FAO Greg - ideas for website update

[this is all in the context of 'thank you for making this wonderful website work so well - I'm very happy with it as it stands!']
Hi Greg

I was thinking about your recent post in a thread when you were talking about the changes that you and Angie are planning to the website, especially to do with getting to a wider audience.

This is just a suggestion about the way you access previous blog posts. I would find it useful to be able to find previous posts more easily - possibly filed in several places so that say a post about Perfect Pants Length would be filed under date (Autumn 2007 or whenever); Bottoms; Business Casual and Career Wear for example. I know that there is a wonderful set of hyperlinks within the blog posts, but if you are trying to track down something in particular, it is not always easy to find it unless you know where to start. Then (warming to my theme...) for each section might it be possible to have a sub-menu (so that if you clicked on 'Accessories', you'd be able to find a specific post within that (eg 'necklaces' rather than have to browse through all of the posts to find it)?

Sometimes it feels as if it's easier to post on the forum to find out about something than to look through the blog itself although I have spent (happy) hours browsing through it all, particularly on first finding YLF. It also means that it would be easier to recommend to friends, because you could suggest it for specific issues.

Don't know if that's helpful, unhelpful or too obvious! but thought I'd mention it as I know you're reconsidering everything at the moment.

Thanks again for making it work so well.

ETA what a silly time to post when I know you've got family staying - never mind, I'll bump it up in a few days!

15 years ago

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I have to agree- the archiving system for blog posts could use some revision. The MOTG formula's should have their own tag since there are so many of them, specific product recommendations should have a tag, and so should Angie's outfits (that one may be there). I find it difficult to find things in the archives even when I know exactly what I am looking for. It would also be helpful to be able to search just the blog, and not have forum posts popping up.

Greg

Administrator

Thunalata, you read our minds. Making the archive more easily accessible is a BIG part of the updates we are working on. There are currently archive links (by date and category) in the blog sidebar, but these are primitive and currently not easy to use at all. With 4+ years of material (a lot of it still relevant today) this is really important.

Chewy, yes, MOTG definitely needs its own category. Agree on the restricted search too.

Thank you. These are great ideas. We love input, so keep 'em coming!

Ariadne

Just wanted to put in a vote for trying a Swap section of some sort--maybe a sub-section on the forum? You could set it to only be visible to posters who've been members for a set number of days and have made at least X number of posts (2 other forums I'm on have that, a 30 days-30 posts requirement on one and a 50 days-50 posts requirement on the other) to make it a little safer. And, of course, you'd want to make it clear that you and Angie are not liable for anything that goes wrong (swapper beware environment).

I have a few items I'd like to offer here for swap instead of donating them, which is why this came to mind.

Polly (thunalata)

Glad it's helpful - I thought you might have been considering this anyway, but thought I'd put in my current impressions.

Brianna, we love the swap idea. Can you point me to the forums that are currently doing this?

Lee Hovey

Active Member

I second the swap idea! I have a bunch of new-with-tags pieces that are too big for me. Would rather do business with a fellow member than deal with ebay, etc....

medusa

Oh, the swap idea is fun. Like it!

Inge

(website)

Moderator

Love the idea of extended possibilities to search the archives (and I know that is a TON of work, thank you Angie and Greg!!!).

Swapping is fun too. I just found this article comparing three of the large swap sites. Some good points are being made.

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....16967.html

Here are a few more swap sites, maybe there are some good ideas in the Help sections.
http://www.paperbackswap.com/f.....p?t=151540

http://www.swapacd.com/forum/topic.php?t=6023

http://www.blossomswap.com/wik.....ossom-swap

Hi Greg,
The forums I am on that do something similar to the swap idea (actually, they both allow members to sell or trade used items, or to offer things "Free for Shipping") are Mothering.com/discussions, Diaperswappers.com, and thebabywearer.com/forums (the TBW forums are only visible if you register for an account).

Both forums use the iTrader rating system to allow members to leave feedback for each other after participating in a sale or trade transaction. Mods don't generally get involved in individual transactions but if a user gets a certain # of bad ratings, or starts to scam people or something (happened to me once! Thank goodness for the PayPal dispute system--I got my money back quickly), they get banned.

Actually, TBW allows all registered members to see the For Sale or Trade forum but you have to meet the 30/30 requirement to be able to start a thread to sell or trade any items, if that makes sense. I've done a lot of selling/trading that way so feel free to question away!

Brianna and Inge, a belated thanks for those pointers. Looks very interesting and I'm sure I'll have more questions for you later on.

Category