Site Improvements.

[ThePopp]

Please add comments regarding this site. What do you like. What do you not like. We want to make this community as useful, informative and interactive as possible.

[shelley vaugine]

At the last meeting you refered to a project that you thought a librarian might be able to help

ThePopp said:

not sure which project you refer to shelley?

shelley vaugine said:

Hey I am still available for that project you had in mind.

[ThePopp]

oh yes! we will be starting on our resource library soon. will call to enlist your expertise when we have the software identified... thanks.


shelley vaugine said:

At the last meeting you refered to a project that you thought a librarian might be able to help

ThePopp said:

not sure which project you refer to shelley?

shelley vaugine said:

Hey I am still available for that project you had in mind.

[Linda Chadwick]

Site usability analysis and design is what I do for a living, so I can't help but chime in here. This new site is a great asset for communication among existing members. You obviously have a very active and eager community participating here. The biggest "hole" yet to plug, though is information for newly-invited people checking out Well-Fed Neighbor for the first time. If I hadn't already known what the organization was about, it would not be obvious to me when I arrived on the home page. Up-front and center should be a short (one or two sentence) description of Well-Fed Neighbor and a brief explanation of what new visitors can find on the site and easy, obvious links to the types of information newbies will be looking for: what we are about, how to get involved, etc.
That all said, I must also say - you've taken great strides forward with your new site and I can't wait to see how it continues to evolve.
- Linda

[ThePopp]

great input linda!
we have had much debate over the 'elevator peech' we need at the front for new members. and for that matter, pr and recruitment. have been working with ruell and galen to draft, just haven't finalized it.
look for the addition soon, as we agree on the importance of a clearly stated reason for being.
also, the main 'site' will one day be a dashboard that includes this ning commun ity as well as all of the other aspects of the movement. should help add some clarity to the different ways an interested party can engage the WFNA.
thanks again and also thanks for stretching our membership to our 'neighbor' country to the north.
s

Linda Chadwick said:

Site usability analysis and design is what I do for a living, so I can't help but chime in here. This new site is a great asset for communication among existing members. You obviously have a very active and eager community participating here. The biggest "hole" yet to plug, though is information for newly-invited people checking out Well-Fed Neighbor for the first time. If I hadn't already known what the organization was about, it would not be obvious to me when I arrived on the home page. Up-front and center should be a short (one or two sentence) description of Well-Fed Neighbor and a brief explanation of what new visitors can find on the site and easy, obvious links to the types of information newbies will be looking for: what we are about, how to get involved, etc.
That all said, I must also say - you've taken great strides forward with your new site and I can't wait to see how it continues to evolve.
- Linda

[Tauna M Powell]

Hi Ruell,
thank you for your site. Teri Leigh sent me a newsletter e-mail and it had a link to your site, so i signed up. however, i am not from the Springfield area - is that a problem? if not, are there rules that instruct me as to what i can or cannot list in your classifieds? we do grass-finished beef and lamb, along with wool products, soap etc. also, i've contacted some realtors in the area (esp Lebanon/Richland) and am looking for some wooded pasture to purchase (at a reasonable, market price, of course). is that something i can list in your classifieds? sorry for all the questions - i'm new to all this stuff and still trying to figure out the differences amongst 'groups, forums, blogs, etc'. thank you for your consideration - tauna

[ThePopp]

Tauna. All neighbors are welcomed here. We like to share our learnings with folks in other regions as we impact our local community. Feel free to use the WFN classifieds to offer your products. Hopefully you will find some commerce and our neighbors will find an alternative to items produced from who knows where.

Tauna M Powell said:

Hi Ruell,
thank you for your site. Teri Leigh sent me a newsletter e-mail and it had a link to your site, so i signed up. however, i am not from the Springfield area - is that a problem? if not, are there rules that instruct me as to what i can or cannot list in your classifieds? we do grass-finished beef and lamb, along with wool products, soap etc. also, i've contacted some realtors in the area (esp Lebanon/Richland) and am looking for some wooded pasture to purchase (at a reasonable, market price, of course). is that something i can list in your classifieds? sorry for all the questions - i'm new to all this stuff and still trying to figure out the differences amongst 'groups, forums, blogs, etc'. thank you for your consideration - tauna

[Wendy Thomson]

Hi!

I've tried repeatedly to load my photo on "My Page", so that it appears in the Well Fed logo box (the large one on the left top of the page), presuming that once it shows there, it will show among the photos of other members, instead of the logo.

There appears to be no way to load the photo there at the top of the page. Yes, I browsed and loaded the location to pull the file from my computer. Yes, I successfully loaded 3 photos to my page.

Maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks.

[ThePopp]

well it sounds like you are doing the right things. the only things i can think might be at play are:
- file type, the image has to be GIF, JPG or PNG; limit 10MB
- its easy to miss the little yellow SAVE button at the bottom of the profile settings after you have uploaded the image.

is it letting you upload the image or is it getting stuck before it uploads?

Wendy Thomson said:

Hi!

I've tried repeatedly to load my photo on "My Page", so that it appears in the Well Fed logo box (the large one on the left top of the page), presuming that once it shows there, it will show among the photos of other members, instead of the logo.

There appears to be no way to load the photo there at the top of the page. Yes, I browsed and loaded the location to pull the file from my computer. Yes, I successfully loaded 3 photos to my page.

Maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks.

[Wendy Thomson]

Geez, I feel dumb... Yes, it was the little yellow Save button at bottom of that page; I hadn't scrolled down to see it, expecting it closer to the action. Thanks!

[ThePopp]

there's no dumb in here. ning has a way to go with useability. glad it worked!

Wendy Thomson said:

Geez, I feel dumb... Yes, it was the little yellow Save button at bottom of that page; I hadn't scrolled down to see it, expecting it closer to the action. Thanks!

[Joseph's Page]

Hey Steve, Thanks again for all your hard work.
I have heard this so much, and more so at the Lawn and Garden show - " I have been to the website but it doesn't say what you are about or what a new person can do." And they get lost just trying to go to the diferent blogs and such without having any direction.
There really needs to be a paragraph or 2 or 3 on the home page with "Who We Are", "Our Purpose", and "What You Can Do" or something to this effect, at the top of the Home page, so that people get some grasp of what we are all about and how the viewer can get started on the website and in helping them selves, family, and neighbors. Both Galen and Ruell have some good short paragraph statements they use in talking to people every day, that could be used here, along with some instruction for the individual to go forward. Comments???

[Kathy Vimont]

I second Joseph's Page exactly (and it's now September 2010). The 2-sentence opener at the top of the news page helps, but we really need an 'About WFNA' button with a page of classic Galen and Ruell...what are the guts/foundation of this movement? Ruell just sent an E-mail after the press conference talking about how he explains the message to new people. Let's just have that polished up a little and put it on the main page.

The first thing new people want to know is what IS Well Fed Neighbor about, and how can I get started? There are too many portals, IMO, but if the dashboard is what is going to come up first, there really needs to be buttons or tabs that will get them to that info. As it is, they have 4 choices and if they don't hit 'news', they won't get the WFNA LTD page where we do have a more normal looking main page.

So...I suggest either giving them a tab bar with About, Mission/Goals, etc right on the dashboard or just a button that says New? Click here first to learn about the WFNA.

Hope that makes sense....I send lots of people to the site but I'm a little uneasy that they won't be able to navigate it and will get frustrated. They have to have the rules of the game, so to speak, before all the chat makes sense, at least I do.