How to Design a Good MIDI File Site

Since I maintain Standard MIDI Files on the Net, a lot of people have asked me how I would design a "perfect" MIDI file site. I think the reason I am asked is that in the process of maintaining the list I have seen a good majority of the 'MIDI file' sites on the Internet so I may have some worthwhile opinions on this topic.

As briefly as possible, these are some of the things I would do.

Give the MIDI files good filenames.

• I would give the MIDI files long filenames so people who download them know what they are.
• I would follow the correct capitalization rules for song titles when naming the files.
• I would put underscores (_) in places of spaces so that the files would be "Internet compatible".
• If I have more than one MIDI file for the same tune, I would leave the first one without a number, but add numbers at the end of the tune name for each additional file
• Once I had given a MIDI file a name, I wouldn't rename it. For example, even though "Red_River_Valley_4.mid" (see below), might be better than version 1 or 2, I would not rename it to version 1, since repeat visitors to the site may have already downloaded the previous version.
• One special note, I would limit the length of filenames to 31 characters and would not use any apostrophes ('), commas (,) and quotes ("). This way my site could be put on almost any server and work. It would be safest to not use any non-alpha-numeric character other than the underscore (_). This would allowing easy "mirroring" of the site to almost any kind of server, if my site every required mirroring.
• I would avoid those super-long filenames which try to include the artist/composer's name as part of the filename. This would help avoid going over the 31-character limit.
  • Avoid this kind of filename: Kelly_Charles-I_Wish_I_Had_a_Dollar_or_Two.mid
  • Note, if you sort the files into directories, the URL will still contain this information.
    For example: Kelly_Charles/I_Wish_I_Had_a_Dollar_or_Two.mid
• Example of Good Filenames:
  • Old_MacDonald.mid
  • Red_River_Valley.mid
  • Red_River_Valley_2.mid
  • Red_River_Valley_3.mid
  • Red_River_Valley_4.mid
  • I_Love_You.mid
  • I_Love_You_2.mid
  • This_Is_the_Reason_That_I_L.mid (Note: that the remainder "Love You", goes over the 31-character limit, so was chopped off.)
  • Dont_Be_Lazy.mid (Note: No apostrophe in the word " Don't")
  • Baby_I_Love_You.mid (Note: No comma "Baby, I Love You)

Sort the MIDI files into folders (sub-directories).

• Not only would this make it easy for me to organize the site, it is the way I would want to personally keep the files on my own hard disk at home.
• I would name the folders with the composer's last name (family name) first so the computer can easily sort the folders in the traditionally accepted manner (the same way CD's are organized at a music store).
• I would use full names and not cut-down abbreviations for folder names.
• An advantage for your visitors of sorting your files into folders, is that anyone who uses "web grabbing" software can have the same organization on their own hard disk.
• Since a lot of servers won't allow directory names with spaces, commas or periods, "Bach, J.S." would have to be "Bach_J_S".
• Example Folder Names:
  • Bach_J_S
  • Sousa_John_Phillip
  • Campfire_Songs
  • Bluegrass

Organize the folders in a logical manner.

• Here's a sample "directory tree".
  • Classical
    • Bach_J_S
    • Beethoven_Ludwing
  • Folk
    • Amercian
    • Irish
    • Japanese
    • Scottish
  • Hymns
  • Karaoke
    • Blues
    • Folk
    • Jazz
    • Polkas
• This is just a short sample, but it gives you an idea of how I would do it.

Make HTML pages a reasonable size and not have too many pages.

• I would use the minimal amount of HTML to get the job done. I wouldn't clutter up my page with images, tables, JavaScript and other nonsense. I would assume that visitors are on my site to find MIDI files, not to get an "eye feast" or be impressed with my great web-page writing techniques.
• I wouldn't put too much information on the page. I wouldn't include things which most visitors Don't really care about. For example, I would probably not include "length of the tune" or "filesize" since I feel most visitors Don't really want or need this information.
• I would put links to a reasonable number of MIDI files on each page. This would probably be between 50 to 200 MIDI files per page. Too few files and the visitor spends too much time downloading each of the multiple pages. Too many files on a page and it takes too long to download the page.
  • This would probably mean putting more than one folder's worth of files on some pages and having more than one page for some folders.
• See some of my templates, to see what I think are some nice layouts which Don't require excessive HTML code. Check out my favorite template first.
• I would not make pages which have a column for "navigation", since this adds a lot to the filesize of each page.
• I probably wouldn't use a frame. However, if I did make a frame, I would make it the option and not the default "index.html" for the site. It's easier for visitors to bookmark the internal page they want to come back to if a frame isn't used. Also a frame set take longer to download than a single page.
• There are other things I would avoid, but since I have them all listed on another page (Guidlines for HTML Writers of MIDI File Pages), I won't mention them here.
• Since I would not use abbreviations for either the folder names or the filenames, it would actually not be necessary to write HTML pages. I could just give visitors access to my directories. (Or better yet, generate HTML pages by reading the directories, then edit out the uneeded information to get faster-loading web pages.)

I would offer zip packs of files.

• If I had a good site, I would assume that many visitors would want to download multiple files. Offering zip packs, not only provides a service to the visitor, but would keep the load on my own server to a minimum.
• I would zip each main directory into packs. I would try to keep the zip filesize down below 500 Kb.
• I would have a page that had links to all these zip packs, so a visitors who is after zip packs does not need to navigate through all of my pages to find them.
• Sample Zip Packs:
  • Bach_J_S.zip
  • Bluegrass.zip
  • Folk.zip

I would have a "What's New or Updated" page.

• This would allow regular visitors who have already gone through my site to bookmark only the "what's new" page and visit it from time to time.

I would be sure to use correct spellings and to give correct information.

• I would avoid using the incorrect "midis", "Midis", "midi files" and so on, but correctly use the term "MIDI files" (notice the capital letters).
• I would make sure that I don't offer incorrect information about using MIDI files. I've seen many pages which say "right-click the link" and so on which doesn't work on everyone's computer. Remember, just because it works on your computer, doesn't mean it works that way on everyone's computer.

I would give the site a good, short, unique name.

• I've seen too many bad names to make any of the following mistakes.
  • Don't use a 'generic' name.
    • MIDI Files
    • My MIDI Files
    • Folk Song MIDI Files
  • Don't use 'over-used' cliche-type names.
    • MIDI Mania
    • Ultimate ....
    • The Very Best ....
    • High Quality
  • Don't use super-long, search-engine "spam" kind of names. This "turns off" your regular visitors.
    • Avoid this kind of page name: Charles' MIDI MIDI MIDI MIDI Files - The Best High-Quality MIDI Files on the Net - Get Free MIDI Files
• I would use something which was simple, descriptive and unique.
  • Charles Kelly's Folk Song MIDI Archive
  • Classical MIDI Files Sequenced by Charles Kelly

I would make sure that I wasn't violating anyone's copyright.

• I wouldn't put any file on my site that I did not have permission from the copyright owner to put there. This means that I would probably limit the files to ones I had written myself. If I produced a MIDI file of a copyrighted song, I wouldn't put it online unless I had permission from the copyright owner of that song.