An archive for sound and story.
Second client — came from Robert's referral. He already had a website, domain, and hosting, but it wasn't responsive, colors didn't match the music, and mobile was broken with overlapping text. Needed to add a new album and actually work on phones.
His original site wasn't responsive. I fixed it twice.
Robert recommended me to James. He already had a site, domain, and hosting — so I didn't have to teach him how to buy anything like I did with Robert. When I first checked it, desktop wasn't really responsive and mobile was broken — text overlapping, didn't fit the screen.
His main goal was simple: fix the site, add a new album, make it responsive. He didn't even notice the responsive issues — I had to point them out. Color choices also didn't go well with the music, felt low-effort. The music player was the only good part.
V1 (original): Not responsive, overlapping text, bad colors. V2 (my WordPress fix): Fixed overlapping but layouts were still poor, too much plugins, slow, bad SEO. V3 (final): Rebuild everything in pure code to actually solve it.
Based it on the album covers, not a template.
James didn't give me any references. I pretty much transferred all info from his old website since I proposed making a new one. That was the brief — update and fix his existing site.
For V2 I still built in WordPress + Elementor from scratch — I was still a beginner, Robert was my only experience. I looked at his album covers and tried to match the music vibe and style. This one is more focused on the music than Robert's newspaper vibe, so it needed to feel like his sound — smooth, warm, not editorial.
- V2 — WordPress1-2 weeks. Fixed overlapping text and bad colors from V1. Same structure: couple pages, getting to know James, showcasing music, how to buy on Amazon / iTunes or listen full on YouTube. Used plugins for music player, had to convert YouTube tracks to MP3. More features than Robert's site, but layouts poor, too much plugins, slow, bad SEO.
- V3 — Pure code5-6 days. After leveling up building my new portfolio in HTML/CSS/JS, I contacted James and said I could rebuild it properly. Full control — modern, clean, minimal, focused on problem solving I couldn't do in WordPress. No embedded videos. Custom JS player: each track 30-sec preview, click to see two options — full YouTube or Stores.
- DesignMusic-first, not newspaper. Based palette and vibe on his covers — from Endless Summer Breeze (2010) to Resurgent Breezes (2024) — instead of LA Times minimal.
"I looked at his album covers and tried to match the music vibe styles."
Same content, completely different execution.
Restored the old site — some things are missing but enough to show the difference. Left is the second WordPress version, right is the final pure HTML/CSS/JS build.
The desktop layout is okay but could be better. On mobile, the content is too close to the left and right sides. The color choices are fine, but the site feels heavy and slow, and the player requires a plugin to work.
Modern, clean, fully responsive, lightweight, custom audio players, light/dark mode, full SEO setup.
Desktop: fixed color system to match album art • Mobile: fixed the spacing • Player: custom JS player vs plugin • Performance: plugin bloat → hand-coded, 100/100 • Structure: same content, better organization + Store/YouTube links
Happy on the third try.
For the second time rebuilding in WordPress, we definitely had struggles because we couldn't solve his problems fully. I tried my best to make it work and he liked it in the end, but it wasn't perfect.
For the third time rebuilding in pure HTML/CSS/JS, he was definitely happy because it looked more modern, fixed his old problems, more optimized speed, organized, basic SEO. I asked if he had anything to change or revisions, and he did — he asked me to add the pop-up thoughts where it can change when someone refreshes the page. I also made it change every 6-20 seconds depending on the length of the quote.
WordPress version: "Liked it but couldn't solve responsiveness fully" • HTML version: "Modern, fixed old problems, faster, organized" • Extra: Added dynamic thoughts popup on refresh + auto-rotate 6-20s based on quote length
Current version is live right now. I don't think anyone discovers it yet because ranking on Google is not guaranteed and you would need to either post or share your links to get traffic. But all I can say is that it is a lot better than his old websites.
If I built it from scratch today — I did.
I mentioned how I contacted James after I leveled up my skills building my new portfolio — learned HTML/CSS/JS, full basic SEO setup, and speed optimization. Everything went smooth as I wanted it to be. I followed the same process as my newest portfolio sites.
- PerformanceFully hand-coded HTML/CSS/JS for faster, more lightweight site • 100/100 across Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO on PageSpeed
- AudioFour custom audio players: one on homepage for all three albums, plus one on each album page • 30-sec previews → Stores or full YouTube • Converted YouTube tracks to MP3 for player
- ModernLight and dark mode support • Fully responsive on mobile • No more overlapping text • Clean, minimal, focused on music not newspaper
- SEOFull SEO setup including schema markup, sitemap, robots, llms.txt • Submitted to Google Search Console so Google crawls and indexes it • Accessibility improvements throughout
- ScopeSeven pages total • From getting to know James to showcasing music and how to buy/listen outside site (Amazon, iTunes, YouTube)
Most proud of this one vs Robert: it looks good, responsive, faster, clean, full basic SEO as foundation. Good foundation website. And I'm not done — James is planning new work soon, waiting to finish registering new projects with BMI, then I'll add them. Another part coming.
"He's waiting to finish registering the new projects with BMI so he can start adding them to the site as well."
Next project: Coming soon
A new personal project — details coming soon.