So last night went pretty well, and folks seem reasonably happy with things.
As you may have noticed, I’ve made a few improvements already today and am knocking out the list of things to tweak.
The LAST thing I’m going to do is normalize font sizes so please bear with me! I’ve already made them smaller but I’ll pause there.
To those who’ve offered some very helpful CSS suggestions, I’m happy to take more such precise suggestions. I’m not going to radically redo anything at this time, even if it would make lots of sense.
I have a few more desktop site details to knock down right now, then work on the mobile site, then decide on whether to tweak the sidebar, so please vote (once please, though you can cheat this simple system should you so be motivated) so I can make the best choice. This will likely be tomorrow morning when I close the vote and enact the voted choice.
Alain the site fixer
Please behave – one vote per commenter! I’ll be tweaking some other things right now so I won’t necessarily be here looking and responding but please feel free to report issues etc.
ETA: Thank you first two feature feedback folks!
Kathleen
Alain – thank you so much for all the hard work you are doing to support the site and keep the BJ Commentariat “in the loop”.
Peej01
On mobile site, please give us the comment numbers and date/time stamp back!
different-church-lady
Repeat from an earlier comment: double sidebar gone, scrolling seems normal, page ups and downs seem normal, and everything is much faster. Yay!
Gin & Tonic
Thanks for your hard work and your responsiveness. I’m not voting because I don’t much care about the sidebar. Now if you were talking about the bar, I might have an opinion.
different-church-lady
I have no opinion on one v. two widgets. But I am thinking that as comments get numerous, having the
widgetsidebar scroll off the top along with everything else is an odd waste of space to the right as one reads down the page.I’m sure it’s too much coding to take lightly, but maybe the best thing would be for the sidebar to have its own pane, so that it scrolls separately from the posts on the left. In other words, when scrolling an entry (or a page full of front-page posts) the sidebar stays stationary and visible (and independently scrollable).
Doug R
@Peej01: yes this please
Alain the site fixer
@Peej01: That’s the plan. It’s somewhat likely they will appear then disappear then re-appear. So if you see them and they’re gone later, take heart, it’s just temporary!
different-church-lady
@Gin & Tonic: Seconded.
Juju
@Peej01: I second your comment.
Alain the site fixer
@Gin & Tonic: I must warn you, no tonic here, just Quinine!
Alain the site fixer
@different-church-lady: I think that’s a very good idea; some hovering content that scrolls down with you. Will ponder for some future enhancement!
rikyrah
Can we now see the number for the replies if you go online from a phone? I couldn’t see them this morning.
PS- two different widgets
JBF
I pretty much ignore the sidebar.
Just Some Fuckhead
The site doesn’t need Recent Comments any more. I mean, who fucking cares?
Alain the site fixer
@rikyrah: Yeah, I’m adding that and some other missing items back into the mobile site then all those changes will be combined with the tweaks and we’ll have Balloon Juice 3.1.
That will all be done today or tomorrow. Seeing as it’s 4:30, not sure how much I can get away with working instead of being with wife and finishing Walking Dead season finale! (no spoilers anyone, be kind to those WD lovers around you!)
FlyingToaster
Getting rid of the phantom scrollbar got rid of the arrow-keys not working after I clicked on the page, so you rock, dude.
The ora.tv flash autoplay video is still there.
The specific code is:
Hopefully I got that so it shows as text rather than an embedded autoplay video.
ETA: failed in the three ways I tried to post it, I’ll send it via the contact us thangy. Yeesh.
SiubhanDuinne
I also have no preference on one widget or two for recent posts/recent comments. Am just very glad to have those options at all.
And I want to thank you not only for providing a down arrow, but also for (apparently) reading my mind and greying them out to match the previous post/next post arrows.
Finally, Alain, thanks very much for your patient, clear, explanatory updates. It’s much easier to deal with the glitches when we know they’re temporary. Nice job all the way around.
Only one request, and it’s pretty minor: Would it be possible to add an edit button for “strikeout”? (I think that’s what it’s called — the one where you can strike through a piece of quoted text and add your own “FTFY” text.) Thanks, and no big deal if it can’t be done.
Major Major Major Major
Good lord some of these ads are big. Yesterday I got a giant (like one third the screen vertical) ‘Obama is the antichrist’-style ad on the top bar, and the ad in the right sidebar takes up an entire vertical screen. I know we need ads, but maybe moving recent posts/recent comments up would make the site more convenient? It’s weird to have to scroll down so far to see the recentness shortcuts.
Keine Ahnung on the mobile site.
ETA: And of course, thank you for all your hard work :D
Alain the site fixer
@FlyingToaster: I cannot get rid of it as I am at the bidding of the boss, John. It’s his business, not mine.
