Forums > Social Chat > NEW! Online Magazine for Drummers, Firedancers, Bellydancers

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CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
NEW! Online Magazine for Drummers, Firedancers, Bellydancers, Hoopdancers!

www.rhythmicartists.com

This magazine is dedicated to Rhythmic Artists all over the world, and to their unique talents! This is the first issue of this online magazine, and we are hungry for content!! The BETA version of Rhythmic Artists Magazine is the first phase of what will hopefully become a larger world. As time and talent comes and goes, our hope is to create PDF versions of this magazine, along with podcasts and feeds! Down the road? A full color, printed magazine!

To take part in this new venture, I am asking for everyone's help. Please go to the site, register and browse the content of the website (you have to be registered to post information). There are areas for comments, article ratings, feedback (there is a feedback link under "This Issue"), open forum where you can post information, experiences, upcoming gigs, classifieds and more! Here are the top items I would like to hear about in the feedback:

- Overall content, layout, design

- Ease of use/navigation

- Interest/ideas

- Participation

- Would you like to submit material?

- Would you be interested in a printed magazine version?

This magazine is by no means limited to drummers/percussionists, bellydancers, firedancers, hoopdancers. Any art that incorporates rhythmic beats or movements may be considered to be included in future issues. Content submitted or ideas provided will be ultimately decided by the Rhythmic Artists Magazine staff/editors. Your feedback and interest in participating would be most helpful!

If you want to advertise on the site with a banner, have a link added or want to submit content, please feel free to contact me here. Thank you in advance for your interest and participation! I look forward to hearing from you soon!! Feel free to post this on other related tribes. weavesmiley

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!


Pogo69SILVER Member
there's no charge for awesomeness... or attractiveness
3,764 posts
Location: limbo, Australia


Posted:
I will post more when I have had proper chance to look through it, cj, but just quickly...

...what a fabulous idea!! smile

without having had to read through it though, I would personally love to see a PDF version for download/printing. I dont like reading on a computer screen; call me a grubby old technophobic hippie, but I prefer to read from a printed page - I will use recycled paper if it makes everyone feel better.

--pogo (pat) [forever and always]


CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
LOL, well, recycled paper or not I would LOVE to be able to have it available as a PDF - or better yet, in full print!

I am kinda going by interest and traffic right now. If there is enough interest, and people want more, I will definitely be creating a PDF! Thanks for checkin' it out!

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!


Adya MiriyanaGOLD Member
*slou?
6,554 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
well done on getting this up and running! clap



looks like you've put a lot of effort into it - congrats! hug

CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
Hey, thanks for the kudos, Adya!

I also am looking for more content - I have three other articles/interviews that I am waiting for, and am looking for stories about your first experiences, tips and tricks, etc. So let me know and we'll get yer name in lights! hehe

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!


ben-ja-menGOLD Member
just lost .... evil init
2,474 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
the front cover is totally awesome, congrats. I was a little bit disappointed when i entered the sight though, I was expecting the layout and articles to follow the same high level of quality as the front cover rather than being typical we page layout.

whats your email address? ive done a layout for the interview you did with nick to show you what i mean

[Old link]

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourself, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous and talented? Who are you NOT to be?


MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
this looks wicked dude clap
I shall be browsing further when my registration completes and I'm not at work

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.


DeepSoulSheepGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,617 posts
Location: Berlin, Ireland


Posted:
Ditto the front cover. smile

Hi, I offer my opinion in the hope it is constructive...

The layout of the site is too cluttered. I don't know how customisable phpnuke is, but the first thing I'd do is get rid of absolutely eveything that's not necessary.

How many of these are necessary?

Home
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Grreen writing is unsightly to my sensitive eyes ubblol wink

I'm confused by your strategy asking for donations, yet still having so much advertising on the front page?

 Written by:

I strongly recommend, for cost, lightness and sound, that you check out your local music shop for Mountain Rhythm drums!



