I am in the final stages of refinement for my website. I've worked out a lot of the rough edges that appeared in the beginning and am now focusing on the final big picture issues that may need some altering.
Here is my Beta Release.
I've worked on creating an easier-to-read format for text. Instead of long paragraphs that can be boring to the reader, I've tried my best to use bold key words and throw in a bulleted list every once in a while. Since my website is about writing, it's sometimes hard to condense a lot of information into a small amount, but I feel I did a fairly good job at that.
I've also made some significant changes in the appearance of the site including the background I used and the color of the links. However, I've noticed that there is a difference in the links when using internet explorer and firefox that I'm not quite sure how to fix yet. So if anyone has any insights on that issue, feel free to share.
What I'm mainly asking for is feedback dealing with the information. Sometimes, when you're close to something for a long time you tend to look over things. Also, since I work in the writing center and deal with issues of writing all day, I may be forgetting to explain things or leaving important info out. If you see any of this please let me know.
Thanks for the help and here are some others' beta releases.
The difference in the links was a problem I had earlier today.The words were jumbled together and no amount of omitting and re-linking helped. I adjusted the font type and all was well.
Some suggestions would be examples of MLA/APA style documentations instead of just linking. Still provide the links to the official sites in case the user wants to learn more.
The section on using notecards is a great suggestions. Wish I would have thought of that when trying to include quotes in a 12 page paper from a stack of 20 articles. Notecards would have saved me a lot of staring at the screen and cutting/pasting/sifting through piles of papers-only having to re-sift when ideas changed.
Thesis writing is very difficult for many people. I've only recently broke through my "I don't know how to format a thesis" wall. I think that section is the most useful.
Andy,
I think your site looks good, and could be very helpful to a lot of people! The focus and organization of your content looks good and is easy to follow. My only suggestion would be to edit for a more direct voice. Like you mentioned, it’s hard to do this, especially when you are writing about writing. But if I’ve learned anything in this class, it is that you must write very succinctly.
As an example - on your homepage you have links under the subheading, “Writing Resources.” Each link’s explanation begins with “Includes…” This gets a little redundant by bullet three, so I’d simply suggest taking the “includes” word out and starting the sentence with whatever you already have.
This is kind of picky, but I’ll throw it out there anyway… I would change the subheading “Why Write.” The information you have under that heading is good, but I was kind of confused by the heading’s title. I first thought, well everyone has to write, so it’s not really something we need convinced to do. Maybe you could title it something like, “What better writing can do for you.” Well something that sounds better than that, but you get the idea.
Hope this is helpful!
I like your page a lot! But there is few problem you might need to concern:
1. It does NOT make me feel like to have motivation to click any of the links on the Navigation Bar. It looks like useless.
2. The background picture is great, but it does NOT work on my screen. (I guess it only work on 1024x768 resolution.)
Here's a couple of nitpicky items (I don't know if anyone has suggested these things yet) but the links I understand until I got to the ones under writing resources because they are already bolded and did not change in font size like the others.
When I went to Tips for Getting Started I found in my browser (using Exlporer) that the bolded words are crammed next to the next unbolded word. Perhaps add an extra space or a dash.
All in all you have great information spaced out in a way that readers find approachable. That's really exciting. I actually will show this site to my friends when they have trouble with writing papers.
Andy,
I think that you did a great job with this site.
I think that your background is very appropriate for the overall idea.
Dr. Jerz gave me a tip for the navigation bar on the left hand side. I incorporated his helpful hint into my site. Whenever a reader is on page of mine, I made sure that on the navigation bar that the link is either in bold or formatted differently so that the reader can easily identify where they are.
Besides that, I think you have great information and tips for writing.
I would use this site for a lesson plan of yours. :)