Looking for some feedback

Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185616073|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

My site http://typesets.wikidot.com has been up and running for about 7 months now and I could use some help.

Sometimes, being so close to a project for to long you can't seem to see the big picture (site visitors/users) and your creativity hits a lull or swings the opposite and gets too crazy. It seems I'm at one of those points where I'm too close and was hoping a few folks could browse my pages and provide some feedback or ideas on presentation/appearance from a users perspective.

Any can help would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Ken

Re: Looking for some feedback

Helmuti_pdorf 1185616459|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Looks good !

I have no experience with coins (means collecting them) - they are always too much in my pocket..

But your site looks fine.

I would put the books out in extra pages ( and not forum alone for disussions).

And the collection of coins of other countries looks good - there could be some links to the official Euro-world ( should be existent I think- I know from my bank).

Have you written ( promoted) your site to any "official" coin and numismatic Organization & - group ?
(in german this is called "Verein") . or are you a competitor for them ?

Regards
Helmut

last edited on 1185618201|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by gerdami + show more

Re: Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185620140|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Thanks Helmut!

I would put the books out in extra pages ( and not forum alone for discussions)

Moving the book reviews out of the forums and onto their own page is an excellent idea!

I have linked to professional sites as my site is dedicated to a very specialized part of the hobby so it actually works well with and to some extent even complements professional sites. That promotion has led to some interesting links. I find it very cool that other coin sites and coin clubs are now linking to my site as a web resource.

Because of the sites specialization traffic is considerably lower than other sites I have but considering it's specialization I'm happy with the amount web traffic.

If you happen to have the link from your bank I'd appreciate it.

Thanks again,
Ken

Re: Looking for some feedback

hartnell 1185637091|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Note : I did not have time to read responses, only read the first post and look at the site.

You need an absolute beginners section. Looking at the site, not knowing anything about coin collecting I think "type set" as in lettering for a newspaper. If you need it, I will agree to be your electric dumbass for a few minutes a day.

—hartnell

PS, this may help your ego. :) I remember this site from when I first came to wikidot. I don't know why I remember it, but it shows you it at least hangs in a visitors memory.

last edited on 1185637171|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by hartnell + show more

Re: Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185639013|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Thanks Hartnel,

Believe it or not I prefer feedback more-so from folks that don't collect as it helps with site layout and navigation.

You need an absolute beginners section.

I started a beginners section but it's buried in some other pages but I like the point that it needs to be brought up so it hits you in the face (so to speak). This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for so I really appreciate it!

As far as remembering my site well aw shucks…thanks man. BTW, I like how the community page is working these days and the changes to the sidebar

Re: Looking for some feedback

hartnell 1185646868|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Maybe you should take a gotta catch 'em all pokemon-eqse approach. You can do this if :

• Each set has a name.
• Each set has a different personality.
• Each set has a learnable history and significance.
• The variations between the coins in a set are easily learned once the above is learned.

—hartnell

Re: Looking for some feedback

hartnell 1185647181|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

You should also make a cheat sheet of standard coin features and identification guidelines :

For example

• If the coin doesn't have normal letters
  • and the coin has a whole in the center
    • It's probably from China.

• If a coin does have a hole in it
  • but has a beaver on it somewhere
    • It's a two-ney from Canada with it's chewy golden center missing. Cash it in for another two-ney.

• If a coin bears the words "Brotherhood Democracy Peace" (or whatever)
  • It's definitely from France.

—hartnell

Re: Looking for some feedback

hartnell 1185647337|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

• If the coin doesn't have normal letters
  • Glows a radioactive green…
    • And makes an electronic "phone home" sound at odd times
      • Wow! Alien money! :)

—hartnell

Re: Looking for some feedback

hartnell 1185647850|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Sorry for all the extra posts, but I've been up for almost a day and a half.

Ok, here's a start :

"Why collect coins?"

It's true that money has it's own charm, being the universal unit of exchange it can buy you anything your heart desires — including more money. However, coin collecting is about more than the jingle a few coins makes in your pocket. Coin collecting is about the the satisfaction of completing a set and admiring artistry from around the world from all ages. From the more primitive coins of Ancient Rome that were minted by simply squashing the metal in a simple mold to the more refined methods of today, you will find artistry and history of coins to be a fascinating and deep subject.

---

Allright then. I just made that up as I went along. I won't be offended if you reword the entire thing. If you find it useful I'll be happy. —hartnell

last edited on 1185647912|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by hartnell + show more

Re: Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185657186|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

That's O.K. you made me laugh and joking aside a good start…looks like a little more work

Re: Looking for some feedback

Helmuti_pdorf 1185691505|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi Ken,
I am not an expert in Layout, but I found a good book :

http://community.wikidot.com/forum/t-13226/site-design-is-difficult-found-a-very-good-literature#post-33101

This is not a critic on your site, onlya tip…could be You red it allready..

- Regards Helmut

Re: Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185706607|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Thanks Helmut,

I haven't read the book but I am open to it. You can never have enough resources for this kind of stuff :)

Re: Looking for some feedback

Silvestro Fantacci 1185724850|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi Ken,

A first petty comment from me :) is about the symbol # that you are using in e.g. “the # of coins”, which looks a bit weird to me as I am more used to British English. I think that the word “number” would be more international.

Another comment I have is on the menu on the left. I think that perhaps the entries could be regrouped to distinguish between visitors who just come to see the site and members who are into editing it.

For instance, at the top of the menu I would only leave the entries that read-only visitors would be interested in. Still use the silver and gold graphs as separators between the two sets of entries but move e.g. the “How to edit pages” below them.

Perhaps the “How to join this site” could also be moved to be the first entry below the graphs, and the “Discussion Forums” to be the first entry above the graphs.

The general idea behind my comments is to help the read only visitors focus on their navigation menu.

---

On a more general note about this community forum, perhaps it could be useful to have a dedicated “Feedback” section for members to submit their wikis or pages for comments.

Re: Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185727491|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Silvestro,

I wouldn't call any of the items petty. Being sensitive to international views is a good thing. I also like the idea of restructuring the side menu bar.

---

_{-Silvestro quote-}

On a more general note about this community forum, perhaps it could be useful to have a dedicated “Feedback” section for members to submit their wikis or pages for comments.

That's brilliant! Helmut & Hartnell, since you folks are admins is this possible?

Re: Looking for some feedback

Helmuti_pdorf 1185732860|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi Ken,
a) this was called New Wikidot sites and is the place to introduce your new site and call for joining members..:

http://community.wikidot.com/forum/c-18/new-wikidot-sites

b) for "feedback" , or better a call for it like in this thread, there is the second category in the first group of our forum implemented :

http://community.wikidot.com/forum/c-10/how-may-we-help-you

I am not sure but I think everyone can use one of this categories to present her/his site after some time too, when the first phase of getting started and settings and the first invitations are over and ask for a feedback.

But this is only my oppinion! Whatever you think - you are free to post here - this is a wiki! :))
Regards Helmut

Re: Looking for some feedback

Ken Kash 1185729206|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Thanks Everyone for the feedback and I now have a great list of to-do's that should keep me busy for awhile:

• Creating some "Book Review" pages and I'll probably also use the comments module with it
• Creating a "coin of the month" page that will describe a coin and its unique features
• Definitely need to create a set of "Beginners" documents
• Keeping the sidebar menu clean and organized, was also thinking of using the foldable list feature to assist in this but I may do a wait and see thing first.