New Changes to The Vintage Inkwell Academy for 2021

[The Ghost Man]

Greetings all,
         I've some big new plans in store for the blogsite The Vintage Inkwell Academy and I wanted to obtain some valuable input from the DCM community for some ideas in the planning, direction and redesign. I recently experienced some issues that cropped up regarding the Menu not activating on mobile devices. This seems to be related to some antiquated coding within the paid vendor-abandoned theme for the blog itself. This in turn got me to consider an overhaul of the site in it's entirety.

I've already ditched Bluehost as my insufferably shite webhost and I just transferred the Ingenuity Serials website and The Vintage Inkwell Academy to a new one earlier this week. That transition over immediately made both sites load MUCH faster, but also now compelled me want to redesign both in order to better serve the visitors.

TVIA's come a long way since it's inception and has taken on a life of it's own, and as such, things must change and evolve. The first stage is completed of changing out webhosts, and now I'm full in the midst of stage two, the planning and redesign of TVIA. For one, TVIA will have a new, simpler URL site address of which I'm happy and excited to have secured.

Here's where I need your input to discover things you like about TVIA and things you hate or wish were added or changed. Please go to the site here: https://tvia.ingenuityserials.com preferably on mobile devices, and then if you'd be so kind, please reply back with what you like and hate, or challenges and frustrations with the site. Please be civil and constructive, and not just "The site's shit mate" lol, which wouldn't help me get to the core of what needs to be resolved.

Thanks sincerely to all in advance.

- TGM

[Yoc]

Hi GM,
The site looks very nicely done as usual.  Congrats!

One thing though, as it's historical in nature as well as a teaching resource, I'd strongly suggest adding publication years for any materials such as in your library.  It's good to know they are PDFs but a year it was made would also be fun to know.

And here's another one that was shared on Facebook for your collection.  Sorry I don't know any specifics about the ad.

Stay well,
-Yoc

[The Ghost Man]

Thanks Yoc, I thought about that, but then thought that perhaps younger visitors and art students would be turned off revealing the age of some of the tomes. I know that sound weird as you and I wouldn't care a whit, however this youth demographic often doesn't share our same love for these treasures. More than a few disregard them because of their age without ever once looking at the brilliant contents.


This younger tech oriented generation that's entirely captivated by mobile devices, is the prime reason I considered the site redesign. Unfortunately I haven't received much feedback so far (which might be good) and perhaps I'll consider keeping the unique layout much the same. I'll really concentrate on changing out the theme and build with mobile devices in the forefront of mind.


When I first put TVIA together with my cousin's assistance, I exclusively concentrated more upon the display design for Desktops. I've since gained much in knowledge and see in hindsight now that it was an oversight. The site looks grand on Desktop but leaves a bit to be desired on mobile devices. I will however be rectifying this in short order and return as best a site as I can possibly muster with my skill set.


It's funny, as I was just about to write you with my outstanding news of the day. Today I was able to secure a Holy Grail in the form of a 5 page script by Gardner Fox for the 1939 issue of Detective Comics #30 "The Return of Doctor Death". Positively over the moon at just uncovering this after so many years of searching for Golden-Age scripts. I'll be happily adding it to the TVIA Library soon.

[Yoc]

Hi GM,
Sure, I see your point.  I don't agree but it is your site and I certainly hope for the best for you.  It can be look pulling teeth sometimes to get feedback.

The forums here used to be much more active back in the Golden Age Comics era which was much quieter than the old Yahoo groups were back in the early 2000s.  Things have gotten very quiet here.  I had thought it was perhaps people moving to Facebook, etc but even on FB it's usually just a small handful making any comments.  The 'Likes' number can give us a small clue and the number of downloads each book gets is a good indicator that members are downloading the scans.  And that was the point of starting the site.

DCM went down the same path as you are about the mobile devices.  We even considered a redesign but in the end using the Preview function and drop-down menus you can easily navigate the site contents without using the main download page and still read each book on any device.

Hang in there and GL with the site!
-Yoc

[Yoc]

Hi GM,
I sent you a Private Message.  You should see a (1) beside 'My Messages' up near the top of this page.  Click on that.

