New Site Features
ByO.K.
I think we’re just about done with all the fixing and changing on the site for now. Thanks for your patience this weekend! (Those of you who are subscribers and are reading this from an email or a reader, you may want to click over and check things out!)
What I’m most excited about with this new look is that finally, FINALLY…FINALLY my site is more organized.
Through the past two years my site has evolved and changed into a completely different creature from what it first started out to be. While going through these changes, recipes just ended up wherever they ended up….new categories developed and hung out in left field. The site became harder to navigate. And for the love of all things chocolate and sane…when you need to find the fudgy brownie recipe…you NEED to find the fudgy brownie recipe.
So now…when you scroll across the top menu above my header, you’ll find a drop-down menu under Recipes, Gardening and Preserving and Menu Planning. Go ahead…go scroll across. See the drop-down menu options?
Then, when you click on any of those links, you’ll find a page that offers help in navigating each of those categories.
For instance, if you leave your cursor on the Recipes link at the top, then scroll down and click on Bread and Breakfast…you’ll find a page with a link to ALL of my recipes that are bread and/or breakfast related. You’ll also see other helpful links such as my “How to Make Homemade Bread” tutorial and “How to Make Sourdough Bread”.
I tried to organize information for you so that when you have questions about menu planning or gardening or you need a recipe, you can find it more easily. (Good grief…I wanted to be able to find my own recipes more easily!!)
So, please spend some time looking around at all the new links at the top! Click around and get a feel for how it all works.
If you have more ideas for how I can further organize information for you, please email me and offer your suggestion. If it’s possible and will work with my site, I’ll try to work it in. I want to make my site as user-friendly for you as I can.
Ew neat!
I love that little bar!
It will be very helpful looking up your recipes!
I usually make something from HH at least 2xs a week!
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Ooooh! Aaaaah! Very pretty, and very organized! I could stand to do this to my blog. Are you going to write a post about “how” you did this improvement? With all the details, platform, host, how long it took, how many aspirins you needed, all that? Please, please, pretty please?
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Laura Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I don’t plan to write a post about how I did it all. I will say that it took help from my techy friend…it took some money to invest in a WordPress Theme that would provide the features I wanted to organize the site…and yes, I did get a migraine. :) If you want me to give more information, please email me with your questions! I’m happy to help!
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It looks wonderful! I’d like to make one very small suggestion: Is there a way to change the font color of your hyperlinks? Right now they appear the same color as the other text, so it’s not obvious that they are indeed hyperlinks. :)
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Laura Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Oh YEAH! My husband pointed that out and then I forgot. Thank you for mentioning it. They are very dark blue and next to the black you can hardly tell they are hyperlinks. I’ll see what we can do about that!
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I love it!! It’s definitely an improvement! Great job! I’m a sucker for good design. :D
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Thumbs up, Laura! I’ll admit to a few small frustrations trying to find recipes in the past. :>) Looking forward to clicking around!
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The new look is great and easier to navigate. I would love it if your main recipe pages had a list of recipes for each category of recipes. I still had to use your search to find a couple of recipes. Otherwise, you’ve done a great job.
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LOVE it! It looks absolutely fantastic & is (honestly) much easier to navigate. Thanks! Good job… to you AND your “techie” friend. :o)
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Love the new site look. One thing I am having trouble with though is the font size. I don’t know if it is this way for everyone, but for me it is very small. Much smaller that before. I tried changing the font size on my browser, but it didn’t effect your site at all. I have to sit really close to the computer to read your post now, lol!!
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It’s wonderful! I’ve had so much fun poking around over the past several months – finding new treasures here and there so it didn’t really bother me one way or the other. But, I am glad to know that when I need that Fudgy Brownie Recipe – I’ll be able to go straight to it!!
The one thing I miss is the picture of your family on the home page. I loved it. It made it so homey and real – sorta felt like I “know’ you (in that weird cyber-space kind of way) :)
I LOVE your blog, new, old or otherwise. Thanks for everything you do!!
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I love the new site Laura! I hope I have your same energy when I’m a mother of 4!!! lol I’m just in my 1st pregnancy!
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Looks great!
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If I remember correctly, there was a link on every post to return to the Home Page. I don’t see one of those anywhere now.
??Please?? =)
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Laura Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:53 pm
In the upper left on the main menu bar…the little button with a house…that’s the home page link. Because you’re right…that’s VERY important to have!
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melanie Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Oh duh. Thanks for the email, Laura! =)
((the house… or HOME tabby … I see it now))
Ya know they make all these games (and interstate signs) for non-readers. I guess I’m a bit of the opposite. ;-) I need it all /s/p/e/l/l/e/d/ out.
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It looks great! My one itty bitty request would be a list of recipes in each subcategory so I don’t have to scroll through every recipe and/or use the search box.
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Miss your family picture! It looks a bit less homey. Otherwise great job.
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Your site is lovely! It’s so much more user friendly now :D
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Nice work! Looks great. I always try to do a search for your recipes when I”m looking for a specific one, so that update is my favorite. Yes, I must agree with the others that your family picture was really part of your site before, can we see it again? :-D
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Hello,
Your site looks wonderful! A friend from church shared it with me, and we figured out that you’re married to my daughter’s (Bri A.) soccer coach at York. I was pleased to meet you and your family at Homecoming.
Looking forward to reading your posts and exploring your site.
God bless you,
Nancy
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We are DEFINITELY going to bring the family picture back. I never thought about how homey that made the site. It’s great to “see” things from your eyes! That’s why I asked! Be watching for it just as soon as we figure out how and where. Thanks!
Regarding the recipes being listed and easily clickable: That idea is SUCH a good one and I had originally planned to do it this way when I started re-organizing. But, it’s a time consuming one because there are LOTS and LOTS of recipes on the site. Not only that…but each time I add a new recipe to the site, I’ll need to add it to the list, which means an extra step everytime I write a recipe post.
BUT…I do really like the idea a lot and you seem to really want it AND I agree that it will add one more great step toward user friendliness. I just can’t do it yet. I PROMISE to work toward it and have that feature all tidy for you in the (near?) future. Maybe I can work on it over Christmas break?
Thanks SO much for your input! It’s so wonderfully helpful!!
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elaine Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 am
Yay!! The family picture is back! Love it!!
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Beautiful!! The site just keeps getting better and better! Your site is so full of some valuable information for homemakers! I love it!
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EEEEEEEEK!!!! I can FIND the recipes without having to search and search!!!! Bless you my sweet friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hated scrolling through to find them…you are my fave. :)
How did you KNOW!!!!! You are angelic enough to post them at all…and now…well…you are AMAZING. :)
I Love you. :)
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I read your whole blog and really impressed by the new site’s Features.It looks very good!In this for search box we don’t have to need scrolll down and other navigation is so easy.
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Was away the weekend you revamped your site and came back to this. Love it! :)
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