Shaun Groves
I’ve been talking to Kat about redesigning this site for months now. I’ve made my list of revisions. I’ve checked it twice. But before I send it over to her and she magically makes it so, I want to hear from you guys:
What must stay?
What must go?
What must be added?
I’m listenin’
shaunfan says:
I really like your rotating blogroll, so that must stay. I miss the links to the board, so I’d like that added. Nothing needs to go. Shlog is by far the best blog I’ve ever read.
Keep up the great work!
Kevin
Shaun Groves says:
The Board links went away because 1. new threads related to this blog are only started by a couple folks (you’re one of them) and only once every lunar eclipse and 2.they weren’t being clicked. Sorry, man. I tried to get people posting on (or just visiting) the Board by linking there from here but it didn’t work.
Message boards have been replaced by blogs and IM for most folks don’t you think?
Cali Amy says:
Yes, sadly, I think blogs are more popular than message boards now. I hope you keep the blogs and your beautiful rotating blogroll, I suspect you’re going to ditch the message boards but is there anyway to keep a smaller version of them? those are the only things I use on the site.
kim says:
hey those flames are pretty cool….
Crystal Renaud says:
i know it helps reduce spam, but i am way anti-captchas. otherwise, i like your other tools and features. easy to navigate.
Cristy says:
My two cents: I’m more comfortable on the BOARD, please don’t get rid of it. Keep the VAULT and TOUR section, too. If you keep SHOP, DO something with it… did you finally get rid of all those M&M’s? You can get rid of WORDS & MUSIC because I like having your posts in one location, here.
Crystal, if you sign in, you have to deal with the captchas.
TC says:
I guess I’ll be the odd one out on this. I start from your blog and ‘hop’ to other blogs that I like from your blog roll. Which means, the rotating blog roll has truly messed up my routine.
Todd says:
I think folding words and music into your main blog would make sense – particularly for newcomers, expecting to find your discography under music and lyrics under words.
I think it might also be nice to have an “about Shaun” page (with a major link) that tells us, well, about you. This would be particularly helpful for concert promoters who are trying to convince their bosses to bring you in for a concert, but who are unable to notice the “About Shaun” underneath your mugshot.
I might also add some links to your social network presences – Facebook, MySpace, etc.
Finally, I think a section completely dedicated to Compassion would rock. It could highlight your work with them, allow people to post their own stories (much like you did with that post) and provide direct opportunities to sponsor.
Just my two (or five) cents.
euphrony says:
How about some cute puppies? What this site really needs is lots of cute puppies.
Oh, and maybe keep the rotating blogroll but have a separate page with a complete blogroll (with the link permanently anchored at the top of the rotating blogroll).
Cristy says:
TC, that’s how I used to do things. I’ve since added all of them to my bookmarks and don’t hop to anyone from here anymore.
Todd, great ideas. I’ve honestly never noticed the “about Shaun” button until now.
Todd says:
Oh, and along the lines of my “About” page, I would add a “contact” page with a form for booking and just general contacts.
keith says:
Your blog doesn’t allow me to embed links in comments any more. Maybe on the redesign this can be allowed.
Cali Amy says:
Oh one more thing, if you fold the three blogs into one, why not start some categories on the blog for easy navigation?
Shaun Groves says:
Really? Let me test that, keith.
Shaun Groves says:
I’ve got categories, but no, they’re not easy to navigate. They’re under that Archive heading over there.
keith says:
Whenever I try to embed a link in the body of the comment, I get a page that says “You are not authorized to perform this action.”
jason77 says:
i think you should have a link on top of the page that brings you to that SGTV post
Bryan Smith says:
I’m liking things the way they are. Your posts are entertaining and great to read. The page is easy to navigate. And the links to the side are great for new comers, like the compassion link. But you might want to try fixing the music player, or maybe throwing some stuff on there. I realize that every time i went to click play, it would be real fuzzy and wouldnt work. Just a thought.
-bryan
Zach says:
I’m with Kim in saying that those flames look pretty cool. Who wouldn’t like a website that looks like a burning newspaper!?
