Comments on: New Site – Need some advice!

By: New Site – Advice Needed — Part II

New Site – Advice Needed — Part II — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:44:44 +0000

[...] am taking the blog. In general, I was happy with the design, but put it to my friends and followers for their input. Based on some great feedback, I’m happy to present version 2.1 of the [...]

By: Sam Howat

Sam Howat — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:39:51 +0000

Jason, thanks very much for the feedback. I’ve started a verson 2.1 of the theme, and will be adding alot more functionality back, but still focusing on keeping it simple.

I completely agree with your analysis of the past articles, and will be using the footer of the site more effectively to let people dive into past articles.

By: Jason R. Bennett

Jason R. Bennett — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:28:34 +0000

one more thought, could you just add a ‘recent’ or ‘all’ category to the topics list?

By: Jason R. Bennett

Jason R. Bennett — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:26:57 +0000

Hi Sam,

First, I gotta say I really do love the new look. It’s achieving exactly what you were wanting, in my opinion. I also have to say that the content you’re providing is really good stuff. It’s brief, interesting, and valuable.

I do think, however that the content might be a little hard to find. I was actually just looking for a list of all your recent posts, but couldn’t find it, and now I know why. I’m thinking you could simply add a small text link or button in the bottom ‘Past Articles’ bar that would take you to the complete archive or recent posts. I don’t think it would distract, but would be there for those who want to use it. Or, could you just link the ‘Past Articles’ headline to the archive? This, for me, was more of a problem on the homepage. I just see the article, and the topics, but no way to just read all your recent stuff. I don’t really want to click through each section to see what’s new, if that makes sense.

Just ideas… but I really do love what you’ve got going on! Great work.

By: Sam Howat

Sam Howat — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:57:43 +0000

Shawn thanks for the feedback. Some of your questions have prompted me to begin writing a “style guide” that explains why certain things are laid out the way they are.

Will update here when I do :)

By: shawn

shawn — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:02:38 +0000

Things I love:
The layout is easy to use and navigate. Everyone goes to a website and looks for the buttons to click. You have the buttons, that even look like buttons. lol

I like the way everything is separated with color and those leaf looking page markers.

I like my navigation bars on the left but that’s just me. I know a lot of people that put their navigation on the right. I wonder if it’s a gender thing or a personality thing?

I really like how you have your topics broken up by categories.

Suggestion,
1, People like pictures. Your icon is fantastic, perhaps you could put a picture of the week and put up Zeus or a web site you’ve worked on or even your mug.

When you appeal to all styles of learning you’ll draw in more audiences.

2. Everything seems soft on my screen. It’s color calibrated for photo optimization and I don’t know if that has anything to do with it but I had to put my glasses on and I usually don’t have to. I’m using Mozilla Firefox.

Thanks for asking.

I will ask when and if I ever get mine up. I can’t decide on lay out so I just use the blogger layout.

By: Sam Howat

Sam Howat — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:06:51 +0000

Thanks chip. Yes, the site’s sole function is to act as a blog.

By: Chip

Chip — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:57:42 +0000

I like the look…it’s clean and simple. Colors are nice on the eyes and the layout flows nicely. the topic catalog is helpful and makes it easy to navigate previous articles….is this going to be just an article/blog style website?