Thread: Friends, VodaAliens and all others...lend me your eyes...advise please.

Hi All,

Almost done with redo...delays due to writing deadlines...:( So please take a look at the redo and tell me if all links are working, if any typos, etc. Also look and feel. I have made it less stodgy ..i think and anda few more elements to be added but please let me know. Thanks ..all critiques ..positive and negative welcome. Thanks to my voda friends.

And to all the newbies out there...WELCOME...i'm not on as often as I'd like but I hope you all enjoy this gathering place.

Hi Beez,

I like your new look, I did however try to enter the site by pressing enter, maybe you could hyperlink the word also.

I have also taken a look at http://www.mobipocket.com that was mentioned in your book, you have given me an idea there, I did not know about this site, the last time I checked on amazon about selling e-books you could not do it.

I am sure one day all your writing dreams will come true, while we continue to try we always have a chance of reaching our goal.

Good luck

Paul

Hi Beezz,

I really liked your site. Nice--Clean--Smooth. The story of Felix was great. I tried the several links and they work. Like Paul, I tried to enter on "enter" but the bee worked fine. You did a really good job.

Hi Beez - I like that it looks like a book - but if you want the se's to spider all the pages and find you - you'll need to spend some time doing some navigation linking - I suggest starting with making a sitemap that includes all the pages and is clickable from the home page.

You have underlined text on many pages - I tried to click each time to go somewhere - and most of them aren't clickable. Remember on the web that underlining is normally reserved for links - and most of what you underlined would make good links. For example - Poet of the Week - would make a better anchor text link than the one at the bottom of the page saying "Learn more about this Poet".

I tried to click "My E-Book" and "The Poetic Musings on a Writer's Journey" and neither was clickable - and I had to look to figure out the picture was. I probably wouldn't have stayed around to find that out after trying both the others - both of which I expected to be links.

And again - I'd get rid of the underlining on "Links to Publish Your Work" because that isn't clickable.

When I clicked on "Learn more about this poet" it takes me off your site. In that case I recommend that you use "target=blank" to open that link in a new window - so people don't lose your site by checking out the author - and then possibly clicking something else, etc etc. Same with the link to poetry.com (By the way - I avoid that site - get lots of spam and junk if I do anything there.)

Thanks for the very good advice and info.
Karel & Ace5548 I will link the enter button too. Did not think of that. Bethers thank you for the very good advice...and i will remove the undelining and very good idea on Poet of the Week and the other good suggestions.
I did not know that poetry.com does a lot of spamming... i guess because i us it for searchign for poetry but i will find other sites anyway and remove it once i have some better ones.

I have not linked evrything yet but will be doing so shortly and then the pics etc should work.

Thank you all for your advice and for taking the time to look.

Hi Beezz...One little thing is when I open up to your first page, your spelling of "offering" hits me in the face. There should only be one "r". Very small picky thing and other then that, I think your site is coming along beautifully. I love the idea of it being a book and opening each page.
Regards,
Lynda
www.thevirtualword.com

Nice job Beez, definitely a much more colorful look, suits you much better .. I've like you, been so beeezy, sorry

Your daisies look lovely!!

Hey Beezz!! Good to see you. We've missed having you around. I like your new look, better than the previous one. Much easier to navigate. Let us know when you have all the links working, ok? Great Job!

Love it, Bee. Will take a go at it again when my connection is not acting up. Be good,

Mapillar

Ladies thank you for the input.it is greatly appreciated. LE...a special thanks for all your help and advice while i was doing the site...you really helped me streamline it and get me in the right gear...lol. I've added more links and i have followed Bethers suggestions and got rid of unecessary underlining and so everythign underlined is linked...and shuld be working. I have tried to catch all speling errors but please keep you ***** eys out fo those pesky buggers, i always seem to miss one or two ...and also any grammar i may have let get away as well...lol.
Keep em coming folks and i'll be done in a day or two as i'm still trying to finish some other deadlines. Thanks everyone for your input.

PS...by the way...no one mentioned the music and it made me strt wondering if you all aren't hearing it and also if it something to keep or get rid of and if it is causing slow page loads. Thanks again....:)

Hi Beez. I really like this site. It's a beautiful idea....especially for a writer. I'm really tired tonight so I'll come back tomorrow and look into it further, but I just wanted to mention a couple quick things.

First I don't know if it's my browser, but the top of the book is right at the top of the browser window. Again it might just be my browser but if not, I think it would look better if the top of the book was a bit lower. Then it would look exactly like you're reading a book.

The second, and I only mention this because you brought it up, is the music. I kind of think some people like music on websites and some don't. Lol I happen to be one of those that find it distracting. Usually when I enter a site and there's music I'm rushing to find a way to turn it off. Most of the time because it blares into my speakers. That said the music on your site suits the book and it's not on loud......it's nice though that it can be turned off. I don't know if it's possible.....but I've always wished people could put some kind of "turn the music off here" button on their sites if they have music. Otherwise us older people kind of do a mad scramble coming into a site with music. Lol.

Hi Casey,

Thanks for your input and i am fixing the book being right at the top...lol..it's not you ...lol...i'm a bit of everythign to its edge sort of person but you were right in that observation and am working it out.

I do enjoy listening to music and much of what is on the website is what i listen to when i write and I thought other 'future' writers might also like it. I do appreciate you concerns and will make a note near the jukebox on turning it off for those who do not wish to have it on. Thank you for taking the time and i look forward to any other comments you have when you're no too tired.

I like the look. I have visited your site many times and didnt figure out how to navigate it until this time. I always see your home and about us, but i never realized that it was a mouseover effect to make the menu scroll between the arrows. I always clicked on the right one expecting it to turn the page. but of course it doesnt do that....
then i used to find myself frustrated that i had to turn each page to see what else you had on the site....

