heebiejeebieclu — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 10:01:56 +0000

Well done audabit! I would say that if your site were a house, you have doubled its market value!

Cryptor — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 07:51:28 +0000

I really liek your idea, I would just suggest that you try your best to draw your own B&W cartoon graphics instead of using someone elses. I assume it was all freeware clipart and such. The idea is very nice though. I would make the boxes appear as "dialogue clouds" ( like in comics ). Make them in Flash so that they "hover". That would be pretty neat effect

abudabit — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 02:31:10 +0000

Speak of the devil, there was 1 blog posting and 2 personal ads posted today. As pathetic as those numbers are, they beat the entire last month. :J)

mfdc — Mon, 06 Sep 2004 06:43:24 +0000

Its much much better now!!!!! I like it

KarenArt — Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:59:59 +0000

Well, I can say at least I like the looks of the front page more now.
I think you could make your boxes a bit smaller, but there's something fun for me to look at now... I like that.

The only other suggestions I could make is to tighten up your blog catagories (but I've already said that) and to make your logo at the top link to the home page so visitors don't have to use the back button.

Much improvement from your first... great job!

abudabit — Sun, 05 Sep 2004 23:56:32 +0000

Thank you everyone for your help. I just implemented most of the advice.

heebiejeebieclu: The website is actually php powered, backed with a mysql database. I just hide the filename extensions to make it look like ordinary html. Then I use javascript/css/html on the front end.

heebiejeebieclu — Sun, 05 Sep 2004 12:37:49 +0000

Wow! Your site has really come on!
I really like:
a.) The better design
b.) The personal homepage (pS how do you do that with just HTML?)
c.) The whole community thing
d.) The login box that pops up
What I don't quite care for:
a.) the cartoons having different background to the site
b.) That thing on the front page being stuck in an I frame
c.) When you log in 'Features' has a black background

KarenArt — Sun, 05 Sep 2004 12:09:53 +0000

Jeez another site I've completely missed... how does this keep happening?

The joys of getting participating members... ohhh I can sympathize!
I'm afraid I'm going to have to say a word you might not want to hear... patience...

The only way to really get (and keep) loyal participants is to offer good content, be enthusiastic, and have lots and lots of patience. Rome and great websites weren't built overnight.

One thing I noticed is when I click on one of the links I get the "List Blogs In The (whatever) Subcategory" and nothing else. Perhaps you should weed down your list. Start with a more generalized catagory then expand into more specific categories once you get more participants. At first glance it looks like you don't have anything at all on your site and that doesn't encourage me to participate. Besides... I might want to talk about art today and my overweight neighbor who likes to mow the grass with his shirt off (shudder) tomorrow.

On another note: I love your cartoons "What's so great about the Atomic Den?". I think I'd like them even more if they were arranged as a front page design though instead of being stuck on the side in a frame. Just my personal opinion.

Best of luck with this!
Try to keep the catagories simple to begin with and allow for growing room later and see if that helps.

Jcon — Sun, 05 Sep 2004 01:36:34 +0000

As said by a few other members, i really think that adding more art/graphics would bring out the design a little more. You should have something to attract your veiwers.

abudabit — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 21:37:15 +0000

Alright, I added color to the header, a border around the various boxes, and I fixed the pre-loading on the roll over effect for the buttons. It's looking a lot better, still room for improvement though. But my main question is, how do I encourage people to participate? People are going through the trouble of creating accounts but then they don't do anything.