“Pardon the dust as we do a bit of a makeover to the web site.”
~Doug Lietz
There have been some site upgrades that we have been wanting to do for a while now… and things have finally come together for this to happen over the next few days.
Although the site will have a bit of a different look, all of the components should still pretty much be in the same places… or at least close enough that you shouldn’t feel completely lost.
The most notable upgrade is the new commenting system which should make it easier to keep track of specific conversations that happen at each of the posts.
The plan is to have everything as stable as possible by Wednesday, September 7th. So up until then, don’t be alarmed if certain things don’t appear to be normal. All will get worked out as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience and understanding through this transition. Oh and please do leave comments in this thread to let us know what you think. As everyone here should know by now, constructive suggestions are always appreciated!
~Doug
Congratulations, Cindy and Doug, your new web design is out of this world! Everything is so easy to find, organized, precise, just perfect! It does not get better than that!! I can only imagine how much work went into this project, WOW, you are the BEST! Thank you!
Thanks for the sweet words Christl!
Love your new design for the web.. Thought I was on the wrong site when it first came up. Now for my question.. Can a UV Lamp that is used in nail salons to dry nails be used to cure resins on polymer clay?
Yes a nail lamp is actually what we use to cure UV resin. Use a 36 watt instead of a 9 watt though. They work way better and have much more curing space.
What would be a good brand to by in a nail lamp and what would be a fair cost of one?
Do they last longer than the one from Lisa Pavelka?
Hi Natalie…Ebay is an excellent place to find good buys on nail lamps. Not sure how they last compared to Lisa P’s brand, but the prices are really great — lots of members have left super-positive comments. Use the search box to find them in the “resin” threads, or search “nail lamps” or similar. Besides pricing, you’ll find other excellent tips, too. (For example, make sure the lamp has a setting that stays on…instead of just a 2 or 3-min. timer that you’d have to press repeatedly.) Good luck!
(Sorry I couldn’t narrow it down…there are 4 or 5 resin-themed threads! Very popular topic!)
Looking forward to the final site. Looking wonderful!
Hopping the iPad viewing will work with this update.
Love the new picture of you both at the top. It truly is a joint venture for you both.
Thanks for all you do! Edieh
Thank you! We thought it about time to include Doug in the photo, since he is such a huge part of why this site works. We do make a good team. We will be tweaking things around here continually and are trying to get it to work for the most people possible on the highest number of different devices as possible. The changes that are happening this week are not iPad related but they will come soon.
Oh, good, Cindy! You know I love to watch you on my iPad! But, sooner the better! So, far it looks really cool. Like the color palettes with the B series!
Thanks for your reply I have no problem waiting technology changes can take some time. It is worth the wait!
As long as I have a way (my PC ) to view I can wait. Thanks to you both.
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS :D totally made me smile and turn the laptop around so Alan (DH) could see too. Great to have a photo of the Leitz Team – ya’ll are too cute!
And Oh My is that a spell checker–when I saw it the 1st thought to cross my mind was “oh thank you I Need that!”
And a 5 minute redo button–awesome :D
Me again (sorry) but the new way the “recent comments” are posted w/ the 1st bits of each post written out deserves another Awesome!! Thanks for your hard work guys, I’m sure everyone is going to love this “more-new-better-way”
Thanks you for your great feedback and love! Another one of the cool features of this new commenting plugin is that the comments can be stacked under each other if they’re in the same conversation. For example I just clicked the Reply link under your comment and my comment gets grouped under yours with a little round photo instead of to the far left with a big square photo like every one else’s.
So if ever you need to add an after-thought to one of your comments, you can just use the reply link to reply to yourself… and then everyone will see that it is all part of the same conversation. Isn’t that so neat! :-)
I had very few complaints about the old site, but I’m blown away by all the great things that you’ve added to this one. I second everything Tantesherry said. I also think that the new site has a really slick, clean look!
