Typically once a year I try and get feedback about the site. I realized I hadn’t done that this year, so here’s your chance to rip me or praise me.
I’m currently working on a redesign, so any comments related to layout would be appreciated. What do you like about the current layout, what don’t you like? Do you mind that there are ads on the site? Are they too prominent or don’t you notice them? Is the site readable? Is the text to big or too small? Is navigation easy or not the least bit intuitive? And any other comments are appreciated as well.
Also, I’d love to know what you think of the content. What are your favorite types of posts? Would you prefer I did more short posts, or do you like it better when I save up a couple days worth of things? Do you like the numbers-heavy posts or simply the commentary.
As always, I won’t promise that I’ll implement everything that gets suggested. However, I appreciate all of you and value your opinions. I also take a lot of pride in the site, and want to make it as useful to the reader as possible.
Thanks for indulging me in this non-baseball activity. Feel free to leave any comments, or if you’d prefer you can email me at bill at detroittigersweblog.com. And in case you were wondering, here is the design I’m currently working on:
Content: I love the occaisional in-depth analysis, but I would prefer to see the day-to-day stuff posted as it happens. I realize that life gets in the way of that, so this is just a vote, not a complaint.
Layout: I’d probably like to see you shrink up the page a bit. My resolution is at 1280×1024 and the current page still takes 11 clicks to scroll all of the way. I also almost missed the Payroll post because it was totally on the second page. You’re currently showing 10 articles at a time, but you probably don’t need to. You could probably get by with 3-5 since you already have the “Recent Entries” section for someone that hasn’t visited the site in a couple weeks. If you wanted to get fancier, maybe have some or all of the articles collapsed. Or maybe just shrink your logo or move the firefox image. I don’t know… just some ideas. You could leave the site as it is and I’ll still come back. It’s the content that makes all of the difference.
It would be nice if there was a regular weekly source of how Detroit minor leagers are doing. Also, latest scouting reports on these players and their potential(which always seems to change). Maybe even try and get their thoughts from interviews, if possible.
I like the mix of content — some in-depth pieces, some interviews plus commentary on breaking news. The layout is fine as is but, yes, maybe shrinking the logo or having it go all the way across but not down as far as in your prototype — something to get more content viewable more quickly. Thanks for asking.
Billfer,
I love the site. The content is good and I sure as hell can’t expect you to find time to write everyday. I find your output commendable as it is.
As for layout, I think the site works fine as is. I get really comfy with websites and sometimes the idea of a drastic overhaul can be a little disnconcerting. I know where everything is now! It works. Why change it?
Thanks for the input so far guys. Shrinking the logo was one of my first priorities. The thing I wanted to do was cease to be a fixed width of 800. In the new design, the left column (the content) will expand to the size of the monitor with the right content (sidebar) being fixed at 300px. With the content flowing wider (at least on the 85% of you who aren’t on 800X600) more of it should be visible.
I’ll second the vote on more minor league updates, but not at the expense of major league content. It would be nice to get a regular summary of who’s living up to expectations and who isn’t.
I wanted to do was cease to be a fixed width of 800
Good call. That should pretty much handle it.
a drastic overhaul can be a little disnconcerting.
Agreed. Every site can stand a few tweaks, but there’s no reason to spend a whole lot of time on it.
This is a great site. Tweak yes, change no.
Just wanted to chime in with one thing: the blog is mostly a daily stop for me, so I’m more in favor of daily, shorter posts, instead of the twice-a-week torrents.
Great site, tweaks needed as described above as well as a player interview now and then. They are busy and so are you, but getting a good interview with Granderson, Inge or Bondo / Maroth would be a great mix. The other interviews have been great (both DD’s). An other thing would be fun at some point: In what town or state does everyone live in and why are they Tiger fans, What is their first memory. I think that the list would be far and wide and the storys would be great as well.
Love this site with all the info. I never knew Baseball could be broken down so much with numbers and colored charts.
Merry Christmas Billfer………
Love the site, wouldn’t change much (a bit more minor league news?), unless you can get an interview with Jim…
Thanks for a great site, Billfer.
I like pretty much everything about the site. The only thing that I dislike is the format of the comments window. The dark background combined with a black font makes it a little hard to read. I usually highlight all of the words with my cursor so the font changes to white.
Do whatever the hell you want. Seriously. Make the entire site one giant tree map. I’ll still read it.
Great site!