, guys; I hope I don't disappoint you...
    stormystudio said:

    I love my little old website now, it takes a lot of time to get something looking nice but worth it in the end...

    beefy_clyro said:
    Indeed, i had a crap website up for ages that i wasnt happy with, i kept tweaking it but never was satisfied with it. 1 day i gutted it out and started again, im now really happy with what i have :)

    TheMoonwalls said:
    I could echo beefy again, but I'm still not happy with my website :P

    Sure takes a while to get it as you want, definitely agree. Even when you think it's finished, there's surely weeks – if not months – of tweaking; not to mention weekly/monthly updates....

    I guess it's the way of the world now –– to be noticed, we've got to have a web presence.

    For interest, what web designing sites or programs do you use for your websites? And who are you hosting with?

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • IsabelleKIsabelleK Member, Sous Chef Posts: 2,807
    Weebly :P Site made with their creator :P
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    I tried Weebly but couldn't get on with their design environment but it must be good for you if that's who you went with. Everyone's different! :-)

    I'm using iWeb and hosting with MacAce.

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    gyroscope said:

    For interest, what web designing sites or programs do you use for your websites? And who are you hosting with?

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • beefy_clyrobeefy_clyro Member Posts: 5,394
    I went for a wordpress theme this time round and hosting with fasthosts
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  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    gyroscope said:

    I always host with godaddy.com. Have about 5 sites with them I think. Easy, cheap and give you good control over things even on their lowest priced package.
  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    Great story David.

    Its like looking in a mirror in a way. Not saying we are the same but I recognize a lot in a lot of you guys.
    How old are you David (this might break the mirror ;)

    Cheers!

    Lump Apps and My Assets

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    LudwigHeijden said:
    Great story David.

    Its like looking in a mirror in a way. Not saying we are the same but I recognize a lot in a lot of you guys.
    How old are you David (this might break the mirror ;)

    Cheers!

    Hi Ludwig, no, me looking IN a mirror breaks it! Haha!!

    My age? Hmm, let's see... so if you really want to know:

    (((9135 x 27) / 2) - ((127 power of 2) + (3 x 38012.5)) + ((19654 x 4) - 70123) - ((5107 - (3 x2) +1) / 10) - (594 x 2) + (9 power of 2) - ((the amount of months in a year x 2 ) + 1) -1).

    ;-)

    (Mind you, I double checked it and got a different answer.....)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    Haha! I am about the same age. Just the -1 at the end is different ;)

    Lump Apps and My Assets

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    LudwigHeijden said:
    Haha! I am about the same age. Just the -1 at the end is different ;)

    A good age, I say: Like a fine wine! don't know what that means, but it sounds good! :-)

    I'm almost ready to upload my files to the host (well, give it another hour or two - i've still got to replace all images with lowercase, no spacing, file names + a few more track samples to modify). Not long now, and I'll have my website up and running at last...
    gyroscope said:

    For interest, what web designing sites or programs do you use for your websites? And who are you hosting with?

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Hi guys, I've finished putting together my website (I think ;-)

    I'm about to upload it via FTP; I've no idea how long it will take but needless to say, will let you know when it's live and give you the web address for you to have a look at.

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Sorry guys, if any of you were waiting to checkout the website:

    I tried to publish but it can't find their server; it can't find my website; I checked it earlier today and there it was in all of it's blank page glory, but it's offline now. I hope this is a one-off, otherwise I'm going to be really brassed off with MacAce.

    I've fired off an email but I doubt anything will be done tonight, so more than likely, it'll be uploaded tomorrow now.

    Really sorry for the muck-around. :-(

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    A question please, appreciate if anyone could answer the following:

    It's now letting me publish and should be ready quite soon now. (edit: by the look of the " pie time" it'll probably be about a quarter of an hour or so...) But it's publishing without the www

    So does anyone else have their web address without the www extension? Does it matter? I'll sort of miss it...

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    Your domain should really be set up with a cname for www that points to the domain. I would be surprised if the hosting company hadn't already set this. You should have an A record that points to the ip address and then a cname for www.
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Understood Stu, thanks.

    It's actually online now, but won't find the address with the w w w addition. Without it, just fine. As you say, it should find it, even if that particular host chops it off as the page is loading. I've emailed them asking that I would like my web address (and the two aliases) can be brought up with or without the www. Most people put in www to start anyway, don't they? I'll wait to see their answer tomorrow.

