I'm looking to launch at http://www.jstroke.com and wondered if the Drupal community that I admire, respect, and fear (at least their opinions of my measly site...) could give me some insight into what i can do better.
I'm aiming at being a valuable resource for everyday people looking to find a canoe or kayak trip in the US (or abroad...). I know that I have a ton of work ahead of me to get content onto the site but I would like to help encourage visitors to contribute as much as possible. I also want to encourage my visitors to use the map and find where they would like to get their float on. Then allow them to open a descriptive page about their chosen outfitter and contact them with minimal hassle.
So if you have any opinions or ideas on what I can do better please fire away. Constructive criticism is what I do best.
Comments
great idea! really like the
great idea! really like the site. it will be wonderful once its populated. would love to know of some good areas to canoe in DC area.
my only thought is to change the page that it opens up on once its populate...right now the map shows gear...i would have it on trips.
Am trying to implement a mapping module for something different....local events.....how do you go about doing this....would really benefit from some pointers as i am a newbie too.
oh...one idea for getting
oh...one idea for getting content....i havent explored the site but do you have an associations page....i bet you could email the tons of canoe clubs and get them to enter some areas for a page talking about their club.
Thanks for the feedback!
I thing the idea of registering a club on the site is fantastic. It would help with exposure and with some of the data entry that I've been doing (and unsuccessfully trying to farm out to my users...).
As for help with the GMap module, I am by no means an expert but I have used it frequently and I think I know my way around it. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Looks cool
You have a great idea there. Whats up with the google ads? Are you looking to make money on the site? Until you get a good user base, it may be better to hold off on the ads. The home link on the bottom of the page seems a little out of place to me.
I assume you are the outdoors type, so think about what you would want to see from all angles. I would include some tidbits on there about the types of kayaks/canoes, the materials they are made of, and what they can be used for. A user submitted picture gallery would also be cool. Everyone loves to show off there favorite launch site and especially their rides.
If you are using other forums where people are asking about getting up to paddle, mention your site and suggest they look around. It will be tedious, but eventually, the users will do the work for you.
It looks great. Keep up the good work. Are you using Views module to generate your pages?
Good Point
Thanks a lot for the suggestions and positive feedback lazycatch!
I am looking into using the Image module to enable users to upload pictures. I'm testing it on my dev site right now and will hopefully going live with Image support by the end of September. I want to give a lot of options to my users on what they can do with their uploaded images. I envision a per user gallery for easy management, a public gallery for voting/showing off our rad gear, and the ability to assign individual images (when they are uploaded/created) to other nodes using CCK (node relationships) and Views.
I am using Views but primarily as a means to create blocks and some pages to be used within Panels. The Community page on Jstroke is one place where I used views and panels as well as the /user/[username] page. Panels is fantastic... wish I had discovered the module a long time ago!
As for ad support... it's something that I thought would be an innocuous addition that would maybe help generate a little cash flow if the site ever got any traffic but it just seems to turn a lot of people off so I'm wondering if I shouldn't just turn it off?
If anyone has suggestions or personal experience with the best/most effective way to implement ad support I would love to hear it.
Thanks again for taking the time to bounce around the site and even more thanks for taking the time to review it here with me.