Website suggestions

[_beastie]

Still stuck on the margins.

I figured out that the margins are measured in "pixels" - so how many should I put in so the page fits on smaller monitors? 25 pixels?

[_beastie]

Ok, I made most of the suggested changes. I cleaned up the links, widened the margins of the pages, made the background fixed on all the pages, put an arrow with a link the to the next page at the bottom, and included a detailed menu on the larger pages that can link to specific places on the page.

TruthDancer is going to help me set up a blog attached to my page, so that's next up. Thanks for the help, folks!

[_beastie]

Here's the blog TD helped me create. She had great suggestions in making the material more accessible by including question formats. I think this will help people who are interested in certain issues but may not have the time or inclination to slog through my essays in their entirety. The blog is not quite complete, and at this point, all it provides is easier access to the website material, but in the future I may add more features. I think I will probably add update on the blog, for example, because it's so much easier to do than the website. I also may eventually have some sort of Q/A section, or something along those lines.

Here's the blog address:

http://mormonmesoamerica.blogspot.com/

I will be adding a link from the website to the blog, as well.

[_Ray A]

The blog looks good, much easier to read specific topics, and links to specific questions. Comments is not enabled. Will you eventually open it for comments?

[_beastie]

I'm debating the comments section. My hesitation is due to the fact that I don't want to invest a huge amount of time on this, and my reading interest is largely back in human evolution now (versus Mesoameria, which is was for several years). I remember how much time some of those old FAIR conversations took, and don't want to go there again.

However, at this point, I'm thinking that I'll probably open comments with some sort of explanation that I'm not willing to do more research to satisfy questions, particularly when I know that no research in the world would be persuasive to the questioner, if you know what I mean.

In other words, I want to avoid the Juliannesque conversations of old.

[_Ray A]

I'm debating the comments section. My hesitation is due to the fact that I don't want to invest a huge amount of time on this, and my reading interest is largely back in human evolution now (versus Mesoameria, which is was for several years). I remember how much time some of those old FAIR conversations took, and don't want to go there again.

That's fair enough. I thought this might have been on your mind. Allowing comments will make it more interesting and interactive. You can explain what you wrote above, and moderate commentary. Blogs don't usually get an overwhelming number of comments anyway, with a few exceptions, and those mostly discuss "hot" and current subjects of news and interest. But mostly they don't have anywhere the same intensity of forums, and require much less work.

You can select the option to moderate comments, which means they won't be published unless you let them on the blog. That way you can eliminate diversions or unecessary commentary.

Perhaps something to think more about anyway.

[_KimberlyAnn]

The blog looks fantastic, Beastie!

[_beastie]

Thanks! I really have to thank TD for the look of the blog, though, she set the template for me and convinced me to give it a try. I had such a hard time with the website, I was wary of blogging, but it is SO much easier than the website I think I'll like it.

Ray, thanks for the ideas. I probably will allow comments - for one thing, if people notice legitimate errors, I want to know about it so I can fix it. And yeah, it's such a specialized topic I doubt it would get much traffic, anyway, so I probably will.

And I hope bond and the other young'uns notice the cool black background! Man, I am so hip! ;)

[_Ray A]

And I hope bond and the other young'uns notice the cool black background! Man, I am so hip! ;)

Bond will be flattered - having already "gone black" :)

[_beastie]

Ok, I went ahead and opened it for comments, but I'm "moderating" the comments which means that I see them before they're published. That will help me control spam and hate mail.

So based on that earlier linked "find out what your website is worth", I estimate my blog will soon be worth a gazillion dollars. ;)