We Want Your Input!

We’re in the beginning stages of planning a redesign for Emerging Civil War’s website. Before we dive too deeply into our project, though, we thought it would be a good idea to ask YOU, our faithful readers, what sort of input you’d like to offer.

As we get ready to update the design of the site, what sorts of changes or improvements would you like to see?



26 Responses to We Want Your Input!

  1. since we’ve just arrived at the site, I have no input for you. I’m still navigating (and having a blast!)

  2. Just love it! However, ………..some of us have finally reached the point that permits occasional CW travel. While I very much enjoy and keep at hand ECW battlefield guides, I would love to see more ‘boots on the ground’ reporting of visits to CW sites. Specifically, it would be nice to hear about reasonable and/or historic accommodations, restaurants, best time to visit, special places, other attractions for non-CW family, etc. Then there’s the ‘off the beaten path’ fields like Ball’s Bluff, Shenandoah Valley sites (lost track of how many battlefields we blew by), and so man others that have a great story to tell. On last thought: I have had the opportunity to ‘live fire’ a variety of CW weaponry. As a US Army marksman, I found the experience most informative and frankly, rather humbling. Sure would be fun to have a ‘ECW Turkey Shoot’ someplace. .69 & .58 caliber lead sure pack a punch! See you this summer.

    1. That’s my favorite kind of posting, John, as I suspect you know. Don’t forget to check out past posts in our occasional “ECW Weekender” series, which you can search using the navigation tools on the right-hand side of the blog.

      1. Thanks, Chris, we’re targeting Charleston and other SC sites this summer. Might check in with you at the Beef & Barrel for some suggestions. Also, I plan to loop back to Kennesaw Mountain, tracking Sherman’s march to Atlanta. Met some ‘friends of friends’ with family that served as Confederate mounted ‘Irregulars’ to harass Sherman’s foragers. The War is rather fresh in some parts of GA!!

  3. Sorry, forgot to mention that Chris Mackowski’s recent sweep through Dixie was excellent. We nearly followed in his footsteps. That was one HOT summer!!

    1. Thanks, John. That was a fantastic trip, and it was a fun challenge to blog about it as we traveled. I’m indebted to Dan and to my daughter to all they did to help make the trip such a success.

  4. I think it would be nice, that when one clicks on an author, to see their other works, you get a large pic of the person, instead of a tiny pic, or none at all. Keep up the great work of bring new info into the light of day!

    1. So long as folks like you keep reading, we’ll keep writing! Thanks, Ron.

      As far as the author bios, etc., we plan to give those pages a good overhaul, and we’ll keep photos in mind. Thanks for the suggestion.

  5. Think about branding. Emerging Civil War is much more than a blog. Move away from a blog look and think about a website that includes a blog. Your home page should highlight the scope of what ECW is about. It’s about a book series, working historians, and an annual conference.

    Good luck on the re-design.

    Kevin Levin at Civil War Memory

    1. Thanks, Kevin. We actually have the brand very much on our mind these days. Especially with so many projects moving forward on so many fronts, the need for that brand unity is more and more crucial. Thanks for reading along!

  6. As a blog reader, I really like how it looks. Maybe a little stronger on the branding on the “about page” or in the website rotating banners. My big request as a reader: NO ADs…or if you have to have ads, make sure they’re relevant to history and don’t slow the webpage loading times. It is one of the most annoying things in the world to have to close five different ads before I get to an article I really want to read. Just my thoughts after reading and looking at many different blogs for a couple years.

  7. Love the site as is. It’s clean, fast, and full of content. I think those are its greatest strengths as a website. (Hope that doesn’t sound like I’m taking the content for granted. After all, content is the reason we visit!) If you are going to change it, here are few thoughts:

    1. Another pull-down tab that arranges articles by subject: battles, people, books, events, site visits, source material, contemporary issues (debate on flags and statues, battlefield preservation, etc.). Sometimes I want to go back an older post

    2. I think you’re right to stay ad-free if you can. That said, a small number of civil-war-related ads in discrete locations wouldn’t prevent me from visiting, especially if I knew they were helping maintain the site and didn’t feel like click-bait. Pop-ups and video would clutter the site and, I think, hurt the brand.

    3. Just spitballing, but you might make greater use of maps. You’ve done a masterful job of integrating pictures, maps, and text in the book series. Importing some more of that to the site might help unify the brand as you mentioned earlier. It might be more work that it’s worth, but I thought I’d throw it out there.

    4. I’ve really enjoyed the pieces on site visits and contemporary issues. I suspect a lot of us spend time visiting civil war sites when we can. It’s always nice to get someone else’s perspective or thoughts on things we might’ve missed and more ideas for travel.

    Anyway, just want to stress that you’ve already got a great site. (Love the book series too.)

  8. When you’d like to redesign maybe it’s an idea to add a media section such as photo impressions or visual walkthroughs of certain historic happenings. Pictures tell a thousand words!

Leave a Reply to John MaginnCancel reply