I decided after reading Bjorn’s article (new window) that i would check out where most people that view my site come from. I signed up a couple of days ago with an online tracker (new window) that is able to record how many people visit my site, where they come from and lots of other data. Unfortunately its only been going for a couple of days, but was still interesting to see my top referrals.
Anyways, i’ve added a wee thing on the sidebar that will show all readers where in the world people are looking at my site. There’s a wee world map and anytime someone looks at my site it will show a wee red dot for where they are in the world! How cool is that! It’s a free thing which you can add to your own site by visiting their homepage (new window).
Feedback: i want to hear your thoughts on the ads now on the site, the Firefox button at the top and the Google search bar. It is all changeable so i can easily move them around, or take them away all together. Would love any comments you have on it, or suggestions if you want me to try moving them around. Infact, this applies to my whole site…oh avid readers…tell me how to make it better! My recent ventures (led and guided by my dear older sibling Mullac (new window)) into learning the basics of PHP and CSS mean that i can makes some pretty cool changes all on my own! Bjorn (new window) mentioned that i should change the font, which is a great start, but didn’t say why. Do you find it hard to read? Is it the wrong colour? Etc etc.
Any constructive comments will be greatly appreciated. I view my site on a 15.4″ widescreen monitor (currently at 1280 x 768) so it probably looks different on my sexy computer, to how it does on yours…
6 thoughts on “I Know Where You Are!”
regarding the fint change suggestion, it was just personal preference i guess, i just didn’t think it was readable, kinda like the default font provided by Blogger.com which i didn’t like. According to empirical research relied on by the likes of Google, anything that is related to Sans serif typeface is more readable, hmm, i haven’t explored why exactly yet but might do so after all these dastardly tests and essay over the next fortnight..
Hhmmm…interesting. Unfortunately i can’t read my own blog as i write it…so i always know what it’s going to say before i read it! lol…however, i do get what you mean and i’ve changed it to Verdana…how do you like this?
One of the down sides of using a variable width theme is that you lose control over how it looks on different people’s screens. For example, on my gorgeous 17 incher, it looks a big drawn out. But on my sweet little 12 incher, it looks too narrow.
A fixed width theme would give you more control…
Well…following a long conversation with my older version, i’ve not changed a few things…
1. The site does not change size relative to the size of the browser window, but is fixed at 730 pixels wide!
2. Font size of posts is a bit smaller.
3. Posted by text is smaller and date corrected.
4. Google search taken away, and all adsense removed.
5. Site search moved to top of sidebar.
What ya’ll think?
verdana looks good. I no longer have the impression i am reading a bad font anymore. haha.. Definitely an improvement, unless fans of your old font start blasting on this comment thread.
You might still be able to put adsense on the sidebar, reckon u might want some clicks and the spare change. I don’t like ad placements at the top of the posts near the titlebar.
One: they adversely affect the reading experience. Two: Very explicit commerical influence.
With your new No.1 Google ranking, maybe u will get a spike in traffic? haha.. If so, u can explore some other blog advertising templates, i like the style on gigaom.com, but he sells banner ads, not adsense. I don;t mind looking at his ads tho cos they r relevant and eye-catching.
Thanks Bjorn…much appreciated nice words.
Ads – yeah i think that they are not so intrusive on the sidebar, however, i don’t get enough visits to actually make a sizeable income from it, and i would definately put the pleasure of my readers before making a few bucks.
I know most people ignore them and even don’t see them…but if my site looks better without them, then i would prob rather keep it that way.
However, what i might do is do a fixed time trial run and see how well they do. Appreciated feedback there Bjorn…