About

A) Header
I would like the header layout to be similar to this with a more narrow logo area. The navigation bar = light green in color:

B) Custom fonts and colors
I would like all titles, sub headers, body text, boxes, and lines to be specific fonts and colors (not default).
I want to add dark and light green color trim wherever I can.
Colors and fonts specifics coming from the designer soon.

• Amatic SC regular (it’s an all caps). I’d like to see how the headers look in all caps. Can be found on FontSquirrel.com.
• I don’t have the accent font yet. It will be used for the tagline in the logo. Hasn’t been finalized yet. We can use Allura temporarily. Also on FontSquirrel. 
• I like how the blog Damn Delicious uses an accent font. If I have the headers in Amatic, I’m not sure if using an accent font will be too much. Or perhaps Amatic can be the accent font instead.
  • I would say that if you are using Amatic SC that you don’t use a different font in this location, unless it’s significantly different.  Amatic SC is considered a “cursive” font, which would typically be the accent font.

C) Sticky menu bar?

• I like the sticky menu bar at the top. (Sandwich in mobile version).
  • I recommend using the Modern Mobile menu, a new feature in the Feast plugin. It’s created without javascript, so is less likely to cause conflicts and other issues. Let me know your thoughts.
• Are skinny sticky menus considered user friendly or do they take up too much space?
  • On mobile, they may take up too much space, but on desktop, generally not.
• Menu selections: Home (if needed), About, Recipes (index), Travel (category or index), Sign up, Contact
  • Added Menu with your selections
• Social Media icons = Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest (thinking of dropping Twitter)
  • I added a social media widget to the primary navigation (I’m still adjusting the padding).

Sticky menu similar to this:

D) Recipe Index

• I need help setting up the Recipe Index. Is it possible to set up a separate index for travel to prepare for the future when I have more travel posts?
  • I have added the demo recipe index (here), and also created a travel index for you (here)

E) First row below the header:
Moving down the home page, next I would like there to be 3 full width labeled photos that when pressed, will link to: The Best of my Seasonal Recipes (category to be created), Tasty Travel (category or index), Welcome- Hi, I’m Dana (about).
I’d like the option to add a 4th section to the row should I want to feature a new category here later, so will that be easy for me to add myself later? I like a narrow space between each photo.
Each box looks similar to this:

As the theme isn’t designed to show 3 separate pages/categories etc (the demo displays posts in a featured post widget), I’ve had to adjust how this displays. This means that any overlay would need to be added to the image itself, rather than CSS from the theme.

F) Latest posts:

Next section down on the home page is a 4×1 full width section with a heading: “What’s New” (Latest posts). I want the option to make this section bigger (4X2) if I blog more often in the future. (Or could be 3×2 if you recommend that).
Each post is represented by photo and title (no blog text).
Example of latest posts section:

I have added that section – I wasn’t sure if you wanted it to be in the Home Top, or in the Home Middle section, with a sidebar on the right?

G) Side bar:

• Now starts the side bar. Side bar starts lower down than before. With the following sections:
• Welcome (About)
  • I added a text widget with an image into this location. If you prefer, you can add the Genesis User Profile widget here.
• Now Trending (popular posts) in 2×3 grid.
  • I’ve added a mockup into the sidebar on my site; I’m not sure what widget you are displaying on your site, but likely we can keep that once we move the theme over to your site.
• Do I need anything else? I plan to take some things out of the side bar because they are on the sticky menu, is that OK?
  • You can have whatever widgets you want in your sidebar. I generally recommend having enough content to stretch the length of your home page, so that you don’t have a white space. You can add affiliate links, or a subscribe widget, for example, if you like. It’s really your personal preference.
• Will the side bar push to the bottom on mobile?
  • The sidebar will display below post content and above your footer widgets on mobile.

H) Subscribe bar:

• Then a subscribe bar. “Get the latest posts right in your inbox”. Example:
  • Done

I) Collections:
Next I’d like to feature the following collections, each 3 (or 4?) x 1. Each labeled with the collection name (which is a category) and with a small more button for the category. I may need to create these specific categories.
Collections:
Holidays
What’s for Dinner?
Kids’ Picks
Fall Favorites (Is there any way for this to automatically be replace with the next season when the date changes?)

• • Added

• Will these collections be easy for me to change myself if I want to add or swap out manually?
  • Yes – it’s utilizing the Homepage: bottom widget; you can update the categories at any time.

