New Site Discussion

[Jonathan Capps]

Ok, so let’s move all suggestions / issues for the new site here so I can gather everything in one place and give you all a bit more information on what I’m adding in and what’s planned for the future.

Unread comments – Never fear, this is currently my top priority, although it’s proving to be a massive pain in the arse. The old site ran on Drupal and one thing Drupal does as part of core is log every user’s page visit in the database, meaning that information than then be used to show new comments since you last visited an article or forum thread. I only realised in the hours leading up to launch that WordPress does not have this, so the only plugins I’ve found are cookie based and that’s not a very nice solution. It’s very likely I’m going to have to write something myself to solve this, so if you could bear with me a bit that would be great. I’m sorry this was overlooked, because it’s the one big feature everyone was obviously going to miss if it didn’t carry over.

Category nav – Currently the top of page shows you all the categories so you can easily move between them to find what you’re looking for. There are plans to expand on this significantly, so watch this space. In the meantime, though, I’d be interested to hear any feedback you have about the site’s navigation so this can be taken into consideration.

There are also various little changes that have been suggested and I’ll be fixing little bits and bobs as we go along and I’ll try to keep you updated in here. Feel free to re-state any suggestions for us to consider. The main two things I changed yesterday were comments based:

Edit Button – Now you can edit your comment through a nice pop-up. You have this option for 15 minutes after you’ve posted a comment, after which you’ll be locked out.

Reply functionality – Before if you clicked ‘Reply’ next to a comment it would just take you to the reply box. Now, it will take the content of the comment you’re replying to, wrap it up in a blockquote, and stick it in the reply box to make quoting someone a little easier. It’s something I added on a whim, so feedback is welcome.

That’s the basics, anyway. On the whole people seem to like the new site, which is gratifying, but the re-launch is an ongoing process so I’m keen to improve on the site in the future.

Topic

[mick]

The list of forum topics looks really barren, bit of a sea of white going on, be nice if that could be broken up a bit in some manner?

Other than that it looks and feels pretty good, oh and as previously mentioned grab the custom login plugin and get a nice G&T logo there, the WordPress one is gash ;)

[Jonathan Capps]

The list of forum topics looks really barren, bit of a sea of white going on, be nice if that could be broken up a bit in some manner?

Aye, we reduced the white space down a bit yesterday. I think I’m going to remove the ‘Voices’ column to give the title a bit more room so most threads can occupy the same space without the title wrapping. Also, I could probably shave off about 10 posts per page.

Other than that it looks and feels pretty good, oh and as previously mentioned grab the custom login plugin and get a nice G&T logo there, the WordPress one is gash ;)

Yes, this is a very good point! I was playing with the idea of using the plugin that puts all that stuff inside the site’s template, so I think I’ll do this.

[mick]

Incidentally I’m getting a better page load speed, not that the old site was that slow :-)

Quite a few issues with it viewing on Android but that goes for about 80% of the internet anyway lol

[Jonathan Capps]

Incidentally I’m getting a better page load speed, not that the old site was that slow :-)

Hurrah! That’ll be down to WordPress generally being a lot leaner than Drupal.

Quite a few issues with it viewing on Android but that goes for about 80% of the internet anyway lol

Yeah, I’ve noticed this. It seems entirely random as to whether it shows headers in the right font, or scales up the font size.

[mick]

In Downloads>Rarities and Misc.>Misc. The links to old OD articles all 404.

[Jonathan Capps]

Gah, that’s down to cuntery. I’ll unlink all that.

[Jonathan Capps]

Actually, no, that’s my fault.

[mick]

Bite Back link in the description for the Rob & Doug Bite Back AVI goes to an empty BBC page.

Link to TV Zone in Print Archive 404s.

Behind the Scenes link under The Movie Yea No… 404s.

EDIT: clicking your avatar also 404s for me.

Yours sincearly, Mick the QA cunt.

[mick]

Actually RE: that last edit, clicking on any of the G&T Staff’s avatars 404s.

[mick]

Wish I could just PM you all this shit lol but clicking your avatar…. ^^^

Incidentally, also highly recommend the SEO Ultimate plugin, has a 404 monitor ;-)

There seems to be a time limit on editing my previous post :-/

[Jonathan Capps]

Aye, edit time limits are set at the moment. 15 minutes, I believe. Don’t think there’s any PM function either, but keep posting in here, that works for me!

[mick]

Ok, just don’t want people to think I’m a massive nitpicking cunt with this string of posts ;-)

[Jonathan Capps]

SOME of these things are now fixed.

More importantly, you should all have new comment notifications for posts only (not the Forum just yet) tomorrow. Just testing it out for a bit.

[Tyler Perry]

Search for “madea” gives no results.

[Jonathan Capps]

More importantly, you should all have new comment notifications for posts only (not the Forum just yet) tomorrow. Just testing it out for a bit.

Erm, things have progressed a bit and this now includes the forum. And I’ve made it live. Bear in mind it might still have kinks in it, but let me know how you find it.

It will stop classing a comment as new after it’s a month old (this is mainly so I can keep the database nice and clear), but that also means that all replies and comments that are less than a month old will be showing as ‘new’, but I’m afraid that’s unavoidable.

[Jonathan Capps]

And yes, I realise giving the new site EXACTLY THE SAME important functionality as the old one isn’t technically progress, but fuck you.

[HelloMabel]

> I’d be interested to hear any feedback you have about the site’s navigation so this can be taken into consideration.

