Please Review My Blog - Knowledge Based Started a blog...Let me know what you think?

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Hey all, just wanting some input about my blog...Things you would change, things you like, etc.

More or less I'm attempting to keep it graphically solid, yet without overdoing it. I want it to load fast for those on dialup(yes...people still use dialup) as well as those who are surfing using cell phones, PDA's, etc.

I also set up a RSS feed, but my knowledge about the RSS thing is very limited...I don't really understand the point of it or anything, except for linking it up on other websites I guess?(So people can have their site auto-update with my new articles?)

Anyways, the purpose of the blog is to give knowledge out to others. I learn things everyday and I thought it'd be nice to help give the community the same privledge. Instead of having to do their own research, users can read about things I've already done the research for. Also, I plan to add an area where people can make requests and they may be granted as well, for example, "I would like to know about..." and then I would research and create an article for it. I am not going to add that part to the site until I decide exactly how I'll decide which ones to do and how to go about it.

For some sections, like the math section, I also plan to add videos later(maybe sooner...depending on if I can find my capture card) to better explain how to do various problems. Math seems to be one of the issues people have the most so hopefully my expertise on things can help others. For example, explaining better ways to do calculations of things, how to graph things, etc. In school it's more of a "2 + 2 = 4" thing. I plan to turn it into a "2 + 2 = 4. Here's why..." thing.

Sooo, enough rambling. Please let me know what you think about these things:

1)The design of the site. Does it look decent for how it is now? Would you change the nav bars? I felt putting them on the left side made them more user friendly...

2)The look of the articles...Do you think they look good as they are now?

3)The design of the various sections...If you look under a specific section you will notice the articles there are listed by date and name. I felt this makes it much easier to find what you're looking for. Especially with the search box at the top.

4)Speed of loading...Please let me know if you have any issues with how fast the site is loading for you.

5)Looks of the site...This is different than the design. This is for issues relating to how it shows up to you. Do things look out of order? Are the graphics messed up? Etc.

6)I was thinking of adding forums to the site as well so people can more directly ask questions about things they don't understand. Do you think this would be a good idea? It could end up turning into a community.

7)The idea of the site...Do you think it's a good idea? I've seen other sites with tutorials and stuff but I'm going to take it to a more personal level. I love to learn and so I feel it'd be great to share the learning with others. When people ask questions I can't answer it allows me to learn more as well. So it's a win-win situation!

8)On a rating of 1-10, what are the chances you would participate/keep up with a site like this? I'm trying to ensure that I'm not wasting my time by setting everything up just to find that nobody uses it anyways. And answer this honestly. Don't say "10" and never visit, (1 is lowest, 10 is highest).

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks for looking at this and I hope to see your opinions!

Anything I forgot, please let me know. All input is taken seriously! You get to help shape the site,

The address is http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ . It represents Bryan's(my name) World...And the things around it. I just felt it fit in nicely with what I was going for. Sadly the domain BryansWorld.com was taken.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

I think that the nav bars are great they way they currently are. I am not a big fan of nav bars on the side, but I think these look great the way they currently are. I think the look and layout of the articles is fine. They are easy to read and look presentable. Speed was a tad bit slow. Are you hosted here or elsewhere? It took about a second or two longer to load then most pages, so you should be fine though. I think you could you a professional banner at the top of the page. The area up there looks very plain the way it currently is. If you are going to add forums, make sure they are active. A forum could bring down the site if it isn't active, but if the forum is active, could really boost traffic. I don't really understand the concept of your site. Is it a personal blog or is it something else. I would give the site a 7/10 right now, but a few minor changes would make it a 9 or a 10.RSS feed is a great thing to have. It helps your SEO a little (submit it to Google, and Google will know when there is new content), and your members can get live updates when you post new content. I highly suggest you keep it! Good luck with the blog!

