My name is Beth Anderson. I'm a nurse, and I like to make websites. I'm also 
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OrientedX3: A Work in Progress
By Beth | May 22, 2008
I appreciate all the feedback I’ve been getting on Orientedx3, and today I came up with a new plan: I’m going to continue to work on it each week (hopefully!) and then blog about the changes I’ve made. Then, you guys can chime in - vote stuff up, vote it down, etc. and together we can create this work in progress. So here’s the latest version.
Here’s what I changed:
- Organized everything into categories
- Changed font sizes and colors to make things more readable
- I added a del.icio.us feed so that every time someone tags a site with “nurse” it will show up on OX3. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking service, in case you haven’t heard of it before.
- I also added feeds for NursingLink and Allnurses, using Page2RSS. It creates RSS feeds where previously there were none. (I found it via twitter- thanks, agitproper!)
- I spruced up the logo a bit, but overall I’m having some second thoughts about this…
I’m wondering if I need a more user friendly name.
I’m thinking that the name “Orientedx3″ is too complicated, and not easily recognizable as something that has to do with nursing. For those reading that aren’t nurses, you might be wondering what it means. It’s a term that we use to describe people’s mental status, when documenting a patient assessment. If someone is “normal” we would document that the patient is “alert and oriented times 3,” hence the name, Orientedx3.
I actually have two other domain names registered that contain the word “nurse” in them and I am considering switching the whole thing over to one of them. I am just not in love with the OX3 logo and concept. You might be wondering why I would want to “switch” teams halfway into the game…Well, if I had a domain name with the word “nurse” In it, then the site would be much more SEO friendly, meaning more people could find it through google by using the search term “nurse.”
A note on the style
Some of the comments reflected that the site looked kind of blah, and I couldn’t agree more. I think I tried too hard to capture the minimalist style of alltop and popurls, and I failed miserably. For now I just want to settle on the the fonts, colors and layout to create something that is easy to read, looks good, and is user friendly. I did play around with the logo a bit, but there’s no sense in doing that much more if I’m not feeling all that committed to the name.
Drop-down menus
A couple people suggested I use drop down menus and I think this is a great idea. It would really ad to the user-friendliness of the site. Unfortunately I think I will have to learn javascript to do that, and so it might take awhile. Consider it on my horizon, though.
A final note
I realized that “before” and “after” pictures would have been very helpful. Unfortunately I realized this after I started implementing all of the changes. So on the next go-around I will be sure to include them.
At any rate these are the two questions I would ask of all of you out there in blogland:
1. Do you think I need a more nurse-friendly name?
2. Style-wise, do you think it’s easier to read?
Topics: Blog |
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
I really like the name, but given your anticipated audience… Something “nursier” couldn’t be a bad thing! The KISS principle applies! ;)
If you have to change it, now would be the time, of course.
It’s certainly easier to read, ya got an awful lot of blue text going on tho…
Thanks for the shout out for Page2RSS! :)
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 am
Looking good. I do think there is a lot of blue text too, but I like the headers now.
As far as the name it may make sense to change it, but you will be starting over from a search engine standpoint if you do.
Thanks for the add of my blog.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:16 am
The Ox3 name is nice - sort of an inside joke, for healthcare. Maybe change the overall title and URL, but keep Oriented x 3 as a subtitle?
Otherwise, it looks a little busy, but I don’t know how you could include as much information without being busy…
Keep it up.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
1. A bit more spacing/padding between the links would be nice:
h3 {padding-bottom: 5px;}
2. Visited link aren’t noticeably different
3. Twitter headlines aren’t yellow like all the other headlines
4. The blue link color kind of stabs my eyes a little; maybe a less saturated blue?
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Stylewise, I like it better. It’s easier to read and pay attention to. I like the logo, too, assuming you keep the name. Speaking of, I don’t know if I’d change it. Who is your audience for this page? Primarily nurses, nursing students, and people involved in health care, right? Maybe some people are going to BE students eventually. Or are you trying to attract the average joe who isn’t in healthcare or isn’t a nurse? This is a difficult prospect, I think. So I think before you decided to change the name (which would be great if the audience was the former) you will have to figure out who you’re aiming at first.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Here in Belgium, we find a terrific idea to combine all the available sources of nursing information!
May 29th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Sounds good. Stay committed to it, I think it is a great project and service you will be providing.