***WARRIOR MOM ALERT*** ***WARRIOR MOM ALERT*** ***WARRIOR MOM ALERT*** ***SERIOUSLY***
Alright, Warrior Moms and friends of Postpartum Progress. We need to do some serious work together. Since this is EVERYONE's blog — mine AND YOURS — I need your participation. ASAP. I don't care if you always comment or you are a lurker, I want to hear your voice.
We are about to embark on a massive project. Postpartum Progress has been on the blog host Typepad since the day we started in 2004. Sadly,Typepad was sold and now seems to be going the way of the dodo bird. I'm going to have to spend a couple thousand dollars (oh my God somebody save me!!!!!!!!!) and have it redesigned and migrated over to WordPress. I hope this will result in a better functioning and spiffier Postpartum Progress. I do not want to spend thousands of dollars and do this wrong. That would be a monumental disaster. So I need your input.
This is very important. If you don't speak up or participate, I can't make sure that Postpartum Progress is what you want it to be and that your voices and ideas are properly represented here.
Your assignment? Answer the following:
- In terms of the design, what would you change?
- Which sidebars (on the left and right-hand side) or content tabs (at the top, directly under our logo) would you get rid of?
- Which sidebars or content tabs would you rename so they make more sense to the new visitor?
- What things would you like to see added? It could be a new function, a new section, a new idea? Lay it on me!
- How can we make this site more functional?
- What drives you crazy/frustrates you about Postpartum Progress, if anything?
Do not censor yourself. Throw whatever thoughts and ideas you have my way, big or small. If you're uncomfortable putting them in the comments section, email me at postpartumprogress@gmail.com or stonecallis@gmail.com. I can't wait to hear from you!!
I can't promise that I'm going to be able to take every suggestion, but I'm going to do my best to incorporate everyone's input. Let's make sure we have a highly usable site for the moms who need help, and the people who care for them (dads, docs, therapists, etc.). Let's make sure we continue to kick stigma's ass.
Note, this will mean that Postpartum Progress, for the first time ever, will be shut down for about a week or so. Probably in August or September. I'm going to need your help to not have a complete heart attack while that is happening.
Also …
Our job is to make sure moms everywhere can see that ANY mom can get a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder. Have you recovered? Do you want to inspire others? If so, have you sent in your picture for the Surviving & Thriving Mother's Photo Album? If not, please do so. We NEED you. I WANT your face represented here. We're going to redesign the album so that it fits in with the look and feel of Postpartum Progress (something Typepad does not allow us to do).
And, have you checked to make sure your support group is listed on the support group page? Or that we have the right information? If not, please do. What do I need to add, change or delete?
Thank you in advance for taking action, friends. You are what makes Postpartum Progress tick.
Wow, what a difficult assignment! I've been staring at and exploring the different pages of Postpartum Progress for a while now, and no changes instantly sprang to mind! There is only one minor thing, really minor: I would like to see bolder/brighter colors. I think maybe the grayish color on the sidebars is a little too muted & maybe even depressing. And now I feel awful for saying that. Ok I also have one other minor suggestion: Can you move up the Top Tips & How To's? That's all I've got. I think you have a wonderful blog!
How about a chat room so ones currently battling have a place to chat w/ those who understand. I've recently been hit with relapse after weaning of my meds, and I haven't found too much online with support in that area. I'd like to read more about that here. I want to hear more stories of moms who took meds during pregnancy and that their babies are all ok. 🙂 I like the design in general and all the links you have offered on the sidebars and header.
Where did the buttons go that we could put on our own blogs that linked to this blog? It would be good if there was code for that on a sidebar somewhere. That's all I can think of for now…
Definitely emphasis on the "Six Things." That is hard-core important.
I'd love to see a way to connect suffering moms with warrior moms. Maybe as a way to "mentor" through it, to just say "I get it" & to connect them to people who might share a similar story?
Where did you see that it was sold and service will be ending? I haven't been able to find information about this (although I realize it was sold last year). Can you post a link to the news? I'm worried–I have a blog I'll need to migrate too!
Good luck with this, I'm sure it seems overwhelming, but at least you have a plan! I'd like to see the Surviving and Thriving Moms Gallery formatted differently. I would be nice to see more faces at once and be able to choose which one to click on. Seeing only one at a time means it's hard to find a specific face.
I'm sure whatever you do will be great. Change can be a good thing.
As a survivor and a mental health professional, I turn to your site both personally and professionally. I came to your site today to find the most appropriate screening tool for Postpartum psychosis. I would appreciate a providers' toolbox on the sidebar so that I don't have to search the site for this and other screening tools. Thank you for all that you do!
Hi Katherine! I am excited for the new design. The one thing I have heard from a friend that concerned me is when I referred her to the site, she was too ill to deal with what she considered was too much complex info. I would like to see it be a very simple design with little clutter. Maybe a big button with a "suffering now, get help now" that leads to a trail of info starting with simple things. I felt bad that my friend was too overwhelmed to take in the helpful info on the site.
