McCracken Horns is an ongoing rebuild of a highly specific workshop and instrument-history site centered on the work of George McCracken and the continuation of that legacy through Doug Hall. The project combines practical business information, historical documentation, model references, and a growing instrument archive in a structure that is far easier to browse and expand.
Project goals
The primary challenge was that this was not just a standard brochure site. It needed to function as several things at once:
- a workshop and repair site
- a history and legacy site
- a reference point for McCracken horn models
- a growing archive of known surviving instruments
- a place to preserve stories, ownership records, and player recollections
That meant the rebuild had to support both ordinary visitors and highly knowledgeable horn players looking for specific information.
Site structure and page organization
The rebuilt site was organized around a clear set of major sections:
- homepage
- history page
- models page
- horn list index
- individual horn entry pages
- contact page
- thank-you page
This structure makes it much easier to separate broad historical context from model information, individual horn records, and workshop contact flow.
History and legacy presentation
A major feature of the site is the history section, which gives needed context for George McCracken’s work. Rather than presenting the workshop as a generic repair business, the site explains the relationship between the King Company period, the Fidelio and Eroica models, later custom horn building, Doug Hall’s apprenticeship, and the continuation of the shop after George’s death.
The history page also includes a memorial / obituary block that helps situate the project as a legacy site rather than only a current-services site. That adds weight and meaning to the entire browsing experience.
Models page and design reference content
The models page serves as a visual and informational reference section for major McCracken designs and design directions. It includes sections for:
- Fidelio and Eroica
- Model 7
- piston-change horns
- piston descants
- custom horns and one-off variations
This page is important because it gives visitors a way to understand the range of McCracken work without forcing them to infer everything from a list of serials or disconnected images.
Structured horn list and archive system
One of the most distinctive features of the site is the horn list itself. Instead of a simple gallery or spreadsheet-like page, the project uses a structured collection of individual horn entries, each with its own metadata and detail page.
That system supports:
- chronological ordering
- individual horn numbers
- ownership information
- model type identification
- serial / identifier tracking
- thumbnail images
- expandable long-form notes for specific instruments
Because each horn has its own content entry, the archive can grow over time without collapsing into a single unwieldy page.
Individual horn detail pages
A particularly important part of the rebuild has been the development of individual horn-entry pages that read more like real pages and less like database records. The top of each entry presents the image and core metadata, while the body of the page can now run full width below the divider for improved readability.
This has made the site much better suited for:
- historical notes
- owner recollections
- instrument-specific commentary
- oral-history style material
- quoted source text where appropriate
That change matters because many of these horns carry stories worth preserving, not just serial numbers.
Oral-history and archival content
The site has also begun moving beyond a catalog model into something closer to a documentary archive. Some horn entries now include recollections from players and owners, sometimes paraphrased, sometimes presented as blockquoted first-person source material when the original wording is important.
This gives the site a richer archival function and allows it to preserve not only the instruments themselves, but also the experiences, opinions, and technical observations connected to them.
Gallery and image handling improvements
The rebuild includes substantial cleanup around image use and gallery presentation. Images are being organized more intentionally, thumbnails are being assigned to specific horn entries, and major pages such as the models section make use of gallery-style layouts and lightbox behavior.
This helps the site do a better job with visual browsing while still supporting serious reference use.
Navigation and usability improvements
A major benefit of the rebuild is that the site is now easier to browse. Visitors can move more clearly between broad historical context, models, individual horn entries, and contact information. Long pages have been rethought, and detail pages have been adjusted to read more comfortably.
This is especially important on a site where visitors may arrive with very different intentions — from general curiosity to detailed horn research.
Ongoing archival and editorial work
This is not a one-time cosmetic redesign. It is an ongoing archival and editorial project. New horn entries are being added, dates are being corrected, ordering is being refined, player stories are being integrated, and page layouts continue to evolve as the archive becomes more useful.
In that sense, the project is both a website rebuild and a curation effort.
Maintainability and long-term usefulness
An important part of the rebuild is that the site can continue growing without becoming chaotic. Structured content, dedicated horn entries, reusable templates, and cleaner layout logic all make it possible to keep refining the site as more information surfaces.
In practical terms, McCracken Horns is becoming more than a business site. It is becoming a usable historical record, a model reference, a player-resource archive, and a cleaner public home for a specialized brass legacy.