DV battle 2014 website design - I could do with your input

[Steve]

What I need help with is the layout/content.

 

I was thinking that it would have the following pages: -

 

Home/News - It would have the basic info about the battle, as well as any up to date news about it (new judges being added, new rounds starting etc.). It would also have a main logo as well as the sponsor logos. The homepage would also have links to DV, a Facebook group and/or event page for the battle and what have you.

 

Rules/Entry details - A page that would list the full rules of the battle and how to enter.

 

Sponsors - This would contain all the sponsor info, with bios and links.

 

Judges - This would list all of the judges, with a little bio for each and some links to their sites.

 

Contestants - Basically the same as the judges page, but for the contestants.

 

The part I'm not sure about though, is how to actually present the videos and tie them in with the forum. I am not going to have a separate comments system on the website itself, as I want it to tie in with DV, not make DV totally unnecessary as far as the battle is concerned.

 

Anyway, post your thoughts. Even though it's still 2013, I've already made moves to get this started as time soon flies by and I want to be totally on top of things this time.

[Guest rasteri]

Just having a website will make a huge difference, having to comb forums/facebook for rules etc is a bit of a pain.

 

When are you thinking the battle will be held? Same time of year?

[Steve]

I was thinking of holding it at the same time of year, but it doesn't have to be. I liked the timing this year, with it ending with the results being announced on Christmas Day. I don't think the summer is the best time as people go off on holiday and doing it before summer is too soon IMO. I know doing it in autumn/winter means it overlaps with battles that have a bigger draw though.

[Guest rasteri]

Yeah there's certainly nothing wrong with it being at the same time as DMC/IDA/etc, turnout certainly wasn't affected as it's not really aimed at the same sorta competitor. It's a shame there aren't really many battles in the spring, but it would be unfair to ask you to organize another battle when the current one has just ended.

[djnumnuts]

Yep think a separate site/blog page would help, but link it back to here for the discussion threads. Also would be good if the people battle actually came back to contribute to the forum and stuff.

[Steve]

What I can't decide is what to do about the videos themselves. Do I post them all on the site? Do I post none of them on the site, but link people to here instead? Do I post just the winners of each round on the site, then add "to see all of the videos and vote for your favourites, visit DV" with a link?

[doppelkorn]

Not sure if it's worth my input here but I'll go ahead anyway.

 

I'm not sure if anyone remembers but a few years ago I was trying to get people to buy into the idea of DV being a more non-member facing site with a news blog section and then a secret forum backend that might be invite only.

 

The idea was that those of us who wanted promotion could get it via the blog which should have got decent traffic with lots of decent content and we could have built a DV brand to which people could have been aligned and it would have helped individuals self-promote as being part of the DV group.

 

I don't think there was much enthusiasm for the idea for various (good) reasons but one thing about that was that it was supposed to not drive traffic to the forums.

 

I wonder whether, if there's a Facebook group for it, people would join up here to discuss the battle. What sells the forum to people in the TT battle scene?

 

That was very rambling

[DJ Rock Well]

Firstly, think its a good idea to have the seperate site and build this battle into a bigger thing.

 

I don't really see that you can take it to the level of having its own website without having all the videos on it.

 

Just my thinking, but I feel that it's better to host the battle in the DV name and hope people respect what you are doing and them come to the forum because they want to, than trying to push them towards it at every turn. I think from an outside perspective, if a battles big enough to have its own site but that site serves not much more purpose than just to redirect you to a forum, it would be perceived as a bit strange.

[Guest petesasqwax]

yeah, that makes sense.

have all the videos on the battle site; make it only possible for people to sign up for the battle if they sign up via the forum. seems like the way to go, for me. sure, most of the people who sign up purely to enter the battle may never actually post on the forum, but at least they will have visited it and therefore will know it exists etc.

[doppelkorn]

Firstly, think its a good idea to have the seperate site and build this battle into a bigger thing.

 

I don't really see that you can take it to the level of having its own website without having all the videos on it.

 

Just my thinking, but I feel that it's better to host the battle in the DV name and hope people respect what you are doing and them come to the forum because they want to, than trying to push them towards it at every turn. I think from an outside perspective, if a battles big enough to have its own site but that site serves not much more purpose than just to redirect you to a forum, it would be perceived as a bit strange.

 

That's very good advice.

 

Ditto Pete's.

[Steve]

The website is basically a place where I can lay out all of the info in a good way - much better than I ever could using threads/posts on here.

 

DV is already set up for moderated discussion, polls etc. It seems silly to have a DV battle where people don't discuss the videos on DV, but on some completely separate website which of course I have to build/pay for/moderate as well.