[jlhaslip 4]

try changing the template.css

#header {margin:0;padding:0 0 6px;}

to see if you like the reduced height of the Header. I like the shorter version.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I think that the nav bars are great they way they currently are. I am not a big fan of nav bars on the side, but I think these look great the way they currently are. I think the look and layout of the articles is fine. They are easy to read and look presentable. Speed was a tad bit slow. Are you hosted here or elsewhere? It took about a second or two longer to load then most pages, so you should be fine though. I think you could you a professional banner at the top of the page. The area up there looks very plain the way it currently is. If you are going to add forums, make sure they are active. A forum could bring down the site if it isn't active, but if the forum is active, could really boost traffic. I don't really understand the concept of your site. Is it a personal blog or is it something else. I would give the site a 7/10 right now, but a few minor changes would make it a 9 or a 10.
RSS feed is a great thing to have. It helps your SEO a little (submit it to Google, and Google will know when there is new content), and your members can get live updates when you post new content. I highly suggest you keep it! Good luck with the blog!

Thanks for that information. As for the niche of the blog, it's kind of a personal knowledge thing...It's going to be about things I experience and/or learn on a daily basis. I'm always out looking for new things to experience, and I have a lot of knowledge built up. So really the posts will either be about things I experienced(And my experience with whatever it was, and knowledge I can convey to others about said experience) or about things I don't know and researched(In which case I convey everything I learned, along with where I learned it from). Think of it like a broad research site - not research as in "I did this and this happened" per se, but more like "I wonder how Wifi transmits signals..." and then have a long article solely about what I learned about the Wifi and how it transmitted signals.

I'm just under the assumption that if things interest me they will interest others as well. A lot of people just don't know where or how to research things. They could spend 10 hours on Google looking for something or I could do the work instead and make it much more compact and easy to read while still giving a detailed answer to the question.

My reason for doing the blog is because if I'm learning anyways, there's no harm done.

try changing the template.css

#header {margin:0;padding:0 0 6px;}

to see if you like the reduced height of the Header. I like the shorter version.

There are 3 template files..One normal, one IE6, and one IE7. And in the normal one the format used is:

#header {padding: 30px 0;}

So would it still need to be in the format you posted or is it using a different method?

[jlhaslip 4]

I was using Firefox, so you would need to check in the IE files to see if they would require changing as well. I am on a Linux box, so IE is not available for me to check.

[rvalkass 5]

I also set up a RSS feed, but my knowledge about the RSS thing is very limited...I don't really understand the point of it or anything, except for linking it up on other websites I guess?(So people can have their site auto-update with my new articles?)

The point of the RSS feed is that people can read the content of your latest articles without having to visit the actual site. That saves you a colossal amount of bandwidth compared to people loading the whole site. It also allows your content to easily be syndicated on other websites. That can be a double-edged sword. More people see your content - good. Sometimes you don't get credit for it - bad.

 

1)The design of the site. Does it look decent for how it is now? Would you change the nav bars? I felt putting them on the left side made them more user friendly...

The design of the site is good. It is a clear and simple design, and works well. The length of the navigation menu suggests to me it should stay on the left hand side in a vertical format. That way you also have good opportunity to add new items with ease. If it was horizontal then it would be fairly difficult. My only suggestion for the navigation would be to order it in some way - perhaps alphabetical, with "Other" at the bottom? At the moment there doesn't appear to be any sort of order to it.

 

2)The look of the articles...Do you think they look good as they are now?

Simply? Not really. I like the choice of font for the title of each article, and the colour used. However, I would use a sans-serif font for the subheadings within each article, and left-align them. Centre alignment draws the eye across the page for no real reason. I would also increase the line spacing for the body text. It will make it easier to read and make it look less like large solid blocks of text. Finally, the blue used in your Easter article for the headings is not a good idea. It doesn't match the other headings, and it the default link colour for most people, and as such should be used only for links. It has such a strong meaning that it should really be reserved for links and nothing else. Try to keep a consistent style between each article.

 

3)The design of the various sections...If you look under a specific section you will notice the articles there are listed by date and name. I felt this makes it much easier to find what you're looking for. Especially with the search box at the top.

The sortable tables are good, but my worry would be that they could become cumbersome as the number of articles grows. Subsections may help here (eg. Science > Biology, Chemistry, Physics) to reduce the number of articles displayed at any one time. Also, as the number of articles grows, you might consider placing the 5 most popular articles in each section at the top of the search page.

