I think that you make fantastic plugins, but for first timers here, they wouldn't even know. Let the plugins get a tab in the horizontal navigation. I bet that a lot of your fans would be thrilled to be able to access the readme files for instance. I's just annoying to have to open the ftp program to find it, or to download a plugin again to find the readme files...
I've been giving this some thought, especially since I'd like to really feature plugins here more. I'm just kind of dreading putting together all the plugin pages because I have so many plugins now. ;)
Another concern is how to address the navigation. Currently we have this:
- Home
- About
- Blog
- Forums
- Themes
- Club
In the current design, there's not a lot of room for an extra menu item. So, my first idea would be to move the "About" item under "Home" to save a bit of room. I really feel like that's the only menu item that doesn't have to be on the top level.
Plus, I've been thinking about a slight redesign of some of the elements on the site, particularly the sliding panel at the top. The only reason I added it was because I needed to save some room. Personally, I'd like to remove it, add the "Subscribe" and "Showcase" links to the top right corner, and add a "Log in" show/hide form next to them. Then, maybe move the search form to the breadcrumbs menu.
While adding a place for plugins is something I want and am sure others will appreciate, there's larger design issues to consider. There's just so much content on this site, it can be tough organizing it all. So, the first step needs to be thinking about the entire organizational structure of the site.
Like the ideas and agree about doing away with the slider. There's too much info up there and unless you poke around you don't know where to look. I know it will be extra work, but plugins deserve their own forum as well as description page. That sounds daunting to me and it's not my site.
I actually find "about" more important than "home". Anyone visiting a site like this, knows they can click on the logo. You could use single links for about, contact and login. I also don't think "club" needs to be highlighted as you essentially get directed to this page if you try to do much. Club is really needed when people realize the functionality/info they want is not available without joining.
I was thinking of a design where the breadcrumbs area also contains search. Frankly, unless you limit the length of titles shown, this could be a problem. Also, it'd be nice to search the different content sections (blog, forums) separately which might require a more robust search. I don't think the font of the breadcrumbs needs to be as large though, so maybe there's a compromise there.
Hope this helps when you get around to it.
Sorry for not revisiting my thoughts here. But better late than never I hope.
I think it would be relevant to make some traffic-analysis of how your users sign upas a paying member. Which must your key KPI. Other KPI's could be signing up to the forum, newsletter (if you had one - you actually ought to :-) ) etc.
And then look at some numbers Fallout, Bounce rate, Path-analysis etc.
I think that you would find that Home and Club could be removed. But that's just my thesis :-)
I am a new member. I like the hybrid themes, but I am looking for plugins that function well within the hybrid themes. I have tried the search feature, but I would like a page (or tabs) that link not only your sticky pages but the community's comments as well. I can imagine that I would visit that page or section often. I hope that helps you.
Sharmil McKee
(btw, I love...love...love this theme. I am not a developer and even I find it easy to update my pages with interesting features. Thank you.)
@Sharmil McKee
Assuming the plugin is written correctly, using the WordPress APIs, it should work fine with the theme. There's also a sticky post in the Hybrid theme forum with that sort of information.
Right now, we're mainly talking about creating a "Plugins" menu item for the plugins I've written.
Thank you for your fast response. I just found the sticky post. Just what I am looking for. Thx, again. SM.
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