Alain the site fixer
@SiubhanDuinne: I wish I could – they’re called Quicktags and they are showing all they can. I spent about 4 hours playing with and learning about a replacement comment entry doodad that had a lot more buttons and was customizable, and was very nice. It had some quirks and at this late date, I didn’t want to rush, and could not push back release yet again.
The new site is so much better than the older one that it literally hurt me to go to Balloon Juice knowing that so many improvements were staged, almost ready. I suspect I’ll want to add in the enhanced comment doodad as a project some time in the spring or summer but not now! I want the dust to settle.
You should be able to use the
It should work like thisMike J
Can we lose the placeholder for the post graphic? All those empty squares are annoying. I guess that’s
span class=”news-thumb no-news-thumb”
I personally prefer seeing the recent comments without having to click something, but I don’t have any particularly strong feelings about it.
As a whole the site seems more readable than a few days ago. I hope the tweaks don’t undo that. I’d tighten up the vspace on name/email.website, and I never understood why those fields needed a lighter text color (the comment field does this too if you add text and click outside of it.)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Voter suppression at Balloon Juice! Send the bat signal to Loretta Lycnh stat; it’s what the DOJ is for.
This. will. not. stand.
(I’m assuming I’m about the 27th person to engage in this specific event of snark, but I could not resist.)
Thanks for all your hard work, Alain,
tarragon
You still can’t scroll with the spacebar after clicking on the page. page up and page down do work now.
schrodinger's cat
Does the column on the right have to be this big? Reduce the font size of the comment text and increase the font size of our handles.
amygdala
No vote, since I have no preference, but would like to thank you for your hard work and equanimity.
Alain the site fixer
@tarragon: Please explain. I prefer step by step intsructions so I can easily replicate without having to try to figure out what folks mean! I didn’t understand the down arrow/home/end keys not working until Bella pointed out that it was after interacting with the text box or page elements first. That helped solve it tout-suite!
Alain the site fixer
@amygdala: Thanks, that means a lot!
Alain the site fixer
@schrodinger’s cat: That’s now on the short-to-do-list.
different-church-lady
Just noticed that the floating up and down arrow boxes are much lighter colored — much easier on the eyes, thanks.
different-church-lady
@FlyingToaster: Flashblock: will make all of your internetting life much less annoying.
Major Major Major Major
@different-church-lady: Good call, that’s much better. Those were super distracting.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Alain the site fixer: You’re too sweet.
schrodinger's cat
@Alain the site fixer: Thanks much!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Alain the site fixer: I still cannot edit. It might be a personal failure though.
Nothing happens after “save.” No page refresh, no jewels, no nothing.*
* Great admiration for anyone who a) recognizes the reference and (even more for) b) appreciates it, whether with a chuckle or rolled eyes.
The Golux
I’m not seeing any difference between the mobile site (iOS 9.3.1, iPhone 4s) and the desktop (Firefox/Win10).
Mike J
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Isis supporter.
NotMax
Not my bag, but might suggest adding Gardening to the list of Quick Links, as the garden posts are a regular weekly feature.
Reduction in size since yesterday of comment numbers and commenter names not a plus.
SiubhanDuinne
@Alain the site fixer:
Thanks for checking, Alain. Didn’t realize the edit buttons came in a package. I don’t often use the strikeout feature anyhow, so it’s no great hardship to do it manually.
tarragon
@Alain the site fixer:
Sure. It’s basically exactly the behavior page up and down had.
Process:
Load balloon-juice.com
Press spacebar to advance a page. (It works)
Left-Click just about anywhere, The body text of an article works.
Press spacebar again. (It does not advance)
Expected:
It advances on space bar.
Mike J
@tarragon: It works on ffox 45.0.1 and chrome 51.0.2700.0 dev-m on win7.
Planetpundit
Great work Mr Fixer thanx so much.
Miss Bianca
As long as “recent comments” does come back, don’t care how…surprising how much I like that feature!
and just to repeat myself from a long-dead thread, I am amazed that you have managed such a relatively non-jarring site redesign. Most of the time a site redesign means that I can’t stand even to look at it or interact with it for a while. Sort of banishing *myself* off the lawn. But not so here, so yay! And thanks!
ETA: @SiubhanDuinne: @Alain the site fixer: Seconded on the notion of the edit button for a ‘strike-out’…awesome suggestion!
Thanks again!
p.a.
A, if you’re not done I apologize for bringing up: comments not numbered on ipad mobile site, Vz fios carrier. comments not numbered android sammy s5 Vz 4g lte, can’t access desktop.
FlyingToaster
@different-church-lady: Did that eons ago.
I had blocked all content from ora.tv because of the errors it was generating, regardless of site it was embedded in. I unblocked it to grab the code and then send the error messages so that the powers-that-be can document what the problems with their feed are.
I don’t mind ads unless they slow my pageloads to a fucking crawl. Some of the ads are interesting (when I’ve looked at luggage for my nephew, I get luggage ads!). Some of them are just strange, and therefore entertaining. Some of them are right-wing, and I’m simply proud that the good guys are taking their money.
