The first thing I noticed about your site is how well-suited that particular WordPress theme is to your project (although I’m not sure if you were intending to keep the default theme)! Are you going to eventually use one of your illustrations as the featured photo? My first instinct was to scroll past the photo to find out what “Dear Evie Shockley” means–and was happily met with a descriptive paragraph about what will eventually be on this website. Although, could you make your about page into your home page? Right now you have both, but I think the site would be easier to navigate if all such information was on one page, or at least if the home page had some directions that pointed us to specific other pages.
What attracted my interest, and what made me want to explore more, was the personal nature of your title, Dear Evie Shockley. But I’m also a little confused about the title at this point in your project, since this first prototype is incomplete. Do you mean Dear Evie Shockley, like you’re addressing a letter to her, or like you’re calling her “Dear Evie” as a term of endearment? While the title, at this point, draws me in, it also makes me wonder about this project and want a slightly more substantiative “about” page. Another strength I see in this project is the personal (and lowercase) tone in your “about page” writing, which is inviting on its own.
I was also confused as to why, on the “links” page, there’s an Amazon link to buy the new black. I was expecting one of these pages to lead to a portfolio of your drawings (even if that portfolio was currently empty since we’re in the early stages!). Have you guys thought about installing one of the portfolio plugins? I’m left wondering how you’re going to display your illustrations, what page they will be on, and what that page will be titled–or! whether they’ll have their own pages?
I’m not sure if this is a real obstacle, but the “obstacle” I encountered (after my slight confusion at seeing both a home and an about page), was when your links page led me to other websites, and away from your project. I would see this as less of an obstacle or an issue if the illustrations were fore-fronted–which I assume they will be!–but I didn’t want to be taken away from your project, somewhere else.
I want to be hit with one of your illustrations right away (which, again, makes this WordPress theme work really well for you guys), and then I want a roadmap of where the site can take me–where the illustrations will be, especially if they each have their own page, where their respective poems will be, and what “Dear Evie Shockley” means. Also, I want to know why you guys decided to create this site, and how your illustrations will enrich our readings of Shockley. I understand wanting the illustrations to speak for themselves, but I might still include a “why” section maybe toward the back of your website so that once we’ve seen everything, we can read about why you’ve given it to us.
I’m so, so intrigued, and I can’t wait to see how you both develop this site further!
Hi Abbey and Grady!
The first thing I noticed about your site is how well-suited that particular WordPress theme is to your project (although I’m not sure if you were intending to keep the default theme)! Are you going to eventually use one of your illustrations as the featured photo? My first instinct was to scroll past the photo to find out what “Dear Evie Shockley” means–and was happily met with a descriptive paragraph about what will eventually be on this website. Although, could you make your about page into your home page? Right now you have both, but I think the site would be easier to navigate if all such information was on one page, or at least if the home page had some directions that pointed us to specific other pages.
What attracted my interest, and what made me want to explore more, was the personal nature of your title, Dear Evie Shockley. But I’m also a little confused about the title at this point in your project, since this first prototype is incomplete. Do you mean Dear Evie Shockley, like you’re addressing a letter to her, or like you’re calling her “Dear Evie” as a term of endearment? While the title, at this point, draws me in, it also makes me wonder about this project and want a slightly more substantiative “about” page. Another strength I see in this project is the personal (and lowercase) tone in your “about page” writing, which is inviting on its own.
I was also confused as to why, on the “links” page, there’s an Amazon link to buy the new black. I was expecting one of these pages to lead to a portfolio of your drawings (even if that portfolio was currently empty since we’re in the early stages!). Have you guys thought about installing one of the portfolio plugins? I’m left wondering how you’re going to display your illustrations, what page they will be on, and what that page will be titled–or! whether they’ll have their own pages?
I’m not sure if this is a real obstacle, but the “obstacle” I encountered (after my slight confusion at seeing both a home and an about page), was when your links page led me to other websites, and away from your project. I would see this as less of an obstacle or an issue if the illustrations were fore-fronted–which I assume they will be!–but I didn’t want to be taken away from your project, somewhere else.
I want to be hit with one of your illustrations right away (which, again, makes this WordPress theme work really well for you guys), and then I want a roadmap of where the site can take me–where the illustrations will be, especially if they each have their own page, where their respective poems will be, and what “Dear Evie Shockley” means. Also, I want to know why you guys decided to create this site, and how your illustrations will enrich our readings of Shockley. I understand wanting the illustrations to speak for themselves, but I might still include a “why” section maybe toward the back of your website so that once we’ve seen everything, we can read about why you’ve given it to us.
I’m so, so intrigued, and I can’t wait to see how you both develop this site further!
Erin