Website Revision - Potential New Home Page

[85lebaront2]

The suggestion for change came from someone from the outside that is more knowledgeable on websites than I. And the main impetus for the change was to get the very big picture off the page for two reasons - real estate and bits downloaded.

On the real estate front, I almost always come to the site via a link from an email I've gotten from "the system" that tells me there's a new post. And that link takes me to the post and I skip right over seeing the "big picture". And if I hit Refresh while on the main page of the forum it has the Bullnose Enthusiasts label at the top of the page - and I don't see the picture nor the prayer.

So, bottom line: I never see the picture unless I scroll up. Do y'all?

On the bits downloaded, even though I normally don't see the picture, it surely gets downloaded. And it is a large file as it is on the "website" and not the "forum", and I can put big pics on the website. So perhaps a compromise would be to put a picture with less bits in it on there?

As for the folder(s) for the stickies, I'll see what I can come up with. It does make some sense to put things dedicated to the forum on the forum itself instead of in the menu of the website. But, do y'all understand the difference? Am I the only one that thinks about that?

Gary, I personally do not have any problem with the site as it is. That being said, one of the other forums I am on, a Chrysler one called Allpar, has an arrangement somewhat like you describe.

When I first open the site I have several options, across the top in a black band are: Home, Tech/Help, Chrysler/News, Social. All of these have a down arrow on the right end. Each of the tabs brings up a sub menu, I usually go to Forums under Social, but that area can also be reached from the Home tab.

The home page has a bunch of small pictures etc. this might be a thought on organization, maybe when you get a chance you could look at it. https://www.allpar.com/index.php is the landing page.

Just keep up the good work!

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, I personally do not have any problem with the site as it is. That being said, one of the other forums I am on, a Chrysler one called Allpar, has an arrangement somewhat like you describe.

When I first open the site I have several options, across the top in a black band are: Home, Tech/Help, Chrysler/News, Social. All of these have a down arrow on the right end. Each of the tabs brings up a sub menu, I usually go to Forums under Social, but that area can also be reached from the Home tab.

The home page has a bunch of small pictures etc. this might be a thought on organization, maybe when you get a chance you could look at it. https://www.allpar.com/index.php is the landing page.

Just keep up the good work!

Bill - Thanks for those votes of confidence. I appreciate them.

I've taken a look at allpar.com, and it like FORDification sites, as well as some others, I found it confusing. But, since many others do things differently, maybe I'm the odd duck?

Roughly 50% of the traffic is to the forum itself, as shown by the statistics below, which are for the last 90 days. (The forum is on the home page, so it shows as "/" in the listing." Given that, I like having the home page of the site being the forum.

Anyway, I'm trying to think through what would be better than what we have, and I keep coming back to what we have works well, but maybe we can improve it some?

 

[Steve83]

I never see the picture unless I scroll up. Do y'all?

I see it every time a page loads because my ISP is so slow (right now). But when the page finishes, it jumps down so only the bottom of the pic shows.

[Gary Lewis]

I see it every time a page loads because my ISP is so slow (right now). But when the page finishes, it jumps down so only the bottom of the pic shows.

YES! That's the explanation I was looking for.

The permalink the web browser was given was to the post, assuming you are following a link in an email. But until the picture gets loaded it won't go to the post. So, on slow ISP's you get stuck looking at the top of the picture for a while.

If I downsize the picture it'll load faster. I'll try that in a bit and let's see if it helps.

[Gary Lewis]

I see it every time a page loads because my ISP is so slow (right now). But when the page finishes, it jumps down so only the bottom of the pic shows.

YES! That's the explanation I was looking for.

The permalink the web browser was given was to the post, assuming you are following a link in an email. But until the picture gets loaded it won't go to the post. So, on slow ISP's you get stuck looking at the top of the picture for a while.

If I downsize the picture it'll load faster. I'll try that in a bit and let's see if it helps.

Ok, let's see if this makes a difference. I downsized the file from 1 Mb to 236 Kb. Please let me know if it loads faster. And, if the quality is acceptable.

[Rembrant]

So, bottom line: I never see the picture unless I scroll up. Do y'all?

I only ever see it for a blip of a second as the page loads. It goes straight to the forum on both my iPhone and laptop PC. I use an icon link direct to the forum on both devices.

 

[grumpin]

So, bottom line: I never see the picture unless I scroll up. Do y'all?

I only ever see it for a blip of a second as the page loads. It goes straight to the forum on both my iPhone and laptop PC. I use an icon link direct to the forum on both devices.

Same here. I’m usually on an iPad now.

 

[Steve83]

...following a link in an email.

Never. I just use the plain domain URL, and then browse the threads.

[Gary Lewis]

...following a link in an email.

Never. I just use the plain domain URL, and then browse the threads.

Steve - You do know that you can use Topics View and see the latest posts in chrono order. Right?

[Steve83]

Steve - You do know that you can use Topics View and see the latest posts in chrono order. Right?

Never tried that - the threads appear in chrono order of most-recent posts anyway, except the folders & stickies are always at the top.

...and I can't tell a difference in the way the page is loading, but we've established before that Chrome behaves weirdly for me. I don't know that it's actually showing the new (smaller) version of the image.