Jan 16, 2017 / Community Pool

Community Pool

The place for feedback, advice, and blogging camaraderie.

Have you just published a new post and are dying for some feedback? Are you redesigning your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

The Community Pool is for peer feedback and advice. Looking for more specific information? Check out some of these resources:

Tap into the wisdom of The Daily Post blogging community and leave your question here in the comments. Others can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

Looking for free, self-guided courses to help you get started with your blog (or revive a dormant one)? Check out our current offerings at Blogging U.

To help us make the Community Pool a productive space for discussion, here are some tips and guidelines you might find useful:

  • While you’re not required to, we encourage everyone who requests feedback to also reply to at least one or two other bloggers who need some help. Spread the love!
  • The Community Pool comments section can get quite big — and starting duplicate threads doesn’t help. Thanks for not posting the same question more than once, as well as for not starting numerous threads in a single Pool.
  • If you’re looking for quality feedback, be as specific as you can. Questions about a particular post tend to draw more comments than ones about entire blogs. Questions about specific design elements are more likely to be answered than ones asking for general layout advice.
  • We discourage leaving links without a more substantive message or question. These are often overlooked by other bloggers, and we frequently remove them to make the comment reading experience smoother. Also note that including multiple links in your comment might automatically put it in the moderation queue, which will delay its publication.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!
  • To keep from losing your place in the comment thread while you visit others’ blogs, right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • No running on the deck.

Are you a new blogger looking to share your very first post? We have a special forum for bloggers just like you in our weekly First Friday posts.

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    1. Just had a quick look at your Minecraft site. Overall, nice content. Just use post excerpts to make the home page look short and clean. You can add a few category pages in the menu as well as that goes with your content!

      Liked by 3 people

    2. Now that you’ve got that first post published, perhaps an hour or two in the Customizer will help you get more familiar with your blog. You can play with colors, put in something in those Text Widgets since they still have the default WP text (or get rid of them entirely – it’s your blog), put in something about yourself on the About page, and so on. Hope you’ll be in WP for a while, why not make it feel like home?

      https://scicasual.wordpress.com

      Liked by 1 person

    3. Thanks for sharing your site! It is very well laid out, and has a great amount of information!!! You are obviously passionate about what you do – that is wonderful!!

      I can’t wait to see your site evolve as you add more header pictures and widgets.

      All the best!

      🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    4. I am a beer lover too. But can’t drink for now. Went to your latest post too and just want to let u know that there is a notification at the footer that the instagram picture is not linking well. U may wish to take a look.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Sonali… I recently posted my first blog on Friday the 13th, which was totally intentional! If I had any advice? Staying true to yourself, your writing and have fun. If anyone would like to check out my blog: wannareadmymind.wordpress.com I hope it sparks some good conversation!

      Liked by 3 people

    3. Thank you for sharing!

      Welcome to the blogging community 🙂

      I love the nice, simple layout of your site. The way you have placed the header pictures with the posts is really nice. It would be great if the main header on your intro page showed more of the picture, and the title was a little more off to the side like some of the other posts. The picture is so lovely – it is a shame to hide too much of it.

      I really like the topics that you have chosen for your different pages. All the best in your writing !!!

      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    4. Keep writing and keep working to make your blog/website feel like home to you. You can customize so much with these wordpress themes. Just keep experimenting, but keep it simple! You are off to a good start with a clean and simple theme. When you have more blog posts, you might think about moving the “snippet” stuff to a separate “About” page so people know where to look to know about who you are and what the blog is about. Above all have fun!

      Like

    1. Thanks for sharing!

      WOW – what a great project that you did with your book.

      And what a beautifully written post !!! I just self published, as an Indie Author, my first book. You have really captured the hard work and need to be persistent and strong really well!!

      All the best with your writing.

      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Being creative, whether you are recognized for it or not, is the best thing you can do to feel truly alive. Of course, given what we write about at The Nostalgia Diaries, we really liked your “Some snippets of the Past” post. Keep on writing!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Glad you liked the older post. If you get a chance, you may want to skim over “Dear Gilbert,” too. It’s about a booklet of advice my grandfather was given in 1936.

        Like

    1. Your blog looks attractive and I was impressed that my gravatar picture automatically appeared next to my comment without any jumping through hoops on my part.

