mrwolfHi,
I started my website almost 7 years ago as a community based blog/forum and have thought for some time now that its looking a bit tired and dated, particularly when compared to some of the amazing sites i've seen featured here. I've had some feedback from my readers and contributors but would appreciate a review by the collective wisdom here too.
The current design I adopted almost 4 years ago when i started using wordpress it hasnt changed since then. I'm definately not wedded to it anymore so appreciate any candour in your comments.
As a quick overview the site content is all based on news, events & information about the local community that i live in. It has a lot of (several thousand) lively and sometimes riotous posters. The vast majority of my content now comes from contributors.
(here i will apologies to preet for plagarising his/her questions of a few days ago but they were so relevant to what i want to know i had to cut and paste a bit of it)
The questions i have
a) Does my site need complete redesign and if so, where should i start?
b) If not, what all stuff should i change. see below.
Checklist:
1) Theme - how is the use of color and graphics? Do the colors match or contrast in a way to accentuate the content and purpose of my site?
What about layout and navigation (content, sidebars, etc)? Do you find the site easy to navigate? if you could rearrange anything what would it be?
2) The Header - is it too big/small or detract from the sites purpose. For that matter is the purpose of the site easy to identify?
3) Readbility: Font size, color, line-height, effect of overall color-scheme on the page and its affect on the readability. Its really important to me that i keep the content as accessable as possible.
4) Is it cluttered, ok or too sparse? Should i cut down on certain widgets or plugins, or perhaps add some in to make the site easier to use (eg. i dont have a comment preview atm).
5) Load time- do you find it acceptable?
Really appreciate your time. Thanks.