 

I might have to re-think this, as it's a big time and money investment.

[DJ Rock Well]

I think it's still cool to redirect people to DV to discuss entries.

 

I'd just make sure that all the vids are up on the website, but perhaps instead of a comments section below them, the link to a DV thread. I didn't mean cut DV out of the equation completely in my previous comment, just not to limit the website content too much.

[doppelkorn]

I reckon making people sign up to a forum to enter a battle or comment on it might put them off.

 

If you make it very clear that the battle website is run by DV and keep referring to it I'm sure it will encourage people to sign up.

 

Could you not embed FB comments in the new website, which further minimises the hassle in commenting.

[Mr. Wonderful]

The website is basically a place where I can lay out all of the info in a good way - much better than I ever could using threads/posts on here.

 

DV is already set up for moderated discussion, polls etc. It seems silly to have a DV battle where people don't discuss the videos on DV, but on some completely separate website which of course I have to build/pay for/moderate as well.

 

I might have to re-think this, as it's a big time and money investment.

 

Hi Steve,

 

I am all for pushing the art form to a wider audience, but I personally think that the battle should stay on the DV site. It seamed to work well the last time in my opinion and as the old saying goes "If it an't broke, don't try and fix it".

 

A new website would make it more appealing for sponsors which would create better prizes for competitors, but as you said Steve a lot more money and work for you and the team, is it worth it? and my fear is that these things always seam to end up too commercialised and loose their underground feel.

 

I suppose we need to be honest with ourselves and if we believe their is a bigger demand for this section of the art form to be showcased then it needs to be pushed, but from my opinion the mainstream/general public are not interested in scratching the slightest, it's primarily just for the 'heads'.

 

Just another opinion to chew on Steve.

[Steve]

Whatever happens with the battle, I plan to "keep it real" in terms of the format and putting the DJs first. I would rather do that and keep it a small thing than try and turn it into something bigger where I have to bend to the will of sponsors who want everyone spamming shit on Facebook and all that stuff.

 

One thing I might do is have a "public's favourite" award with a smaller prize. Winning that would be no guarantee of progressing to further rounds, because I don't want any of the overall judging to be done by public votes, but it would give people some incentive to talk about the battle on social networks. Maybe that would be a good compromise - what do you think?

 

The website will be good for everyone involved except me really, lol, but only because I'm paying for it. I don't mind doing that as I have a mate who's a pro web designer who can do it at a discount, but he's not going to work for free and obviously the more complicated the site gets, the more I would have to pay. I would build it myself, but I want something that looks professional and I wouldn't be able to do that. Also, I plan to reuse the site for future battles, so it's not like I would have to pay every year.

 

Having Facebook comments means more exposure for the site and the battle, but I don't know how I would moderate the comments - or even if I could. Also, the comments wouldn't be stored in any kind of database that I can control, so I can't archive the battle like I have with the 2013 one. Another issue is, it would actually take traffic away from DV, as people wouldn't come here to discuss the battle. That's why I'm trying to find a balance that works in terms of cost of the site, ease of use (for me), and not taking traffic away from the forum if it can be helped.

 

I will figure something out. Whatever happens, the battle will be better organised and have more publicity than the 2013 one, so that can only be a good thing.

[ju-e]

Hi Steve,

 

From my point of view the 2013 Battle was great, with the only thing really needing to be improved was expanding to a wider audience (marketing/advertising etc). Pulling together a plan to hit various forums and social media sites a month before it all kicks off would be good, and maybe a more considered approach to the way the threads/vids are managed on DV. I think keeping the battle here is pretty essential (for control, identity and cost) with signposting elsewhere to bring more people in/ raise awareness etc.

 

Also, that way it doesn't start to turn into something which is full of 100's of new ideas which end up being unmanageable and stressful with no improved end result.

 

Happy to help if I can at all mate

 

Cheers

[Guest petesasqwax]

what would be the issue in keeping it here but putting it on a sub folder for example: digitalvertigo.co.uk/battle ? it'd keep it here and eliminate confusion and extra costs etc. involved in having another site.

[Mr. Wonderful]

All sounds great Steve and it looks like you have some good ideas. I do like the fact that you are going to "keep it real" a very important factor indeed and I also think that the "public's favourite" voting suggestion is another good idea too.

 

Regarding the FB page moderation, you can apply specific filter settings to pick up and block specific key words and stop all profanity if needed. You can also invite other people as moderators to help on the page. The diverting traffic away from DV issue I totally get, as an idea what about, only using the FB page as an information only page, no comments (if comments can be disabled), then have a direct link to DV site where people could post comments? That may increase the flow of traffic.

