Website upgrades

[ksmith]

In her latest post, arcaedia is asking what sorts of information people would like to see on her website. Seeing as that sometime this summer I am hoping to revamp my website, I'll ask what you folks like to see/don't like to see on a writer's site.

I'll say right now that the main reason this writer has a site is to promote work and keep readers updated about same. If your comment runs along the lines of 'too much promo', well, I doubt that will change.

I thought about a FAQ for a while, but never got around to posting one. New puppy pics are a must because the pups have both celebrated their 5th birthdays recently--I mean, I've already had the Mickster for over two years.

How do you feel about having to scroll down pages. I have been told that the homepage at least should be a No Scroll zone, and that all info should fit on a single screen.

The virus info is probably going to go because I'm a Mac kid now. If Macs start getting hit, maybe I'll post about Mac infections.

If you read my LJ on my website or via LJ, I'd like to know that too.

Comments

[sleary.livejournal.com]

There was a discussion of this very thing the other day... lessee... over here (http://community.livejournal.com/discuss_writing/127278.html). It's a topic I can't shut up about, but I exceeded LJ's character limit on comments in that thread(!), so I won't rehash it here.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Thanks--I memoried that page.

I really liked Lookingland's opening page--that sort of format will be useful if I get into writing other genres or in other ways splitting my work.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

I agree; that was nicely done.

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Stephanie - I followed your link (in the other discussion) to OSWD, and I found some great templates that I'd like to work with. When I download them, though, and try to manipulate them in Dreamweaver 4, they just act like text; I can't get them to act as a template, even when I "save as template". Any ideas where I can find information on how to make this work? (There doesn't seem to be any "Help" information on the OSWD website.)

Thanks (and sorry for hijacking your topic, Kris!)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

No problem--I checked out those templates as well, and wondered how well some of them would work. If you're able to get one to function as you want, please post the info here so I can save it.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

My guess would be that they're using CSS layouts that Dreamweaver 4 doesn't understand. DW didn't have very good support for that sort of thing until the MX 2004 version (and they're up to v.8 now).

Which ones are you working with, in particular?

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

I tried J.M.'s I See Frogs (just because I thought it was cute), and gymnerd's Autonomous. I also tried one of Tristar's templates from his website, Fruity.

Mindy - who was rude and didn't offer up the grand THANK YOU that she should have in first posting. Oh, and who is *shocked* that a six-year-old software package might have to be replaced :-)

[sleary.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)

I'm not sure why Autonomous didn't work; I think it should have, but I don't have DW4 anymore and can't say for sure. The others definitely use CSS layouts -- which is a good thing, overall, but wasn't common when DW4 was released.

If you decide to upgrade, you should be able to buy the upgrade rather than the full package, even though you're jumping several versions.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

... or, now that I think about it, you could give NVU (http://nvu.com/) a try.

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Will do - if and when I update my software :-)

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Off to explore some more.

Thanks!

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

If you're able to get one to function as you want, please post the info here so I can save it.

And I'm posting here, so you can save it :-)

Got mine up and running - www.mindyklasky.com

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Stephanie -

I wanted to take a moment to thank you again for pointing me toward oswd - I ended up working with dreamlogic's sunflowers template (although I changed it so substantially, it's barely recognizable as the same!) I couldn't have done this without *some* template to get me on the road! Many, many thanks!

Mindy (www.mindyklasky.com)

[sleary.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're welcome! I'm glad it worked out. It looks great!

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Many thanks!