Experiment with front page

[Andy Hamilton]

right then I have spent a fair amount of yesterday and this morning trying out a new way of navigating. it is much like other sites, this is just a prototype but I hope you get the general idea of what I am trying to do let me know your thoughts http://www.selfsufficientish.com/1test.htm all the links should lead you onto prototype pages.

If you prefer the original let me know that too. ( I don't ask for much do i )

Cheers

[judyofthewoods]

The simple navigation bar is probably still the best. Tried and tested. But I can't see the forum.

[Andy Hamilton]

The simple navigation bar is probably still the best. Tried and tested. But I can't see the forum.

Will have to either pay more or move servers to get the site I wanted up. Can't afford to do either at the moment. This is just a meantime thing experiment. Prosibly be April by the time the bigger change happens. Is it easier to have all the pages linked from the front page? I wondered if it meant that people might not look at some pages as they will just overlook them if they are 'boxed up'. Or if this way new users will see a herbs or vegetable section for instance and perhaps visit more pages? I do not know I am thinking of linking up the test page to the front page and doing a beta test like Yahoo did a while back just to see if the hit count goes up.

[judyofthewoods]

The question of putting all links on the front page is one I'm still pondering. At the moment I don't have too many, but as the site grows, it can get a bit cluttered on the home page. Difficult one. If there is some kind of test, it might be worth doing. Am thinking of branching off to related pages from a main page, e.g. the 'Hydro' page will probably be linked off the 'Power' page, rather than featured on the home page. But I think a stat count would be a good thing, and make sure that the titel of every page is informative, as the search engines do pick up on it.

[Andy Hamilton]

You can try http://statcounter.com for a free invisable stat counter only really goes in detail for the last 100 hits so is good for when you first start out but after a while is a bit frustrating. Some hosting services will offer this for free our does not but it is worth asking them,

[jema]

Front page design is a mine field, there are loads of contensious issues, not least the trade off between good looking and effective.

You will also find people resolutily in the prefer "busy" camp or the prefer "sleek and stylish camp".

I am a "busy" man myself and have posted your current front page in a staff discussion as an example of how we should do things!

jema

[judyofthewoods]

What I definetly hate is those pointless 'welcome - enter' pages, just adding an unnecessary extra click.

[jema]

What I definetly hate is those pointless 'welcome - enter' pages, just adding an unnecessary extra click.

They are horrible.

jema

[leedarkwood]

Might be just me, but the front page is not displaying correctly for me this evening. The list of stuff on the left hand side is overlaying the text in the centre so you can't read it.

Lee

[diver]

well I think the new front page is great.... no probs at all....the forum is there, it is displayed in blue next to the herb of the month, coriander, and all the stuff in the side bar works well...I was happy with the old one but this seems better

[leedarkwood]

Fine now, came up as before then clicked into the proper looking page in a couple of seconds. Just a glitch at my end I think

[jema]

I like the new front page.

[Andy Hamilton]

I had forgotten about the new front page

Well if you are all in agreement I will get to work!

I have the next three weeks off university so that shold give me a bit of time to work on the site.

Thank you all for your comments, they really do help.

[Wombat]

Yeah, looks pretty good...........I like it too!