MazeDancer
Widgeting likely of no concern to most folks, so think that can be Site Fixer’s Call. You deserve some Fixer’s Choice, for sure.
No doubt this has been overly-discussed, and apologies for late entry, but the left side scroll down box sitting on top of the post copy is extremely distracting. While the lighter color helps – and thank you for that – it still looks like some odd error, or thing that needs to be moved out of the way. Incredibly irritating, like a fly walking around the TV screen. Keep wanting to push it out of the way.
Would prefer none if that’s the only option.
Jerzy Russian
The “go to footer” arrow is too close to the text of the comments. Can it be moved to the left a bit?
Uncle Cosmo
Situation: I see a comment responding to a previous comment. I click on the name of the previous commenter.
Action: The site scrolls up to that previous comment.
Question: How do I return to the comment I was first reading?
RIght now the only way I know is to manually scroll down looking for it. There ought to be a better way.
—————–
FWIW, the one thing about the site redesign that IMO totally sux is that the “sidebar” takes up 35-40% of the page width which, after ~10 comments in a thread, is nothing but blank space. And the “sidebar content” within those first 10 comments includes that ora.tv bullshit starring Jesse Fuckhead Ventura. It needs to be squeezed to a maximum 25% of page width.
debbie
Why, on the front page, do you have to scroll back up to the top of the post to get to the comments page? You used to be able to click through at the top and bottom of each post.
Mike J
@Uncle Cosmo: Your browser’s back button will get you back to where you were.
EthylEster
Like most polls, this one does not ask the questions I feel are important.
Also too, I don’t completely understand the question. ;=)
But B-Jers gotta complain so:
IMO I don’t need no stinking widget telling me about recent posts OR comments.
Felonius Monk
I am emphatically seconding this. Also, on mobile site (at the bottom below the comment box) you can switch from mobile to desktop, but you can’t switch back. Please fix this.
p.a.
I liked the 2008-2009 version. Is that available?
karen marie
I have to say – I am really astonished at how crappy and amateurish the site looks since all the work started. I don’t care whether most recent comments or most recent posts are in the sidebar. What I’m wondering is why we’ve been deprived of the long departed blogroll that used to live down the left-hand side of the page. Other than that, it’s all six of one, half a dozen of the other. It’s just a shame, with all the time and effort expended, the site looks like something one of John’s dogs puked up.
amk
Alain, thanks for fixing pgup/pgdown/home/end issue.
Also. Too. The back button. Fiiiiinally.
And the block quote box is much better than a meaningless line on the left.
The only bug I see (windows 10 & firefox) is down arrow does not work while up arrow does.
Alain the site fixer
@karen marie: Blogroll is in the sidebar. I fixed it so it didn’t pop up the link so now it works in iOS so what’s the issue?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Mike J: Thank you.
Amir Khalid would have noticed also too.
And thanks for all the helpful advice.
Alain the site fixer
@amk: It works for me Win10 Firefox (current).
If I am already down then the button doesn’t do guac; alternate the up and down buttons, they work. If there is a scenario where it doesn’t work when you are not at the bottom/below the 1st comment, please let me know!
amk
@Alain the site fixer:
FF 45.0.1 here. The down arrow does not work anywhere along the post. May be some issue with my laptop. Not a biggie. I use the end button all the time to get to the bottom.
Thanks for all your valuable time and help.
Alain the site fixer
Vote is 41-33 for one sidebar widget vs two. I close the poll tomorrow and will have a final count then. Either way, there will be edits and tweaks to the fonts and removal of boxes.
Night all, I’m off to enjoy dinner followed by the rest of WD finale. And, if we’re lucky, another episode of Daredevil S2. It’s crazy good and I can’t wait for Iron fist and then Luke Cage! Crazy this Marvel universe, I hope that they do something just as varied and omnipresent with the Star Wars universe. If only there was a way to spend a few years in “Star Wars – The Total Immersion Video Game” and not end up like Duane Dibbley! :)
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Peej01: Yes to both, comment numbers and time stamp. Thanks for your hard work, late nights, and openness to suggestions. Good job!
Ohio Mom
I’m happy. I can follow links when one comment references an earlier one AND get back to where I started. Up until now, I would have been bounced out of comments thread during the last step in that sequence.
Everything is easy to read, looks nice. Crisp and clear. God job and many thanks!
No One You Know
Agreed!
Numbered comments and datetimes are helpful!
Central Planning
@Peej01:
And only one reply button per post!
Central Planning
@Gin & Tonic:
So… tequila?
Gin & Tonic
@Central Planning: Um, no. Tequila and I don’t get along.
debbie
Are there supposed to be both threaded and non-threaded comments in the same post? I’m seeing this on my iPad.
The Other Chuck
Testing something relating to editable comments CSS.