Further Dechroming
AnthonyI don't even know if dechroming is a word but I'm making it one. I wrote a post about a two weeks ago regarding my committment to a low-pressure atmosphere on StevieSnacks.
Most people agreed that they very much appreciate the my low-key sales approach, confirming to me that any steps in the "BECOME A BLUES GOD IN 3 STEPS!!!" direction would offend the very people who are responsible for this site ever becoming a reality.
New Look Coming Soon
Very soon, I'll be taking another, more drastic step to dechrome StevieSnacks. I will be implementing a much simpler, less flashy, white background theme. It will be as simple as I can make it, without looking amateur. The purpose is to make StevieSnacks look more like what it really is. A medium popularity guitar lesson site maintained by one person.
For 2 years, this site has featured a dark theme. Batman-esque if you will. I make an attempt to keep things looking very professional because graphic design and website design are two of my passions. However, the current 'look' of StevieSnacks, is starting to feel a be pretentious. A bit over-the-top. And worst of all, it doesn't seem very representative of what it really is.
StevieSnacks looks as if it's run by a group of people, out to make money. In short, the flashy look does not match the reality that this is a simple guitar lesson site run by one person. It's no wonder that I get emails from people who think that StevieSnacks must be absolutely huge in popularity, and must have a bunch of people working here. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This site gets about 10,000 unique visitors a month, most leave no comments, buy no lessons, and a fair amount only ever visit one time.
There Are No "Guys"
StevieSnacks has always been, and still the work of my hands. I build everything you see here. I do everything myself. There are no 'guys', just me. And in terms of popularity, StevieSnacks is still way, way, way smaller in popularity than sites like Justinguitar.com, Nextlevelguitar.com and other big name sites.
I'm not going to play the 'professional looking site' game anymore. I'm tired of trying to figure out what is the flashiest way to present everything on the site. I would much rather figure out ways to make the lessons look, sound, and work for you, much better.
So when you come back sometime in the near future, and you don't recognize StevieSnacks, just know that nothing bad has happened. All the same stuff will be here. The lessons will continue to be the best that I can make them.
The only difference will be that the site will take a backseat to the lessons, instead of competing for attention. Hopefully stuff will be easier to find, but I'm not going to spend weeks figuring out a fancy way to save people the trouble of clicking a few links to find stuff.
In the end, I hope the new look will help avoid the misunderstanding that StevieSnacks is some sort of company, and better represent the fact that this a small focused site, created by one person to reach the small number of fans who share his passion for a certain brand of blues.