Guild Wars 2 Resource Links

This list will be updated as I find resources I find beneficial.

Guilds

[HOPE] – http://gw2hope.com/

Trading Post

http://www.guildwars2tradingpost.com/

http://www.guildwarstrade.com/

Blog Posts

http://blacklionsprofit.com/community/7-great-guild-wars-2-tools-and-resources/

Youtube

Guardian Build - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsz05dF7mY0

Are Sidebars Necessary

Once again I find myself contemplating a blog redesign. I’m starting to feel like Brian Gardner who updates the design on his blog every few months. Obviously I’m a compulsive design addict.

The difference between what I am feeling now, and my current design is in the form of a sidebar, and whether I should have one in my new design that I feel coming on.  My current sidebar has an image of me linking to my about page, as well as links to my social media profiles.  One other thing that I currently have in my sidebar is the links to the category archive pages. I don’t see the reason for them given that I have those links in a navigation bar across the top of the page anyway.

If I was to remove the sidebar from the design, there is nothing that really would affect the linking within the site. One thing that I would probably do is have the top navigation bar link to not only the blog categories, but also specific pages such as the contact page and the about page. If I go with something similar to Brian’s website, the navigation once you have scrolled down the page has links to the main areas of his website and not specific categories. I’m not sure if the lack of highlighting categories is intentional, but from my browsing of the site it definitely seems intentional that categories have been omitted from the design in navigation around the site.

Given that I generally have most of my posts in one category, and the others somewhat lacking, not highlighting the post category probably wouldn’t be detrimental to this blog.

For a personal blog, I’m getting the feeling that adding a sidebar isn’t necessary.  I won’t be having any advertising banners in the sidebar, and most of the links I would generally place in the sidebar can be added to the main site navigation, or they can be located in the footers of the site.

So for a personal blog without advertising, I get the feeling that sidebars aren’t necessary for the website, however I know that all blogs aren’t necessarily personal websites without advertising.  I do think that sidebars should be used on a case-by-case basis, but for personal blogs I don’t think I will be adding one to my next design.

What are your thoughts?  Will you add a sidebar to your next design?

Für Elise by Beethoven

I discovered this video, and arrangement of this well known song at work day, and listened to it over and over as I find it to a beautiful arrangement.

My First Facebook Sponsored Post

 

Sponsored Facebook Post

 

Since when has Facebook been able to recommend pages I should be following and “Like” their page? Apparently I should be “liking” Steffies Creative Cakes Facebook page. While my wife does make cakes, why would I like someone else’s cakes when I have my own brilliant ones at home?

None of my Facebook friends like her page, and we don’t have any mutual friends for her personal page, so has she paid to be placed in front of me, or is Facebook trying to get me in front of her so she can advertise to me? Seems a tad weird.

Have you received a sponsored post in your Facebook timeline yet?

We are Facebook Products

Now that Facebook has decided to try a new revenue model, that involves you paying to promote your latest Facebook status (especially if you have a Facebook pages) maybe it is time to consider deciding to stop being a product that Facebook sells.

I myself have tried to limit the interaction I have with Facebook, even if some people think that I am ignoring them by not replying to updates and pictures they post and tag with my name.

Read more about how Facebook can be utilised if you want.