Websites are a very subjective area. What one person might think is great may well make other people very cross. What I would like to do with this part of the BFS website is to try and find websites that I think are interesting, are well designed from a graphic and technical perspective and also are relevant and informative for the Flute community and beyond.

The website I have selected to kick off is http://www.flutesandco.org.uk/. This is a website for a flute choir based in the Lake District in England. They appear to be a very active and enthusiastic group of flautists who are also keen to run charitable activities and events.

From a content perspective it is very informative about who they are and what they are doing. The home page gives some useful web links and also some latest information about the choir activities and other pieces of news (I spent longer than I planned looking up Smart Music – very interesting). Other links include information about who they are, concerts, music, photos etc. The concert page is a little disappointing as they have to go back to their old website in order to display the calendar – still effective to get the information but would be nice to get the new site working in the same way. I like the ability to be able to hear some of their repertoire on the music page – good reproduction and a lovely sound (for the webmaster: you might want to check out JW player http://www.longtailvideo.com/players/jw-flv-player to play the samples – a very nice tool for playing mp3 and videos etc). 

Other bits include a members’ area and a 'contact us' page to contact the choir. The text on the site is well written, in a light readable style and I like the comments on the music as an example.

From a visual perspective the front page or home page has a very modern feel to it, the graphic at the top shows what the website is about without the viewer having to think about it and it is well structured underneath. The links to other pages are clear and obvious and uses drop down for further pages where necessary. Clearly this is kept up to date so it is not a site that has been written and then never revisited.

Overall, this is a very nice site with a modern feel to it. There is good use of graphics and the website technically well put together. It is informative for members and public alike and is a great advertisement for what sounds like an active and excellent choir. 

Tony Barr

tony.barr@tesco.net