Don't feel awful for saying anything! Thanks for the input. We'll probably have to stay with similar colors because of our logo, but we may be able to brighten it up slightly. 😉
The badges are up at the top underneath the "Surviving" button. Click on Badges of Courage. 😉
In terms of a forum, I've thought about that a lot but my board of directors is very concerned about how it would be managed to make sure that the discussions were monitored by a health professional. I can't really afford to do that right now, but hopefully some day.
Thanks BA! Will do.
Typepad was sold maybe a year and a half ago. It hasn't been announced that the service is ending, as of yet. It's just they haven't done anything new to support it in months and months, so I want to head over to WordPress where there's a lot of innovation.
I totally agree re: the photo album. It could be SO MUCH better.
Great input, Amy. Thanks. I really do want to have a special section for providers.
Thanks for that Heidi. There is definitely a lot going on on the home page, and I do think we can make it cleaner and more friendly to moms who are currently suffering.
On the surviving and thriving photo album, it would be great if they could be grouped by states and if moms had the option to submit contact info to you. That way if a mom from my area was to need some support, even just someone to say "I get it" there would be a way to put those two in contact with each other. I hope that makes sense (it did in my head).
I think the site is great the way it is. Its not too flashy or fancy, its very personal. The only thing I'd change is to make it easier to find archives based on topic. It took me a long time to figure out that the topics were under all of the month-to-month archives. Maybe its just me. 🙂
First of all, I want to agree with everyone here that I love your blog. It has helped me through indescribable amounts of pain and have given me hope and strength as I recover from some major ppd.
Design wise, in the left column, you list all of the awards that the site has won. I think this is great, and that you most certainly deserve all of those awards, but it is a little distracting to scroll past. I keep looking for some information there or something to sign up for, instead I am scrolling through awards. A second option, I suppose, would be sectioning them off so that it is more obvious that they are not "web site content" per se.
Also, is there any way to "like" a post, or perhaps a "this really helped me" button? What I mean is, I think it would be great for you to be able to present a list of the most popular posts or the ones that people felt helped them the most.
Lastly, how can I help? I would be happy to donate some time and talent to help with the details or the reviews of the new website. Also, how can I help financially? If I make a donation to PPI, would that be the best place?
Thank you so much for all you do, Katherine.
HI, I just found your site as I am suffering from PPD. I just had my first bio child one month ago and bang last week I have been out of it. I can bearly keep focused, I am sick, do not want to eat, feel guilty if the baby crys and I do not pick her up right away, ect. Is this normal?
Thanks for your post. I am sure I will be visiting your blog often.
I love that it's a simple layout. I wouldn't change that. Definitely keep 6 things right at the top with the surviving album right underneath. I really honed in on that when struggling. Seeing women who've overcome this meant a great deal. And perhaps put the daily hope up higher too. Man this is tough…
I do the majority of my reading on my cell phone while breastfeeding & snuggling with my kids at night. So, the leftside menus drive me nuts since they load first and I have to scroll through them all for the content. The simplest commenting system possible will allow me to comment more often (unlike typepad which doesn't allow me to comment at all from my phone)
Other than that, content is what drives me here. So, keep up the excellent posts!
Katherine…
I just redid my blog too because at a conference and then through a social media tool site i learned that content should begin on the left. It's where our eye goes first, but also where google spiders start collecting info (making the blog more "google-able" for moms searching the web for ppd stuff).
I agree the less clutter the better. Most of the stuff you have in the side bars could be reorganized into places under menus and whatnot. Two right sidebars could be utilized for "about" stuff and whatnot and any sponsors.
Also, I just looked through the slideshow…and i know I sent you a pic. Do you have it or should I resend?
oh and in response to making it more cell phone friendly? WordPress has a plugin for that. It will get rid of sidebars and show only content when being read by phone. So whomever does your move, make sure to add that to the list of "wants"…otherwise you can do it yourself. It's the WPTouch plugin.
Give your doc a call Diane. Those could be symptoms of postpartum depression or anxiety, which are fully treatable illnesses.
Glad you found us!!
– K
That's another big reason I'm leaving Typepad. There's no way to mobile-enable the blog, which drives me up the wall!!!!
I just found your site and I love it! My only complaint (again, my first time seeing this) is that I clicked on your "6 things every new mom should know about PPD" link on the top left and it seems to be a broken link. 🙁 I use wordpress for my site and love it! I'm sure you will too! Thanks so much for this site!
I've found your site really helpful!
Maybe it's just me, but I do find it a bit confusing that you have both postpartumprogress.org and postpartumprogress.com
Sometimes I'll remember reading something on one of them, then have trouble finding it again later because I'm looking on the wrong site. Is there a way to either combine them into one or else link them better?
Maybe clear sections for those who are newly suffering and looking for help, those who are in the midst of getting help, those who are survivor moms and those who are providers? (I'm sure there are much better titles than that, but you know what I mean!)
I don't know how you feel about labels for blog posts, but it could be helpful if it then means readers can look at all the posts with a particular label they are wanting more information on (eg. labels for postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, etc).
Just my thoughts. Thanks again for a great site, love it!
I love the mentoring idea somebody had up there…and also maybe a forum?