Oh, I love the new Edit button. I used it because I forgot to say that I love the photo of you and Doug.
Thanks Linda! I am glad you are liking the new look. We will be doing a few tweaks here and there until everything is just right. Willow actually shot and edited that photo of us. I think she did a great job! Much better than that old photo with just me in it.
Once again, I say you Guys are so cute. My only comment is that the aqua font color is a little hard to read. Then again, it could be my eye balls are getting old.
Hows that? Is the Blue a little easier to read now?
That’s weird, I tried to go back and edit my comment to explain things better but it didn’t go through. Maybe I was slower than the 5 minutes allowed?
Any who…
What I meant to say is that we changed the turquoise/aqua titles and links inside the posts to blue instead, shifting to turquoise when hovered over. That should help readability issues.
We left the ones in the side bar though, for design and usability reasons.
Hope that helps you all out!
Yes thank you!!! :)
Anaa, it isn’t just your eyes! The regular blue is much easier.
This so cool! Replying to some one makes it much easier to folow a conversation.
Wow!! I love the new look, you both have done a wonderful job. Great picture of the two of you. Thank you both for all the hard work you do to make our experience with you so easy and enjoyable. I appreciate all the time you both spend to make this possible. I also find the aqua color a little hard to read. You’re the best!! XXX
Love the new look, Cindy and Doug! Love the new banner too! You two are an awesome team! Thanks for all your hard work!
Wow, congratulations on a great new look!!!!
I have not been on site to much lately but I do keep up with you all. I love the new look ,Cindy and Doug you are the greatest.and allways in my thoughts.
Great new look ! And I like the new banner – seeing the Lietz team – and what a clever way to use the Pandora style bead !
Ok one more suggestion you need a about us tab. I know some where on the blog you have told us about you and your family (your bear project and the kids Ect). Would be nice to have them in one place along with the new videos about your work shop Ect. Love the personal touch. Edie
Love the new look…it is so easy on the eyes and user friendly…..and my favorite thing is the new logo with the little pandora style bead “chilling” on the C……..fantastic!!!!! So nice to meet you Doug.
Wowsers! Thought the old laptop goofed when this new look popped up. Definitely a cleaner look, as well as a bit higher tech. Especially like the reply button to each post.
Everything looks great. It’s nice to have more Doug!
Hi Cindy and Doug,
Being one of the newer members, I was just finally comfortable navigating around the old page but I don’t think the new one will be any problem. Plus I really like the look of the new one. Much more professional looking and user friendly. Putting Doug’s pic up is a great idea. Now we just need to get Willow’s up there, since she does so much of the fabulous photography :)
The site looks so polished and professional ! Congrats on all your hard work, guys ! We all really appreciate all you have done for us. Can’t wait for the final finish………….
I love the new look! And how nice to see Doug, too!
Your hard work is much appreciated.
All the best,
Sharon
Gosh what a wonderful surprise. When this site popped up instead of the old one , I thought for a second something going wrong with the computer! Looks so professional and so easy to navigate. Love the logo with the Pandora style bead and also the pic of you and Doug. Congratulations!!
Love the new, clean look AND the extra features now too!! Thank you C&D for all your dedication in keeping this site so well maintained. The blog looks just awesome, it really does reflect the pride you both take in your work!
OMG!! What a stunning new look to our favorite website!!!! I haven’t been around for a few days and so just received this wonderful surprise. Ditto everything said by others regarding its appearance, navigation options, etc. Congratulations and thank you Cindy & Doug!
With love and appreciation,
Elizabeth
WOW I JUST LOVE IT ALL
Sorry for the late reply but I have also been gone for more than a few days. But what a wonderful surprise waiting for me. Love the picture the team is at the top where it belongs. As always you hit another right out of the park. The two of you just keep giving all of us more and more. CONGRATULATIONS on this wonderful new venture. Can’t wait to dig in.
