Glass website Indexed and improved (I hope)

[Glen]

A note for those who use my website - I've just given it a major overhaul (and added new information) - the main aim being to provide a comprehensive Index that will enable visitors to browse and find information easily.

As the research articles have been added over time, I began to see that it was becoming hard to locate specific information unless one knew which article to go to.

I have now added a two layer Index. There's a broader category level, with live links to the articles - plus a more detailed layer where you can see which articles will give you information on specific glass makers etc. There is also a detailed pattern listing.

If you can't find what you are looking for, email me (link on the site).

Glen

http://www.carnival-glass.net

[Della]

It's great Glen, well done and a BIG thumbs up.  :D  :D

I am expecting another lidded dish tomorrow or Wednesday, as yet I have not been able to find the pattern. So......I will probably be calling on you, again for help.  :oops:

[Frank]

First class Glen.

[Glen]

Many thanks Della and Frank. I am really grateful to you for your opinions.

Della - I'm always ready to help - I just hope I know the answer.  :shock:

Thanks again

Glen

[KevinH]

Superb :!: What a delight  :D

Clean, tidy, uncluttered, easy to navigate.

Just one observation ... I imagine the links in the Full Index by Manufacturer and Pattern will be included a later date.

Oh, and I do miss one thing ... the cheery, smiling image of the author.

[AlmasAttic]

Hi Glen
it looks great!

I have your site indexed under recommended references and resources on our Auctionbytes forum.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10913

[Glen]

Kev and Cheri - many thanks for your comments (and Cheri thank you for putting it on auctionbytes).

Kev - I think you mean this page (and the similar ones for Glass and Classic Carnival).
http://www.geocities.com/carni_glass_uk_2000/INDEXeurope2.html

I thought long and hard about doing that (i.e. making all the article references into live links) but I thought that it would make the listing look too "busy" and complex. So I opted for an easy-to-read list. How I intend it to work is that the user should, say, look up the pattern > find the article/s they want to read > push the Back button > locate the live link for the article.

I think maybe I should ask as many people as possible for their opinions on whether this is easy or not. Or if they would prefer live links on the Maker & Pattern Index pages. My only fear is that it would make those pages hard to read.

Many thanks, Kev, for raising this issue.

I'm grateful for all and any views.

[KevinH]

Yes Glen, that's the page.

I agree with your concerns about it perhaps making the page hard to read if you include the direct links - even if you display the links as regular text, without underlines, the user's view, after clicking will (most likely) show it differently.

But how about ... precede each reference with a small clickable element (like a radio button) and have the link attached to the button. That would keep it simple and clean.

[Frank]

Kevin's right Glen, I went to that page saw no links and decided it was just a list of designs so hit the back button. However you do it, it should be linked as that is what people expect on the Internet. Remembering things from one page to the next is not my Forte :oops:

[Glen]

Kev - great suggestion.

Frank - right on.

Loads of work ahead of me now  :lol:  :lol:

Many, many thanks.

Glen

ps I'll report back soon!

[Glen]

Kev - thanks again for your suggestion - I've done it! I couldn't use perfect radio buttons as they simply didn't fit properly, so I made my own and gave each entry a live link.

My thanks again to Kev and Frank, and everyone who has kindly commented. Your help is gratefully appreciated.

Glen

[Lustrousstone]

It's looking really good Glen after all your hard work. Much easier to find things now. Just one thought - your 'radio' buttons work fine, but if it was possible to use a 'live ' bullet' point from symbol or something similar in a large size, they might look like buttons.

[Glen]

Christine - yes, absolutely, and that was what I tried to do. But I have a geocities website (I am not a web-designer or anything even remotely clever) and that has some limitations.

I can use "buttons" that look like buttons - but when they are placed alongside the text within the frame they float - and they do not show on the finished page in the correct place. The only way I could get a link that worked given my limitations, was to use some form of type/letter/symbol. That gives further problems, because some symbols do not show up the same on computers around the world (I know, as I have used the Copyright symbol that appears fine on my computer, but a friend in the US sees it as an entirely different symbol.

So - I experimented with a variety of numbers, symbols etc. And the combination I finally used seemed to work (and look) the best in the circumstances.

I guess I will never please everybody. So in the end I just have to do the best within my capabilities and give everyone the opportunity to access as much information as possible, as easily as possible.

Glen

BTW adding those buttons and links since yesterday has taken up around 8 hours of my time, so I'm not in a hurry to alter anything. My apologies to anyone who has any difficulty using my website.

[Della]

Hi Glen,
I have to admit that yesterday, the first thing I did was try to click on a pattern name etc. That is just the lazy person in me.  :wink:
I have revisited your site after seeing your post.
It is now extremely easy to navigate, so don't apologise. My memory is not the best,  :oops: so just being able to click on a link, without having to remember where it was I was going to, is just wonderful.
I for sure, and I am sure others too, really appreciate all the hard work involved :!:
Thank you.

[pamela]

lacking words. Glen - big value to/for all of us!
 :D