2,721 files. Over
1,000 actual pages, and 3 weeks straight, spent
re-doing the site. The majority of which most likely
will never be seen. So why on earth would would I do
this?
It's step one for
the promotional re-vamp of Adam & The Trinitrons.
I didn't intend to do this first by any means. The new
script was actually the first priority, but one
morning on a day off I got an idea for the new
"Adam Kontras.com" picture and that hooked me. And
truly, it had been 3 years since I touched the site.
Granted, I keep up with "The Journey", fill in a few
show links, but the rest has gone untouched because
it's just so friggin' massive, and I was unsure of who
the site should be geared towards.
As well when I
first started the site, I was clueless. It was still a
relatively new thing to have a website in early 1999.
So everything was just one big ass folder. In 2000, I
fixed that up a bit, but then started all new bad
habits that I didn't realize until late 2001. Just a
mess, that the longer I avoided, the worse it got. No
more.
The main reason
though is what I want complete strangers to see when
they go to my site...
This, although
pretty, is completely unfocused. If you don't know of
me, or what the hell 4tvs is - this isn't any help.
You have to search to find the info you need, and will
most likely come upon The Journey - which is just
completely overwhelming. Let's say you're a columnist
at a community newspaper around here and you hit the
site to get some background on the show and me?
Exactly.
It's
understandable however, because the site grew out of a
newsletter, and all recipients of that newsletter were
either fans of The Late Show or 4tvs. What I realized
is, for those people, "The Journey" is their site.
That's for the people that are interested in the
ever-evolving story. For the rest of the world, I have
to make it a helluva lot simpler.
The first big
difference, and one that kinda makes me sad, is that
4tvs.com is no longer 4tvs.com. It's just a backdoor
to get to Adam Kontras.com. That sucks. I mean it
doesn't really, it's the way it should be, but I have
a soft spot for seeing 4tvs in the spotlight. In my
mind, it makes 4tvs just another link in the Adam
Kontras chain, which I know - it is but for some
reason it just kinda makes me sad. It has been 4tvs!
4tvs! 4tvs! for 5 years now, and it feels like
something is changing. Now the idea of not
doing 4tvs isn't so drastic anymore. Of course that
isn't the case, and it is the absolute forefront, but
now my ugly mug is first, 4tvs 2nd. C'est La Vie. I'm
just glad I can look at this unbiasedly and do what
needs to be done. Bottom line, when people go to
4tvs.com it should most definitely swing to
this:
This does several
things. First and foremost it shows who I am when I'm
not growing my hair out for a role, and the 4 other
characters. So that one picture can always be changed
to define who I am and what I'm currently pushing.
It's focused. And the following 7 links tell the
viewer exactly what they can get in each section. They
don't have to hit a button that says "Movie Minded"
and find that it's an offshoot of 4tvs. They can
actually go to the 4tvs section, and then see the 4
facets/shows related to the concept. That makes
sense.
This
bio
page was one of the hardest pages I've ever written.
So much to say, and so little to say all at once. This
"could" be the only thing anyone ever hits on the site
so you want to intice them...but I haven't really
done anything. So it's pretty easy to sound
completely full of it. I think I did alright, but
I have a feeling it's a page I'll rewrite constantly.
Hell if I'm lucky, I'll need to.
Amazingly, this
picture saved me tons of work. This picture, along
with the links on the picture, explain almost without
a doubt - what 4tvs is. I don't have to write some
long-winded diatribe saying it's a show that I'm
onstage with 4tvs - yadda yadda. People get it. There
was no way to know this before, unless you searched
through The Journey, and even then - the entries are
written as if you've been following for 4 years. Heh.
So good luck to the stranger. Now you see it right off
the bat, and when you hit the first link, you get a
quick overview of how it all came together. If you
choose to, you can go deeper (slight facelift to the
sets
section) but you get all you need very quickly. This
layout also allowed for easily found links to
newspaper articles such as of the Lantern
story on 4tvs back in 1999.
Most importantly
it shows past, present and future completely laid out.
Love that. It's nothing followers of The Journey
didn't already know, but now you see instantly as a
stranger. Completely necessary. There will be slight
changes in this section over time, but for the most
part, it does its job.
The
radio
section of the old site had been woefully put together
with just pages upon pages of links to random things.
I mean you could literally go 5 to 6 levels deep.
Completely unfocused 'cause I didn't know what the
hell I was doing. With the new site I simply had to
ask myself what part it played in what I was doing
now? Obviously it's no longer a part of my life, but
what was accomplished plays a huge role in who I am
and what I bring to the table. It shows that I've been
successful before, been absurdly productive before (7
CDs and 5 Cassettes worth) - and it's just too
impressive to ignore. This section now shows that, and
it shows it very simply and gives you the information
you need right off the bat, but allows you to go
deeper if you so wish. As well it gave me the
opportunity to finally upload these
two Other Paper
articles
about the show. Check 'em out, they're
awesome.
