Dear Readers
Dear Readers,
It’s been a long time since I wrote a little letter here. Suffice to say, this letter has been a long time coming… and it’s past time I sat down to write it.
For weeks now, I wanted to welcome the new readers to Finding Wonderland. Welcome, and thank you for joining us here. If you’re a fellow blogger, reader, writer or simply a book lover, please introduce yourself. If you blog, I’d love to visit your bookish haven. Shout-out if you’re a fellow bookworm, let’s chat on Goodreads. If you enjoy talking about films, book recommendations or books, please know you’re always welcome to chat in our of our comment sections. We love conversation around here. If I haven’t visited, it’s probably because there are no blog links in your GFC profile and if you are a fellow blogger, I’d love to visit your blogosphere homes.
To everyone who has been with this blog since the beginning or has come in later, thank you for being fabulous blogging buddies; and for being a huge part of the reason this blog is still actively current. You are all such cool friends and it’s been a blast getting to know you all; I sincerely hope you know who you are. Thanks for welcoming a newbie into this circle going on six (or is it seven?) years ago.
I’ll confess, the reason for writing this is twofold. First, because I so appreciate all of you who are new to our readership, and am glad to have you along. (For this random, sometimes-sparse journey; thank you, especially for this latter point as I know I’ve been absent in the comments.) To my longtime readers, thank you. Your continued support and encouragement (whether you realize it or not) is kind, appreciated and always, so much fun.
Secondly I’d like to invite you to share feedback on this theme. You see, I’ve had a boatload of trouble getting it right, and I’d really appreciate knowing how it works/reads, loads and/or navigates. I love the demo theme, but the loading and tweaking the HTML code hasn’t been the smooth process I anticipated.
If you had any trouble or you feel the former theme was easier to read and navigate, please let me know! One of the things I do strive for is not only a fun place to chat, but also an easy one that makes it a nice bookish haven.
Thank you for visiting Finding Wonderland.
I added you as a friend on GR :) And I think the new theme looks great! Let me know if you need help figuring anything out – I have a lot of design experience (I actually have my own design business theblogdecorator.com, but I let my business partner do most of the work so that I can focus on my writing – right now since I'm on a deadline for my publisher, she pretty much does all of it). But I still know all the ins and outs to help out if you need help with this theme or anything else!
Hi, Tiana! Great to meet you – and thank you so much for following along. :)
I appreciate your feedback and kind offer of help. I may take you up on that. I do appreciate that designers make themes so easy to upload, but getting all the widgets right (and sizing everything to look "nice") is sometimes a challenge. I think there are some things I just don't care for in this theme, but I suspect more than anything, it's just me being "picky." ;)
I love the new theme! <3
Thank you, Heather! It's tough for me to know how it loads/works for everyone else, and I do strive to create as user-friendly a reader experience as possible. :)
Appreciate the feedback.
Hi Rissi! I'm a fairly new subscriber. I love your blog. And I just found your YouTube channel and subscribed to that as well. My blog is http://faerytalesarereal.blogspot.com/. Megan Scott
Hi, Megan! Great to meet you – and I so look forward to visiting your blog. :)
Thanks so much for the kind words and for hanging out on Finding Wonderland's Youtube and here.
I haven't had any issues with the new theme and think it is really cute! As always, I enjoy your reviews.
Thanks, Brittaney! I so appreciate that – and am relieved to hear there aren't any issues. So far. *fingers crossed* :)
I really enjoy your theme!! The colors are so fun and lovely. The design all flows so well!
Four small critiques/suggestions:
For me personally, I would like to see the ad at the very top of your page moved down, though I'm not sure if that's doable? It's a bit distracting and I think it would look better to start the page with your lovely header image instead.
Second, you have your social links in the sidebar twice. I think just including them once would be fine, especially where they are all along the top nav as well :)
Third, I would move the contact form out of your sidebar and onto it's own page that is linked in the top nav.
And fourth, I would move your copyright and privacy notices out of the side bar and to the very bottom of the site, below the images.
Thanks, Erica. :) I appreciate that – I love the colors too, but am glad to know that it's easily customizeable because while I don't change the theme all the time, I do the logo image. ;)
1. Good to know. Funnily enough, I'm the opposite. I like to get ads out of the way at the tippy-top. But I can 100% see what you're saying. That said, yes! It's completely doable. :)
2. I do indeed! Part of this is because my top sidebar links are coded with my welcome message, so that sticks with my theme no matter what. The second set of links are specific to this theme.
3. I do have my contact form in a page (in the menu), and yes, it likely does look/work nicer. :)
4. Thanks! All great suggestions and feedback. :)
Appreciate you being a reader, Erica.
Not a new follower here, obviously, but I adore your new blog design, Rissi. I think it's so cute but also really professional looking. <3
Megan @ http://wanderingsofabookbird.blogspot.co.uk/
Aw, thank you, Megan! I appreciate your kind words and all of the times you've visited – you're welcome anytime. :)
Hey Rissi! The new design looks great! My only suggestion would be to possibly put your past few posts above the upcoming film reviews, instead of under it. The movie scenes disrupt the aesthetic of your layout overall, so moving them down would make it altogether more coherent.
Thanks, Hanne. I appreciate the feedback and thoughts. I do love a good aesthetic so thanks for sharing what might help that along. :)