My dice collection site

Any comments ?

There isn’t really a lot to say, I guess.

It’s wordpress with a very simple theme, it works.

The header image looks very schoolish and could do with being replaced, I don’t see the point of the first 4 posts that I see on the front page being about changing versions of wordpress, and the google ads are just irritating (unless they generate revenue, which I doubt, then I’d drop them).

Ouch – sorry for all of that, but you did ask for comments.

Your sidebar drops down in IE6, have a look at these errors.

Yeah, the ads are for revenue.

The header image was done in pov-ray 3.1 of the platonic solids. Shapes that are used for dice. So Ifelt it was appropriate. I could substitute a photo of actual dice.

The errors are about problems it sees in the wp templates and the theme. I see no need to correct them as thats part of the core files, etc.

But thanks for the comments.

I’m not the guy in the Guinness book, he has over 20,000 dice. I might have 2,500 dice.

Your sidebar drops down in IE6, have a look at these errors.

The errors are about problems it sees in the wp templates and the theme. I see no need to correct them as thats part of the core files, etc.

Regardless of where the errors come from, the display of the page is adversely affected. If you dont care enough to fix something that looks like crap in a major browser — why should anyone bother with looking or providing any feedback.

That said, its plain, and its rather boring. If that’s the effect you were looking for, you’ve achieved it.

There are no errors in an out-of-the-box installation of WordPress…

Since I didn’t alter core files, just added a menu system and adverts, I don’t see how anything I did could create the errors.

As for being boring, well, I prefer to provide content over flash movies, sound, etc.

Did you mean something else ?

I am willing to make some adjustments to the look, but some things like flash, etc. don’t interest me.

I looked over the errors, I see nothing there I added causing the problem.

While I know many on the internet swear by w3c validator, I know it does see things that aren’t there.

One error is mentions is the blank in the paragraph p markup. I didn’t put that blank in there, wp did.

I looked at the sidebar php file.

I added the advert, and nothing else.

So it is either the theme which is verison 0.1 or it is word press causing the validation errors.

I have been a computer tech for 20 years now, and I really don’t see a sidebar looking different in different browsers as anything but normal.

I wont spend days making someone else’s markup/php give the exact same look and feel in all browsers. If anything should be fixed,it is browsers that are non-compliant with standards every one else uses.

I also realize most folks think dice collecting is boaring. I do it for the fun of it, but I know some folks out there take dice collecting very very seriously.

when I type in

<,br>

Something in wp changes it to:

<, /br>

I don’t added the blank and forward slash, something in wp does that during the save process. I don’t like it, but evidently it is done that way now. The same thing happens for the hr line markup.

https://validator.w3.org/check?uri=https://dice.drivein-jim.net/

well, Im not going to argue, I am, however, going to say that there are rudimentary errors listed there. They are not errors that “ought to be fixed” on the browser side.

For instance, THIS:

<img src="../graphics/large/styles_d20.jpg"></a>

Twenty years of something will tell you that that has NEVER been valid markup.

‘Nuff said.

Furthermore, this: < br > (spaces are my own)

…isnt valid XHTML, assuming that is what you meant above.

WordPress is XHTML compliant, consequently, if you input “shit” it fixes it, hence the <br /> (thats called a self closing tag).

Maybe take some time to acquaint yourself with doctypes before trying to argue about other people’s standards.

As for whats boring — the colors, the ads, the content, the layout. If you wanted to make dice interesting to people that wouldnt otherwise have thought so, you could have.. you simply havent. I suppose if you are the only person who ever looks at the site, you will have a happy audience ??

https://blogyul.miqrogroove.com/

thats similar in layout to what you have — still very minimalistic, but it’s more refined. You dont need “flash movies, sound, etc.” to be ‘inviting’.

(and Im just talking about the style)

when did br without the / change to br with ?

I learned html at htmlgoodies.com which has some nice free tutorials.

br doesn’t have a slash in it, but wp puts one in when I do a save. When did that change ?

Okay, the style there is a thin vertical line and a bluish tint around the search box. Seems to be similar otherwise.

What did I miss ?

<br /> does have a / in it; its a self closing tag, as I already indicated. it changed with the acceptance and adoption of XHTML.

https://www.w3.org/MarkUp/2004/xhtml-faq#need

What did I miss ?

Just plain old aesthetics.

You obviously enjoy what you have — continue to enjoy it. The world wont suffer.

I like this blog. First of all I like how you have a wide theme (or maybe it’s variable width) with nothing on the right. This works for some wide images you have.

Mainly I think it is a clever use of WP to categorize like-information and make it accessible online, as opposed to the usual talky blog. That said, your several posts about WordPress seem to take away from the more discrete categorization of the dice. How about delete the WP posts from the main stream of posts, and make a “Changelog” post to keep your notes about the software stuff?

On Category Archives, you could add the_content so that it actually shows your pictures in the Category pages too, for example here
https://dice.drivein-jim.net/?cat=42

The calendar in the top-left of the sidebar seems useless / unimportant / over-emphasized. Do your readers care what day you posted the dice on? I figure they care more about d20, d12, etc…. So I would move the calendar down or off, and emphasize your categories a bit more. Another idea is a small icon of each dice size, linked to the category, as a kind of visual navigation.

Move your “Pages” list up… maybe above the cats… maybe where the calendar is / was. Your Pages is good content (FAQ, Dice Links, etc)

good luck w/ your site

Dgold, Thank you for the constructive criticism. You make some good points.

I separated out my various hobbies into separate sites because it makes more sense to me to do it that way. There are dice collectors out there, I was kinda shocked when I found that out, and I doubt they would be interested in my other hobbies.

I do have a ‘what is new’ page on my other sites. I could put the changes on there.