Looking feedback on Author Website

muse

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[FONT=&quot]Well, I've done it, set up my first ever website. :hooray:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I would love it if some of you lovely people would take a look and tell me what you think.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As you'll probably notice, I'm a total novice as this kind of stuff so any advice/help would be most welcome.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You can find it here [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks in advance.[/FONT]
 

M.S. Wiggins

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Quick thing I'm noticing, go into your menus and expand the [▼] and click 'Open link in new window'.

... Oh, and don't forget to 'Save Menu'!
 

muse

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Quick thing I'm noticing, go into your menus and expand the [▼] and click 'Open link in new window'.

... Oh, and don't forget to 'Save Menu'!


Thanks for a taking a look M.S. Wiggins.

Did I mention I was a novice? :greenie

Where do I find the menu?
 

M.S. Wiggins

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Looks good so far. There's a learning curve to it. Time, experience, and LOTS of patience are your allies. In the meantime, become best friends with YouTube videos on creating WordPress menus/posts/pages/categories/tags.
 

muse

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Looks good so far. There's a learning curve to it. Time, experience, and LOTS of patience are your allies. In the meantime, become best friends with YouTube videos on creating WordPress menus/posts/pages/categories/tags.


Thanks. Didn't realise I how nervous I was about the website until I posted it online.

I've already watched a ton of videos, but a lot of them are for an older Wordpress version. I shall keep at it.

Again, appreciate the input.
 

muse

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You have to go into the admin area.
Like (↓ links nowhere, btw, just an example!):
https://[YOU/PERSON/WEBSITE/ETC].wordpress.com/wp-admin/

Think I've found the problem, but not the solution. The links I've added are Amazon associate links and are put in using HTML, which doesn't give the option to open in another window. :-(

ETA: Have found the answer (I think) A simple click on the link and edit, brings up the option to 'Open link in a new window.'
 
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M.S. Wiggins

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Everyone's a novice in the beginning. Don't sweat it. ;)

I'll send you a pm.
 

AW Admin

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Generally speaking, do not use the option to "open a link in a new window." Unless you have a very good reason to force that on your user, best practice is to let your users decide if they want a link to open in a new window/tab.
 
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muse

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Generally speaking, do not use the option to "open a link in a new window." Unless you have a very good reason to force that on your user, best practice is to let your users decide if they want a link to open in a new window/tab.


Aaagh! I've just changed all my links.

Surely, it's better to open a new window so the user can view both things? Do users prefer not to move from the website?
 

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It's a preference thing. I've learned to Ctrl [key] + click [mouse] on any link to open a new tab, but lots of people don't do that, so it's nice to give them that little 'added bonus'.
 

Cobalt Jade

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Hi muse, I did take a look at it. One thing I noticed right away was that the font for the banner menu on the landing page did not match those of the other pages. The sidebar titles did not match between the first and other pages too. You might want to change things to match. I like how things are depicted on the landing page rather than the others -- the bolded font looks too clunky.

Overall, it looks good, if a little generic. But keep in mind you can change things up over time, as you get more experienced with Wordpress.

Some minor comments:

I don't think you need a comma between your writing name and the word "Author" on the landing page.

The picture in the banner strikes me as fantasy-surreal... purple glowing flowers in a dark wood. If your fiction doesn't have fantastic elements, say, fantasy, I'd pick another picture. (Remember you can always change things around over time.)

Also, and keep in mind this may be me, the "with a touch of romance" may pigeonhole you into the romance field which may not be what you want. The rest of the website doesn't spell "romance"... I have not seen any bare-chested, hunky, firemen for example. If your fiction is primarily about crime and suspense, and includes romance in a supporting role, I think that's par for the course, and you don't have to mention it with "the touch of romance."

Your headshot isn't showing up on the landing page. I like the pictures of the dog though. I think every writer should show their pets (because they keep us sane, and give us exercise.)

For your fiction listings, showing the work in italics, and the publisher in regular, works better than the other way around IMO.