      One small suggestion – I thought the disclaimer should not be the first thing we see on your menu bar, assuming we are reading left to right.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you for sharing!!

      What a wonderful message you are sending with your writing. I loved reading your post about forgiveness. I also love the layout, pictures and colors you have chosen. It is warm and inviting.

      I look forward to reading more 🙂

      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  15. If we retitle a published post, what effect does it have on links to that post? Will a new title change the short code for the post? Is there anything else I should be aware of?

    I originally titled the post thinking of the picture and later realised that it might be a bit misleading, so I am thinking of changing it. Any advice or thoughts are welcome! The post is: https://susanrushton.net/2017/01/13/grass-maze-at-hoghton-tower-lancashire/

    Liked by 3 people

    1. In our experience, re-titling the post doesn’t automatically change the link wording. If you wanted to link wording to match the new Post title, you would need to manually edit the link. If you do that, and the old link had been shared elsewhere, people clicking on the old link would have a problem. That is our experience anyway. Good luck!

      Liked by 2 people

    1. WOW – thanks for sharing!

      I loved your posts about nature and the sea.

      Your pictures are wonderful!! You have really captured some beautiful moments.

      I love how nicely your site is laid out, and how fresh and bright it looks!!!

      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you for sharing!!

      It must be really hard to share such emotional and difficult things. It is amazing that you can open up and share with your readers. Your writing is fantastic.

      I LOVE Your idea about the shiny things!! WE should all do this.

      I really look forward to reading more of your posts.

      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  20. Hello everyone! Sometimes I feel like my emotions change quickly– from calm to excited, happy to sad, etc. Wrote a poem about it entitled eggshells. A bit on the abstract side 🙂

    Would love some feedback! And feel free to check out my other writing, I’d really appreciate it.

    https://sonderwriter.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/eggshells/

    Also, I would really enjoy being introduced to your blog, so leave a comment below if you want me to check it out 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Thank you for sharing.

      I LOVED your poem! It is very creative and you have captured the emotions beautifully.

      We all struggle at times, I think. I have found ways to journal, meditate, or simply take a deep breathe. I hope you can too.

      I look forward to reading more of your writing.

      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  22. Just did a new encouraging post! Short and simple yet inspiring. It would mean so much if you all took a peak and I want to invite you all to follow me on my blogging journey. Growing my followers would be a real blessing!

    A Wonderful Day

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Hello all, I would love to have feedback on my blog, & maybe make a new blogger friends! So, go check out my blog, and leave your feedback there, & I would be more than happy to return the favor 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Word and Whimsy seems to have the better layout, especially with your writing style (descriptive, personal, and a lot). With the latter, if your blog gets bigger, it may hard for someone to go into a past post without scrolling a lot. However, it’s just my personal taste. I like your writing style and use of pictures in both blogs, though.

      https://scicasual.wordpress.com

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Jonny, thanks so much for taking the time to reply! This is very helpful, and yes I was thinking the same thing, I like the theme of the 2nd blog but the readability is definitely worse the more posts I have and the longer they are! Will have a think, and will check out your blog too 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Adding a ‘Read more’ tag to each post would make the Russian blog more concise. The idea is that the reader gets a flavour of what the post is about and can click to read more, or scroll past to find a post that interests them more. Just an idea!

      Liked by 1 person

    3. You can add a Red More tag in for any theme. Just go into edit your post and put your cursor where you want the post to break – for example after the second paragraph. Then click the read more symbol that has a solid line at the top and the bottom with dotted lines in the middle. It appears after the justify text options and the tick with ABC above it for proofreading. If this isn’t clear enough, just let me know!

      Liked by 1 person

  27. Hey Ben, thanks for the tips!
    And to everyone reading this: Hi, I appreciate any feedback or comments that I get and look forward to reading your posts as well 😀
    dionnewatkins.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

  29. I’d like to invite everyone to stop by and check out my weekly poem, “Scene from a Dublin Winter Night.” I’m of Irish heritage, and never been to Dublin, I let my imagination run. The image might not be a perfect match, but I hope I chose one to capture the spirit of the poem. If you like the poem, please click the “like” button on the post page. Comments and feedback are always welcome, and please leave them in the comments section of the post page as well. If you like what you see, feel free to browse around, and follow along so you don’t miss anything as I post several times a week. Thanks in advance.
    Drew

    Scene from a Dublin Winter Night

    Liked by 2 people