Who's talking here? You? Are you endorsing this product? Why is it better than a real djembe?

I would prefer to read well thought out and researched articles than interviews with people I don't know (Nick excluded).

I got bored very quickly too even though I drum and dance. Perhaps because of a lack of creditability of these people based on my ignorance of them.

I think I would have prefered an article about someone I don't know than an interview. shrug

Aim to provide value through strong content. Get experienced writers.

Fair play to you for all the hard work I'm sure you have put in. smile It's great to see someone creating their own destiny.

Good luck! smile

James

I live in a world of infinite possibilities.


CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I will try and reply to the latest comments and not forget anything: eek

 Written by: ben-ja-men


the front cover is totally awesome, congrats. I was a little bit disappointed when i entered the sight though, I was expecting the layout and articles to follow the same high level of quality as the front cover rather than being typical we page layout.




Yep, I am not all that thrilled with the contrast either, but as I have said, this is more of a BETA site and only the first phase. As time goes by, and with everyone's great input, I will be modifying many aspects of the site including the interactivity.

 Written by: solas


The layout of the site is too cluttered. I don't know how customisable phpnuke is, but the first thing I'd do is get rid of absolutely eveything that's not necessary.
How many of these are necessary?
Home
Content
Feedback
Forums
Recommend Us
Search
Stories Archive
Surveys
Top 10
Topics
· Web Links
· Your Account




Actually, for navigation purposes they are pretty neccessary. Except for Top 10 perhaps, but in order to find one's way back to the main page, or to send feedback, check out links to other sites, go to your account info to make changes etc, those are handy tools to have. PHPNUKE is fairly customizable, but since I am not a PHP guru I do what I can. I used NUKE for ease of setup and use, as well as its interactivity features. I would love to customize it down to a deeper and more attractive level, but that will take a lot more time, and I am hoping to be able to do that in phase 2 of the magazine.

 Written by: solas


I'm confused by your strategy asking for donations, yet still having so much advertising on the front page?



The donations button is more for the creation of a PDF magazine version, more than anything. I really should have waited on that and not used it until later. Also, between advertising and the time spent on site, hosting costs and bandwidth, its more just to cover those fees. If I wanted to have more money oriented, there are thousands of affiliates I could have gone with.

 Written by: solas


Who's talking here? You? Are you endorsing this product? Why is it better than a real djembe?



Yes, I am endorsing this product.

 Written by: solas


I would prefer to read well thought out and researched articles than interviews with people I don't know (Nick excluded).
I got bored very quickly too even though I drum and dance. Perhaps because of a lack of creditability of these people based on my ignorance of them.



One of my biggest goals with this is to introduce otherwise unknowns to the world through this venue. Not everybody that is interviewed or has articles written about them is a known celebrity. I am trying to bring talented artists out there so they CAN be known.


 Written by: solas


I think I would have prefered an article about someone I don't know than an interview.


Its a crap shoot. I get both positive and negative from interviews. So, perhaps I will have 50% interviews and 50% articles about the artists

 Written by: solas


Aim to provide value through strong content. Get experienced writers.


Are you offering? hehe

 Written by: solas


Fair play to you for all the hard work I'm sure you have put in. It's great to see someone creating their own destiny.




Thanks!! I appreciate that. I have never written for a magazine before, so this is a new challenge for me. Thanks to all for your great input!!

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!


CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
Oh one more thing I forgot to mention, as I had said before, I do intend to post a PDF version of the magazine which will be more colorful and match the look of the cover better. The site itself is more for interactivity, but as time goes, if no one is interested in interactive sites like this, then I will go towards the PDF and podcasting.

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!


FoxInDocsSILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,848 posts
Location: Adelaide, SA, Australia


Posted:
i'll add my congratulations, looks like an excellent start.

