raff.org updated!

[Alan Howe]

Mark T. is unlikely to blow his own trumpet, so...

I encourage all members to check the new, updated edition of raff.org without delay. It's a model of its kind...

[terry martyn]

This is excellent news.  Haven´t been able to find Mark´s reviews yet, but that´s probably because I haven´t yet delved deeply enough.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Alan. You won't find the reviews, Terry, because I've not ported them over to the new site. I'm afraid. Some of the old site's features which I felt were either outdated or no longer needed didn't make the cut. It was way too large to be easily navigable (you mentioned "delving deeply") and this time around I wanted to focus on facts about Raff and his music, rather than my opinions.

[Alan Howe]

Would that all enthusiasts about their favourite composer were as objective as Mark!

[Justin]

That's actually a shame because I found your detailed descriptions incredibly insightful. Are those included in your new illustrated catalogue?

[terry martyn]

The updated website is easy to navigate. I confess,however, to feeling the same as Justin. Indeed, Mark´s incisive reviews were what prompted me to buy the Tudor box of delights

[Alan Howe]

These descriptions can be found all over the 'net - as well as in CD liner notes, of course. I'm sure Mark would want you to look elsewhere for commendations of the music.

[Gareth Vaughan]

It's a superb site, Mark, and navigation couldn't be simpler. It is well set out and orderly and has no dead-ends!  However, I have always found your reviews of recordings/performances very useful and illuminating, especially when you compare different performances and provide music examples. I, therefore, echo the disappointment of some other members of this forum that these have been omitted. It might, of course, be disproportionately time-consuming to move them over and you do enough for the Raff lover as it is - so I am not moaning too loudly or plaintively.  But please be aware that your opinions on the performance of Raff's music are VALUED.

[terry martyn]

Hear,hear,Gareth!
In my opinion,Mark is the preeminent expert on Raff´s works.

[Reverie]

What a wonderful site!

Nice, crisp, clear look and layout. I love the little music snippets (most of the orchestral ones and a fair few of the chamber I have listened to with much pleasure. That adagio in the 10th Symphony ... gosh)

The resources section is very useful too.

Great work!

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks very much for the kind words, everyone. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't flattered.

As far as the features which I've dropped are concerned, I'll explain a little more. In redesigning the site I had several goals in mind: firstly, the site needed to have fewer pages, because the previous iteration had expanded to the extent that it had been taking so much time to maintain (keeping links up to date, keeping track of Raff "news" etc) that, I'll make no bones about it, I gave up. I had other substantial Raff projects on the go which demanded my time, making recordings and research for my new catalogue book for example. Secondly, it needed updating to incorporate the fruits of all that research - 99 previously uncatalogued works by Raff and lots of corrections to the details of works we already knew about. Thirdly, it was an opportunity to refine the content to better reflect what was most useful to visitors, as measured by the page view numbers and the length of time spent in each area of the existing web site. All these factors informed what I focused on and expanded (the catalogue and the discography), what stayed the same (the biographical pages), and what got discarded (light traffic areas and features which are duplicated elsewhere on the web). I was aiming for a less intimidating, less self-indulgent, more user-friendly and accessible site which would be attractive to someone coming across Raff for the first time, whilst still having enough depth to act as a jumping off point for serious research. Maintenance needed to be an easy job, not a chore. It was also an opportunity to modernise the look of the site, of course.

The web site isn't set in stone, and of course I still have a copy of the previous site to draw on for material. For example, I hope to be restoring some more pages of in-depth analysis of some of Raff's major compositions, but overall I'm much happier with this more sharply-focused and much less-bloated iteration of raff.org and I don't anticipate any major changes or expansion.

Once again, my sincere thanks for your compliments, which I've greatly appreciated.