Meet Dex, the saxophonist who keeps you company in Studio
Dex welcomes you to Studio, tells you what your site is missing and cheers when you fix it. Who he is and what he does.
By Joan Subirats, founder of The Jazz Passport4 min read
In this article
The first time you open Studio, someone is already there: a small saxophonist drawn in pixels. He introduces himself as Dexter; here we call him Dex. He shows you where things are and tells you what your site is still missing. He does not write anything for you and he does not decide anything. He points, and you do the rest.
This post follows him through Studio and covers where he turns up and what he does in each place.
Day one: your card
When you create your first site, Dex is standing at the foot of the welcome screen. He waves and says his first line:
Hi, I’m Dexter. I’ll fill the card in with you. Anything can be changed later.
The card is your identity card: who you are, what you do, what you play and where you are based. Dex asks for it one question at a time and reacts as you answer. When you reach your name, he says: “Go on, type it. Watch the card.” When the town comes up, he explains why it is there: “Home base. Whoever books you likes to know who’s close.” Until there is a photo, he waits. When you add one, he says: “Look at that.” Once the last field is filled, he jumps and stamps the card like a passport: “Issued! Shall we set it up?”
Your site presents that card, and you can change any of it later. If you are not sure what to put in each field, the bio guide goes through it.
On Home: what is waiting
Each time you land on Home, Dex walks in and says one line. If everything is fine, it is this one:
All in order. Nothing is waiting for you.
If things are waiting, he tells you how many and which ones to start with. For example: “3 things are waiting. To start: add your next date so people know where to see you, and pick the music for your player so people can listen.”
Open his speech bubble and you get the whole list. Each item has one line on why it matters and, for each site, a link to the exact place where you sort it out. You don't have to remember which menu it was in.
What Dex keeps an eye on from Home
- Changes you have not published yet
- Your card: name, photo and roles, the first thing a booker reads
- Your site’s description for search engines
- Your site’s icon in browser tabs
- The photo on the card that shows when your link is shared
- Pages that are only half filled
- The music for your player
- Texts not yet translated into your other languages
- Your next date
- Unanswered messages in your Inbox
Someone who knows the trade would draw up the same list the first time they looked at your site. Why each item counts is in what a musician’s website needs.
On every screen: the next step
Inside the editor, Dex sits at the top of the screen at the start of a blue band. The band is there on your card, on each page, in the blocks, the languages, the look and what search engines see. It only ever tells you one thing: what comes next. Beside it, a count shows how much is already in order, say 3 of 5.
- Dex names the next thing. What needs fixing comes first, then what could be better.
- You tap the band and it takes you to that exact field, ready to type.
- You sort it out and the count goes up. The band moves on to the next thing.
- When the last one falls into place, Dex jumps. He only does it when you fixed something: open a screen that was already in order and he stays calm.
His pose tells you where things stand. While something needs doing, he holds out a hand. While something could be better, he looks it over. When all is well, he stands easy. Hover over him and he waves.
When something is a bad idea
Sometimes nothing is missing and you have still picked something that works against you. Colour is the clearest case. Choose one that is hard to read and Dex sounds the alarm: the band turns red, he paces from side to side, and he says:
Whoa, hold on! By day this colour is hard to read. Keep it if you dare, but that is on you.
The contrast measure appears at the end of the band. That is as far as he goes: he warns you, and if you want the colour, you keep it. Switch to one that reads well and the alarm goes away.
When you get lost
Open a Studio address that does not exist and you find Dex shrugging beside the error numbers: “I checked every track and this page is not on the record.” Below him is the way back to Home.
If you would rather he kept still
Why a character
A list of red warnings would do the same job, and after a while it would wear you down. We would rather you heard it from someone in the trade, in one sentence, with a place to fix it. Dex never asks for more than one thing at a time and never scolds you, and he is glad when you are done.
He never touches anything on his own either. He does not fill in your texts and he does not publish for you. Your changes stay a draft until you choose to publish them, and all Dex does is remind you they are there. The technical side of the site is already done. What is left is up to you, and that is what he is for.
Your site, without the website work. Ask for your invitation.
Pages is the site and the Studio for musicians by The Jazz Passport. The technical side is done; you bring the music.