Dinosaur Toy Blog changes

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks for the annotated image Ivysaur. I've fixed some of those issues.

If anything looks amateurish it's because I'm an amateur! I agree with you about the text on the popular posts but I just can't work out how to fix it! And I have to take a break now to avoid having nightmare visions about php and css code when I close my eyes!

[DinoToyForum]

You are welcome. I am glad to take my criticism nicely and do not feel invaded.

On the mobile version there is a strange yellowish blank banner. Where is it for? And in the menu perhaps highlight the headertitles such as home, about authors and top companies etc in another colour, or the subheaders. The rest  of the mobile version is nicely done. Well that font.. 😛

The yellow box is an advert position. Ads might not show for all users.
Thanks for your other suggestions.

[DinoToyForum]

I 'fixed' the Popular Posts sidebar by removing the images. I think this is satisfactory since there are now images on the front page anyway.
I also lumped three of the main menus (Top companies, Top Dinos, Top Companies) under one new menu option (Explore). This makes the top menu neater on small desktop and large tablet screens.

[Gwangi]

Great adjustments, it's looking much better now. 

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks for all the work you do with this new appearance, Dr Admin

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks.

I managed to fix the text on Popular Posts list, too (I think).

[mgaguilar]

I absolutely LOVE the prominence and pictorial representation of the newest posts column.
It was always sad to see the recent posts on the side of the website's homepage, and limited to 10(?) at most.

Great work! And awesome stuff.

[DinoToyForum]

Well done. It looks much much better now.

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it. I made the links different colours in the sidebar, as per your advice.
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The only problem is that my tweaks to the desktop layout have negatively impacted the mobile layout. Desktop users, for obvious reasons, have a greater presence on the forum (see comment from J @Josh above, and the poll here: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=1217.0). I'm one myself. So, I'm accepting this for now, but I can't ignore it forever, the stats make things clear...

So far in July 2018, desktop users on the Dinotoyblog comprise 53% of sessions (down from 60% for the equivalent period in 2017), while mobile users comprise 38% of sessions (up from 30%), and tablet users 9% of sessions (down from 10%). This trend suggests that non-desktop sessions - mobile mainly - will soon outnumber desktop sessions, after which it will be difficult to justify modifications to the layout to accommodate a desktop audience at the expense of a mobile audience. The trend might be accelerated by the new responsive layout, which should help rank Dinotoyblog pages more favourably in search engine results on mobile devices.

[Simon]

Well done. It looks much much better now.

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it. I made the links different colours in the sidebar, as per your advice.
---
The only problem is that my tweaks to the desktop layout have negatively impacted the mobile layout. Desktop users, for obvious reasons, have a greater presence on the forum (see comment from J @Josh above, and the poll here: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=1217.0). I'm one myself. So, I'm accepting this for now, but I can't ignore it forever, the stats make things clear...

So far in July 2018, desktop users on the Dinotoyblog comprise 53% of sessions (down from 60% for the equivalent period in 2017), while mobile users comprise 38% of sessions (up from 30%), and tablet users 9% of sessions (down from 10%). This trend suggests that non-desktop sessions - mobile mainly - will soon outnumber desktop sessions, after which it will be difficult to justify modifications to the layout to accommodate a desktop audience at the expense of a mobile audience. The trend might be accelerated by the new responsive layout, which should help rank Dinotoyblog pages more favourably in search engine results on mobile devices.

Question for you Dr. Admin - how can you tell what device the members are using to view the site?  Are you relying on self-reporting polls or is there some actual software on your end that can tell you what type of device the users are viewing on and give you these percentages?

If its the latter, its scary as heck in a way.  The internet used to be anonymous unless you were one of a handfull of uber-geeks; now software exists that can spy on your ever y key stroke (or even through the camera lens on your device).

"1984" came sooner than anyone expected   

[DinoToyForum]

Google Analytics. Don't worry, it doesn't tell me what you had for dinner. Every website uses some sort of stat counter and has done since the begining of the world wide web.

[DinoToyForum]

The new Dinotoyblog theme provides an alternative option for displaying a page of reviews in the same category. Example...

The old way: http://dinotoyblog.com/genera/carnotaurus/

The new way: http://dinotoyblog.com/genus/carnotaurus/

Which do you prefer?

[ceratopsian]

What I really like about the new version is the pale grey lines that divide each entry.  They make it so much easier to see to which photo the Carnotaurus text belongs than it was in the old version.  In the old version that really wasn't so obvious.  I also prefer the stronger and larger black text - I think it's easier to read than the old red.  I also like the date of the review being given.

I'm still less keen visually on the red text over the photos - but I can see the words fulfill a useful function that a lot of visitors to the blog will use.

So that's a vote in favour of the new version.

[DinoToyForum]

What I really like about the new version is the pale grey lines that divide each entry.  They make it so much easier to see to which photo the Carnotaurus text belongs than it was in the old version.  In the old version that really wasn't so obvious.  I also prefer the stronger and larger black text - I think it's easier to read than the old red.  I also like the date of the review being given.

I'm still less keen visually on the red text over the photos - but I can see the words fulfill a useful function that a lot of visitors to the blog will use.

So that's a vote in favour of the new version.

Thanks. I can reduce the size or change the style of the category text links over the images...

Edit - I have restyled them to be less 'in your face'. I could just remove them, that's easy, but I found myself using them, so I concur that they will probably be useful for other users.

[Lanthanotus]

I'd prefer the old one, I find it more clear and freindly for the eye.

[DinoToyForum]

I'd prefer the old one, I find it more clear and freindly for the eye.

Thanks. Funny how different people have different opinions. I'm divided!

Another benefit of the old one is that they are smaller so there are more on a page. But a benefit of the new one is that the pages are automatically generated archives, so there is one for every single category (Group, Company), tag (Genus) and author.

[suspsy]

I'm fine with the new layout, but I don't like how you can't see if there are comments on a review until you click on it.

[DinoToyForum]

I'm fine with the new layout, but I don't like how you can't see if there are comments on a review until you click on it.

Do you mean on the main/category page or the review page (or both)? I can probably work out how to add a comments summary, something like "6 comments", with is also a link to the comment section of the page.

[suspsy]

I'm fine with the new layout, but I don't like how you can't see if there are comments on a review until you click on it.

Do you mean on the main/category page or the review page (or both)? I can probably work out how to add a comments summary, something like "6 comments", with is also a link to the comment section of the page.

When I look at the main page, I only see the review images and headings. It would be pretty cool if it were possible to show "6 comments" for each one.

[DinoToyForum]

I'm fine with the new layout, but I don't like how you can't see if there are comments on a review until you click on it.

Do you mean on the main/category page or the review page (or both)? I can probably work out how to add a comments summary, something like "6 comments", with is also a link to the comment section of the page.

When I look at the main page, I only see the review images and headings. It would be pretty cool if it were possible to show "6 comments" for each one.

Done. I placed it under the date and in the same format as the date. Clicking it links directly to the comments as well. I also added this info to the top of each review, just under the title. Thanks for the suggestion!

[suspsy]

Funny, it's showing up for all reviews save for the Papo Dimorphodon, which I posted today and is headlined at the top of the page. I guess that's just the result of the page format? Ah well, don't go breaking your back over it.