bocron

So when asking clients and others opinions on our site one of the things mentioned pretty often was having our address prominently displayed. As we are a destination based business I can see why that is important to people. We do dog training/boarding/daycare and are a private park so I'm sure when people are looking one important factor is their commute. Training classes are weekly attendance usually, whereas daycare and park users may be coming 4-6 times a week! I currently have our address and phone number in the header but wondered if this is a waste of space and important real estate. We don't have a tagline (believe me it's NOT for lack of trying) so just have the name of the business and the address and that's it. Would love opinions. Here is the link to the site as it stands now (this is my practice/design site) www.qrbrochure.info Annette

Thanks all, I've been plugging away at the sources listed. I also found a book I'm enjoying called "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug. It's more about designing but explains the whys and wheres of the parts you need.

I know the very basics but would love to find a good source to read more. I want to understand when to use different things, why to put a menu where I put it, how to use the inner functions of building the site, like meta tags, what's a slug and when does it need to be labeled. How much space is good for text, or pictures or whatever. The general stuff in wordpress is good, but I'm leaving lots of things blank when I'm sure I should use them. I don't want to drive everyone here or on the wordpress forums crazy so thought a bit of reading would be the way to go. An ebook or a good website to get me started would be much appreciated! Annette

I am playing with the widgets and such that are available in my WordPress site. I put the "Cloud" widget in the sidebar of the blog page. I have no idea what it's function is and was going to just get rid of it but I'm sure there is a reason for this. Is there something else I can do with this? My link Thanks all, Annette

kralcx, Thanks! I'm looking at Ninja forms now and will add sign now to my list .

One other question. If I do an online form, how do I receive the filled out form? Do I get it in such a way that I can then print it? I need to have these forms where I can file them in our customer file cabinet(this is a state requirement, we have to attach current veterinary records to these contact forms and be able to produce them if an inspector shows up). I also need to have the forms in hard copy version for their first appointment as I make notes during the consult.

DS, both is a good option. I think I will start with the online option first since it is probably more time consuming to set up. I will need to add this option to a second page so I will be getting plenty of practice .

Thanks so much for the help. I've seen Gravity Forms but the rest are all new to me. Is there a reason to go with a pdf that they print and fill out vs an online form? I personally would prefer to fill out a form online since I can type way faster than I write but I wonder if the general web surfing public does better the other way? Annette

I have a document that all new clients need to fill in, it serves 3 purposes. Gathering general info (name, contact info, dog's name, etc) clarifying any issues (dog's history, behavioral issues, etc) and signing off on rules of the facility. I would like for clients to do one of 2 things, either have access to a pdf that they print, fill out and sign, or have an online form they can fill in the blanks and then it comes to me. I'm guessing there are names for these functions and there are good plugins or something I can use to accomplish this. I would like opinions on which I should use (I don't have a preference having never offered either) are there problems with each type? That kind of thing. As to the second option, is getting a signature online valid? I am using Wordpress so will go search their site but wanted opinions here from the learned web peoples . Thanks, Annette

Gotcha on the breadcrumbs, I figured that's what you meant but wasn't sure. I actually don't like those there either, especially since it doesn't show the whole thing, I just shows the main page and if you are in a sub page under one of them it isn't there so what's the point. I will find it and figure it out. I also hate the redundancy. It shows home in the menu, then home in the breadcrumbs and then home again in the center banner thingy. It's my own site and it's even annoying me . Seriously, I think I know where I am! Annette

Andrea, Thanks for the input. I agree with most of what you're saying (not saying I disagree with any of it, just that I don't understand everything in total ). I hate the white dead space to the right of the logo I just can't figure out what the rest of that area is called and how to use it. I will play with my logo today per your suggestions (actually the layout you suggested is how it is laid out on our tshirts so I have the layout pretty well done.) I have no idea what breadcrumbs are in this context or how to change them, this is something I need to learn obviously . I am limited in font sized in this thing from what I can tell. You have about 8 options to choose from and that's it. The linespacing I totally agree with. That is a pet peeve of mine but I can't find anywhere to fix it, I've looked and looked. I guess I will have to give in and ask on the Elegant Themes forums (nice people but horrible at answering questions helpfully). I've changed that page to 2 columms as 3 made it impossible to enlarge the bullet point section. Also, you stated a Home listing on the menu wasn't useful, what do people call that then? Annette

Yes, it is responsive. I do like the suggestion you made and like how it turned out so will continue on that path. I have a separate website dedicated to a QR code so will have that one more like the original since it was much easier to read on my phone. I will make the "main" with more columns (although I must be odd since columns make me crazy, I am a REALLY fast reader and the column layout is too time consuming whereas a wide layout is much easier for me to read). Annette

So I played with it and kind of got it how you suggested. I like it, although for mobile purposes it's a mess . www.qrbrochure.info/home2

Thanks all for the help. I may have made things a bit more difficult as I went to the WP forums to ask some questions and had to switch my theme to another one to show how it was messing up. I will switch the theme back later today to what I plan to use (assuming I don't just start completely over with Joomla or something ). The actual theme I'm using has a much smaller logo and allowed me to change fonts to a more legible type. I am going to get rid of the image slider on the first page, it just annoys me. I think I will make a dedicated gallery page and just have one image on each of the pages and then if people want to see more they can go to the gallery. I am one of those people in the minority who doesn't like to be distracted by pictures or videos, I just want to read text and then look at pics or a video when I choose to. I'm sure I can find a way to get it in without being too busy. I've decided to have a links page of sorts. I am truly doing it to help people out and not just trying to have links for the sake of links. I spend hours talking to people about what gear to buy to get started in Schutzhund (the dog sport we promote around here) and am constantly emailing people links and descriptions of the gear, whether to get leather or biothane, blah blah blah. I have a list of books they should get and a list of where to find clubs and competitions in our region. I have spent a lot of time compiling this info and think it would be great to be able to steer people to the website to get it all. So for those of you who are in the know, is it a bad idea to group these "miscellaneous" pages under the Home page? I plan to have a Gallery page, a links page and an Articles page (for my husband to post training articles). Thanks all again, I'm loving these forums so far. I spent a couple of hours last night reading and have learned much already . Annette

I'm new to this site and new to web design. I just want to do the design for my business (Hubby and I own and run a Dog Club) and for my personal dog breed website. I would love if folks in the know could steer me in the direction of the basics of layout. A good site to read or a good book, I'm happy to go read. I love to research but don't want to waste time on junk. I have very basic questions for example, is a list of links still considered a good thing to include? Is it a good idea to have tons of pictures or is that something that annoys visitors to a site? I can usually figure out how to make things work, I just need to know where to put it first . I just created my first "draft" of a site last week. I am using this site to learn and when I have a good basic layout I will put it out there. I am currently using Wordpress as that seemed to be the easiest to get up and going. I'm not opposed to others and have looked at Joomla as another option. But I will say that WP has been pretty easy thus far. I'm a dog trainer so this is NOT my bailiwick to say the least . But I did work in the industry many years ago so while I'm not a programmer I am very good at following directions and figuring things out. Here is my site, thus far. Right now it is published but NOT finished by any means. I'm constantly moving and changing things in order to learn. www.qrbrochure.info Thanks all, Annette