 

I hope that helps!

 

Well, good luck with everything and look forward it seeing the your developments in action later on in the year and let me know if I could help in anyway.

Edited January 8, 2014 by djtags

[Steve]

and maybe a more considered approach to the way the threads/vids are managed on DV

 

Thanks mate. Can I ask what you would change/improve in that respect?

 

@Tags - Thanks man. When I see my mate who's going to sort the site out, I'll have a proper conversation about this and see what he thinks.

 

@Pete - The forum software we use here has several components, most of which we don't use (cos we don't really need them and they cost extra money to use). One of them is called IP.Content, which allows you to build custom pages and use several database driven features that are tied in to the existing forum. That would be ideal, but there are 3 things stopping me from doing that. A minor one is, I would like to use a URL for the battle site that implies what the site is in its name. The 2 major ones are that I have never used IP.Content and it would possibly require a lot of time and effort on my part to get it up and running, and there is a major update to all of Invision's software due shortly, so I don't want to pay for the IP.Content add-on until I've seen what that update is like.

 

We discussed using IP.Content years ago when I wanted to push the site forward into being something more than just a forum, as I wanted to include articles, interviews, turntablist news and what have you, but there just wasn't enough interest in it to make it worth doing. It would make the site more like TurntablistWorld (only better as IP.Content is better than the software Vekked is using), but nobody here showed any great desire for DV to be like that.

[Guest petesasqwax]

ah, ok mate. I have to admit, I've never run a forum so I have no concept of how that stuff works. The only web experience I have is , html/css or Flash design work so I figured it would be as easy as using a different set up in the subfolder (i.e. just using a different index.html and building it as a totally separate site outside of the forum)

[ju-e]

 

and maybe a more considered approach to the way the threads/vids are managed on DV

 

Thanks mate. Can I ask what you would change/improve in that respect?

 

Of course Steve, no problem, I will give it further thought and get back to you. I think what I was getting at was, as a noobie I was struggling with finding all the battle related content and when things were moving to archive (probably me just being stupid). But I think as Pete has said, having a single sub folder/section for the 2014 battle would be dope. It is then just how to structure it.

 

 

[ju-e]

 

 

and maybe a more considered approach to the way the threads/vids are managed on DV

 

Thanks mate. Can I ask what you would change/improve in that respect?

 

Of course Steve, no problem, I will give it further thought and get back to you. I think what I was getting at was, as a noobie I was struggling with finding all the battle related content and when things were moving to archive (probably me just being stupid). But I think as Pete has said, having a single sub folder/section for the 2014 battle would be dope. It is then just how to structure it.

 

 

 

So just thinking a bit about structure. What about ensuring the 2014 battle thread/section is the first thing people see when they hit the forum (so idiots like me can't miss it!)?

 

Then, in the battle section there are the following threads:

 

1) - Rules

2) - Contestants (profile for each?)

3) - Beats (each beat added after every round has completed?)

4) - Battle rounds (each round contains the pairing for each battle and the vids with people able to comment)

5) - Results (added to as the battle progresses.)

 

Just an idea :-), will give this more thought

[Steve]

ah, ok mate. I have to admit, I've never run a forum so I have no concept of how that stuff works. The only web experience I have is , html/css or Flash design work so I figured it would be as easy as using a different set up in the subfolder (i.e. just using a different index.html and building it as a totally separate site outside of the forum)

 

There is nothing stopping me from doing that, but using IP.Content has several advantages over that because it has access to everything that's already stored in the forum databases, so, for example, if I posted up an article on the main page, you would be able to comment on it using your existing DV account and I can moderate posts just like I do now.

 

This isn't the best example I can find, but this is built using IP.Content: -

 

http://www.talkchelsea.net/

[Steve]

@ju-e - I did try and do most of that, only, because the section was getting cluttered up with stuff, as threads became outdated I moved them to the archive section. The problem with that is, I assumed that everyone had been following the battle from the beginning, when clearly some people jumped in later and missed the earlier threads, and I could certainly have made it more clear where the older threads had been moved to. Point taken for sure. I will do a better job with that stuff next time.

[ju-e]

@ju-e - I did try and do most of that, only, because the section was getting cluttered up with stuff, as threads became outdated I moved them to the archive section. The problem with that is, I assumed that everyone had been following the battle from the beginning, when clearly some people jumped in later and missed the earlier threads, and I could certainly have made it more clear where the older threads had been moved to. Point taken for sure. I will do a better job with that stuff next time.

 

Thanks Steve, yes with me only picking up the battle midway through I lost some of it. And totally get how all that info will clutter things up no end mate.