Something that the old forum had that would be nice here: “Go to bottom of thread.” Even if it’s just as a stopgap measure until you can get the “view unread posts” thing working.

Also, “Return to top of thread” after the newest post. Someone suggested this for the old site; maybe it can finally happen on this one.

The site looks good and generally works really well, though. I’m impressed that the down time was so short.

[Somebody]

Reply functionality – Before if you clicked ‘Reply’ next to a comment it would just take you to the reply box. Now, it will take the content of the comment you’re replying to, wrap it up in a blockquote, and stick it in the reply box to make quoting someone a little easier. It’s something I added on a whim, so feedback is welcome.

Useful, but less so since there isn’t an equivalent on the forum! [which is, y’know, standard for fora since UBB back in the 1990s…]

[Seb Patrick]

Can I just state for the record how much I hate “fora” as a plural for “forum”?

[genericnerdyusername]

I hate dandy as the plural of dandelion.

[Jonathan Capps]

Useful, but less so since there isn’t an equivalent on the forum! [which is, y’know, standard for fora since UBB back in the 1990s…]

One step at a time.

[Seb Patrick]

I’d hate to give Somebody a birthday present, only to be told how I should have picked something better.

[Jonathan Capps]

To explain the apparent lack of complexity on the forums, I’m using bbPress which is fairly new (in it’s current state as a proper Plugin, anyway) so do bear with me if it doesn’t quite live up to your standards. The reply functionality will pop up today, along with ‘Jump to Top’ and ‘Jump to Bottom’ links, just as soon as I can be bothered to find the right templates.

I know Mick has mentioned the site looks a bit bobbins on Android, but is anyone having any serious difficulties loading the site on their mobile? Si’s having no end of trouble on his BlackBerry so I’d be interested if anyone else is having troubles.

[Pete Part Three]

Looks fine on Safari and Chrome on iOS.

[si]

> Si’s having no end of trouble on his BlackBerry

And Cappsy’s being an absolute *darling* about it all. Emails and allsorts. Though those photos are maybe a bit much, tbh.

[Jonathan Capps]

Though those photos are maybe a bit much, tbh.

You love it.

[mick]

If they’re the same ones you’ve sent me he’s probably wanked himself dry.

[si]

…and I’m spent.

[Sarah]

If you just remove that pixel and insert a space there, it will all be perfect.

PS I feel I’ve been missing out on the photo front.

[mick]

Just wanted to say to anyone browsing on android grab Dolphin browser (it’s excellent by the way) and set User Agent to iPhone or iPad option if you’re on a tab, the site will display fine.

[Jonathan Capps]

It’s also fairly good on Chrome for Android.

[HelloMabel]

Thank you for “jump to bottom/top” and “unread comments.” Awesome.

[Jonathan Capps]

You’re very welcome, Mabel!

[si]

Here’s a thing that always bothered* me about the old site – why don’t links open in new windows/tabs? I know I only need to right-click and select the option myself, but I do sometimes forget, and I’m also an awkward twat.
Seriously, is that something you’d be able to change? It’s just that if I’m reading a G&T piece, and there’s a link halfway down the page, it’d be nice to just click on it and have it open while I finish reading G&T.

*’bothered’ isn’t the right word. It’s too strong a word. Really, it is. I don’t give that much of a shit, to be honest, but…y’know. Awkward…

[Jonathan Capps]

Here’s a thing that always bothered* me about the old site – why don’t links open in new windows/tabs? I know I only need to right-click and select the option myself, but I do sometimes forget, and I’m also an awkward twat.
Seriously, is that something you’d be able to change? It’s just that if I’m reading a G&T piece, and there’s a link halfway down the page, it’d be nice to just click on it and have it open while I finish reading G&T.

The problem with making all links open in a new window is that it removes the choice from the user as there will be no way to open that link in the current window. It does mean an extra step if you prefer new windows, but the way we do it now is definitely the preferable method.

[si]

Furry muff.

Just throwing problems at you for the sake of it. ;)

[si]

I’ve no idea how I posted that post above. I was on my phone, and I couldn’t click on ‘submit’. Oh well, can’t grumble. :)

[Jimboid]

A furry muff is never a problem, accident or not.

[Nick R]

why don’t links open in new windows/tabs? I know I only need to right-click and select the option myself

You “only” need to right click and select the option? No, that’s far too much work – what you want is a middle-click or a ctrl-click!

[mick]

> A furry muff is never a problem, accident or not.

I prefer the classic well kept triangle myself.

[Ridley]

Is it just me seeing Si’s name to the right of his avatar?

[mick]

It’s a very subtle political statement.

[Seb Patrick]

Here’s a thing that always bothered* me about the old site – why don’t links open in new windows/tabs?

I would have thought that’s because NO WEBSITE SHOULD EVER DO THAT, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER.

[si]

Is it just me seeing Si’s name to the right of his avatar?

I think it’s possibly because my name’s so short.

[Sarah]

It’s in the middle!

[Pecospete666]

What happen to who is on line?

[Ben Paddon]

This is the worst reenactment of “Who’s on first?” I’ve ever read.

Continue.

[Pete Part Three]

Would be great to have “Latest Forum Comments” on the Home page.

[Jonathan Capps]

Would be great to have “Latest Forum Comments” on the Home page.

I’m not sure where I’d put it, really. The sidebar’s too full as it is.

[Ben Paddon]

Put it where all those rubbish articles and news posts are at the moment. Nobody’s reading those anyway.

[Author]

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