To be honest, the only thought I had about IntellectualMusician before I visited the site was that of John Cusack’s character Rob Gordon in High Fidelity. I really thought this was going to be a blog form of the “I know more about music than you do” attitude that was displayed in the movie.
The layout of the blog was intriguing to me. It didn’t really feel like a blog’s layout, more of just a general article site layout. The site’s design is a spin off of 2 or 3 column layout with the main content being on the left and navigation (or ads/navigation) on the right. The main content area is a two column tabled type layout with each article taking up the exact same space as the next. Of course this is just a ruse as it is just a snippet of the article and you must click on the “continued” link to read more.
Which brings me to another grievance I have with the design/layout/functionality of the site. When you click continued, you are taken to the “more” section of the blog post. Considering most people I forget instantly what they I just read when the screen changes, I had to scroll up to re-read the intro. Especially in cases where it broke in mid sentence.
Enough with the layout/functionality already. I know you are all wondering about the content. Well lets start with the first post which states the primary purpose of the site:
“IntellectualMusician.com is a website built and maintained by musicians, for musicians. The basic idea is simple, gather a superior group of extremely talented and well educated musicians and give them an outlet to share their knowledge.”
So with that said, I am expecting well basically what I originally thought before visiting the site. Now I am not one to practice music, but I do know a fair share so this should be fun. But wait, the posts are about how to play music, and practice and well how to make the instruments sound the way they do. The posts to me seem like they are just re-written out of a book and that this blog is more of a “music class” than a “group of musicians sharing their knowledge”.
Since I couldn’t find what I thought I was going to find here, I decided to look around at the other parts of the site. The owner took the time to make some Web 2.0 type graphics for the “Home” and “Forum” links. The forums are very green and really need more people. However what is there, with the lack of users is good. Again, it is more talk about the playing and learning of music. So that kind of bummed me out.
Since I am not a musician and don’t have any interest in learning to become one, I thought I would ask a buddy of mine to take a quick glance at the site since he teaches drums at the local high school. His quick impressions was that the layout needed work, but the articles were actually good for him. So there you have it, if you are a music person, you will probably enjoy this site. If you are just a listener, you probably won’t. The design needs some serious improvement, especially in the archives to make the site more accessible. Overall I give the site a 3.25 due to the layout issues and that the site is geared towards a specific niche of people. That niche will more than likely enjoy this site.
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