c99p site upgrade update
Good morning folks
After a couple of weeks of tweaking, code patching, squishing bugs, and general clean up, I finally finished getting the site in tip top shape after the recent software upgrade. Getting that done allowed me to concentrate on the new site layout which you are using right now.
All functions and features are still present, although you may need to get used to where they have been moved to. Many have been moved to the "Navigation" dropdown menu in the header. It may take a while, but I guarantee you'll get used to it.
The comment section has had a major upgrade. When you now make a reply to another comment "Reply to: username" will automatically appear in the subject line. You may add additional text after the "Reply to:" if you want or you may also remove it all together.
Also take note of the parent link that is now included. You'll see it right at the beginning of the comment body. it will appear as a number when you are using the comment editor, but after you publish it will change to a link to the parent comment. Please don't remove this number when writing your comment or the parent link will be lost to all subsequent readers. If you mouse hover over the parent link in any comment you'll see a popup box that displays the parent comment. Also if you click the parent link in any comment it will take you to the parent comment, click the back button in your browser to get back to where you were before.
To the left of the comments you'll see the user names/avatars, under that you'll see that every comment is now assigned a number for easy referencing.
I also added a large gold "NEW" text in every new comment. Hopefully this will make it easier to spot the new comments.
You also should notice a definite improvement on mobile devices. Those of you that use phones and pads please give me some feedback.
Please keep in mind that I still have a lot of tweaking left to do on this interface and will be working on it in the future.
I hope you enjoy it
Comments
Good point...
I just may adjust the padding.
font size
I'm at the party late as usual, the font size seems fine now but the grayish back ground makes it hard to read on my iPad the rest is beautiful. Nice work jtc.
In the block quotes--
font color should be darker and get rid of the css 1px shadow. Too hard to read. Font too small in general.
All in all, though, it nice and crispy clean. Maybe put a place holder on pages where there are no comments where the user icon forces the left banner further to the left, not crowding the main essay container.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Text Size
Yeah my one beef so far is text size. It is quite small (I don't zoom in or anything, since I have multiple tabs, trying to zoom in and out seems like a hassle.) The old system the text was a fine size, but that's just me.
Reply to: Strife Delivery
I agree, it looks great, but that font size is a killer without magnification.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
The new icon placement pretty much destroys indentation
As a reliable guide to comment level since the icon size is not fixed. Having the icon inside the comment box and flowing the text around it was visually more interesting, and allowed larger icons.
The link to parent is greatly appreciated.
These old eyes find condensed single-case typefaces hard to read for very long.
Signatures appear to have lost their separation from the body. [open foot, insert mouth - I see the sigs are now below the thumb. My bad.]
Sorry to be the wet blanket.
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Reply to: JtC
I'm having the same problem. When I make the font big enough to read, I lose stuff off the sides. I think I'd be happier if the font was darker, not necessarily bigger. For my aging eyes, there's not enough contrast between the background and the type.
It's nice and clean looking overall, but I'm finding it hard to read even zoomed to 150%
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka
much better today
Whatever you did, JtC, it really worked! It's so much easier to read today. yay!
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka
another thing I just noticed
In the previous version, when I posted a comment, the site then brought me back to the same place in the comment thread where I was reading. Now, after I hit "save" for my comment, I'm down at the bottom of all the comments, and I have to scroll up to find where I was reading.
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka
I'm enjoying the
new site. I have learned to navigate, read, post and rely (yippie). So I'd say your hard work is a success. I'm going to try the pesky image editor.
Not bad at all. It's slow and still has a running script going on somewhere but that might be on my computer who knows. I click continue and after going wonky it does continue.
Once again into the image breach.
Reply to: shaharazade
Were you there? You lucky dog.
I can't believe my mom was alive during that time and only managed to see Donovan live! Not that I have anything against Donovan:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
No I wasn't there
for either of these concerts. I lived in Portland and the only big time music I saw from the hippie era was Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa. Some blues guy called Charlie Musclewhite played regularly here but most of the bands skipped Portland and went to Seattle. I was too young to go traipsing off to Seattle by myself. When in high school I lived in Clairemont CA (a college town) for a while and saw a lot of folk music, including Joan Baez, Mimi and Richard Farina, and older acts like Sony Terry and Brownie Magee.
In the 70's I got around more and saw some great music. I really like the graphic artist's who made the posters and album covers during the 60's-70's. I listened to an underground radio station from SF that broadcast 'Live from The Family Dog' and featured live concerts from the San Fransisco music scene. The posters and art from this era really influenced my own art. In the 70's-early 80's I went to art school in LA and studied under a few of my art heroes from the 60's.
hallelujah : I Can See Again !
All kidding aside, this is rather nice. It's a bit like being back stage with the script trying to track the lighting cues.
I would like to not have all the SHOUTING in the subject line. But that may be beyond control n'est-ce pas?
Working on it...
It's on the list.
looks great, very sharp
now easy to read
thanks and congratulations for a great site
bygorry
I'm always late to the party
I really miss the “recent list” too. The new setup means I have to go back & reload the "diaries" page to move to the next thing I want to read.
Just showing the "community featured" posts on all pages kinda has the effect of hiding posts that don't rate the "featured" designation. Maybe within the diary view (meaning not one of your main pages) you could substitute “recent diaries” for the “recent comments” list?