I think the point about categories is good. I think people would read a lot more if we could get around through categories easier.
MamasBoy says:
The bottom of the page has links to look at past posts. It looks like
Page 1 of 234 pages 1 2 3 > Last »
or
Page 5 of 234 pages « First < 3 4 5 6 7 > Last »
How about including a “next 5” or “previous 5” link for more quickly navigating old posts.
MB
Grovesfan says:
I’m for folding the words and music sections of this “paper” together. Please leave a space for tour information and the board, while small, is very good for us “regulars” who’ve been with you since the early days. I admit to using it less though as I tend to post more on the comments sections of posts. Easier to navigate categories and a a permanent place to find a complete listing of your blog roll would be nice. The rotating roll is a cool feature though. I’m also for less border as there seems to be a lot of unused space here. Having a separate section for Compassion would be awesome as long as it doesn’t get hijacked by other topics. Compassion is definitely your focus and should be the focus of any section dedicated to it as well.
Beth
Shaun Groves says:
Oh, yea, Words and Music are gone for sure. Have been for a while now in my thinking – they just haven’t been officially removed from the site. (Embarrassing)
The “extra space”: I assume you mean the red on the sides? The amount of space we use has to do with the screen resolution and monitor size of those coming here. If we use more space some folks will have to scroll to see import stuff…like my pretty face or the Compassion banners.
The Board is going away. I know a few of you love it – it’s really important to you but it’s going eventually. Don’t worry, I’ll give you plenty of heads up before it’s gone. This redesign won’t happen overnight. It’s potentially drastic.
Good stuff so far. Anyone else?
Tracy says:
I am loving many of the ideas so far. I especially like leaving the rotating blogroll, but somehow providing a link for the entire list. That means, however, that you have to add me!!!!
My only other suggestion is your home page. It seems a little cluttered. Is the tour info really as important there if there is clearly a tab to get to that? Simple is best. It would be awesome for promoters to be able to quickly access info about you, pictures, etc. It just seems like there is a lot of repeat info.
Shaun Groves says:
Agreed, Tracy. I thought I DID add you. I’ll do that right now. Sorry for the oversight.
Zach says:
Yeah, have a link to see the entire blogroll list, but keep the rotating thing going on.
And yes, the links at the bottom of the page when going through your posts.. should have a ‘next’ link to show the next page of recent posts instead of a link to the very first posts. Priority!
Kat says:
I think you should have lots of blinking graphics, a big flash game on the front page, and a pink background with bright red text.
If you need anymore ideas, just let me know…
Zach says:
YES FLASH GAMES! lol, I’m mostly kidding ; )
Noelle says:
Hey Shaun,
sorry I’m late on this conversation, but could you add a search bar for the shlog? Sometimes I need to go back to look for one in particular and I have to search and search until I find it.
Kat says:
In addition to the blinking graphics…
One thing that I did on my blog that doubled my page views (which I think ultimately increased my rss subscribers), was to list some of my favorite posts in the sidebar.
Shaun Groves says:
We have that, Noelle.
Spinster-in-the-Making says:
I didn’t read all the comments to see if this was mentioned but…
I see there is a tiney little bitty music player to listen to your music. It would be nice if you had some sort of play list with your music on it so we can listen to it while we read your blog, or something like that.
Noelle says:
Ahh… I see it now. Figures.
It’s good to know that God loves blonds too.
Biblefanmaryann says:
Well, I’ll miss the boards, but I see that they must perish.
Will your old blog posts still be available with the newly designed website?
Shaun Groves says:
Yep. No posts will be lost.
Sorry about the Board. Really.
Erin says:
I’m not a board person here, but i am other places so I have a two cents.
One of the good things about a message board is it’s nested nature. So if you want to reply to a comment it will appear underneath it. Whereas here all comments just appear chronologically.
I find that blog comments are good at starting conversation only some of the time. And message boards are 100 percent for conversations.
So maybe some nesting could be added.