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Wednesday, 7 July 2010

New Poll: Is there a need for a separate website for the templates?

 In the image above the artist gets to grips with web design on a prototype 18th century computer... ;-)

Several people have suggested in the past that the blog is not a very good format for displaying and presenting the templates and I think there's some truth in that. With the linear format of the pages older templates disappear into the dim and dusty recesses of the blog. I have considered doing a supplementary website where they can be more accessibly and clearly presented. The problem is that at present I have too little time to do more templates as often as I'd like and making a website will eat up even more time I don't really have, so if I were to embark on creating a website even fewer new templates would be done in the near future. Hence the poll to gauge what sort of popularity a website would have to see if it would be worth the effort (although I make no promises that even if a website is overwhelmingly popular, it will happen soon or even at all!). But it will be helpful to get some idea...

UPDATE 16.07.2010: Thanks to everyone who commented and voted on the poll. I'm thinking about how to go ahead now and will report back when a decision is made!
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23 comments:

  1. Mike Cannon7 July 2010 at 00:49

    Blogger has some restrictions on it that make it a poor platform for what you are doing with the templates. A self hosted blog with WordPress would be better as the new meaning system they have is pretty slick. You can make a page for each template and use drag and drop menus to order them. If you want to know more, please drop me a line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Capt Bill7 July 2010 at 01:37

    Sir David, Glad to see you post, you were on my mind. Hope all is well! Maybe you could index all of your templates on the left side of your page with a link so they could easily be seen no matter how far back they were produced. All the best Bill...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jiminho7 July 2010 at 01:58

    David,

    I was going to suggest just what Capt. Bill suggested. An index with links would provide a useful way to search your templates. It might be the easiest way to give more accessibility, you would have to enable the Blog Archive gadget in Blogger and then edit each of your blog entries (templates) with an appropriate label, for which there is a small text box in the lower right corner of your edit posting screen. At least, that is how I remember how things work. Of course, a custom Cadillac web site is lovely but time is dear...

    Good luck with this!

    Jim

    ReplyDelete
  4. abdul6667 July 2010 at 07:55

    David,
    avoid at all cost what would cause extra effort and / or slow down the apperance of new templates!

    Wordpress in my experience is a pain in the neck for the reader.

    There is nothing wrong with blogger, even for the kind of work you are doing. The only difficulty with the current presentation is to retrieve old templates, but "Older templates disappear into the dim and dusty recesses of the blog" only because they are unlabelled. Labelling can be done a posteriori under 'edit posts', and I understand that with the number of templates already published it would be a chore, but it can be done progressively. With a few well-chosen labels (nationality, troop type) NBA would become easily searchable - the best solution imho.

    Jean-Louis

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pjotr7 July 2010 at 09:21

    David,

    I'm with Jean-Louis here. Labelling would seem the perfect compromise. Something I still have to do with my own blog, once I have enough contents.

    Pjotr

    ReplyDelete
  6. Soldadets7 July 2010 at 14:04

    In my opinion, if creating a new website for your templates hosting is to represent an undesired amount of work, don't create it.

    It would suffice labelling your templates posts. Might I suggest some kind of crossed labelling, so that every template post had at least two labels (one for Nationality, and a second one for arm or unit type, for example)? This way, any user would be able to set a search either by Nation or troop type.

    Best wishes,
    Lluís

    ReplyDelete
  7. Adam from Lancashire7 July 2010 at 15:04

    I agree with everyone who's said labelling, David. If a new website would take a lot of work it could become tedious quite quickly, and it'd be a shame if this turned into a chore rather than a enjoyable hobby for you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aonghus O Nia7 July 2010 at 15:08

    I agree that labeling is the easiest solution to making everything more accesable/searchable. Could you give access to a small group of volunteers to do the donkey work for you. I would definatey be willing to help.

    ReplyDelete
  9. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:04

    Hi Mike,

    I'm considering all possibilities at the moment, so will certainly give that some thought. Thanks for the suggestion.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  10. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:21

    Hi Bill,

    Good to hear from you. Hope all's well; is your wife in the clear now? Hope so. I have to see the ENT consultant at the hospital on Friday about the nasal polyps, which have been the cause of so much trouble. Hopefully the steroid treatment has cleared them but, if not, it will need an operation. Fingers crossed!