 

The search box should really appear on every page. It doesn't take up a lot of space, so why make it disappear on the category pages. Also, edit the little magnifying glass icon. This isn't actually a Mac, so the dropdown arrow serves no purpose Having it there makes it look like a button, which is a little confusing. Edit the icon to remove the dropdown arrow.

 

4)Speed of loading...Please let me know if you have any issues with how fast the site is loading for you.

On a 1-2mbps connection (depending on prevailing wind speed and whether the month has a 't' in it...) and the site loads very quickly. No issues here. If you're worried though, get the YSlow! extension for Firefox and it will analyse the site and tell you what to do to speed it up.

 

5)Looks of the site...This is different than the design. This is for issues relating to how it shows up to you. Do things look out of order? Are the graphics messed up? Etc.

Looks fine in Opera 10 Alpha.

 

6)I was thinking of adding forums to the site as well so people can more directly ask questions about things they don't understand. Do you think this would be a good idea? It could end up turning into a community.

The difficulty is always starting the community. Your contributions will likely become the articles on the site, rather than forum posts, so you will have to rely on others to fill the forum. I would wait until you have a few people commenting on each of your articles before suggesting a forum and looking at the feedback you get on that suggestion.

 

The alternative is to have an area where people can submit something they want information about, and keep a list publicly available. If someone knows about a subject or is willing to research it, they can submit an article in response to the request, and that can appear on the site just like your articles. This gives you the advantage of keeping the blog-style format, and all the content in one place, along with making the visitors feel like they are really contributing rather than being relegated to a separate forum.

 

7)The idea of the site...Do you think it's a good idea? I've seen other sites with tutorials and stuff but I'm going to take it to a more personal level. I love to learn and so I feel it'd be great to share the learning with others. When people ask questions I can't answer it allows me to learn more as well. So it's a win-win situation!

It's a brilliant idea, and one I had been toying with myself for a while, but never got around to implementing

 

8)On a rating of 1-10, what are the chances you would participate/keep up with a site like this? I'm trying to ensure that I'm not wasting my time by setting everything up just to find that nobody uses it anyways. And answer this honestly. Don't say "10" and never visit, (1 is lowest, 10 is highest).

At the moment I can't really say. The site is too young for its direction to be clear, so I don't know how it will turn out. If it evolves into allowing everyone to contribute and interact then that would certainly be encouraging, and something I would get involved in. If, however, there is a limited amount of content you will likely find that people just pop in from Google for one thing they are looking for, and not return.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

rval....Your post was long so I won't quote it...Too much there.I do want to say your input is extremely helpful though. At the moment it's 4 AM so I won't be making any changes right now...Just winding down while I get ready for sleep really...But tomorrow I will see what I can do to make some changes.Seriously, the details you gave were exactly the kind I was looking for. It helps to pinpoint exact issues and some of them you noted(like the lack of search boxes on category pages) I didn't even know about. I thought search was already on every page... What I just noticed when looking at the site though is I have "Title Filters" there on categories. Would this be what you mean or did you mean a search for the entire site?The subsections is definitely a good idea. I'll have to see exactly how I want to implement that though.As for the nav-bar it was just put together as I thought of things to add(I actually just started designing the site 2 days ago) but I definitely do need organization in it. I'm also going to change "Other" to "News" and move it from the "Subjects" area...Since it's mostly news anyways. For holiday related things I'll make a new section as well, for the Easter article for example.In terms of the blue text on the Easter thing, you're absolutely correct : especially considering my links on the site are all blue! What color would look decent for that then? Just leave it black like the rest of the text?And as for the text being on the left..You meant the subheadings, correct?(For the two things listed above, regarding the Easter article, I went ahead and fixed them just now. Let me know if it looks more solid like that? About changing the font to something like Sans-sarif, I'll have to look into that tomorrow to see how to go about it, if it's possible. The same with the line spacing...)When it comes to the last point, about making it to where others can contribute and all, that's actually my main goal. At first I plan to take care of everything while the site grows, and over time I want it to grow into a more social community. I also have some other ideas(other than forums) for when that happens. I won't give up on this project at all. Everything I do with it teaches me something. If I run out of things to make topics about I'll just ask around about things people have questions about and work off those, . Can't ever learn too much!Also, this goes to everyone who reads this. If you're interested in taking part in the site in any way, shape, or form, you can let me know via a PM here or email (rpgsearcherz@gmail.com) and explain what you want to help out with, why, and what you expect in return. You can also use my email to request certain topics and I'll see what I can do to fulfill them!

