Having heard your suggestions, I have made a couple of changes to the new Nuestros Ranchos website. There is no longer "Active topics" and "New Topics" blocks on the right-hand menu. Instead there are three blocks, each showing the most recently active topics for one of the three forums/mailing lists.

Also, as some of you have figured out, there is an alternative (easier to read if a bit less aesthetically pleasing) layout theme for the site. That means that you can change the way the site looks on your computer once you log in. The alternative theme is very simple with bold brown and black fonts.

To change your theme, once you are logged on, click on "My Account", then click the "Edit" tab and scroll all the way to the bottom. There are two themes: Blix (default green/turquoise) and Chameleon (alternative bold brown). If you have any problems, let me know privately and I can change the theme for you.

Please let me know of any other changes that would make the site easier to use. I can't promise anything, but these were simple changes that will hopefully make the user experience better for people.

Emilie:

Thanks for the feedback on the new site. I will see if I can make some changes to the current layout of the site. Others have also pointed out to some deficiencies in the style and layout. If I cannot sufficiently address these issues, we may have to go with a more simple, perhaps less aesthetic, but more practical layout. It is in fact quite easy to switch between different templates for the site.

Perhaps I will put up one of these basic (and most likely easier to read) templates up for a day or two and see what people think.

As far as the forum topics, we are kind of between a rock and a hard place. On YahooGroups, there is only a single mailing list so people interested in the cultural historical aspects are forced to receive all of the messages related to specific research questions such as how to look up a border crossing record (and vice versa)... What we wanted to do was let people select the topics in which they had the most interest and wanted to get in their mailboxes and which ones they could attend to on the website or in digest emails.

We decided that the three divisions would be sufficient to cover most of what is currently posted on YahooGroups. I know that website questions does not really fit into any of them, but hopefully we will not be sending out website related emails for much longer. If you have suggestions for another forum/mailing list, let us know. It is in fact rather easy to set up.

Emilie:

Thanks for the feedback on the new site. I will see if I can make some changes to the current layout of the site. Others have also pointed out to some deficiencies in the style and layout. If I cannot sufficiently address these issues, we may have to go with a more simple, perhaps less aesthetic, but more practical layout. It is in fact quite easy to switch between different templates for the site.

Perhaps I will put up one of these basic (and most likely easier to read) templates up for a day or two and see what people think.

As far as the forum topics, we are kind of between a rock and a hard place. On YahooGroups, there is only a single mailing list so people interested in the cultural historical aspects are forced to receive all of the messages related to specific research questions such as how to look up a border crossing record (and vice versa)... What we wanted to do was let people select the topics in which they had the most interest and wanted to get in their mailboxes and which ones they could attend to on the website or in digest emails.

We decided that the three divisions would be sufficient to cover most of what is currently posted on YahooGroups. I know that website questions does not really fit into any of them, but hopefully we will not be sending out website related emails for much longer. If you have suggestions for another forum/mailing list, let us know. It is in fact rather easy to set up.