Revamp Pool School
Maybe it's just be, but I don't like the look of Pool School. There is a ton of good information, but it is not organized well and the look of the individual articles is not consistent.
A first time user can visit this screen and not really know what to read first. The 'Read Before You Post' is a good start, but is reading the 'pool schedule' the best for the next step? To me the most important read is the ABCs of pool chemistry and its a few links down from the top. I think when a user goes to the pool school section, they should be presented with a section at the very top where they can follow a flow and at the end they will know the basics. Perhaps something simple like this:
Pool School 101
I. Overview
II. Water Chemistry
III Pool Care Schedule
IV. What am I doing wrong?
V.
Just a simple 5 articles and the user will be educated, these first can't be overly complicated or drag the reader into details of how to clean a cart, but just enough so they know what they need to be focused on and what to read next. The text within the articles can reference other material, like clearing your green pool or caring for a salt water pool, etc...
Other information seems like it's in the wrong section, like 'opening and closing a pool' and 'Beginners guide to seasonal pools' are somewhat of a how-to. Chlorine/CYA chart, Recommended levels seem like reference materials. Perhaps they can be referenced in the pool school articles, but belong in a different section.
As for layout, I think a two column table approach would make better use of the page, and/or maybe headings with collapsible sub-items. If anything, the articles would look better in a centered table and all articles left justified an maybe bulleted.
In addition, I think a dedicated search box just for pool school would be nice. I can type 'cleaning sand filter' and a list of articles can be presented to me.
Other ideas for the site could be a user driven Wiki, to replace or supplement the current pool school.
And perhaps a user blog.
Don't get me wrong, I like this site, just trying to offer some suggestions.