Should I re-think this website?
For a couple months I’ve been thinking through a few ideas about how to take this website to the next level. But before I make any decisions–or even any serious attempts to see if this is practical–I thought I should first check to see what you thought. This website is as much about what you want as it is about what I want.
Here’s what I have in mind: I keep blogging everything in a Wordpress Blog format. But instead of displaying that on the main page, I post a different main page. I use RSS feeds (for those of you who care about the technical end!) and have links to the five most recent CD reviews, five most recent news articles, five most recent “columns” (commentary), et cetera.
As it stands, when you log into this blog site you only see the most recent story. I put a lot of time into some of these, and I hate to see them fall out of sight so fast.
Under this re-design, the website would be more like singingnews.com, sogospelnews.com, or SoGospelLovers. This is not in any way to imply that I’d be competing with those website; this would still be a blog, in that a lot of what I do will be commentary. But it would be like them in one way, namely that you could see links to the most recent stories in several categories whenever you visit the website.
I would plan on providing a link for those of you who still wanted to look at it as a blog. (It would be simple, something along the lines of southerngospelblog.com/blog or southerngospelblog.com/source.)
What do you think?
Would you like a front page re-design where you can see the current 5-10 stories in different categories? Or would you rather keep things just as they are, and only see the current story whenever you log in?
Comment by J. Johnson (May 1, 2007, 11:23 pm)
For what it is worth, I like the current format - I usually scroll down to see if I’ve missed any articles, and like not having to click through to read the full article. However, I should mention that I don’t like change much!
Comment by Donna (May 2, 2007, 7:43 am)
I like the current format, but I also like your idea for change. I’d like to have easier access to the last 5 -10 stories in the various categories.
Comment by Yolanda Gay (May 2, 2007, 10:06 am)
Daniel,
Not sure if this is the kind of input you want; but is there a way to put the date of the last comment for each article. I know the last time I was on your site and would be able to tell if there was any recent comments (for each article)since the last time I visited your site. I hope this makes sense.
Comment by Bob Hughes (May 2, 2007, 10:31 am)
Whatever you do, don’t drop the RSS feed. I see the last 10 articles you posted, and when the latest article pops up I can click on it and read it. I wouldn’t necessarily care to see comments in a feed - just the always excellent Daniel Mount articles.
Keep up the good work!
Comment by Ed Butler (May 2, 2007, 10:49 am)
I really enjoy reading your posts. They are very insightful - and thoughtful. I’ll follow you however you post.
JEB
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (May 2, 2007, 1:01 pm)
Yolanda–I’m not sure. I’d have to look into it.
Bob–Good to hear from you. It’s been a while. RSS will still be here, but you may have to update your links.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (May 2, 2007, 1:03 pm)
To all - thank you for your input! I’ll start looking into seeing if this is feasible.
Comment by Paul Jackson (May 3, 2007, 2:44 am)
Daniel…I think your new gateway is great and very easy to navigate…clean and neat.
It reminds me of things I might have missed and makes it much easier for me to tell friends how to find things at your site.
It’s been good but this is a clear improvement! Way to go…you are thinking ahead young man!
Sincerely,
Paul Jackson / The Prophets Qt
http://www.pauljacksongroup.com
pauljackson7@sbcglobal.net
http://www.theprophetsquartet.com
http://www.edhill4u.com
Pingback by www.southerngospelblog.com » Blog Archive » We’re back…as a blog! (July 31, 2007, 6:56 pm)
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