Scott Hommel
7/16/2013
CMSY-129-N091
Portfolio Assignment 4
Evaluating Web sites
I've
had this idea for awhile now, and I would like to create a guitar and bass
tablature site. Tablature is simple music notation for guitar, used to
transcribe rock and pop music. I do a lot of tabbing while on the job at School
of Rock, and I'm always amazed at some of the inaccurate tabs found online.
I've seen people incorporate tabs into instructional videos online, and that's
what I would eventually like to get into. I already have the Blogger name
registered and everything; perfect pitch
tab. I envision putting some tablature on the site in word document format
at first, and eventually getting into videos.
Ultimate Guitar (http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/)
is one of the authorities when it comes to online guitar tablature. Like other
sites, Ultimate Guitar's strength comes from its vast community of
contributors. The catalog is extensive because users can submit and review
tabs. What really sets this site apart from some others is its rating system.
Skeptical guitarists can quickly have their doubts subside upon viewing a tab's
star rating which ranges from one to five (poor to excellent). In addition to
the number of stars, the number of reviews given for a particular tab help
validate it.
There is no doubt that Ultimate Guitar is an
authority when it comes to tablature, and because the tabs are submitted by
like-minded musicians with the common goal of teaching and learning new songs,
there is no objectivity or hidden agenda. As I said before, because people from
all over the world contribute to the site its scope and depth is
unparalleled and the design is no busier
than it needs to be. The home page is quite cluttered with advertisements and
things of that nature, however the tab search bar is dead center and is the
first thing visitors see. One advantage to having so many contributors is the
added traffic and advertising potential; the downside is quality assurance and
not being able to keep up with regulation of the outside contributions. In addition
to the rating system, I really like that the tabs have a transpose feature and
are easy to print. If I could change one thing, I would de-clutter the layout
to draw attention to some of the site's other features.
Guitare Tab (http://www.guitaretab.com/)
has a far less-cluttered display. The same qualities regarding authority,
objectivity, and scope apply to this site as they do to Ultimate Guitar. Though
the design is not lacking, I do call the functionality of this site into
question. This search engine algorithm did not seem as efficient as that of
Ultimate Guitar's. Using the same search as on Ultimate, I requested "guns
n roses paradise city" from Guitare Tab's database. It took me an extra
few steps however, as I was not directly led to a 5-star tab as I was on
Ultimate Guitar. There is a similar rating system used by this site, though I
would say Ultimate has a superior design and functionality. One thing I did
like about this site was that it includes drum tablature, but I didn't like
that searches seemed slightly more time-consuming on guitaretab.com.
After looking at Songsterr.com (http://www.songsterr.com/),
an upstart company that a guitar student told me about, it becomes clear that
Ultimate Guitar is a little outdated with its appearance and layout. Though
great for accessing quality tabs quickly, ultimateguitar.com has a poorly
designed layout compared to Guitare Tab and especially Songsterr. This home
page looks gorgeous, and is divided into 3 sub-headings (beginner,
intermediate, and advanced tabs). This site also has drum tabs and has quite a
bit of depth to it. When attempting the same search on this site as on the
previous two I needed only to type "guns" before auto-fill did the
rest and I was directed to a quality tab.
With a breathtaking design, modern
and obviously more current than others, the tabs are interactive, with so many more options
including the ability to choose multiple instrument tabs from a virtual mixing
console. Of course, with so much going for Songsterr.com there has to be a
catch and indeed there is. Being able to print a tab is very important, and
this site will not let you print tablature without agreeing to a $10/month
plan. It's a shame, but then I guess that's the sacrifice you have to make for
a website less cluttered with advertising and distractions.
If I were to design a guitar tablature site I
would want it to be more of a community site like ultimateguitar.com and
guitaretab.com, rather than a monthly membership like songsterr.com. Songsterr
is great for looking at tabs on the spot, but without a free print option I
just can't support that site. I would start by doing some tabs myself, and try
to make more of a free communal sharing site for tablature. I would be open to
advertisements, but would draw the line before the site's design and appeal
were compromised. I really like Ultimate Guitar's system, minus all of the distractions.
With my site I would carve out a niche by focusing on certain rock sub-genres
such as hard rock, 90's grunge, and 80's hair bands.