[rvalkass 5]

What I just noticed when looking at the site though is I have "Title Filters" there on categories. Would this be what you mean or did you mean a search for the entire site?

The search for the entire site (although you shouldn't remove the "Title Filters" box). The site search box doesn't take up a lot of space, and I see no disadvantage to adding it to every page, but you get the advantage of being able to find what you want.

In terms of the blue text on the Easter thing, you're absolutely correct : especially considering my links on the site are all blue! What color would look decent for that then? Just leave it black like the rest of the text?

Black looks OK. Being in bold makes them stand out enough as it is. Adding extra elements of colour doesn't really help, and only dilutes the use of colour elsewhere on the site. My only comment now is that they are slightly too big, especially when compared to the title of each article.

And as for the text being on the left..You meant the subheadings, correct?

Yes. You've left aligned them on the Easter article, and they're still centre aligned on the "No Country for Old Men" article. I would keep the headings in the style used on the Easter article, but change the size of them to the size of the headings in the "No Country for Old Men" article.

Can't ever learn too much!

So true

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Fixed those issues, . The reason I had the bold text in the middle was to act as separators, much like a book does with chapter headings or a newspaper with their headliners. Do you really think it looks better on the left side instead of the center?

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Okay, so I did some work on it today. I fixed some issues with commenting, and added a new section for music videos.Also, I added a new article about English Grammar. It's a basic guide for those who do not remember it. But it kind of helps show what the articles will/should look like as I create them.Please, by all means critique the new article and the music videos section.(The nav bar isn't set up correctly yet. I'm going to break off into another sub division and pull "Other" out of it and put it in its own bar with "News." But aside from that, I think it's coming along pretty well. I just want to make sure everything is going great for you all as well before I push farther and find out I need to change the formatting and stuff on the articles).And thanks again guys!

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

I think the music videos section is great. Unfortunately I can't view the video because my flash player is so old, but I think the new section looks great.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I think the music videos section is great. Unfortunately I can't view the video because my flash player is so old, but I think the new section looks great.

Thanks for that input. I'm looking for a better system to use though...Or maybe attempt to create my own module, to link videos in it in a format like Youtube's...Where people can view videos, comment on them, see related ones, etc. in a more solid way.

The way I have it set up now(with articles) it will link alike videos together, allow comments, and allow viewing, I just want something that looks better, .

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

Yeah, I think youtube would be much better. Most browsers can play those videos. What you can do is using firefox, get the addon "Download helper". Download the video file from another site and then upload it to youtube. I am using an old computer, but youtube works.Or another option is find a FLV player for Joomla (like a BB Code) and link the flv file there. It works perfect for me in e107, and there is no lag (regular embedded youtube videos lag for me).

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Yeah, I think youtube would be much better. Most browsers can play those videos. What you can do is using firefox, get the addon "Download helper". Download the video file from another site and then upload it to youtube. I am using an old computer, but youtube works.
Or another option is find a FLV player for Joomla (like a BB Code) and link the flv file there. It works perfect for me in e107, and there is no lag (regular embedded youtube videos lag for me).

I thought they would use the same player....

And the way it's up now you can view the videos in perfect(almost) high quality, as it's(they're) hosted on MTV.com

I just hate Youtube because it seriously degrades quality. Watching the Eminem video on Youtube and then MTV, for example, there is a HUGE difference, easily noticed.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Well.... Things had a huge unexpected turn after I started on the project and got it going. I'm working on getting back into the groove of throwing updates, although right now they may be a little spaced apart. Lots going on in RL.Trying to come up with interesting articles is also an issue, :angel:. There's a lot of stuff I'm interested in but either A) I don't know how to explain it to others or I don't think others would be interested.Anyways, the site is slowly starting to grow... I plan to just take it slow and see where it ends up.