Thread: Your favorite websites or bragging about your own?

I'm overdue a redesign and I'd love to see your favorite belly dance websites for inspiration, or brag on your own! Or share favorite websites of a non-belly dance variety - all are welcome.

Just to start us off - some I already like:

Saffron Dance | Belly Dance Classes in Arlington, Washington DC, Northern Virginia
Carrara Nour | Professional Belly Dancer in Connecticut (CT)
Conduit Dance, Inc : a contemporary dance site -- Portland, Oregon
Sandra -- Bellydance -- raks-sharki.com
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

<3

Hi Shems!

I'm still fairly proud of mine. Brea Morgiane - Badass Bellydance. ..g.:

I really like Alimahs and Razias:

Alimah Bellydance
Belly Dance London

they're colorful, easy to navigate, and very professional looking.

Shocking! no I really love that you call yourself Badass!

Just one thing on your site tho, the font is really small on my Firefox. I'd love to go the "pretty" design route but it's hard because I feel I have so many services or offerings, however you want to put it, not just classes & performances; and I like listing it all up front. And I only do basic html, that really limits things.

Originally Posted by BreaMorgiane

Hi Shems!

I'm still fairly proud of mine. Brea Morgiane - Badass Bellydance. ..g.:

Of course I'm rather fond of my own, otherwise I would have designed it differently! ..l;,

But one of the most impressive I've seen is Shira's redesign. She has a similar philosophy to mine - keep it simple, and keep it readable (no white backgrounds!) - and I didn't think she could improve over the old one. I was wrong!

All About Belly Dancing! Learn to Belly Dance!

Thanks Anthea! And thanks for letting me know about the fonts. I'll try adjusting the sizes. ..g.:

Shems, just remember for when you are creating your new site that the ipad and iphone don't support flash.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Shems, just remember for when you are creating your new site that the ipad and iphone don't support flash.

Which is yet another reason to steer clear of Flash...

Ooh, I like the sites that are recommended in this thread! I also like websites that are easy to navigate and provide a good overview. I changed my website from html to Wordpress last yer and I'm very happy with how easy it is to change things around, or choose another template. I still want to design an original template for my own website, but for now I'm using a free template with a customized banner.

If you want to create a multi language website, you can add a plugin that will do the job for you, way easier then creating separate pages in html.

About the iphone: how many of you adjusted your website for mobile phone users?

my new one's almost ALMOST done! It's by brian of dreamstar studios- same guy who did carrara nours and jaida's and the theatrical bellydance one. He's awesomeeeee!!! I'm pretty sure you've met him before Shems... he's from Delaware like me.. he's atleast seen you perform, I know that. :) give me a day or three and then I'll be ready to release my new one!

I will expose myself, since I'm amongst friends, here's my website.

Welcome to Civil Investigations Australia

:)

Originally Posted by mekyria

About the iphone: how many of you adjusted your website for mobile phone users?

I haven't yet but want to fuss around with creating style sheets for different media this semester break.

I have recently put up my first website which I am very happy with.

Bellydance Central: Classes, Performance and Events in Perth, Western Australia

The old site was clunky and boring so I really wanted to bring it into this century without going too web2.0

It was a relatively high content project for a dance website so I didn't make it too graphics heavy (apart from the header), though I admire websites with lots of gorgeous photos.

I wanted to focus on separating content from presentation to maximize accessibility and compatibility so I used as light as possible html and css. No javascript but am considering a few things to add functionality on the future. No flash.

I really like Michelle Joyce designs (even though they are table based ;-)

Website Delight - websites for small businesses, artists and non-profits

Originally Posted by ShirazRaqs

my new one's almost ALMOST done! It's by brian of dreamstar studios- same guy who did carrara nours and jaida's and the theatrical bellydance one. He's awesomeeeee!!! I'm pretty sure you've met him before Shems... he's from Delaware like me.. he's atleast seen you perform, I know that. :) give me a day or three and then I'll be ready to release my new one!

Brian rocks!!! I could sing that dude's praises from the mountains.

And thanks for the love, Shems! Brian and I worked out butts off to bring my website to life.

I'm still in love with mine - simple yet effective! Daniela - Belly Dance Performer and Instructor

Designed by our very own Nadirah Johara!

I still go back and refer to All About Belly Dancing! Learn to Belly Dance! after all these years...and probably always will!..g.:

Originally Posted by da Sage

I still go back and refer to All About Belly Dancing! Learn to Belly Dance! after all these years...and probably always will!..g.:

Yep, Shira's full of win. Plain and simple!

Thanks everyone. Now to peruse. :-)

I adore my website but like Andalee-Orientale said, blackberries and iphones dont support Flash and they dont rank on site like google... but I still think mine is fabulous!

I really like www.nietomercedes.com. Nicely designed.

I was pretty proud of my most recent redesign.... Elgin-Chicago Area Belly Dance: Christina King performances and classes

Michelle Joyce made good work with mine. I higly recommend!
Outi of Cairo

I recently redesigned mine, with a little help from bhuzzies :) And updated the template last month: Khalida Bellydance, 'Bellydancer of the world' 2007
Very simple, but I like it nonetheless

This one creeps me out just a bit... but it is fascinating!


snake

Originally Posted by anala

This one creeps me out just a bit... but it is fascinating!


snake

That takes way too long to load! I was clicking all over the splashpage while the snake was climbing to skip that part.

Outi, yours is really nice!

Originally Posted by salomestar

I adore my website but like Andalee-Orientale said, blackberries and iphones dont support Flash and they dont rank on site like google... but I still think mine is fabulous!

Agreed, that there are disadvantages to flash. But as far as flash goes, your site is lovely.

I would be remiss if I didn't brag up the Intensive's website. It does have a bit of Flash (yeah, I know, I know), but overall I think we've come a long way. I've been through many incarnations of this website, but thus far...this one is my favorite.

Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive & Festival

I like my new site. I am shifting to less dancing gigs and more teaching/choreographing so I wanted to emphasize that. Hopefully I will expand it soon to add more dance information. But for now...

Shahrahzad Belly Dance

Originally Posted by crystalllized

That takes way too long to load! I was clicking all over the splashpage while the snake was climbing to skip that part.

Agreed! I don't mind all the crazy images that have to load, as long as I have an option to skip it.

Originally Posted by salomestar

I adore my website but like Andalee-Orientale said, blackberries and iphones dont support Flash and they dont rank on site like google... but I still think mine is fabulous!

Salome, you NEED to put up more pictures! You have such great costumes, poses and looks to you! I totally stalk you on Facebook and know you have way more than you show on your site! Why must you torture me?! Why why why??? How do you expect my "Hot costumes, poses and dancers" folder in my iphoto collection to grow?!

Thank god for this thread. I never turn down opportunities to ogle other dancers' pictures.



Oh! And Michelle recently gave my website a facelift. I think the link is in my signature line, but for kicks:
Summer Sahar - Belly Dance

I love all the different sites! I am not computer savvy, have no particular design skills; I wanted to put up some info for my students. So I started fooling around one day with a free space from verizon. It was so much easier than I thought, though I couldn't figure out how to get my favorite pics up. It is easy to add info to for me. Now I don't know how to get it to have a "normal" url address:
Bellydance with Liesa
It's very homemade but seems pretty useful for my purposes. Since I am older I am not that aggressive about getting gigs, but enjoy teaching and doing troupe, community, & educational things, so here it is.