a little YMX in my life…

Ymx_alt_whitestrokeToday I had some spare time. So I spent my morning and most of the afternoon toying around with the design and feel of YMX. At the end of all that, there really isn’t much to show for my efforts… but I’ve got some ideas.

The site continues to do well, but I really feel like it’s plataeued as a "survival and indie-looking" site and we really need to take it to the next level of a professional-looking site. Websites, unlike blogs and other things in life, really and truly have a first impression area.

People come to the site and have to immediately decide if they are going to be a part of it. They say

1. "is it attractive?"
2. "Is it easy to navigate?"
3. "Is it worth my time here?"

That last one is the hardest to make happen by far (content, content, content)… and I actually think this is the highest quotient of the three for our site. We’ve got content that helps people in ministry every day.

My guess is that the site continues to grow despite an awkward interface and an awkward design because people are finding it very useful. But, we can’t continue to assume that our benefits of coming will always continue to lead new people to the site… and with the first two on that list can be fixed with some creativity, time, and money. We should be and will be looking to fix the first two things on that list while we continue to keep #3 going.

Of course, time and money are two things I am distinctively lacking in. But that’s beside the point.


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2 responses to “a little YMX in my life…”

  1. Blake Avatar

    Do you think you’ll always choose to use the same forum software? I ask because my personal opinion (and I’m wrong A Lot…just ask my wife) is that IPB or vB is the better choice. But I understand that they might not work w/ the CMS like you like it.

    Just curious. But thankful for what YMX has been able to offer student ministers around the country.

    Blake

  2. adam Avatar

    Hey Blake. You bring up something I’ve been thinking about fairly often. I really, really like vB. There are even some scripts out there to convert the 90k posts and all the memberships and stuff like that. My guess is that it would take about a week of downtime to integrate and skin and make it all work. So… good idea, just something that may be down the pipe a little for us.

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