Example of collection (but the photos would be equal size):

J) Footer

• I would like a small footer area with the following information:
  copyright, disclosures and privacy policy link (I need to update this page), credit to logo designer and web developer?, “Recipe/image use” statement link?
  • I have updated your site footer. Let me know the link/name for your logo designer credit
• Please let me know what you think belongs in this area. Some people repeat menu, search, social media icons, but probably that is not necessary with a sticky menu bar at top.
  • It’s a personal preference; some people put a different menu in this location. I have multiple menus in my footer, together with a little contact information.
• If possible, I would like to have “Seasonal Inspiration” section in the footer (4×1), otherwise in the side bar: Spring – Summer – Fall – Winter (categories), with cover photos that have a transparent white band with writing labeling each option to press, styled like section E above. Please advise. Example of a collection in a footer below:
  • I’ve added a “Seasonal Inspiration” section to your footer. In terms of an overlay – I would recommend that you don’t do this – if you have a long post title, it may distract from the image.

K) Individual Blog Post: The layout moving down the page:

• Title
• Line of small writing with choices that come from the Feast Plug in, like date of last updated, may
• contain affiliate links, etc.
• Social media share buttons: Pinterest, Facebook, Print.
  • The existing plugin you are using will be retained
• Jump to the recipe button, on same line as social share if looks right (I need this coded because I plan to use Create recipe plugin. But just for recipe posts, not travel.
• Post
• Recipe Card
  • I added the Create by Medivine plugin to the test site, and created a “dummy” recipe card, which I added to this post.
• Social media share buttons again
  • The existing plugin you are using will be retained
• Did you make this recipe? (or visit this destination). I’d love to see on Instagram. Just tag @FoodieGoesHealthy.
  • The image you provided is part of the Tasty Recipes plugin, and displays as part of the Recipe card. We can add a widget for that, but note that it would display at the end of your post, not immediately under the recipe. You can see it on this post.
• Save this post for later on Pinterest (with made for Pinterest photo)
  • This is an image manually added into a post.
• You’ll Also Like (related posts)
  • The existing related posts plugin you have on your site will be retained
• Call to action for comments: Let me know in the comments if you have questions or tips. I’d love to hear how it worked out.

Example of color in the recipe card:

Example of bottom of post:

L) I need to set up a new recipe plugin. I have Easy Recipe and want to switch to Create by Mediavine.

• • I added the Create by Medivine plugin to the test site, and created a “dummy” recipe card, which I added to this post.

M) Should I put google ads back on? Will they slow my site too much?

• • I’m not a fan of Google ads. I would recommend just using Mediavine

4) I need an under the hood overhaul. Is this something that you do?

Being this is an older blog, I need to update things:

• Update to better plugins. And check settings for the ones I’m keeping.
  • Let me know your site’s user name and password. I will not update anything until we are ready to go live with the new theme
• Check selections in my C panel and update php (out of date due to limitations of Canvas).
  • Let me know you cPanel user name and password. Again, I will not update anything until we are ready to go live with the new theme
• Check that https was installed correctly.
  • Will do.
• May have google warnings, etc. Might be due to old theme or ?
  • What Google warnings are you receiving? Some can be ignored, others will require action
• Is google analytics and console set up correctly.
  • I will need your Google Analytics user name and password to check
• Need to add no follow to some links.
  • Where do you want these added?
• Resize photos/optimize images.
  • When we add the new theme to your site, I will run the regenerate thumbnails plugin for your featured images.
• run something like wp optimizer and sweep.
  • We recommend WPRocket
• Have too many blog post revisions saved.
  • According to this article by WPBeginner:
    • All post revisions are stored in your WordPress database. Due to this, many users worry that too many revisions can slow down their websites. It is not true.WordPress skips post revisions when making database calls on the front end. It only looks for revisions on the post edit screen, or when you are actually browsing revisions.
• My backup plugin saves too many versions for my Dropbox to hold so then stops saving.
  • Which backup plugin are you using?
• Need to add amazon disclosure.
  • Do you have the disclosure available?
• Check mail chimp set up.
  • Can you please let me know your Mailchimp user name and password

 

5) Tagline question:

Do you think my logo needs a tagline? Or can I communicate my slant on my home page/about/menu selections.

My blog name is Foodie Goes Healthy.

My tagline could be “Seasonal Recipes and Tasty Travels.” It encompasses an indication of my fresh, seasonal, real foods cooking and my intent to add more travel posts.

I know the theme does not support taglines, but I could add one to the logo if helpful.

• Or alternatively, I could put Seasonal Recipes and Tasty Travels on my menu bar. I plan to put SR and TT sections on the home page just below the header. So that’s another way to indicate what the blog is about.
  Thoughts?
  • The tagline is set on the site which is beneficial for SEO purposes. In terms of your logo, it’s totally a personal decision. If you want it to be immediately clear the niche of your site, you can add it to your logo. Again, it’s a personal decision.