Here at WCI we're in the early stages of a site redesign. I've gotten lots of great suggestions over the years, some of which were easily implemented and some of which weren't. This is your chance to really make a difference in your experience and that of new arrivals at the site. Everything design-related is fair game.
In your comments, consider the following issues:
- What do you like/dislike about the layout?
- Readability issues?
- Organizational issues?
- We're also very seriously considering adding a forum- your thoughts on that? Would you use it? What categories would you like to see there? How tight of a moderation policy? Want to be a moderator?
Colors?
- Ad size and placement (and no, ads aren't going away, this is still a for-profit site, remember?)
- Think back to the first time you ever came here. What was right and wrong with that experience?
WCI Classics
I would also like to add a category of “WCI Classics” posts to show off the best/most useful stuff here. What posts do you see as the “classic” or “best of the blog” posts?
Comment below!
I noticed the info under “Taxes” tab at top of page is out of date. The tax-brackets stop at 2013 and I think the phase-out numbers are not current. Maybe update or eliminate this section.
Yea, I stopped updating those when I added the numbers unlimited page.
Most of the Numbers Unlimited info applies to taxes.
But the “Taxes” tab has mostly outdated, not-useful links (very odd considering taxes is one of WCI greatest strengths!), whereas the numbers unlimited link is under investing.
correction: it’s under “Personal Finance”
which kinda makes my point: I always look for it under taxes and it’s not there, then I go hunting.
I love the site (I visit most days, possible multiple times) and think a redesign would be cool aesthetically, and could offer some good features.
I have bought 2 of your recommended books–but unfortunately for WCI, I don’t think you received any commission because I bought the Kindle edition. Can you have the Kindle versions on your link in addition to the actual book?
3. I like the idea of a highlights or “best of” section. Your post on “150 Portfolios Better than Yours” is amazing. I have referred a bunch of friends in my residency program to that Post as they are picking their very first asset allocation in our hospital’s 403b. They feel a lot less stressed after reading that post and your book.
4. Regarding a forum, I think it could eventually be even bigger than the current set-up; it seems some posts by WCI or guests turn into defacto forums with the topic predetermined. Just looking at the moderation needed by you to keep up with the comments sections, I think that your personal life and EM practice could suffer with a forum, unless you hire a managing team to do so. Maybe a forum could be a sister website? I would probably use a WCI forum all the time. Especially if it were divided up into useful subforums such as Medical students/Preprofessional students, Residents, Early Practice, and so on. Alternatively, it could be subdivided by financial topic: Investing, Taxes, RE, retirement, Student loans, estate planning, insurance, etc. Or do both on some level. So many of my co-residents have my exact same questions and problems that I have had concerning student loans, job searches/contracts, and investing, and I think a forum would allow us to answer each other’s questions.
5. Colors: the brown is actually very easy on the eyes. I don’t love it aesthetically, but “computer-eye strain” does not seem to come into play with the neutral brown. I think a “green” background would be consistent with the goals of the site… In all seriousness, I like blue, and it would match the logo. Maybe you can have it be an option to choose your theme color.
Thanks for your work, and I hope you keep succeeding!
If you went to Amazon from a link on this page, I got a commission. Don’t feel bad if I didn’t. It’s only like $1 a book and it makes up a relatively small part of this site’s income.
I agree that the point of a forum is to let you all answer each other’s questions. There is now a pretty core group on here that pretty much knows all the answers to all the important questions.
The article that brought me to WCI was a guest post on the dual income household.
May be helpful to place links at the top titled “Medical Students” / “Residents” / “New Attendings” with articles specifically geared those individual groups.
As long as the new website will be compatible with my company’s outdated version of IE…
I know what you mean about IE. I swear my hospital is using version 1.0.
I’m not sure what your first post was, but if it was this one: https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/the-hidden-costs-of-a-dual-income-household/
I’m the “guest poster.”
Get a better color scheme, ability to edit comments, ability to thumbs up and down a comment or reply. Mobile site: too adds are way too big and difficult to read.
Color – readability is most important thing. Current is fine.
Navigation – I can’t believe I never noticed the “Archives” section!!!
Organization – Now that I just discovered the archives section I have a way to see things in post order, if you could add themed groupings of posts, that would be great.
Ads – no pop-ups please. The cycling book thing I always pause because it’s distracting and sometimes hangs up older browsers. Make it static with arrows to change books. Put ads in left/right borders. Ads in the middle of text are confusing and often don’t format/print/etc correctly. The ads in your email are very distracting, sometimes mis-formated, and screw up printing.
Printing – I like to print things out and read on planes, write in margins, etc. If the ads could be grouped at the top or bottom, that would be very helpful. Also, often there is good content in comments, and those don’t print.
Comments – I really wish I could edit. It’s impossible to proof in the little scroll box.
Overall – your site is good, simple, and fast. Don’t complicate it or try to gussy it up…we love your content, not your design skills. I find many previously-good websites, now virtually unusable. Yours is one of the good ones that allows me to focus on the content.
Newsletter – not that you asked, but I really like your newsletter email.
Related Posts – that is a very nice feature, I often find things faster via that then searching directly.
Ability to post a picture or GIF and it shows up instead of a link
Ability to thumbs up or down a comment
Since you are getting so many comments now, maybe way to track unread comment(maybe a diff shade)
or ability to organize comments by newest or most thumbs up.
The current color scheme looks dated.
I learn a lot from other questions and comments. Is it possible to add what the “most recent comment” was on your main site (and what post it was on)? Right now, we can only know about comments if we are following along with a comment or read it later. [Or maybe there is already a way and I don’t know about it.]
How about a weekly financial/portfolio case review from a reader (I’m sure u get lots of e-mail inquiries), similar to on Bogleheads forum, asking readers for help?
I received 320 emails this week, perhaps 1/3-1/2 from readers with questions. Most are the same questions repeated over and over again (which are all covered in the book and on the site.) Often a slight twist to them, making them unique. But I could run a post like that 3 times a day, 365 days a year and never run out of material. I’m sure when the forum gets up and running you’ll see what I mean.
I did Friday Q&A posts for a while, and still occasionally do, but I try to limit it to particularly unique questions that require a longer answer.
I just found these comments to the original post. I sometimes forget to go back and read comments. I usually read the Friday post about 5AM when no one has yet posted. I would love a reminder tag or something. I like the forum idea and would love to moderate one. The color layout is immaterial to me.