new PROMAT web site

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 4 Mar 2006 4:07 pm

I`ve been working my behind off on this (I`m kind of computer illiterat),let me know how am I doing.
www.promatsteelguitars.com

btw. my black and maple/mahagony are almost done,will post some pics as soon as I get it.
thanks,Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Wayne Baker · Post by **Wayne Baker** » 4 Mar 2006 4:29 pm

Where is it made, and are there any copyright issues with Emmons?

Wayne Baker

Joseph Meditz · Post by **Joseph Meditz** » 4 Mar 2006 5:33 pm

Hi Damir,

A few comments:

1) I would prefer an option to skip the opening music as is done on the Emmons site. The music is OK, but, upon subsequent visits to the site, one may want to shut it off. Also, the playback control is in the lower left and was actually out of my field of view.
2) The music opens another instance of the player when you open the second page making for some cacaphony if the music was not shut off from the first page.
3) What does SGC stand for? I don't think the use of an acronym is warranted if it occurs in only one instance. The same applies to HSC.
4) When you add more pages you might want to think about showing closeups and details of the the underside of the instrument. Also, quantitative information such "cabinet drop", scale length, weight, etc, would be welcome.

The little set of letters that follow the cursor when the first window opens are fun.

Best regards,
Joe

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 4 Mar 2006 6:18 pm

The little set of letters that follow the cursor when the first window opens are fun.

For the first minute, then they become annoying, IMO

The website looks good so far. Easy to see, uncluttered, and hopefully easy to navigate as it appears that it will be.

Again, the curser tail is my opinion only.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 4 Mar 2006 8:49 pm

SCG stands for Serbia and Monte Negro (Srbija Crna Gora)

right now this is a start,I`ll try to post some more pics and info,right now I`m getting a headache from sitting at the computer whole day.And this is not the fastes computer out there either.huh

all the technical questions should be directed to Promat directly,I`m going to set up price list and then I`m done.Now I know why people charge money to do this kind of work.

Db

Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 4 Mar 2006 11:28 pm

Wayne,
patent is expired for a push pull years ago and anyone who wish can make them.

Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Ron ! · Post by **Ron !** » 5 Mar 2006 2:41 am

Damir,congrats with the web-site.Looks good and I think that you are on the right way to create something special.There will always be little things that need improvement.Just do your best is what I always say.No one can judge you if you do.
Keep it goin'

Karen and Ron

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<A class=db href="mailto:bigsbysteel@hotmail.com subject=Forum Reply">Click here to E-mail us.</A>

Karen Kaylee Records
KRS D-10 8x7, KRS SD10 4x6 EMMONS P/P S10 3x5 Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Ultra 15" Peavey All Tube 15"
Fender Twin Reverb Hilton Volumepedal Hilton Sustain

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 5 Mar 2006 6:00 am

Hi Ronald,

thanks my friend,I need that,it gets really frustrating for me at some points because I`m trying to make something nice and elegant and plus I`m no web master by any means.
btw. how`s your guitar doing,have you set up production yet?must check your web place

take care my friend and thenk you for your kind words

Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Mar 2006 7:07 am

Damir, you made a good first effort, but here's some suggestions...

On the opening page since there's nothing but a picture and some player icons, you shouldn't have to scroll up and down to see everything. Also, the product's name should be the first thing on the page, so swap the locations of the slogan and the product, and reduce the page height so you can see them both at the same time!

Business web-sites, unless you're market is kids, should command an air of class and respect. Get rid of the tailing script on the cursor, it's juvenile and distracting. You want them looking at the product, not a string of letters that does nothing to sell the product. Animations, blinking scripts, and marquee effects are the "acne" of business websites.

Joe's right about the player icons, they oughta be visible when you first open the page. Also, on the opening page, tell the visitor to "Click the image to enter". There's some people who will try to scroll the page to find an "Enter" button, and they get frustrated when there isn't one.

Lose the black backgrounds. Yeah, yeah, I know black is beautiful, sexy, sounds good, and all that drivel, but it's difficult to read when your vision isn't good, and it's a real pain in the ass to screen-print! (You do want people to be able to print and save this stuff, don't you?)

If you're going to do pictures, then put a caption or something in there that describes what each picture is about. Believe it or not, there are people who buy steel guitars who don't know the difference between a pedal and a tuning key.

Last, but not least, I hope you've paid the license fee for the music!

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 5 Mar 2006 8:50 am

Donny,

yes,you`re right about that text tail,but as you can see here some people like it.I think I`ll remove that tho.Opening page idea is good,I`ll do that too.

Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 5 Mar 2006 9:17 am

ok,I got rid of that text tail and tried to make that realplayer icon as small as possible.Crumbed everything in one screen too,but with color you are out of luck,I like it black.

Db

ps

music I know nothing about,I got that from Promat,It may very well be Mr.Papic playing himself,I wouldn`t be suprised,I heard him play before and this would be walk in the park for him to do.

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 5 Mar 2006 11:11 am

Hello Damir,

The frontpage looks a lot better now!

