DenniSys.com personal website (Full Version)

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DenniSys_06 -> DenniSys.com personal website (6/26/2006 4:53:54)

The website is DenniSys.com. It is done with FP 2003 by one graphically challenged author who believes that collaborative efforts are not unthinkable.

In 7 or 8 years of running this site I have never had a donation. So, I'm working on a few donationware VB.net windows apps, and will probably install some forum software (web wiz forums) in the near future on the site.

2nd biggest problem (graphic design is #1) is finding a reasonable Frontpage hosting service that charges $100 to $120 a year for thorough FP component installation support. Most skimp on something like the Microsoft Indexing Server which means I can't use a search component, as an example. It's almost like buying crippleware. Hosting services usually ask between $20 to $50 a month for a substantial package. This is outside of my budget for a largely philanthropic website.

A strategy that I have been playing with is to tie together a group of social applications around the 4 or 5 subjects covered by my website.

Another strategy is to separate the subjects into subwebs, and then work on them as individual websites rather than integrating them into one navigation system.

Guess it's time to ask for advise. So here I am asking.

Thanks in advance for your critiques.

Dennis D.,



Spooky -> RE: DenniSys.com personal website (7/10/2006 16:45:22)

I found it quite hard to navigate or understand the purpose (other than wanting to have a lot of links)



walrus -> RE: DenniSys.com personal website (7/10/2006 16:51:50)

Why don't you just try and make a few bucks from Google Adsense.

That way if people can't wait to navigate away from your site, you still earn a few bob.

They may even think they are navigating around your site



anderskorte -> RE: DenniSys.com personal website (7/11/2006 4:33:57)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Spooky

I found it quite hard to navigate or understand the purpose (other than wanting to have a lot of links)

I have to agree this. It's hard to navigate and the homepage is too complicated.

Technorati has also a lot of information on their homepage (see the site), but the point is to make it look simple. Cut the homepage down into regions and separate them visually from each others—each region should be its own piece of information or subject area. You don't even need to be graphically skilled to do that.



Donkey -> RE: DenniSys.com personal website (7/11/2006 12:29:55)

quote:

Donations: Please support our work.
What work is that? Providing a list of links to other sites that are going to provide even more links?

I missed the bit where you tell the casual visitor what your site is all about. Just looking at a load of links on a home page doesn't tell me what your site is for and I would leave it fairly quickly.

Sorry to be blunt but I don't see why anyone would need a site like this when search engines exist. You are just adding an extra link to the information chain. Where is the added value? No wonder you've never had a donation.



DenniSys_06 -> RE: DenniSys.com personal website (7/17/2006 19:42:11)

Thank you for the responses. They will be very helpful to me in my upcoming website builds.

I guess the primary clue for me is that, especially the homepage, should not take some time getting used to. Subjects must be clearly identifiable, and not busy looking.

Second, I should remove the 'I'm interested in these links, so I'll put them on the website.' link banks, and rather, move and display them on my localhost website if they are that useful to me.

I need a navigation system. I can easily see from most sites the better way to go. I have tried JavaScript and Frontpage web bots, and the problem is my implementation, which was a waterfall from the lack of focused purpose evident in the overall planning.

When I started the site I really didn't know where it was going to end up, and that shows. I have learned a lot in the interim about website design and development.

It is about time to for me to apply what I have learned about the .net Framework, ASP.net, VB.net, JavaScript, XML, and the EWD and VS tools.

I can see that the idea is to build very specific subject focused websites. So rather than having one site doing everything, there will more likely be several sites each doing one thing right.

Again, thank you for the reviews.

Dennis D.,
http://www.dennisys.com/




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