    Thanks for the suggestion. There is an index of sorts on the left of the blog page but the problem is that it is not visual (and it's true I do need to add the tags systematically!) - what I had in mind was webpages with thumbnails of the templates which when clicked on reveal the full template.

    Still thinking about all this, anyway!

    All the best,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  11. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:23

    Hi Jim,

    Thanks for the suggestion. I do have the Blog Archive gadget enabled and there is an index of sorts on the left side of the blog - but it's certainly true I have been neglecting the tags! As I said to Bill earlier, what I had in mind was something more visual and appealing than a list. Anyway, we'll see, as I'm still thinking this through!

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  12. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:25

    Hi Jean-Louis,

    Thanks for your forthright comments! :-) Yes, it's true that I need to do the tags systematically, something I have badly neglected. Even now, the search function does seem to work quite well - but that requires people to be looking for something specific, rather than easily being able to browse pages of thumbnails, for example.

    Will give it all much more thought!

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  13. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:27

    Hi peter,

    Thanks for your suggestion. Yes, it would probably be a decent compromise to make the labelling of the templates more thorough.

    Still thinking it through!
    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  14. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:29

    Hi Lluís,

    Thanks for commenting. Yes, it's true that creating a website would involve a good deal of work! Perhaps the labelling would be a decent compromise as others have also suggested. There does seem to be some consensus on this.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  15. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:30

    Hi Adam,

    Yes, it's very true that all the work involved in doing a website could become very tedious! As you say, this is a hobby and it should be fun!

    Thanks for commenting.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  16. David Morfitt7 July 2010 at 18:32

    Hi Aonghus,

    Thank you for the suggestion and the kind offer. I shall have to think this through!

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fitz-Badger8 July 2010 at 01:36

    Adding labels would take a bit of work, but maybe less than setting up a new site. Maintenance might be easier with just adding labels in the blog. A website with thumbnails would have the advantage of being more visually accessible and might attract more viewers (that's a big question though). I don't have a strong preference either way, I'll still check in.
    I agree with all of the others that whatever you do it's best if it doesn't become a chore. This stuff is supposed to be fun, right?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous8 July 2010 at 06:13

    David,
    Whatever you decide will be OK by me (as long as I can still access your brilliant work).
    Many thanks,
    Steve.

    ReplyDelete
  19. David Morfitt9 July 2010 at 01:34

    Thanks for commenting, FB. There's been an interesting "off-blog" development so it's possible a supplementary website might be feasible without too much effort. We'll see! I'll report back when things are clearer.

    Fun? Oh yes - FUN! I remember that, I think... ;-)

    Thanks again, and for your support and interest.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  20. David Morfitt9 July 2010 at 01:36

    Hi Steve,

    Thanks; glad you like what I do. :-)

    Whatever happens, the blog (or a blog like this) will still be around and if a website happens it would be supplementary and not replace it.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Fitz-Badger13 July 2010 at 00:36

    David, How would someone who doesn't have a Google account contact you about a flag?
    Asking on behalf of a fellow gamer (Moshe) from the Society of Daisy Yahoo group.
    He wrote "Would someone help me get in contact with the fellow who runs the "Not by Appointment" website?? I need to speak with him reference an 18th C
    multi-purpose Dutch flag!"

    ReplyDelete
  22. David Morfitt13 July 2010 at 13:53

    Hi FB,

    If it's the same Moshe then I've done things for him in the past and he should have my email address. But if he wants to comment via the blog without a Google account then he only has to use the Anonymous option in Choose An Identity when leaving a comment.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous14 July 2010 at 12:29

    Greetings,

    I havw need of your services, for which I am willing to pay....The price be reasonable! I am in need of a template for a horseman in buffcoat, lobster helmet, and with back-a-breast! Also a Dutch flag, based on tulips, with a wreath in the middle (I'll put regimental #'s in it!

    Thank You,
    Moshe

    Please email me at:

    moshe.zimri1@verizon.net

    ReplyDelete

Saturday 6th June 2020 I've decided to allow comments from Anonymous Users but I'll still be moderating posts, as I'm sure the spam will probably flood in now! We'll see...