Website input & help wanted! (no coding, just opinions!)

[EvryDayImShufln]

Hey guys, I launched a site a couple of months ago (actually got a lot of feedback on this forum, in a previous thread). But now as it's growing (albeit slowly) I could definitely use some feedback. If I'm asking too much of this forum tell me, and I'll try to go to a forum dedicated to web design (though none look outstanding to me so far, suggestions appreciated).

So here are some points I could use feedback on:

1. What do you guys know about web advertising? I decided to put some ads already in a bar on the right, at the bottom to stay subtle. I can't stand giant distracting ads that require an action to get through, and therefore refuse to put any on my own site. I'm using adBrite but I'm not sure how good they actually are (read things for and against them). Some of the ads showing up for me are bizarre. Opinions wanted!

2. This is a big one. Should I stay with blogger or change to a different host (for example, WordPress). I've read lots about them both but I'd like to hear actual opinions from people who've tried em both (if you're out there!).

3. Design: be honest. This is not the first version of the site and many changes were made since then, but how do newcomers feel about it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jwm2]

1. What do you guys know about web advertising? I decided to put some ads already in a bar on the right, at the bottom to stay subtle. I can't stand giant distracting ads that require an action to get through, and therefore refuse to put any on my own site. I'm using adBrite but I'm not sure how good they actually are (read things for and against them). Some of the ads showing up for me are bizarre. Opinions wanted!

1. Web advertising is one of those things where you'll have to experiment with different ads to see which ones perform the best and which company displays the best ads for the type of customers you draw with your website. Google ads are the most popular and seemingly are very flexible as well.

2. This is a big one. Should I stay with blogger or change to a different host (for example, WordPress). I've read lots about them both but I'd like to hear actual opinions from people who've tried em both (if you're out there!).

2. If you are happy with what you have then just keep it how it is. If you feel the need to change you can easily convert the site to wordpress with the help of the wordpress import tool. Wordpress is a great platform for many websites. It powers a large % of the websites you see nowadays vs any other platform. It has some advantages and disadvantages, but its mostly its about how comfortable you are with it.

3. Design: be honest. This is not the first version of the site and many changes were made since then, but how do newcomers feel about it?

3. The design imo looks really nice. Its a nice clean format and it doesn't overpower the content. Content is king and the better the content the more successful your website will be. Google loves fresh content, so as long as you keep them happy they'll be sure to return the favor.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Thanks for your comments, highly appreciated! I'd like to hear what more of you have to say as well.

 

[SuperCachetes]

Design:
1. I really don't like the fact that the menu bar buttons across the top are semi-hidden until you hover over them. Just tell me what they are, clearly, from the get-go - so I know if I need to move my mouse up there or not.

2. When I loaded the site on my Win7/IE8 work computer, the row of square (random preview) images across the top overlapped the menu bar buttons; there seems to be a formatting/spacing issue.

3. I think you should work on a better logo that people will remember, and that says something about the site. The gH is classy, and you have a favicon, which is good... But "gH" could be a lot of things.

How about a gear with a slice cut out of it like it were a pie? Get it? Gear hungry? Just a suggestion. Overall there is some nice stuff on there. Good luck.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Design:
1. I really don't like the fact that the menu bar buttons across the top are semi-hidden until you hover over them. Just tell me what they are, clearly, from the get-go - so I know if I need to move my mouse up there or not.

2. When I loaded the site on my Win7/IE8 work computer, the row of square (random preview) images across the top overlapped the menu bar buttons; there seems to be a formatting/spacing issue.

3. I think you should work on a better logo that people will remember, and that says something about the site. The gH is classy, and you have a favicon, which is good... But "gH" could be a lot of things.

How about a gear with a slice cut out of it like it were a pie? Get it? Gear hungry? Just a suggestion. Overall there is some nice stuff on there. Good luck.

Thanks for your input, this is actually really helpful. The site is clearly not loading properly on your computer, and I must admit I've only tested it on a couple of computers. The menu buttons are supposed to always show, and the random posts are not supposed to overlap. Interesting. I wonder if anybody else has similar issues? I'm going to try it out on some other computers to see what's up.

I do agree that the logo will need a change eventually, I'm brainstorming but thanks for your ideas!

 

[SuperCachetes]

The menu buttons are supposed to always show, and the random posts are not supposed to overlap. Interesting.

I should've done this before, but this is what I get:

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

I should've done this before, but this is what I get:

Ok I tried it on my really old PC with IE8 as well, and I had similar issues. I'm not really sure what to do at this point (and if there is even anything I CAN do) to fix the formatting in IE8! But it works well on that computer's old-ish firefox so that's a good sign.

 

[SuperCachetes]

Hey, tried it again in Safari, and it looks great. Looks like everything I listed save the logo suggestion was due to me being away from my MBP. I'm ashamed to have to use IE every now and then, but there you go...

 

[Jaffaman27]

I have no time to comment on the questions you asked, but this: http://rafael.adm.br/css_browser_selector/ can help you with your browser issues. You just need to check it with many browsers and fix with that js/css combo.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

I have no time to comment on the questions you asked, but this: http://rafael.adm.br/css_browser_selector/ can help you with your browser issues. You just need to check it with many browsers and fix with that js/css combo.

Wow this is pretty impressive, a coding n00b like myself thinks so anyway, thanks! I'll have to toy around with that soon to fix IE7 (and stuff) problems.