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DogpatchPlease I need your help! evil site


evil for some at least!

Now that I shamelessly hijacked your attention folks, I could, pretty please use some suggestions.

A dear friend, who is a website designer recently volunteered to redesign my sites.

He succeeded in creating a great design, especially for www.freeminds.org . But then his Parkinson's disease (he's only 41 and had to retire early!) took for the worse and he could not follow through on the project. I myself had some problems with carpal tunnel related surgery, which put a lot of my work on hold for a couple of months as well. It isx doing much better now! Unexpected, but I got through it.

Here's what I would like if you please: check out the new interface at www.freeminds.org and let me know if you have any suggestions for anything on the page. As you can tell, it is set up to be minimalistic and that is for a reason, with all the new mobile devices and so forth. My sub pages and subfolders will be redesigned soon, but I really only want suggestions for the main page, and possibly indices, flash, etc. and browser compatibility.

I am happy with the color scheme on the layout and so forth. This volunteer did a wonderful job. Now my job is making it more functional and filling in the blanks. I plan to have the news and net gossip about the watchtower updated almost daily. And since we have a fair amount of traffic already, I think people will benefit from catching the news on one site quickly. Of course, a lot of the stories in that soup are linked to JWD as you already know. Thank you, Simon again for hosting the board!

I would be especially interested in any comments regarding mobile devices, as well as phones and so forth. Thank you,

Randy Watters

http://www.freeminds.org

.

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Quirky1Re: Please I need your help! evil site
Randy - I like the softer color scheme.  It looks very freindly and appealing.  It isn't cluttered so that is a plus.  Overall looks good to me.  I am sure you will tweak it over time. 
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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site
thanks Quirk!
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minimusRe: Please I need your help! evil site

I like it BUT you have such good info on the site and very little of that shows!  It doesn't "grab" me. I like a number of "hot topics" to show up.

Randy, thanks for your great site!!!!

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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

HI minimus!

Good to hear from you, liked the Catholic thread. Tom Cabeen is a longtime personal friend of mine. If I had more time I would comment.

A lot of people like the old site, because it had so many links on to things they could see right away. 

http://freeminds.org/indexold.html

 And that is why I haven't really changed it for 11 years.  The site gets a great deal of traffic, but it is certainly due for a facelift.  Especially in light of modern devices that require a small visual footprint yet clever links Ault swear.  So that is my dilemma to be minimalist, yet easy to find what a person wants.  I am open to suggestions please from any of you as long as it doesn't require an expert, which I ain't by a long shot.

Randy   http://www.freeminds.org/

randy@freeminds.org

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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

BTW you won't hurt my feelings, so hit me with valid criticisms on design. I have only begun to overhaul this 1 gig plus monster.

Randy

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minimusRe: Please I need your help! evil site

Being a "minimalist" myself,, what attracted me to your site was the variety offered. Sometimes, you shouldn't mess with success. Having a lot to see on the page makes it easier to catch somebody's interest. If you thought it was a bit cluttered, I can see that but I think less is not best in this case. Remember, searchers will see something written that will catch their eye. Your site has consistently had superior information that would grab a JW's interest.

I like current events from Watchtower News too. Having the latest info is what I love! (You know how us old JWs were. We always wanted to hear the latest scoop).

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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

cool, min, that's why it has taken so long! It worked.

but... it is old school.

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Hope4OthersRe: Please I need your help! evil site
The long peer and water shows the thoughts of free perhaps

Something to the effect of showing a brain somewhere to pick of on the mind, And a comment like

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste" seems to come to my mind.

Just a thought!


hope4others
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PeppermintRe: Please I need your help! evil site
"I am happy with the color scheme on the layout and so forth"

I like the color scheme too although I would say there seems to be 3 shades of green, personally I would say better with just one or two, but what do I know.
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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

thanks Hope, gives me an idea.  :-))

hi peppermint, I'm not sure why on the 2 greens, but that's they way he designed it. :-))

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Seeker4Re: Please I need your help! evil site
Randy,

I like the look of the new page, but agree with Minimus - I'd like to see more indications of the awesome content you've got on that site.

I also have to say that Freeminds was very important to me when I was leaving the Witnesses. Thanks for creating it.

Also, super glad you have a link to that National Geographic documentary on Inside a Cult. That was fantastic!

S4
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SnakesInTheTowerRe: Please I need your help! evil site

Randy..

I like the overall cleaner look of the site. IMO the other layout was very cluttered.  On the other hand, I agree with others that say having so many links on the front page is very handy. 

Most of my suggestions would not be very compatible with mobile devices...and that is the balance that you are trying to strike.

I dont know if it is technically feasible (or easy in a relative sense)..is it possible to have a scroll bar menu under each of the subject headings (Watchtower News, Net Soup, Hot Topics)?...this might be great for a regular page...I dont know how (or if) scroll bars work on portable devices....I have web disabled on my cell phone.  I think you have struck the right note, ...by putting that long list of topics on a sub page, it keeps the front page clean.  I also like that the font on the topics is bigger on the second page and a heck of a lot less cluttered...

since that archive is so long...I wonder how much work it would be to categorize the topics on the archive subpage.... by subject or title...or use tabs on the page...at the very least sort by alpha or date....

just a thought...it might be nice to put the "last updated" at the bottom of the front page with a (c) or something.... lets new users esp know this is a site that is constantly update.

It was a link from FreeMinds that brought me to JWD a long time ago....so THANK YOU ......

Snakes ()

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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

thank you Snakes, have a great one!

Yes, I wonder if any java tree pop-ups or something might work...

anyone know?

Randy

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thecarpenterRe: Please I need your help! evil site
hey randy, maybe a tabbed edit bar on top which take you to other parts of your site would help. Another option would be to put it on the left side going downward. I like the colors, they seem friendlier than the black colors you used before (never liked those colors, way too dissonant) thecarpenter
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undercoverRe: Please I need your help! evil site
I like the look of the new page, but agree with Minimus - I'd like to see more indications of the awesome content you've got on that site.
Ditto for me as well.
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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

cool so far...

i'm wondering if putting a animated java tree will stump some browsers...

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brinjenRe: Please I need your help! evil site

I've got access to a few web browsers on both Windows and Mac. I can test the site if you like.

As for a quote, I've always liked.. "The biggest barrier to finding the truth, is believing you already have it".

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AK - JeffRe: Please I need your help! evil site

Looks very nice. Perhaps a rotating picture? Like a slide-show?

KISS is a good motto IMO.

Jeff

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DogpatchRe: Please I need your help! evil site

please do brinjen!

also please test this java script if you can, I might use it:

http://deluxe-menu.com/sitemap.html

might just do the trick If i can make sure it looks good on mobile stuff...

anyone care to report on this page?

http://deluxe-menu.com/sitemap.html

Randy

 

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