The
music
section was hard to pin down. At first I worked
on a "history" much like the radio section. One
that has a beginning, middle and end. However,
although I'm not actively trying to record and produce
new album projects, the singer/songwriter in me hasn't
stopped. Barely even paused. Seemed incorrect to paint
it as a "past" part of my life. It's now simply
hidden within "The Journey", buyt has produced some
really great moments. Instead of highlighting the
past, I really thought I should make this section
what "DV Therapy" was on the old site: An
easily accessible page to all the songs within The
Journey. It's actually my personal favorite page of
the site to click around.
The
shows
section got a massive facelift. It's now
actually viewable. Previously all the shows were in
huge boxes, in a strange font and no one in their
right mind would click on em. Now I've given them each
one line, and as well changed every friggin' link.
(sigh). For some inane reason I decided to chronicle
the shows section, and the journey section separately
in 2000. I would make a seperate
"show" entry, and then usually say the same shit
in the journey section. Absolute pain in the ass. And
by 2001, I simply linked all the shows right to the
entry from the journal, 'cause why separate em? Well
to make it uniform I had to go back over every show,
and link them to the journey entry that corresponded,
and in many cases work the show entries INTO the
journal. Whew. I believe just that page took 12 hours.
Now of course, it's accessible to those who want it,
and will be a great way to show upcoming shows when I
start to book them again.
Then of course
there's "The Journey" itself. By far the most work of
any part of the site. Funny considering it's the only
thing I've kept updated in the past couple of years.
The reason is the hell that is my obsessive nature. As
I mentioned before, I was pretty clueless when I first
started the site, so things were a bit messy. As well,
I spotlighted a lot of things within the journey, that
I later erased from the site - leaving all sorts of
dead links, dead pictures very unprofessional.
Raise your hand if you remember mpgnapster.com? OK,
now Jess put your hand down. Heh. No matter how
trivial now, it was a part of The Journey so I want it
there for those who wish to go through it.
Unfortunately, that shit went away YEARS ago. Hell all
the sites, starwarsblew.com, nbafantasy.net,
letterstolennon.com, j-dog.net - I got rid of all the
domain names. Only Palaur has stayed and only because
Dirk Thompson of CD101 fame wrote me a nice email
saying it was too good to let go. So there's all these
broken links. So I went back, fixed all of them,
recreated the files of the logos and whatnot,
re-uploaded the sites to the web, and made sure all
the links were to that section, and not the http://
address. On the anal side of things there were spacing
issues on every single entry in 2000. Heh. So I made
everything look right, and added links in every entry
back to the month - and even more links back to the
journey within every month.
Then the biggie:
every fuggin' movie. Dear LORD the movies. Back in the
day I had a "4tvs Theater". I embedded all my movies
onto the page, and I linked everything to that page.
In 2002 however I decided to just link right to the
movie. I realized that most browser's were now
upgraded enough to know what to do with the movie, and
mac users were knowledgeable enough to figure it out
when their browser wouldn't play it. But guess what
that leaves? Over 200 of those theater pages and not
only a link from the entry, but a link from the month
page. (sigh). This was the shit I hated. It took me 3
straight days, 12-14 hours a day to fix all those. All
the while, making sure all the titles of each page
were correct (about 50% were wrong) and of course,
adding Adam Kontras.com to the beginning of every
title within the journey, and the rest of the site. Oh
and don't forget making sure to erase the old pages
evenly between my harddrive and the server.
AHHHHHHHHHHH.
But the good news
is, it's done. Unfortunately the only people who will
appreciate it are those who stumble upon the journey,
and decide to start from the very beginning. That's
probably 3 people in the next ten years, but that's
quintessential Adam Kontras. Tons of work that no one
will see. Heh - brilliant.
The bottom line
with all of this, is I want zero holes in the armor.
Not one broken link, not one poorly designed page, not
one missing picture, not one "under construction", not
one reason for confusion, nothing. I want people to
click on the site and go "HOLY SHIT. This dude is
serious." When the media hits the page to write a few
words on the show, or on me - I want their every
question answered. If I do go on tour, and start to
amass hits from those shows, again - I want everything
incredibly clear, and I want zero mistakes. It
probably took over 150 hours, but I have a clear head
- and a killer site.
Now, the final
section is not only the cherry on top, it's the icing
and part of the cake too. It is the section that sets
my site above any other personal site I've ever seen.
No one has ever done it, nor do I believe anyone would
ever even try. It's the best web-work I've ever done,
and if I play my cards right, could be the piece of
publicity that finally gets 4tvs recognized on a
national level. But even without all that, it's still
the shit. It launches on the 21st...
...which means I
only have 6 friggin' days to finish it.
SO SICK OF WEB WORK.
Adam
PS -
Not a word about this entry's video only
being the site itself. You're just gonna
sit there and take it, and leisurely
peruse the site for a few moments because
Adam deserves that 90 seconds of your day
after sitting on his ass for nearly a
month killing himself to get this done.
No, no - you want a video? You want a
freakin' video!?!? FINE. There
There's your goddamn video.