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Request For Comments - New Layout On AmeriCymru Homepage
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Many of you will have already noticed that we have reorganised the AmeriCymru homepage today. Why? Read on 
We have decided that the front page should contain 3 'hot spots'. We believe that this will facilitate easier navigation AND show at a glance how members posts/photos etc are doing on the site.
1. Current This is of course the Activity Feed and we encourage members to use it for any purpose which does not directly contradict site rules . For more on this please see the following post:- Status Updates or - 'I Cut My Toenails Today'
2. Popular In this section we will rotate ( randomly ) the Top Content, Top Member , Top Discussion , Top Photo , Top Video and Top Blogpost displays. Check back frequently if you want to see all the rankings. This will allow us to display the most popular content items prominently on the front page and indeed, on every page, on the site. A content item becomes 'popular' for four reasons:- number of hits, number of comments and number of 'Likes' and 'Shares'. Since this display is in the right hand column content will be widely seen on the net since every page we promote will contain prominent links to it.
3. Featured In this section we will highlight content which we believe to be particularly important, interesting or amusing. Although this section has to be updated manually we will be happy to receive suggestions or recommendations for inclusion. Anything in the 'Featured' or 'Popular' displays is likely to be featured heavily on other social networks,Twitter, FB, G+ and all the usual suspects.
We believe this is an improvement on the previous rather haphazard arrangements. Over to you dear reader....any thoughts?
The more eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that we have dropped the javascript rotating ad display from the front page. This should increase page load times and reduce the clutter on the home page somewhat. Instead we will be featuring up to 14 ads in the Featured box which will be rotated at frequent intervals. At the moment we have 7 or 8 spots available in this display area. Any takers? Email americymru@gmail.com for more details
Gwych
Content=anything you post ( blog, discussion, photo, video etc )
Discussion=anything posted in the forum which is intended as a basis for further comments
Blogpost= a rather more formal communication/article on which you may or may not allow comments
Diolch Madoc....all for people visiting their homepages
Diolch for your comments gentlemen
I will try and do as you suggest ( Peter, SJ ) but that will involve 'getting down and dirty' with the Language Editor. Not sure how much html I can get away with there. Highlighting , centering may or may not prove possible. Will report back.
Leaderboard on front page will be rotated daily and randomly. If you want to see all boards go to http://americymru.net/leaderboards and click on View All at the bottom of the individual boards for a full display.
Hoping to replace the WCE and Buy Tickets link with a graphic soon.
Ceri, right now the words Featured and Sponsers etc are flush left in a type size not much bigger than what follows. These are the headers I mentioned. If they were more prominent the secions themselves would be distinguished from each other and easier to "see". Perhaps centering hte headers and making them larger? Can color be introduced? Blue perhaps? something to make them stand out more.
Hi Ceri
you are going to hate this but on first glance I didn't notice the difference. This probably says more about me than the new layout. The colours were the same and the buttons looked the same but it wasn't until I checked out your explanation that I could see it. That is how thick I am! Now that I've noticed it I like it although I must say that I tend to go to my home page first and then have a look around from there. That is probably a Facebook habit.
regards
Madoc
Diolch Peter....implemented the 'sponsors' idea. Not quite sure I follow - "Is it possible to make something like that permanent, spread across the full width of the column?" Can you expand on this a little?
Ceri I like the idea of what you're trying to do. Distinct spots for distinct types of info makes for easy navigation, less confusion, greater chance that someone will actually click though. One thing that helps is very clear cut headers for each section, signage as it were. The yellow bands in the example above are, I imagine, just there for us to understand your intent. Is it possible to make something like that permanent, spread across the full width of the column? If so that would help to distinguish each section from the others. As well the banner ad section between Featured and Current might do with a similar header, one that says Sponsors perhaps or something like that, so that advertising is clearly marked off from editorial. On the whole I like that direction!