Some pictures were missing on the About Me page too :-( The captions beneath the lighthouse pictures have words that are mashed together -- are these alt-tags, or the real captions? I would like to see them larger too as they are an important part of your "life story."
 

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Aaagh! I've just changed all my links.

Surely, it's better to open a new window so the user can view both things? Do users prefer not to move from the website?

It's better for the user to decide how they want the link to open. This isn't just my opinion, this is standard practice by professionals, and has been for some years.

Consider that you do not know if your user is on a computer or a table to an iPhone.

You do not know if they are on dialup. Or if they are disabled visually and using a screen reader or special display.

If a user wants to open a link in a new tab or window, they'll right-click or control-click or tap-and-hold, depending on the device and OS they are using.

Always try to empower users and user choice, rather than making decisions for them, particularly when you don't know their circumstances.

There are occasions when it is better to open up a link in a new tab/window, and generally when that is the case (for instance, you want to compare two windows), tell the user that a link opens in a new window.

You can, if you need to hand-code the HTML to do that:

https://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_a_target.asp
 
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muse

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Hi muse, I did take a look at it. One thing I noticed right away was that the font for the banner menu on the landing page did not match those of the other pages. The sidebar titles did not match between the first and other pages too. You might want to change things to match. I like how things are depicted on the landing page rather than the others -- the bolded font looks too clunky.

Overall, it looks good, if a little generic. But keep in mind you can change things up over time, as you get more experienced with Wordpress.

Some minor comments:

I don't think you need a comma between your writing name and the word "Author" on the landing page.

The picture in the banner strikes me as fantasy-surreal... purple glowing flowers in a dark wood. If your fiction doesn't have fantastic elements, say, fantasy, I'd pick another picture. (Remember you can always change things around over time.)

Also, and keep in mind this may be me, the "with a touch of romance" may pigeonhole you into the romance field which may not be what you want. The rest of the website doesn't spell "romance"... I have not seen any bare-chested, hunky, firemen for example. If your fiction is primarily about crime and suspense, and includes romance in a supporting role, I think that's par for the course, and you don't have to mention it with "the touch of romance."

Some great pointers, Cobalt Jade.

Your headshot isn't showing up on the landing page. I like the pictures of the dog though. I think every writer should show their pets (because they keep us sane, and give us exercise.)

For your fiction listings, showing the work in italics, and the publisher in regular, works better than the other way around IMO.

Some pictures were missing on the About Me page too :-( The captions beneath the lighthouse pictures have words that are mashed together -- are these alt-tags, or the real captions? I would like to see them larger too as they are an important part of your "life story."

For some reason the photos aren't showing up in some browsers - my Ipad for example. Someone else said it wasn't showing on an android phone, but it is on mine. Although, I do have WordPress on my phone so maybe it's only showing because of that?

Anyone got any ideas why some browsers aren't showing the photos?

Thanks a million for all the suggestions, they're great.

It's better for the user to decide how they want the link to open. This isn't just my opinion, this is standard practice by professionals, and has been for some years.

Consider that you do not know if your user is on a computer or a table to an iPhone.

You do not know if they are on dialup. Or if they are disabled visually and using a screen reader or special display.

If a user wants to open a link in a new tab or window, they'll right-click or control-click or tap-and-hold, depending on the device and OS they are using.

Always try to empower users and user choice, rather than making decisions for them, particularly when you don't know their circumstances.

There are occasions when it is better to open up a link in a new tab/window, and generally when that is the case (for instance, you want to compare two windows), tell the user that a link opens in a new window.

You can, if you need to hand-code the HTML to do that:

https://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_a_target.asp

Ah, that does make sense. I'm afraid I was thinking that anything that took people away from my website was a bad idea. I never considered that my reader might be on dial up, or disabled etc.:eek:

As for hand-coding HTML....*Gulp*

But thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
 

ajaye

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Congrats on your website muse! You've included interesting info about yourself and in general the pages please the eye.

I'm using Chrome on a laptop and on the Welcome page I get the doggie pics & published works covers ok but just a box with the text CathyHeadShot. On the About Me page I get 3 photos ok (Rathlin Island, Button & Badge, & Rockabill Lighthouse) but the others are just boxes with id text.