    For your interest: apart from these small teething problems, I'm thrilled with seeing my site up and running; and 4 of the 5 web pages load super-fast. There's a problem with the "Composer" page though: I knew I was pushing my luck with putting 40 x 30 second mp3 samples on there. That particular page never loads (although, strangely, loads offline in 3 seconds). I'll be downsampling all of the mp3s tomorrow; if that doesn't work, i'll try putting them into groups; if still no joy, I'll have to delete some, which would be a shame.

    So when this particular web page is repaired some time tomorrow, I'll definitely be giving out the web address (with or without the w w w...)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Update: website ready to fire again – I've downsampled the 40 tracks on the problem page, a few tweeks here and there; about to upload again.

    Website address soon for your interest (hopefully...)

    :-)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • StormyStudioStormyStudio United KingdomMember Posts: 3,989
    Look forward to seeing it go live...

    I've just found out about Adobes new web design tool (currently free in Beta), no coding just design similar interface to Photoshop. Just had a quick go, seems very very good...

    http://muse.adobe.com/

    Maybe I'll re-design mine...again.
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Adobe Muse: that's looking the business, Jon! Certainly looks more sophisticated than iWeb; I might of jumped at this, except... their pricing – a monthly pricing plan rather than a one-off program purchase price. I wonder why they went down this route and also wonder if it will hobble their sales...

    Website update: few more teething problems, mainly to do with my ******* TalkTalk connection. It's been driving me to distraction this last week: every ten minutes or so, it suddenly stops loading Safari pages. I have to restart and go back into Safari; you know, for TalkTalk to say, "Oh, customer just came online, those already on line not showing any activity can wait..."...or something... ;-)
    Anyway, had my moan! I haven't emailed TalkTalk yet but I think it will set their intray on fire when I do...

    Just about to double-check everything ("composer" page loads fine now, other than taking 5 to 10 seconds to load); I'll make a another cup of tea, then finally, but finally, let you know the web address...

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Hi all, thanks for the waiting...

    FINALLY HERE: 3 addresses all pointing to the same website, so pick a card, any card... ;-)

    (Any of them now loads with w w w preceding them, but seem much slower loading...)

    Please bookmark the web address, if you like!

    >>>>>>>>

    davidgriffinauthor.co.uk davidgriffinmusic.co.uk davidgriffinapps.co.uk

    >>>>>>>>

    (It would seem you'll have to copy and paste, sorry about that)

    I really hope you like it; as usual, any comments, etc; gladly received, thank you!

    :-)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • DreamLabDreamLab Member Posts: 2,127
    http://davidgriffinauthor.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    http://davidgriffinmusic.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    http://davidgriffinapps.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    :)
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Ha, thank you, DreamLab! :-)

    Any one of the following (all point to the same website)

    http://davidgriffinauthor.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    http://davidgriffinmusic.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    http://davidgriffinapps.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    Hope you like it; any comments appreciated, thank you! :-)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    Looks nice!

    But some of the pages load very slow. It takes a while for the pictures to load. Perhaps you should downsize them?

    Cheers,
    Ludwig

    Lump Apps and My Assets

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Hi Ludwig; glad you like it! I've just tested the 3 links again and for some reason, the two aliases do load up slowly, but the main address is instant for me here (Safari). I'll have a word with my host and see if something can be done there, thanks.

    -----

    http://davidgriffinauthor.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    Hope you like it; any comments appreciated, thank you! :-)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • Rob2Rob2 Member Posts: 2,402
    Looks great but as Lud said you should use jpg not png as it is loading slooow
  • Rob2Rob2 Member Posts: 2,402
    instant=cached !!
  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    Ah, thanks for that, Rob; I forgot that websites use jpegs; I'll get onto that. (Still though, the main address seems instant here, so it'll help the aliases hopefully; thanks again!

    -------

    http://davidgriffinauthor.co.uk/website/Welcome/Welcome.html

    Hope you like it; any comments appreciated, thank you! :-)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    Looks good, nice and clear with a classical artistic feel.

    but... it was really really slow here. White screen with nothing for 12 seconds, then the centre text followed by 3 minutes of the top image loading, then finally the useful stuff at the bottom.

    who is hosting it, cos that is really slow.

    Aslo the problem of iweb code, it doesn't think logically that text should load before the images. So at least I would have known the apps were gonna be there on the bottom of the page and may have found the link I wanted instead of having to wait 3.5 minutes to see it.
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