-Yoc

[The Ghost Man]

Alright lads and lasses, just a quick update on the progress so far. This is a massive project that I had to split into 5 separate stages as follows:


Stage One - Redesign site completely, build mock-up and create new theme completely from scratch. - COMPLETED


Stage Two - Perform content redesign changes, test in 5 different devices and adjust as necessary- COMPLETED


Stage Three - Export and Import over all books and ensure all links are working. Change over contact email and form. - IN PROGRESS


Stage Four - Write and edit brand new post. Review and re-edit all old posts, update images as necessary. - IN PROGRESS


Stage Five - Review and test, then perform SEO set-ups and adjustments. - IN PROGRESS


Finale - Grand opening of new site. - IN PROGRESS


This has been quite the endeavour but I am over the moon at the way it's turning out so far, and the changes will be visually mind-blowing for new and old visitors. I've spent quite a lot of time and effort into thinking through and producing the best experience for the audience. Unfortunately my illustration studies have been put on the back-burner in order to accomplish this renovation as well as everything else.

[Yoc]

Wow, good luck with all this GM.
It sounds like a huge job on your plate.

[The Ghost Man]

Greetings all, just an update on the new TVIA site progress so far. It's been a lot of work so far, but it's going well, and I'm trying to get it done as soon as possible. I'll say one thing, you gotta be nuts to want to do this for a living and I can't wait to get back to drawing studies.


Stage One - Redesign site completely, build mock-up and create new theme completely from scratch. - COMPLETED


Stage Two - Perform content redesign changes, test in 5 different devices and adjust as necessary - COMPLETED


Stage Three - Export and Import over all books and ensure all links are working. Change over contact email and form. - COMPLETED


Stage Four - Write and edit brand new post. Review and re-edit all old posts, update images as necessary. - IN PROGRESS, three out of 5 have been completed so far.


Stage Five - Review and test, then perform SEO set-ups and adjustments. - IN PROGRESS


Finale - Grand opening of new site. - IN PROGRESS

[Yoc]

Hi GM,
Looks like you've made some real progress.  Hang in there!

-Yoc

[The Ghost Man]

Greetings again all,
           Just popping in quick with another progress update. Things are shaping up well so far and my last post rewrite is over at my editor's getting the once over. As soon as it comes back I compose it all in the website  builder and publish it out. I'm very close to the relaunch and thank everyone for their patience.


Stage One - Redesign site completely, build mock-up and create new theme completely from scratch. - COMPLETED


Stage Two - Perform content redesign changes, test FOR 5 different computer OR mobile devices and adjust as necessary - COMPLETED


Stage Three - Export and Import over all books and ensure all links are working. Change over contact email and form. - COMPLETED


Stage Four - Write and edit brand new post. Review and re-edit all old posts, update images as necessary. - ALMOST COMPLETED, 4 out of 5 have been completed so far and I'm working on the last.


Stage Five - Review and test, then perform SEO set-ups and adjustments. - IN PROGRESS


Finale - Grand opening of new site. - COMING VERY SHORTLY

[Yoc]

Sounds good GM!

[The Ghost Man]

Greetings all, I have some very exciting news!


All stages of the TVIA 2.0 rebirth project have been COMPLETED!


Watch the forums for the official announcement with the new address for the Grand Opening scheduled for this Sunday July 18th!


I want to personally thank everyone for their patience and support during the reconstruction. Cheers to you all!


Stage One - Redesign site completely, build mock-up and create new theme completely from scratch. - COMPLETED


Stage Two - Perform content redesign changes, test in 5 different devices and adjust as necessary - COMPLETED


Stage Three - Export and Import over all books and ensure all links are working. Change over contact email and form. - COMPLETED


Stage Four - Write and edit brand new post. Review and re-edit all old posts, update images as necessary. - COMPLETED.


Stage Five - Review and test, then perform SEO set-ups and adjustments. - COMPLETED


Finale - Grand opening of new site. - SUNDAY JULY 18TH!

[Yoc]

That's GREAT NEWS!

Congrats GM, looking forward to seeing it.