Creech Wood Denmead

[PeterD]

This wood is one of the last four or so remnants of what was the Forest of Bere. This used to stretch from West Sussex to near Winchester. Bordered by the South Downs to the North and the Emsworth and Southampton to the south.
I have had quite a few visits to my Gallery and so I have spent the last few days creating a Home link page with new galleries to display the various aspects. The home link page can be found here.

All the photos have been taken on location. I have tried to make it an easy read.

Comments on strengths & weaknesses would be greatly appreciated.

[mbaldw]

Crikey Peter, you've been busy! As with the others, the site has an easy-to-navigate layout and some superb photos. The only thing I would say is that the link takes you to the Creech Wood site and you can easily go off to explore your pics of the flora and fauna. If you then hit the 'Home' link at the top (rather than back-tracking through the menu) you get taken back to the generic homepage and, as far as I could see, there's no link to get you back to the Creech Wood homepage. As you have links to the other sites (i.e. Oyster Beds and Chatley Heath pages) in the 'Featured Gallery' section of the main homepage, I think there should also be a link to the Creech Wood. Other than that, I didn't encounter any errors.

Cheers,
Marc.

[Littlesparrow]

I use to work in Denmead years ago, nice area, I didn't realize the wood was so ancient. the photos are lovely and show what a diverse area the wood is.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by mbaldw

Crikey Peter, you've been busy! As with the others, the site has an easy-to-navigate layout and some superb photos. The only thing I would say is that the link takes you to the Creech Wood site and you can easily go off to explore your pics of the flora and fauna. If you then hit the 'Home' link at the top (rather than back-tracking through the menu) you get taken back to the generic homepage and, as far as I could see, there's no link to get you back to the Creech Wood homepage. As you have links to the other sites (i.e. Oyster Beds and Chatley Heath pages) in the 'Featured Gallery' section of the main homepage, I think there should also be a link to the Creech Wood. Other than that, I didn't encounter any errors.

Cheers,
Marc.

Good afternoon and thanks for your comments Marc,

I have given your comments a great deal of thought (whilst carrying out yet more updates overnight).

The entry point to these mini sites is via the drop-down menu system but on reflection, perhaps it is not clear enough within the drop-downs. The featured galleries are limited to 4. The other way to access is via links I post but this is obviously not a good way.

I have a number of ways round the problem you describe.

1. To improve the Drop-Down menu descriptions.
2. To remove the Drop-Down menu when viewing these mini sites and provide an additional link to the Site Home page in my navigation links.
3. To remove the standard Smugmug navigation links to avoid confusion.

I shall start by looking at 2 and 3. If you have any other suggestions I would be very grateful.

Thanks again for looking and commenting

[mbaldw]

Hi Peter,

I must apologise because part of that was me not looking properly - although I'd looked at the 'Scenes' menu, I hadn't noticed that it contained links to the other locations. That said, when I look at it, 'Scenes' as a menu item suggests, to me, photos of the area, rather than a link to the website for the region. Perhaps either see if it's possible to amend the 'Home' link so it drops down and allows you to pick the homepage you want, or maybe introduce another menu (something like 'Locations', 'Microsites' etc.) that drops down to let you choose the area of interest. This would make it easier for me to navigate, personally.

Cheers,
Marc.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by Littlesparrow

I use to work in Denmead years ago, nice area, I didn't realize the wood was so ancient. the photos are lovely and show what a diverse area the wood is.

Thank you for your kind comments. Things are changing rapidly in the area although this wood is well protected. I have frequently visited Plant Farm at Waterlooville as the whole of this site is being turned into a housing complex from Waterlooville, out towards Denmead. Denmead villiage itself has changed a lot in recent years with lots of new housing.
I feel a need to re-call what we have now and what it is that we shall miss when the housing plans are complete.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by mbaldw

Hi Peter,

I must apologise because part of that was me not looking properly - although I'd looked at the 'Scenes' menu, I hadn't noticed that it contained links to the other locations. That said, when I look at it, 'Scenes' as a menu item suggests, to me, photos of the area, rather than a link to the website for the region. Perhaps either see if it's possible to amend the 'Home' link so it drops down and allows you to pick the homepage you want, or maybe introduce another menu (something like 'Locations', 'Microsites' etc.) that drops down to let you choose the area of interest. This would make it easier for me to navigate, personally.

Cheers,
Marc.

Good morning Marc

Had a bit of a busy day today but I have made some changes to the site based on your earlier comments:

I have removed the SmugMug navigation links from the top of the page so only my customised navigation links are showing. This should remove all confusion when viewing the mini-site pages. Aditionally, I have added a link to the Main Site Home Page. So thanks for the comments again.

I like your suggestion about having drop-downs to each of these mini site galleries making the HOME a Drop-Down. These are the sort of things I find most useful because I am too close to it to spot the opportunities
I shall work on this over the next couple of hours and post again when it is done.

[PeterD]

Hi Marc

I have now changed the menu bar as follows:

'HOME' becomes 'HOME PAGES' and is now a drop down menu item. The drop-downs lead to the site HOME page and the mini site HOME pages.

Each of the mini HOME pages has now a title so that the visitor knows precisely where they are.

I have left the links from the 'Scenes' menu item intact but shall remove the links to the HOME pages later.

To tidy things up further, I have now grouped the Guestbook, Site News and Links pages under a menu item called Site Info.

I hope these changes improve things and overcome the issues you quite rightly raised. For this I am very grateful.

[mbaldw]

Just been and had another look and I think it looks great - I now find it much tidier and easier to navigate. Spot on.

Cheers,
Marc.

[treecreeper]

My mother lives in Denmead and I've walked in Creech Wood several times without finding anything noteworthy. I'll have to look harder next time