Many Uuuugggs, Peggy
Thank you everyone! I am glad to hear you like the new site. There will be a few tweaks here and there as we go along, but I think we have got a pretty good start to a cleaner and easier to navigate site. Thanks again for all you support. Love you guys!
Wow, what a gorgeous site! Nice job, Cindy & Doug! I love the new features (how many times have I wished I could edit — or delete! — my comment right after posting?!!) Now it’s possible, along with spell check (so kewl!…) And the recent comments…the list seems to go back further, which is wonderful if you’ve missed more than a couple days…
I agree with everyone’s comments regarding the “look”…beautiful, clean, modern, etc. Love the banner…the cute Pandora-type bead in the logo, and both of your photos! It took awhile, but we finally got your handsome hubby to come out of hiding, LOL!
It’s taking me some getting used to (settled in my ways, haha.) I had a “system” with the old recent comments list: I’d copy it every few days into a worksheet. Then I’d refer back at my leisure to make sure I read everything. I can’t “copy” your new list, at least not like before. But I suppose it’s not even necessary now. I guess as long as I “keep my eye out” every few days or so…I can catch up quite easily! Except for one question…
On most of your posts, the most recent comment will be at the bottom of the page. Or, you can see there’s a “new” comment in the “recent comments” list, and follow it by clicking the link. BUT, if you go to a random page…is there an “easy” way to tell which is the most recent comment? On a short thread, you can glance through. But on longer threads…..how do you tell?
Hi Phaedrakat, great questions! I am glad you like the new layout. I’m really happy that Doug was able to add the edit and spell check features for everyone.
The ‘nested’ or ‘stacked’ commenting is also a nice feature which helps to keep conversations grouped together. This makes it easier to follow specific topic threads.
But as you have seen, when the ‘nested’ or ‘stacked’ commenting feature is turned on, that means the the newest comments do not always get added to the very bottom of the list. As is usually the case with implementing new things, there are always some pros and as well as some cons. Hopefully there were more pros than cons for you with this change.
BTW if you did not see it, the recent comments widget in the right side bar, has a ‘more’ navigation button at the bottom of it. This allows you to keep on browsing for as long as you like through the older blog posts.
All that being said, I find the easiest way to keep track of EVERY single comment that gets posted here at the blog, is to subscribe to the comments feed in an RSS Reader. I use the Google Reader tool, which allows me to mark each of the comments as ‘read’ or ‘unread’ as needed. Maybe this will work for you too. Let us know.
If you go this route there are two feeds you can use to follow this blog…
1) For following all posts, using your RSS Reader, use this feed:
https://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/feed/
2) For following all comments, using your RSS Reader, use this feed:
http://feeds.beadsandbeading.com/beadsandbeadingcomments
Hope this helps.
Oh, Cindy…definitely more pro’s than cons!!! I love the all the new features — they’re just amazing. And your suggestion about using my reader makes perfect sense (it’s gonna be SO much easier!) Just what I needed…a kick in the pants, to wake up & smell the feeds, LOL! I know it’s how most people keep up with their blogs & other web goodies. I should have been doing this all along, but better late than never! ;-)
So, I’m now subscribed to both feeds. I should be able to keep up quite easily now…thanks again for a wonderful solution. And TY so much for everything else, too. Lisa’s right — you guys rock! ~Kat
Oops, looks like I discovered another change. (I’m learning, LOL!) Looks like we can no longer insert a link to “same page” comments — we can only reply. In the past, we could copy the “code” in order to reply to multiple recipients in one comment. But my attempt just now sent it to be moderated. I apologize…I won’t do that again! (Unless it’s super-important, anyway…which it was NOT this time…) It’s not a big deal…I don’t think that feature will be missed much now that we have nested comments. The new set-up is so nice…keeping threads & conversations together!
Love the new look Cindy and Doug!! And the new picture with both of you is fantastic. You two rock..!
Peace, Love, & Clay,
~Lisa :) xoxo