One of the things I plan to change with the new IC is how the different sections of the site will be organized.
First, I don't plan to use the subdomains for the different areas of the site anymore. Instead of stockphotos.icecaves.net I might use icecaves.net/stock-photos/
On that note, I would rather not organize these different sections of the site as separate and slightly independent departments, but instead I'm thinking it would be better to just organize these as different "sections" or "categories" to the same blog (and community) that is IC.
I'm going to merge the navigation links for Blog and IC Home. I'll get rid of the blog section since I'll focus on the blog more as the core of IC. Web Design and Webmasters will be, rather, categories for the blog, as I mentioned above.
I'm also thinking of renaming Webmasters to Web Development. It makes more sense next to "Web Design" doesn't it? ;)
As for the rest of the sections of the site (Topsites, Community), they each deserve their own topics.
Your thoughts?
I like this reorganisation idea. It makes more sense to not make it a subdomain. Whenever I see a link to a subdomain I usually think 'This must be a different type of site'. I also would prefer to type in the URL 'icecaves.net/stock-photos/' rather than stockphotos.icecaves.net. I'm not sure but would changing it to 'icecaves.net/stock-photos/' improve the SEO?
Web development also makes the section sound more interesting & would make me want to visit that section. Although some people (particular the newbies) may be confused between web design & web development.
Password is just like your underwear. You have to change it everyday and make sure not to let anyone see it and use it.
Great idea. But Web Design and Web Development... Aren't those a bit too similar? I don't knowwww.
I'm a jack of all trades in training.
Well, if people roll over them the lists will drop down, and they'll see whats offered for both Web Design and Web Development.. so I think that's a great idea
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How about you put the 'alt' text tag/attribute/whatever-it's-called on each parent navigation (see here for what I mean http://awesomescreenshot.com/0783nmd2 ) so that when you hover over Webmasters in the navigation it will say 'Learn some coding techniques and webmaster tips that can help you produce a great website.' or something along those lines.
Password is just like your underwear. You have to change it everyday and make sure not to let anyone see it and use it.
you mean the 'title' attribute. But I'm not sure that would work very well. Right now you rollover those tab links to see the links under them, so it's probably not a good idea to have even more text coming out.
I like this reorganization idea. The subdomain/independent-departments idea wasn't a good idea, so it's good to see that getting fixed.
Also, shouldn't the stock photos link be next to the Web Design link? And the Webmaster (Web Development) link would look better next to the Topsites link.
I mean 'development' as a general category for topics from SEO to programming. Design does fall under the general category of development, but they aren't the same things.
Jules, the attribute you mean is the title="" attribute. alt="" is for images, but IE treats them as if they were title="" for some reason. But anyway, that's not a bad idea. I'm not sure how many people would find the title text, but it's not a bad thing to have.
And yes, I think it is better SEO, depending on what you want. Sub-domains are generally treated as entirely different websites. Our departments show up as different websites in Google search, but it comes at the expense of the ranking of the main site www.icecaves.net in search results because the hits on the other sections of the site aren't logged as increased popularity for the main site. It's also much less confusing when just browsing the site.
I grouped Web Design and Web Development together because they are similar areas of the site only with different topic of content. They will both be "categories" for the site's main blog. Stock Photos is a not going to be that, so that's why it's moved to the right alongside with Topsites and Community.
Ah yes I meant title. Thanks for correcting me. I think the title attribute would contribute to SEO.
Also, I think the pagerank of IC will improve if you use the 'icecaves.net/stock-photos/' version. When you use 'stockphotos.icecaves.net' it treats it like another site. IC's pagerank right now is 3/10.
Password is just like your underwear. You have to change it everyday and make sure not to let anyone see it and use it.
Yess. Do this. Subdomains aren't... Good. Their for hosting sites. *nods*
Also, I think you should change it to Web Development, too. Not sure. It might be too long, and people might get confused with the Web Design and Web Development.
Also, I think the pagerank of IC will improve if you use the 'icecaves.net/stock-photos/' version. When you use 'stockphotos.icecaves.net' it treats it like another site. IC's pagerank right now is 3/10.
^ That too.