I was happy to see that there actually IS navigation links at the top, but I didn't figure it out and I'm affraid that perhaps others may not either. They too may find themselves frustrated because they can't easily navigate your site because they don't figure out your navigation system.

Just somethin to thinnk about.

Hi Beez,

You put alot of work into your site, it's coming along quite nicely, I like it. The colors and layout look great. Good stuff!.........keep up the good work & the creative writings you busy lil' bee..........

Hey Cl...thanks for the input.

Alex...very good point on the navigation links at top...i actually meant to put a quick note below on the navigation links on the front page but forgot..so thanks for reminding me....lol. I know how you feel ...had the same problem when i first got ahold of this script. LOL...thanks everyone for the inputs and please keep them coming...if you see anything else that as a visitor you find strains, drians or plain irritates you...lol...it all helps lil beezzy make a better site. Of course al positive comments and adulations are greatly appreciated...heheheh...lol.

Hi Beez, like the new look. Only a couple of things.
Bee nice if the bee & enter was a little higher on the front page.
Not sure on the menu? Novel but slow. It also was one of the last things to load & took some time on some pages.
Site map page is higher than the others.
I know it’s a case of everyone to there own. But think it maybe nicer to be able to switch the music on if a visitor wants & not auto load.

But the design & colours are real nice. (Bright & cheerful)

Cheers.

Thanks Chris,

Will raise the bee a bit higher on the main page and i'll see if I can do something about the music auto load...not sure i can with this jukebox...lol

And you mentioned the Bees on the other pages...being last to load...i'll see if can do soemthing about that well...i want to minimize the page load time so i may jsut remove them.

Anyon else having problems in page laods please let me know..i want the page to load as fast as possible while trying to maintain the integrity o the site.

Thanks again CI for yu input..much appreciated.

Very nice and tasteful! Here's a little artist trick for you. If you can, add a darker border (the same color as but a bit darker than your background) along one edge of the book and along the bottom or the top of the book. This will make a shadow on the background, so as the make the book look like it's resting on a table or somesuch. The width of the border would be up to you....depending on the light source and direction of the light. But the darker the border, the more the book will pop off the background, the same goes for the width......play with it and see what you think. (Probably it would be better to add a darker border along the bottom and one side, otherwise if a dark border is along the top.....people would also expect the shadow of the person reading the book to fall on the book. Lol)

I love the little bees on the page. I'll have to tell my daughter about your site. She would like to be a writer also.

Love the new look, good job.....You may wamt to make the pages fan to the left.

Hi Beez!

I thought you did a great job.. I do have one note that you might want to fix. When I clicked on YOUR ebook it just opened the same page and I didnt ever find your ebook anywhere. You might want to fix that.

Karen

Originally Posted by Karen Mac

Hi Beez!

I thought you did a great job.. I do have one note that you might want to fix. When I clicked on YOUR ebook it just opened the same page and I didnt ever find your ebook anywhere. You might want to fix that.

Karen

Hi Karen,

Thanks for the input and ...lol...the e-book was not linked yet...sorry....i had some problems with it ..converting from pdf to mobipocket. Thought it was ok ...but some bugs i'm trying to work out and plus redoing a few pages also. Almost have it fixed and will correct it soon.

Also by popular request from some friends and colleagues..i decided to add the recipes page back so please let me know what you think. And I'm getting a demand back for my photo album..so I may do a photo blog and add that on to it. Just a few last touches and I guess it will be fully done...i have updated the poetry page with a new South African Poet so I hope you all enjoy reading his work and learnign more about him.

Please keep the comments coming and PLEASE SIGN THE GUEST BOOK..heheh.

Hi Beezz;
I like you site, but it relaxes me too much I will fall asleep reading those wonderful writings. I did notice that on alot of the pages I got ERROR right above the music tracker, maybe that's my machine. Also on your menue page the word cuisine (I think) was being covered by the lower text. Really a nice look though!!

Originally Posted by SAman

Hi Beezz;
I like you site, but it relaxes me too much I will fall asleep reading those wonderful writings. I did notice that on alot of the pages I got ERROR right above the music tracker, maybe that's my machine. Also on your menue page the word cuisine (I think) was being covered by the lower text. Really a nice look though!!

Mike...LOL.. too relaxed huh...well glad to help out...hehehe...thanks for the comments and i'll check that error out and the cuisine thing too.

Hello Beezz,

I like your site and the music too. Also I like the way your player works. Where did you find it? I'd like to know because I'm looking sothing similar.
Keep writing.
Thanos

The award goes to....Mi Lady....most original site ever!

One problem mon, on your "about me" page, you've started off by saying "but this is as good as it gets". Sounds almost like "not good enough". Go for it, please. Maybe..."This is my work to date, the future is bright". Your work is brilliant.

Thanos...thank you and I used Coffee Cup Web-Jukebox. It was very easy and absolutely idiot free for a non techie like me...lol....had to be idiot proof for me to invest in it and the price was just right...lol. I look forward to seeing your site nad hearing the music you put on it.

PS - If this link doesn't work...i was having some problems with it ..just look on my 'About Me' Page of my website and I have placed a link to the Coffee Cup Website.

Patience... I took your advice my friend and used your very wise words...hope you don't mind...and thank you for your very nice compliment...I was truly thrilled and it made my day. Thank you my dear. And I cannot wait to see your site.

Originally Posted by beegud2

...hope you don't mind...

I'm flattered. And what nice Kharma. Will go back to your site now and then when I need to relax!

Originally Posted by Patience

I'm flattered. And what nice Kharma. Will go back to your site now and then when I need to relax!

LOL...thanks again Vicki...enjoy and do read the poet of the week. Some wonderful poets from around the world.