How would you improve the ComicList web site?
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$7 Answers
Since I'm not a web expert, but I have worked as a graphic artist, here's my suggestion.
First, the site is visually uninteresting. Maybe because I just moved (so all I see is boxes in my house), but I don't get the combination of comic and the box logo.
Second, when I first looked at the three buttons across the top, I thought they said the same thing. Curved text is very hard to read and should be used very sparingly.
Third, the color scheme is awful. Yellow and purple is not a very good combination (Sorry MN vikings).
Fourth, I don't want to have to read three paragraphs of text to see what your website is about. Learn how to write for the web. Here's a great link: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/lnc-collab-manual/709
That's just my first impressions.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Most importantly, from a user perspective, I would think thumbnails of comic covers would be a good idea. People are more likely to click on an image or photo than on straight words. A comic book cover can be quite enticing and would give the site deeper click throughs.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Strictly from a business perspective, by promoting a specific religion, you risk alienating the adherents of other religions, and giving the impression some visitors to the site are more welcomed than others.
It's, of course, your choice to keep it, and a segment of the users who visit the page will surely feel a sense of solidarity with you, if it remains, but I think in this case, given your target audience, it detracts from the atmosphere, rather than adds to it.
If, for example, Facebook was promoting Hinduism on it's main page, a Christian might be more inclined to seek an alternative social networking site that did not remind them each time they visited, that the creators of the site are at odds with their religion. I think the same principal applies here. Ultimately, it will turn off a larger percentage of your target audience than it will attract.
While, it is true that a large number of individuals are Christian, the Bible quote at the top is unlikely to, in and of itself, retain their loyalty, and is enough to discourage loyalty from non-Christians. Given the site is for comic books, especially, I think you'd be best to leave the site secular, since it deals with a secular topic. If, however, you were specializing in Christian comics, I am sure the Bible quote would be appropriate.
Food for thought, anyway. It's just good to be aware that politics and religion are polarizing issues and detract from the overall theme of a site aimed at a wider audience, who may hold opposing viewpoints.
Past experience
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$I would personally shorten the top "about us" text and move it to its own section.
I think the blog section should be moved up top
Add a top stories section that highlights interesting stories in the comic space.
Add a comic store finder.
Hope this helps.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$But, the real problem right now.... Those dang google ads. I get it. You gotta monetize. But, the horizontal text add under your naviation is distracting, and the dual "video" squares on your subpages are just annoying. Move them to the side or something. Get some content I don't have to scroll past.
Finally, the graphics for your 3 lists are, like darcy mentioned, not just odd, but in reality, they're not value added for the real estate you give them. You've already got the icon on the top left. 3 more of the same icon doesn't help. Worse, they tie up whitespace that's better spent on your links below.
Finally, your biggest thing is "ComicList". And this is clear and up front on the main page. Maybe I'm old school, but this kind of site is what the web is all about. Keep it real. I don't mind the Bible quote, or the color scheme. Keep your focus on the list. Keep the subscription options upfront and easy to use.
Possibly, if it's really what your readers come for, consider putting your list first thing on the main page.
As for coding help, if you're wanting actual HTML, you'd probably have to mention how you're hosted, or how it's coded on the backend or something.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$2. Pay someone to redesign your theme. There's too much yellow and not enough space.
3. Loose some of the advertising. It's getting in the way of basic use.
4. Personalize your feeds. You'll get to know your readers better if you let them set their preferences.
5. Push your feeds into social media widgets - make it easy to get updates in iGoogle, Pageflakes etc.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
The ajax idea is interesting, though I have no idea how to write ajax. I also offer a wide variety of feeds, but I don't know how I would create feeds readers could personalize, or how I would know what choices they made.
A lot of the work for the table feature has already been done by SpryMedia. Take a look at their demo. This is an open source plugin for Jquery that would give you the sorting and filtering you need.
http://sprymedia.co.uk/dataTables/example_zero_config.html
The user preferences are trickier. You'd need to have someone build that feature for you and either maintain your own database of users, or hook into existing networks - Facebook, OpenSocial, OpenID etc. A possible starting point for this is Zembly (http://www.zembly.com)
Most people store comics in boxes.
Darcy, I like those "color" sites. After reading them, I'd say my best bet would be a combo of blue, orange, and white.
What color combinations would you (or anyone) suggest?
Yes, but one doesn't think "boxes" when one says "comics." And your site is not about storing comics.
As to colors, these pages have some information on color psychology: http://www.2createawebsite.com/design/color-psychology.html
http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/find-the-perfect-colors-for-your-website/
http://www.avangate.com/articles/color-web-site_59.htm
But I would definitely go with brighter colors.