Unfortunately there is a popup ruler at the top of the page and another plugin icon at the bottom of the page.
These items force me to install the Real Audio plugin.
Real Audio is obnoxious and intrusive software, damaging a lot of machines (wonder why yours runs slow?) For this reason I refuse to use this option. There is more to be found about the malicious nature of Real Audio in the Computer section on this Forum as well as on the Internet. To listen to Real Audio files, I use the Real Audio Codec inside Winamp without using Real Audio. No damage to my machine.

In addition I suggest that you do not use the HTML resize option for your pictures. If you do, it will create artifacts in your images.
(You can see that in your first picture in the gallery. The pedalrods look like a staircase. In addition in HTML resize you can accidentally change the aspect ratio, making Mr.Papic very fat.)
It is better to convert your images to the right size in the first place with a graphics package.
That way the pixels will interpolate properly without the artifacts.

Hope this helps.

Damir, I think you've done a great job! Can you do my website?

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 5 Mar 2006 1:10 pm

Hi Peter,

thank you my friend.Would it be better to go with "windows media" for sound?I`ll see that picture if I can fix it.As long as I don`t make myself fat it`s ok

Db
ps
there is a guest book on there now so you guys who would like to say word or two are very welcome to do so

Db
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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

[This message was edited by Damir Besic on 05 March 2006 at 01:24 PM.]

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 5 Mar 2006 1:22 pm

ok,I got rid of the real player and installed a windows media player,hope that helps,as far as the picture goes I couldn`t do nothing,I think it`s the light on the metal that reflects that way.

Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Mar 2006 5:00 pm

Damir, that's better! Actually, I checked the websites of all the manufacturers listed on the Forum "links" page. Most of them (Emmons, Rayline, Performance, MSA, Sierra Beck, Desert Rose, Fulawka, and WBS) use a black background. (Apparently, imagination is in short supply in the pedal steel world!

) If you simply must keep the black backgrounds, at least make the small type bold. That way, us old guys can read it easily, too.

Of all the sites I checked, I thought Fessenden had the most appealing home page. Everything's there...product name, logo, 3 product examples, 2 famous users, that nice little "Enter" thingy, and most importantly, no goofy animations, marquees, flashing things, or other juvenile "distractions"!

Several years ago, I took courses on developing web-based marketing strategies and designing business web-sites, so most of these "suggestions" I've made are the same ones that teach in colleges nowadays.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 5 Mar 2006 6:05 pm

Donny,

2 famous users

dang,and I tought I was famous (I weigh for two tho,does that counts

)
Db

seriously,thanks for help all of you

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com

J Hill · Post by **J Hill** » 5 Mar 2006 7:43 pm

I like the opening music....very nice, very tasteful....very beautiful.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 5 Mar 2006 9:25 pm

Damir, nice so far.
The 1959, pic should note theat Dusan is either (L) or (R)

Oooh, oooh... You quoted ME! Cool.
I was pretty quotable too it seems.

Please remove the" THE" before hearing in the below.

And he speaks the truth. the most
telling thing besides
the
hearing the
sound in his hands was : Watching
him search for another word to top
the last ones...

Maybe I typed dyslexically, but it needs reoairing.
Thanks.
DD[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 05 March 2006 at 09:30 PM.]

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 6 Mar 2006 10:16 am

David D., Dusan would be the guy with the steel guitar, don't you think?

Chippy Wood · Post by **Chippy Wood** » 6 Mar 2006 10:28 am

I Like the new website, good luck.

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Ron (Chippy) Wood
Emmons D10
Emmons D12

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 6 Mar 2006 10:55 am

Damir.. liked the site... I would check the spelling and linguistics in some of the text... lots of misspelled words,[including my name!! LOL] and it looks "translated" if that makes any sense.. The steel tone is GORGEOUS... playing is also VERY nice. A fine first effort for a site IMHO.. I certainly could not have done it!!! bob

John Sluszny · Post by **John Sluszny** » 6 Mar 2006 11:36 am

Damir,I can't hear the "opening" music!

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 6 Mar 2006 11:58 am

I would agree with most of the comments above.

1. Please spell check the site and have a proof reader go over the text. It looks very unprofessional to see so many typos.

2. Get rid of the black background. As has been pointed out,it is difficult to read and print.

3. My personal pet peeve is sites that launch music when you go to them. I would much rather have a "sampler" section where I'm in control.

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 6 Mar 2006 3:31 pm

Donny,

I built and maintain the Fessenden website, so thanks for the compliments!

Damir, I think it's cool you're building a site for Promat.

If I may suggest, lots of people cruise the web at the office and having music playing upon visiting the home page is a give-away to the boss.

thanks,
Drew

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Drew Howard - website - Fessenden guitars, 70's Fender Twin, etc.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 6 Mar 2006 6:14 pm

thanks guys,yes I know spelling is terrible,I will have to ask my wife for the help with that.Tought about asking Bobbe but not so sure about that

.Sound control is under the pic on the first site and it can be turned off.However,I just got informed by Mr.Papic who wants me to say thank you to all of you guys for the help and music you can hear is our forumite Allan Thompson himself,that is one heck of the tone coming to us from Scotland.Thank you Allan.
David L. Donald..my old friend,I`m in the proces of putting your picture next to the text too,so then you`ll see..LOL

Db

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~ www.promatsteelguitars.com