Users RULE ! ! ! _ take 2 by Carole Guevin

Users RULE! ! ! _ take 2

About the survey

°° a) what's new -> 87.2%

°° b) splash page -> 12.8%

In the past week, we discovered that using Google to search the site was... not good because netdiver will be indexed when Google re-index which is about every 3-4 weeks... Since we publish almost daily, well you get the point, what's the use of a search box if it is going to yield month old + results.

So - we are now testing Atomz search engine. The cool thing - is that we can index the site every day - that in itself is way cool. Go ahead try it and send us your feedback.

Search tip: when looking for a precise name or site name, ex: James Craig better to use + between words (James+Craig) so you don't get all the Craig and / or all the James in the archives.

In the past 6 months, I have been hinting about the rehauling slowly taking place on netdiver backend. Though the tasks are not completed yet, some have been implemented, all and all, because users RULE!!!

Here are some of the things that have changed:

The sitemap was completely redesigned so that newcomers as well as seasoned users can find quick area of interests. The site has become a huge repository of links, close to 8,000 in fact, and growing... growing ;)

The snapshot galleries accessible via the battery buttons, are where sites are displayed. The review policy and the category description was updated in the sitemap.

Also the toolbox has it's new map - to books to code to tutorials to design resources, etc.

All directories have their index page and some directories were renamed as we had to rework the information architecture which dated back to when we first launched the site in 1998. Needless to say - it was a necessary clean_up step and as of yesterday, .htaccess redirection is provided for all *old* files / dir names.

Today, another giant step forward! The *splash page* is history! We had taken the decision but wanted to validate what you thought. We ran a mini-survey and the results were conclusive! So, we implemented the what's new page as the index.

On top of that, tx to James for the code, netdiver is finally searchable! In fact, we've been splitting our heads in pieces trying to find a way to make netdiver wealth of information more evident and... easily available. How about locating your site in the galleries or the toolbox (who are rechuffled because 404 are removed)? Results will even show what I said about it! Just drop a word like *fonts and get the listing or the word, drop *books and beware, *Eolas* to find related articles or the word *awards* for competition, etc. Hey, this is no way near perfect (like php includes we use for navigation will bring up a lot and definite redundancy), but with a little imagination, bearing it all, it's definitely better than none.

Finally the index is css driven only, no tables and tx to JF whom I heard mumbling a lot alone, talking to his screen, pestering on some of the requests that I, hum, the designer, asked for. You know, the pixel perfect placement... Dahlin' you rock!!!

Today was supposed to be a day off but we could not resist delivering this brand new index, because YOU, the users RULE!!!

BTW Mac users - if you see any glitches can you let us know!

Now! It is done (for now)! Have fun!

BTW if you wonder who / what the heck is the big thing in the top graphic? Well, let me introduce you to 7 arms, short of 7 arms of creativity which is the 3D version of the logo for the creativity coaching / conferences I give. Those who have attended and got a hand-out, are already familiar. I thought it was the right mascot for our Index relaunch!

Editorials by Carole Guevin