FYI
I know it’s an important primary night but the site will be updated a bit later tonight.
Most of the heavy lifting is done, but sometime right after 9 PM EDT tonight, I’ll enter the git command to load the new stuff and in a few moments, the new site will be live. I will need to do a bit of cleanup in the db and set some settings that are stored there manually, but the new stuff should hit immediately and without hiccup.
Major things you’ll notice:
fixed layout so sidebar and scaling controls work better
sidebar re-org and improvement
redo of menu with cool new Quick Links!
“back” returns to comments.
“page” controls return to bottom of homepage
improved readability
no new comment system, just the current one, tweaked
blogroll and Contact improved for iOS and other pop-blocking users
major security and back-end enhancements
I just wanted to post this before the returns post(s) so that folks have an area to comment or point out issues at launch. I won’t create another post for this tonight.
Dolly Llama
Oh, fuck …
Mike J
@Dolly Llama: They seem to have it a bit more together than in times past. I’m willing to bet they get it right with minimal downtime.
John Revolta
I have to go out. Can I just say I hate it now?
Roger Moore
FTFY.
Gvg
It’ll be interesting. A couple of weeks ago the back button started working on the iPad but not the Mac at work with Firefox. It makes it more obvious how nice it is to have. I just hope it goes ok.
Amir Khalid
What on earth possessed you to pick tonight, of all nights, for the site update? Couldn’t you have waited a day?
Aleta
Thank you Alain, unsung hero.
Alain the site fixer
@Amir Khalid: I’m working with someone 3 hours behind me and finding a better time was not easy. On my own, I would have chosen 6 am! But I decided to be wise and ensure I had resources for help should things – unlikely- go bad. Using this git tech behind the scenes, undoing is literally a command and a few seconds. Gotta go, time to get the last details in play.
The menus and sidebar contents will be shifting soon.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Amir Khalid: 4+5+16 = 25. 25 is a lucky number!
2+5 = 7. 7 is a lucky number!
25+7 = 32. 32 is a lucky number!
3^2 = 9. 9 is a lucky number!
It’s the perfect night for it!
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
(Fingers crossed…)
NotMax
Practically 5 months to the day from the launch of the redesign.
Amir Khalid
@Alain the site fixer:
I asked about the date you picked, not the time.
debbie
Why am I being asked to configure something in WordPress?
Baud
Site is borked.
@debbie:
I get that too.
Baud
Ugh. It now takes extra clicks to get to recent comments.
J R in WV
Good luck Alain!!
I think it will be smooth.
RaflW
Or it is on the newest thread above. Huh, strange that the formatting is different in different threads.
NotMax
Not ready for prime time.
Unusable and redundant extra scrollbar now appearing at right hand margin.
Per the song, “Put ‘Em Back The Way They Wuz.”
NotMax
Well, we’ve got the box back for blockquotes now in place of that horrid solid bar. Rate that an improvement.
Although having the box outline be shaded is distracting (makes it appear the monitor screen is smudged). A case of less is more.
superpredators4hillary
Maybe change the “to bottom” button from left 50px to right 102px.
NotMax
Testing
RaflW
Sorry if it is annoying to be commenting on site issues while the fixes are being pasted in to whatever passes for a back end at WP, but there are what appear to be a few new attributes I’m not grooving on, though they may be temporary (as was the quote font – I like the new boxes).
I’m sure I’ll get used to things, so ignore me as needed, but the left margin seems rather narrow (feels cramped by the grey left-nav box) and doesn’t change, even if I go full-wide for the page. And the big black buttons that take you to the top or bottom of the page? Not sure why they’re needed, and the down button floats over text I’d like to be reading without having to scroll to read each individual comment.
Other than these quibbles, I really do appreciate the hard work. I never did blog stuff, but designed some (amateurish) web sites in the past (Ohhhhhh, Dreamweaver, I think we can make it through the updaaaaate…)
RaflW
Aaaand, like that, the left margin gets better! Yay!
worn
Alain –
Thanks for your work. First thing I noticed is that the round 2,3,4…buttons functionality has returned, for which I am quite happy.
Couple of comments re: site design:
The buttons that allow one to navigate to the top or bottom of the page with one click sink into the footer space when scrolling to the bottom of page. Seems like they should halt at what ever the typical padding distance, but when the footer becomes visible the buttons should preserve their padding but from the top of the footer. When you allow them to sink into the darkened footer block there’s not much contrast (RGB 343434 vs 464646).
I also question the fade that now surrounds the blockquotes. If that were part of an overall design concept, maybe it might make visual sense but as is it just over-emphasizes the blockquote and appears visually disconnected from all the other site elements, thus drawing the eye as if they are the most things (in terms of information hierarchy). Over the past few months there’s been a lot of this: throwing one bell and whistle at the site at the time (seemingly) without there really being a design concept driving the decisions. I’m guessing this has to do with the goodies one sees among the FYWP plugins? The Onion, as always, has the last word on this stuff:
link
That said, thanks again. I know this has been a thankless job on your end.
worn
OK, one more thing. When I was typing that last comment I went to add a link via the button on the comments interface. This caused the entire page to break out into it’s own separate window (Win/FF). That seems odd.
And the hyperlink didn’t show up when I published the comment (had to go back & edit to daylight the link). Ah well…
worn
Is there supposed to be some content on the page loaded by the Quick Links button at top? I get a blank page when clicking through.
Also, there is a double scroll bar in evidence on the right side of the page. The inner (left) one is almost maxed (that is, you can only scroll the site one pixel up and down). The right one works as expected.
As per above Win/FF on the machine I’m on. My apologies if these are temporary glitches as you tinker with the back end.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I cannot scroll down a page with arrow keys, which was not a problem prior to new update. Dealbreaker.
Funky/problematic to me sidebar stuff could maybe be addressed with style sheet, but arrow scroll is well beyond my capabilities.
Peej01
What happened to the mobile site option? I can read things OK using landscape mode on my phone, but I prefer portrait. Using full site mode doesn’t really work well for that on my phone.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I have the double scrollbar, too.
john w casey
When I decided to leave this comment, the arrow up/down and pgup/dn werent working; before I could finish it, they started to work. So….
Emily Letela
Death Panel Truck
The “back” in comments is back. That’s all I wanted. Drove me nuts having to scroll down to where I was before. Thank you.
Paul in KY
Halleluiah!! The little numbers work! Great job, Alain!