I think the font for your name and some of the headings is too big and heavy - some felt a bit 'in my face'. I'd consider deleting 'author' altogether as you do have 'writing...' right underneath your name.

Re the Goodreads sidebar - it seems odd that your book doesn't have a positive comment with it. I didn't understand why the other books were even there until I clicked and saw they were your reviews. Perhaps I don't understand Goodreads well enough and this would be obvious to most people? If not I'd consider making it clearer. And I'd get a comment up for yours pronto.

Good luck with it :D
 

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overall it looks good. You "blog" menu link leads to filler text. the title changed fonts twice while it was load, not sure what that is about.
 

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It looks good to me too. Checked out some of the links and they're working for me. The Hungry Ghost sounds awesome! Love Dexter too!
 

muse

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Congrats on your website muse! You've included interesting info about yourself and in general the pages please the eye.

I'm using Chrome on a laptop and on the Welcome page I get the doggie pics & published works covers ok but just a box with the text CathyHeadShot. On the About Me page I get 3 photos ok (Rathlin Island, Button & Badge, & Rockabill Lighthouse) but the others are just boxes with id text.

I have no idea what's going on with the pics, why some can be seen and others can't. I've posted in the Wordpress help forum, so hopefully, I'll figure it out soon.

I think the font for your name and some of the headings is too big and heavy - some felt a bit 'in my face'. I'd consider deleting 'author' altogether as you do have 'writing...' right underneath your name.

I'm not sure what's going on with the font either. As soon as the page loads it comes out as thick bold font, then changes to the font I've chosen. No idea why it's doing that double reload.

Re the Goodreads sidebar - it seems odd that your book doesn't have a positive comment with it. I didn't understand why the other books were even there until I clicked and saw they were your reviews. Perhaps I don't understand Goodreads well enough and this would be obvious to most people? If not I'd consider making it clearer. And I'd get a comment up for yours pronto.

Good luck with it :D

I've just joined Goodreads, so hoping to eventually get some reviews for the book. I put the Goodreads sidebar in to fill up the page a little.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look at it and comment.:Hug2:

overall it looks good. You "blog" menu link leads to filler text. the title changed fonts twice while it was load, not sure what that is about.

Yeah, I've noticed that with all the pages. Has me stumped, too. :Headbang:

I wanted to delete the 'blog' page, as I'm not sure whether I'm going to do one, but it doesn't have a delete option.

Have I mentioned I'm a computer dunce? :greenie

It looks good to me too. Checked out some of the links and they're working for me. The Hungry Ghost sounds awesome! Love Dexter too!

Aw, thanks, Undercover. :Hug2:

I was using Firefox on a PC, if that helps.

Thanks, Cobalt, that info might help the Wordpress guys - if they ever answer my question. *sigh*
 

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I like the website. I clicked on the image of your cover and that took me to a bigger image, I expected it to take me to Amazon. By the way, great cover for 'Where There's Smoke'. I noticed the Goodreads panel on the right hand side of the page, is this an affiliate link?
 

muse

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The image header could be a little bigger, as in deeper. But that's just me.

Thanks, Cindyt. I appreciate you taking a look.

I've changed the image header, and the links opening in a new window. I've (I think) fixed the snafu with pictures. If anyone who was having problems before could check it out again, I'd be eternally grateful.:e2flowers
 

muse

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I like the website. I clicked on the image of your cover and that took me to a bigger image, I expected it to take me to Amazon. By the way, great cover for 'Where There's Smoke'. I noticed the Goodreads panel on the right hand side of the page, is this an affiliate link?


Ooops, don't think that's supposed to happen.:Headbang: Which page was the link on?

Oh, and thanks for the kind words on my cover. I still get a buzz every time I see it. :greenie.
 
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Daffyjkl

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The home page, under Published Works. All four of your books go to an image on my browser. I think they should go to Amazon. The cover is one of the best I've seen lately.