Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Big Reveal: My Poetry Site Is All Grown Up!




GRAND RE-OPENING

I've been waiting as impatiently as can be to reveal my brand new and waaaay more lovely and professional web site. Many thanks to Shane Helm and his team at Sonze Design Studio for their great work on this project. I really could not be happier! Please, please, please VISIT and give me your feedback, not just about how it looks but about how easily it navigates. My main purpose in revamping the site was to make the individual poems more accessible. Now, each one has a page, and as soon as the googlebot has a chance to index them all, web surfers will be able to google right in to a specific poem. (Before, they could only google in to a category, like "Spiritual Poems," "Children's Poems, etc.")

Initially, I wasn't exactly sure what kind of look I wanted. Should it be sleek and sassy? Warm and fuzzy? Awash in color and creativity? Black, white, and basic...so the poems could speak for themselves?? Completely at sea, I finally wound up visiting a lot of design sites until I found several styles that appealed to me on various (different) levels. I sent the whole motley mess to Shane, wrote some circular gibberish about what I liked and didn't like, and left him to come up with the perfect representation of who I am. (A difficult task considering that Shane has no idea who I am...other than a highly confused and confusing woman...and I suspect, after working with me on this, he would like to keep it that way!) However, he managed to come up with several concepts, all of which were great but two of which were even better than great. I see-sawed back and forth between them for a couple of days, asked for a few modifications, ended up selecting the one that had appealed to me most all along, and voila! Shane gave me something even better than I had envisioned! 
(Thanks, Shane.) 

When you visit (you will visit, right???) (now would be good), be sure to take in all the little details...like check out the bottom of each page to see the "roots" of the tree, the top to see the teeny birds, the leaves that remind me of my favorite season, and my little trademark book and quill pen. I am loving it!!

Best of all is the ease of uploading new poems...And yes, this means I will be doing just that, on a far more regular basis. So make the trip often, all right? I guarantee you'll find something you like (even if it's just the layout).

;)

11 comments:

Karen said...

Beautiful site! I added it to my favs - I really like the Wounded Heart poem and wish I could hear your lesson.

Thanks for sharing.

Karen

M. Reka said...

Lovely web page,I will make the trip again here :)

Kristin said...

I really do like it! Shane is awesome! One thing that might be helpful is to add a "back" button. For example, if I click on children's poems, then click on a certain poem, it would be nice to have a button that said "back to all children's poems" beneath the poem (or somewhere else.) Might help for people to more easily navigate through a certain category. Does that makes sense?

I seriously think it is cool, though. And so much easier to find all your poetry!

Lisalulu said...

a Beautiful site. (love the tree and.. bottom tree) how exciting for you. easy to get around and informative. love the humor poems.. -hot stuff!-

karen said...

Your site designer did a wonderful job! Isn't it amazing what they can come up with, given a little input? Just lovely - I especially like the tree roots at the bottom - pretty detail. Love your poems, and if I ever get a chance to teach a lesson (if they unchain me from the Primary piano!) I will definately be asking your permission to use one - they are beautiful!

karen said...

Oh - and thank you for your always kind and thoughtful comments on my blog. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who feels the way I do. It's nice to have company, but especially nice when it's someone I think is pretty together!

Fiauna said...

I love it! It's almost as beautiful as your words. I will definitely be visiting again.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to read your poems.

Unknown said...

All I can say is...wow. It's perfect.
I am looking forward to getting in there to read more of your poems!

jen said...

Another great place to enjoy SNA! Wish I had such a talent.
I've missed you this week!

Heather Anderson said...

Love your new site. Much easier to find your poems and a better over all look and feel!