Please review new WP Blog

WindowsTalk · #1 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 05:32 PM

My new Wordpress blog is pretty much complete and I would like some feedback on the overall look & feel of the site. My content (and target audience) is the new to intermediate Windows PC user, so I try to keep the content useful, easy to understand and practical. I have found a nice clean & simple theme that I feel does not distract from the content. I have kept ads to a minimum as well.

Please let me know what you think of the new WindowsTalk site:
http://www.windowstalk.org/

Thanks in advance!

jonathanfigaro · #2 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 05:56 PM

Nice blog, nice and easy to read. How long did it take you to create this wonderful blog?

WindowsTalk · #3 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 06:01 PM

Over a couple of weeks, more or less. All the content was on my old Blogger site, so I imported it and then just tweaked the theme to suit.
Thanks for looking!

ithinkican · #4 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 06:06 PM

Clean and professional! I like it!

WindowsTalk · #5 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 06:39 PM

Thanks!

sgtmac66 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WindowsTalk

My new Wordpress blog is pretty much complete and I would like some feedback on the overall look & feel of the site. My content (and target audience) is the new to intermediate Windows PC user, so I try to keep the content useful, easy to understand and practical. I have found a nice clean & simple theme that I feel does not distract from the content. I have kept ads to a minimum as well.

Please let me know what you think of the new WindowsTalk site:
http://www.windowstalk.org/

Thanks in advance!

It seems rare of late to find sites with SIMPLISTIC designs, or as in the old addage of KISS-which you know what I speak of. We all tend to want to doll up the home page with fancy headers, lots of text, tons of links and columns of adsense ads that will make your head spin.

1. Right off the bat, the colors blend well. Not to bright, not to dull, just right...(Sounds like a commercial for Tide, lol!). I love the steely blue color of the header and headings as they pop off the white background quite well.
2. The layout is simple and easy to navigate.
3. One problem I noticed is the Home/About Me/Contact Nav. It may be that I just downloaded and am using IE 8 now, but they are really slow to load?
4. Something that I mention a lot, but don't see a lot is page length. I am from the old school of about 7 average size paragraphs per page or the ability to scroll from top to bottom with one movement of the mouse. Yours seems just a bit too long for me.
5. I was looking for your categories or posts to recent articles and found them way down on the right hand side. I would move them higher up so they are easier to find.
6. I prefer my text links to be a slightly different color then the rest of my text, however yours pop right off the page. Personal preference.

7. I was taught, not to use this sort of tag: HP Smart Web Printing can be downloaded here.. I would use something like Download HP Smart Web Printing. Again, personal preference.
8. At the end of paragraphs you have: Read rest of this post, when the tag on Wrodpress I think is 
9. Anyway that is a quick review...really like the site and just signed up for your newsletter.

James · #7 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 07:48 PM

Excellent work!

My apologies for not offering any critique of the make up or anything. However, I do want to thank you for your good work. I went to do an evaluation, but ended up just reading and signing up for your feed.

What I will say is this. You have hit on a good approach to the audience you are looking for. A lot of people try to keep the interest of people who are not brand new but only get lost when they look at sites aiming at technical specialists. It is not easy, but you have done it. Your article topics are not the same old stuff you might find elsewhere mostly I think because it grows out of your experience.

Keep up the good work.

lisa · #8 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 10:40 PM

I agree with everyone else here and have to say this is a very nice blog. I'm a bigger fan of more simplistic designs like this and I think you have done a great job. I honestly cannot find any critiques except the About|Contact link threw me off a bit. I thought you accidentally ran the words together but noticed they were one link. I think a forward slash separating the two words would look better than the vertical line but that is so very minor.

I also love the way you've minimized the # of ads.

Very, very nice job!

missme · #9 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 11:26 PM

Love your blog. I love computers so I loved reading your articles. I give it a A++. Good luck.
Missme

WindowsTalk · #10 (**permalink**) 06-16-2009, 03:46 AM

Thanks everyone! I am overwhelmed by the positive feedback and encouraging words...I appreciate it very much. I will try to implement the little tweaks Sarge suggested.

I was wondering about the site's background colour, if I should change it to a different shade of blue or another colour altogether. Since no one mentioned it, I guess I will leave it alone.

WindowsTalk · #11 (**permalink**) 06-16-2009, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgtmac66

3. One problem I noticed is the Home/About Me/Contact Nav. It may be that I just downloaded and am using IE 8 now, but they are really slow to load?

My host is having some issues that are currently being resolved; that may account for the lag.

Quote:

4. Something that I mention a lot, but don't see a lot is page length. I am from the old school of about 7 average size paragraphs per page or the ability to scroll from top to bottom with one movement of the mouse. Yours seems just a bit too long for me.

I tried to shorten it, but then I have too much white space due to my VIPRE banner ad, categories and archives widgets being long. I figured I might as well fill the space than leave it blank.

Quote:

5. I was looking for your categories or posts to recent articles and found them way down on the right hand side. I would move them higher up so they are easier to find.

Done!

Quote:

6. I prefer my text links to be a slightly different color then the rest of my text, however yours pop right off the page. Personal preference.

I like them to pop off the page; I think it makes it easier for 'newbies' to navigate. I may be a bit 'old-school' on this issue.

Quote:

7. I was taught, not to use this sort of tag: HP Smart Web Printing can be downloaded here.. I would use something like Download HP Smart Web Printing. Again, personal preference.

Good point and I will endeavour to do this in future posts.

Quote:

8. At the end of paragraphs you have: Read rest of this post, when the tag on Wrodpress I think is

That is the way it came with this template. I think I will leave it be, though.

Quote:

9. Anyway that is a quick review...really like the site and just signed up for your newsletter.

Thanks!!

sgtmac66 · #12 (**permalink**) 06-17-2009, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WindowsTalk

Thanks everyone! I am overwhelmed by the positive feedback and encouraging words...I appreciate it very much. I will try to implement the little tweaks Sarge suggested.

I was wondering about the site's background colour, if I should change it to a different shade of blue or another colour altogether. Since no one mentioned it, I guess I will leave it alone.

Although I am not a big fan of the color Gray, I would suggest you leave the BG alone. It's shaded just enough to really pop the white main content off the page. It may be these old mans eyes also, but it appears that it just has enough color that blends in well with the dark header. I don't think you could find a better color combo than what you have...I really like the page.

WindowsTalk · #13 (**permalink**) 06-17-2009, 02:14 PM

Thanks Sarge...it's really a light blue/gray, but I will leave it alone.

wuzzup · #14 (**permalink**) 06-17-2009, 05:52 PM

This is good...

The banner tells me that the discussion is about "enhancing your windows experience"...Do I use windows? Yes! OK, so I read a little more...

Scrolled down and found something of interest: "How to Defrag your PC"....Good! I always have trouble defragging my computer. I start it before bed, wake up 5 hours later...still not done! Why???

If your blog provides a solution, I'll keep coming back!

Dee · #15 (**permalink**) 06-19-2009, 09:24 AM

I really like the look of your site. Very nice. Good colors. Good info.

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