I like the cover too, i like the link at the bottom for page turning. I think it would be awesome to continue that in the PDF (or whatever) version. Perhaps have the cover turn to the contents page with clickable jump-to's and then have the page turning link at the bottom so you can have the option of just reading the articals you want to, or reading cover to cover.

Again, an excellent start and good luck with it.

"i am exotic, and must keep my arms down" - Rougie

"i don't understand what penises have to do with getting married" - Foxie


CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
Just to let everyone know, I have redone the layout of the site. Let me know what you think!

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!


pkBRONZE Member
Lambretta Fanatic
4,997 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
Ok... not so much of a writer these days... but i have many years experience with PHP web portal systems including NUKE.



so my imput for you is only web development based ideas.



Firstly... i like the opening page and agree with Ben whole heartedly that i expected more.

But a complaint about the opening page.. i was dragging my mouse 20 yards around my desk trying to find the link to the site before i found it.. make your link obvious rolleyes i do a brain numbing job and the last thing i want after a hard day is to faff around looking for links on web pages.



Secondly... why does every fire related website have to be BLACK??? why not white (self plug to poiinthepark or another colour?)



Thirdly... Google Ads and Amazon Ads?.. whats the point your not making any money from them are you... they are taking up page space that could be used for more interesting things and save load time on the page.. ( if i wanna look on google for some thing i will goto google, and the same goes for Amazon... afterall googles set as my home page and probably most people use that search engine.



There is a hell of a lot of things on your index page, rather than utilising a modules block how about not!! and creating custom blocks in html content.. if it is admin submitting articles rather than publicly submitted then it would be more consitent to keep a nice tidy looking site rather than having the site make your index page a billion miles long and make my cordless mouse runn out of batteries when i have to scroll all the way to the bottom.. also you can then control what you the admin want people to read.

Your modules will then give access to other articles etc.



In my oppinion... Nuke is not good and its code isnt either, if you want to learn code then look else where.



and before i forget, you should make your header smaller, maybe put the graphics in blocks rather than a 300 or 400 pixel header.



Also poor people still use 600x800 pixel resolutions... i have to scroll accross the page!.. think of the poor people too!. wink



but ..... nice one the ammount of threads there probably are here on hop about doing some thing like this and no one ever did!.. so good on ya!.



(dont take my comments as criticism.. i like what you have done.) hug

Groovy_DreamSILVER Member
addict
449 posts
Location: Australia


Posted:
I think downloadable PDFs would be kinda cool. Dunno if it would be BETTER, but at least it would be something different plus it's easier to flick through and I, like a lot of people i'm sure, sometimes get a bit sick of the standard webpage layout.

CelticHippynewbie
12 posts
Location: California


Posted:
As I pointed out earlier, I am not a PHP guru, and Nuke seemed the easiest way to go. I spent a lot of time putting together the colors and layout and wanted it to be more than just the look of a content site. Nuke also makes it easier to place stories, content, and ads. I don't have the capitol to invest in a programmer to do a custom PHP site, so that's what I have for now. Drummer Magazine uses Nuke to (which surprised me)

And just like any site that is put out by someone's own pocket money, yes, sometimes it's nice to get some payment for ads. Most magazines have tons of ads in them, where they make money and cover costs. I don't think that having ads should be a problem (other than as you pointed out, it loads a bit slower). I don't expect to be rich off of this, just hoped it would help with hosting costs and such...its more for the community to read and enjoy, but again, I would love to this in print.

If this becomes something more, and people are interested in reading more, wanting more, and would like to see the PDF or print itself, then the site will come down as is, and be rebuilt as a more customized site.

I very much appreciate the input. LOL, Yeah, I know, black backgrounds are more common...I just thought it would look nicer (and have had a lot of compliments) for fire pictures and such if the pictures were against a black background.

Thanks again! I wil consider reducing the sizes of the graphics...I am on a laptop right now, and they do load a little slower on a low-end graphics display.

On to the next project!

~CJ~
Shut up and Drum!



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