I understand the (marketing) reason for having “featured” stories on the front page, but I usually skip that and go look at the recent list.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
yellopig...
Click the "Navigation" link in the header and then select the "Essay List" from the dropdown. That is the exact same thing as the "Recent List", only better. Bookmark it and you have an instant recent essay list at your fingertips that's much better that the sidebar list once you get used to it. I use it like that all the time.
Reply to: JtC Reply to: JtC
Yes, I saw that. And then I can simply wait while the list loads. Then scroll to about where I was when I chose the last post I read, then scroll upward from there... Easy-peasy!
Previously, it was "choose the next post I want from the list I already see".
Sorry for being snarky
. I actually like the new look (while agreeing with the grumbles against arial-narrow). I see you tweaked it today while people were commenting: that was nice to see!
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
Ouch!
also note the effect editing a comment has on the header & "reply-to" text (comment above).
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
yellopig...
Edit the comment and remove one of the "Reply To:" in the subject line, both of them if you want. Also remove one of the parent links in the comment body, as long as you leave one of them. Then you'll be golden.
That's a very helpful hint JtC, thanks!
I've always used the Recent list on the main page in the past, but I just tried out your suggestion and find it very good indeed. I found older essays that I had missed entirely, which were very much worth reading. I will use that feature a lot from now on, I'm sure.
Reply to: yellopig
Me too.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I guess my real point is
that safari doesn't remember the stuff that's on its background tabs, and reloading the "recent" list between every post is not as nice as having the recent list right there.
Rural Internet in the USA is pretty much like being 3rd world.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
Bookmark the page...
in your browser then your only one click away. Plus you don't have to scroll down to see the list like you have to when it was in the sidebar.
Besides the Recent Essay list is redundant when you have the exact same thing on the Community Content list.
Humans are like cats or dogs, they don't like change.
You missed it again
yes, bookmarking it was the first thing I did.
My point is: reload, reload, reload, reload, reload, reload between every article.
And "community featured" is not the same as "recent list", not redundant. Not all posts make the "featured" list, so relying on the "featured" list means that some posts will be effectively "hidden". Unintentionally, sure, but still hidden.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
Here's the thing...
I can add another sidebar on the right like we had on the old site but it squeezes the main body too small and the text runs into it, so we're short in sidebar real estate.
My main concern about this layout change is to make the site more mobile friendly.
Besides, I've been busy tweaking various things that have popped up today and will get back to the sidebars and menus when I'm finished with that. I'll probably add the Recent Essay list back into the left sidebar, but the rec list and Recent Comments list are going to take priority.
'K.
Peace.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
May we change that all-caps font to something with lower case?
Lower-case humanizes your page, which explains (among other things) e.e. cummings...
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill
I've been trying all day, Cass...
I can't change it within the CSS. I think it's a PHP thing, something is overriding the CSS.
I don't like it either.
Subject lines look like Bebas Neue
I believe that BEBAS NEUE is an all-caps font. You can set it to lowercase in the css but all the glyphs are UPPER. If you switched from Regular to Book the titles would seem to open up a little, especially the longer ones, and be a little more scannable.
Now interviewing signature candidates. Apply within.
Very nice layout...
and we're all to the left now
All to the left
Yes, we're all to the left now - like it or not.
Mostly, I'm testing this to see whether I make any boneheaded mistakes.
Banner?
Text size is better for me, so cool beans.
Just curious, any idea for a top banner?
Reply to: JtC
So? Get a new CSS maybe? Or better yet, buy into a CSA. That way you're guaranteed nice fruits and vegetables every week when they're in season.
Also, the colors are not half as attractive as the old ones. Red and black would be good colors -- have the site play "The Internationale" in French, sung by Pete Seeger, when entered.
Or if you don't mind Billy Bragg, here's a good theme song for C99%:
If you're not going to do that, pastel rainbow would be fine. If you're going to make a conservative change, choose a blue and a green more reminiscent of sky and of plant life than of Prussian blue.
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill
Reply to: Cassiodorus
Unfortunately, the far right has appropriated the color red of recent years. Also, I just don't think it would be attractive.
I like the blue and green colors of earth idea:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
New format
JtC: I ALREADY LOVE THE NEW FORMAT! Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Reply to: orlbucfan
I'm on a MacMini desktop w/a flatscreen TV monitor using Firefox. I don't care for condensed type RE: the "Reply to:" but that's no biggie. Let us know when next site fundraising starts, ok? Aging brains like mine need reminders.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
orlbucfan...
Remove the "Reply To" from the subject line when you compose the comment.
Very classy!
Thanks for the remake. I was wondering how to link comments (and the essay explained that nicely) and the font size was small (but that's much better now!)
My one suggestion is that the Avatars on the left do not convey comment nesting because being a bunch of hard-to-herd cats, we all have different avatar image sizes. I think it would be worth using a fixed size for the avatars/names that increases with comment level. A few pixels ought to do it - it just needs to suggest the nesting.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Reply to: CantStoptheSignal
The Right has co-opted neither the color scheme nor the emblem depicted here:
Here's a song to accompany the redder version:
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill
The reply button seems lonely down there
Have you tried moving the thumb to its right, with enough space between so that we don't hit reply when we mean to vote? That would also provide a visual base for sigs, so they didn't just loom out to the right over the button.
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