help on website layout, on downloads...

[Nikolas]

Hi all,

I'm in need of some help and feedback here...

THE IDEA

I have a work for piano, 4 hands. This means two pianists in the same piano. The score is currently in the press.

So I want to offer to the each buyer the chance to be able to download the SOLO parts, as audio files, for practice reasons. Because the work is for 2 pianist, someone may want to play along with a recording...

Problem is that there's a total of 7 works (so 14 parts, 2 for each work), and in addition I'd like to offer zip files of the whole lot and for each pianist (primo and secondo). So a total of 17 works!!!!

The problem

The problem is that my customers are piano performers, usually not so literate with the Internet and downloads, etc. So I'm trying to find what's the best way to offer all the downloads in a single page... A solution that won't cause any confusion or any kind of conflict for pianists...

My solution
Involves what you see bellow. The aesthetics will NOT be white, of course, but according to our website at www.musica-ferrum.com

So...



Anything bellow, and including the 'ALL FILES' is a clickable link, linking to a zip file (not an mp3, because some may open up on their browser and they won't know how to download them)...

Is it clear? I think that the ALL FILES and Secondo Primo are not clear that they are downloads... So the common user will only see 14 files, instead of the 17 I want... :-/

Ideas?

[MurrayL]

It looks like you've tried to simplify it, but ended up making things confusingly vague. Why not be more specific with what you're offering? The customers may not be 100% internet-savvy, but they're (probably ) not idiots. You should always be as clear as possible with what you're offering.

Piano Stories
For Piano, 4 Hands

Download All Audio (26 MB compilation)

-- or --

Download Primo Parts Only (14 MB compilation)
Download Secundo Parts Only (13 MB compilation)

-- or --

Download individual (solo) audio files:

Work	Primo Part	Secundo Part
If only he was carefree	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)
A rather innocent incumbus	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)
How to live in an underground home	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)
The sparrow and a rainbow	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)
Building light momentum	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)
Meteor fight	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)
Your text here...	Primo Download (1.1 MB)	Secundo Download (1.5 MB)

[Anian]

What MurrayL said. Plus if you're not sure you might want to add instructions, like right click, save as, choose where you want to save the file etc. or just "click here to download".
At least that's how my mom functions - she doesn't get everything (she works on a computer but web surfing and some workings of a computer don't interest her enough to learn more), but she'll read everything (takes her ages to scroll through bigger sites  ). So just be clear, lay the instructions out and they'll read it and do it even if they don't get it.

[Nikolas]

Huge thanks for this! It makes perfect sense! And while my customers are most probably not idiots (on the contrary they are quite bright) apparently I'm a semi-idiot for doing things SO complicated!

Any other takes ideas?

EDIT: Anian: Sure thing. I'll add the instructions somewhere, but I think i'll keep the idea of a zip file, just in case someone tries to left click (and the browser, or bloody QT starts playing back the file instead of downloading...).

[selmiak]

Murrys layout is great, but I'd rename the links for "Download Primo Parts Only (14 MB compilation)" and "Download Secundo Parts Only (13 MB compilation)" to "Download all Primo pieces together" (14 MB compilation) & "Download all Secundo pieces together" (13 MB compilation). Take the filesize out of the linktext and probably use a table the same with as with what follows below:

For the table 2 columns should be enough, like
"(Primo) If only he was carefree" (1.1 MB) | "(Secundo)  If only he was carefree" (1.5 MB).
and a small image icon of perhaps a clef on an arrow pointing down or a clef on a floppy next to each download link make it even more userfriendly.

Btw it's always good to have a description of what you are linking to in your linktext, not just "download" or "click here"

[Nikolas]

Thanks shelmiak.

Now to make things more complicated... Each piece in the score is illustrated with an (amazing) B&W image by a fabulous artist....

I'm linking a couple for you to see and check if there could be a way to use these? Assuming that people logging in to download the pieces WILL have bought the score (otherwise they wouldn't know the link itself)...


and