Posted by Garnet71 on February 12, 2009, at 2:48:14
In reply to To Administrators: Concerns; please address, posted by Garnet71 on February 12, 2009, at 1:15:11
I was thinking about your website some more and wanted to add...it might be helpful for administrators to start a thread asking members how they feel the forum would be best organized (but include limit of say, 6 topics). Of course, a consensus could probably never be reached, but it may be beneficial to have user imput.
For example, just off the top of my head I would suggest, roughly:
1. Medical - includes medications, alternative, neurotransmitters, etc.
2. Mental Health - would include addictions, psychology, self-esteem, support, relationships, etc.
3. Anything Goes - includes religion, politics, students, social, etc.
4. Resources - library of information about meds, MAO diet restriction, how tos, help, etc.; put your links here
5. About Us - administration, faculty, etc.I do have some formal education with information technology management, so I am not personally critizing those who designed the site, but rather am looking at this from a consultative/helpful perspective. It's not so much the aesthetics and graphics, although much can be done with that, but that your site's design should have the organization's goals in mind. If you want to increase your user traffic, there are some things you can do. First and foremost, in most cases, websites should not have more than 6 'categories'; otherwise, it turns off (although unconsciously) the visitor or potential user. In addition, the layout of the homepage will instantly attract or repel potential members. There are lot more things you can do, of course; these are just a couple of examples.
You might find the following resources to be useful to find site organizational design ideas:
http://botw.org/top/Health/Mental_Health/
http://www.strategichealthcare.com/awards/winners.php
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?cc=US&ts_mode=country
http://www.webaward.org/winners_detail.asp?yr
and
http://worldsworst100.blogspot.com/
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/biggest-mistakes-in-web-design-1995-2015.html
http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/top-10-worst-websites/261/
Good luck.
It would be fun--and a nice little challenge--to redesign your website.
poster:Garnet71
thread:879572
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20081228/msgs/879577.html