Website can be easier...

Front page “latest forum topic” doesn’t actually show the latest forum topic.

Remove the “all tags” and “my tags”, just complicates it more.

What do you think Jenny Jones will say when she sees this on her screen?

You can use Markdown syntax to format and style the text.

Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

Allowed HTML tags:

on the previous site we added those after all of us had already joined so we didn't see many of these issues.

dont feel bad about pointing out shortcomings. the reason you all are here is to sort through some of these things.

Markdown is the simplest markup language i could find, but you are right, its prolly too much for people who arent familiar with web.

The great thing about this framework (the thing that powers this site) is you can do lots to configure it.

So if by default we ca disable any way to format text, and then grant varied permissions based on whatever we want. Giving people who know what they are doing the option to make lists, bold text, and make real links will greatly improve the readability of our site.

agreed.
i dont like looking at that.
its gone.

aka, threaded comments.

its just a checkbox i can turn off in two seconds/ but i kinda like them... there will always we multiple conversations happening in the comments and it enables greater readability (i think) any other thoughts?

take this thread for instance; you asked about 5 questions and i have posted 4-5 comments based on those things. now people looking to discuss things further can comment on each topic specifically instead of having to quote the comment that is being referencing.

I prefer the old-school forum thread view; but you might be right about readability.
I'll give it a chance!

Nigel-

dont get too caught up in the “look”. as far as formatting and layout anything is up for grabs. the time up till now has been spent on the mechanics. The theme is just a basic preset that came with the package. Lets try to talk about things in two different contexts: the feature (in this case threaded comments) and the look (how they all indent, where the pic is and what the colors are)

doesn’t actually show the latest forum.
good catch, it was showing lasted updated forum topic. fixed.

Kay is complaining at me: "Maximum dimensions are 100x100 and the maximum size is 200 kB. -- What the heck does that mean? How am I supposed to make an image like that?"

So maybe people could upload anything, and the server uses something (ImageMagick?) to make it small enough?

yeah it does that, that will be the final image size after it resizes it.

maybe i can change some text to make that more clear

Thanks Jeff for being so open to all this website feedback. I know you've spent a ton of time getting this thing going and it could have been natural for you to feel protective of it - so thanks!

Still have no luck getting my photo up (a diff one)...

are you pressing refresh right after uploading it?

i appreciate knowing what the size limits are. less time spent trying to upload something that won't work. or when i do try, i want to know why it won't work. so show me size & dimension requirements. anyone on facebook or myspace is familiar with the terms. *maybe put an asterick with "normal" language underneath: hey you! smaller picture!

Tanya was nice enough to photoshop my photo to work, but it definitely should not require a graphic artist to get a photo up here!! Can you ease the strict requirements so it works better for all?

But this gotta be Apple-like or it won't fly. Think Different.

When a new comment comes in that I have not read, it should be at the bottom, not indented somewheres in the middle where I won't see it or know that it is new. That'll promote more dialogue where you can quickly see what new has been added to a discussion since you were last there.

Brian, what type of file are you trying to upload?
Kay tried to upload a TIFF, and the site wouldn't let her. I had to change it to a JPEG for her.
Jeff, maybe the text could specify the file type(s). And if the server is really resizing images (as opposed to scaling them), I think it is best to ditch the "100 x 100" stuff. Let people upload and see whether resizing made it look crappy or not.

at a first order changing the “Your virtual face or picture. Maximum dimensions are 100x100 and the maximum size is 200 kB.” text is not easy. i can append any text after that (ie: “But don’t worry about that, just choose a picture (preferably of yourself) to identify yourself. You may have to refresh your browser after uploading a new picture to force a reload of your cache.”)

i believe the main issue here is the cache on your local browser (except the TIFF thing) it is good that the pics are cached because you don’t want to have to re-download them for each page.

here are the issues as i see them:

• images don’t refresh when uploaded as expected
• too much wording when uploading pic and supported formats not specified
• uploaded images should crop to 1:1 aspect ratio before resizing
• user gallery doesn’t refresh as expected.

Hey Jeff M
On "Active Forum Topics" list on the bottom right on homepage...

Any way to make those topics that take up more than one line indent in such a way to make the list easier to read?

For example, right now it looks like 14 lines, all left justified, but actually it is 8 topics. But unless you mouse over them, you don't easily figure out the 8 actual topics.

Not sure if I esplained meself well...

i want to see this thing be as useful as it can be for as many people as it can be.
This site, like hopefully most other areas of the journey will be a product of an on going discussion. I know that i come from a unique perspective (über geek) and some of my hair-brained ideas only really play out well in my head. This is a two way street; the sooner you get it out of your head that it’s my website the better it will be for all of us. Most of the things you see right now are based on reactions from everyone on the purple cobras team using a different site for a couple of months now, and if you had seen that site, well lets just say it wasn’t pretty.

this is a great point! and aptly placed because as i read your comment here i saw a comment just above that i hadn't read before. i think that the date order fact coupled with the constant indenting mess negates any benefits of keeping track of comment threads. any thoughts?

i can set an option to let people chose what view they would prefer, but if some people are threading comments and some are just looking at them in date order is that confusing?

yikes, that little block looked nice and clean when all the forum topics were nice two word phrases. but now its a mess. i'll see if i can do something about that.

at some point we need to have a discussion as to what actually is going to go on the front page~

i love reading people's replies to topics and comments, but sometimes it can be hard to figure out which comments in a given conversation are new, especially when there are many [e.g. in the dicipleship discussion]. is it possible to somehow flag or color comments that are new? i'd love it if i could click on a topic that i've been actively reading and just scroll down to the comment that's orange, so that i know immediately what's new. this would probably have to personal for each user, but it seems like we might have the capability.

switching to bullet points for each topic on the front page way easier to read now!!

look for "new" in the upper right-hand corner of posts or comments you havent seen yet, it's been there the entire time. :)

awesome, i think it really helped cleanup that block.

I actually was able to get in, add my picture, and figure a few things out myself! This is from someone who’s aim is mrsungeek. I do have a mild annoyance with the site though. The pages are so wide, I have to keep moving the bar to the right to read people’s blogs. Then I have to do it again when I go to another page. Is there any way to make it so I don’t have to touch the stupid mouse so much?

http://www.startupers.com/

I like when each comment relates to the one above it, rather than just a huge string of comments like we’ve been doing. I’m not sure if that is threaded or not threated, but whatever format allows “conversations” to stay together is what I like. Otherwise you have someone saying “hey, I liked the unconference” and the next comment is totally unrelated because it is responding to something 5 posts above it. Did that make sense?

-Leah

Mornings would be great if they came later in the day

I agree with many of the comments, I prefer threaded topics, being that i am a SEQUENTIAL person and RaNDoM will make me go away if i find it difficult to follow a conversation. Is there a way to make the topics threaded, putting replies stacked under the original?

Also, i have a 17” monitor but for those who don’t, the width can be distracting and/or annoying like Linda said. If we were marketing to average non-puter-geek people we would lose a bunch of customers right off the bat with just these 2 issues.

Can we have a way to send a message to a direct user?

When you post a new forum, can the date of posting be shown? Not two days ago or two months ago.

Thanks

I want to know who is reading all of the content to manage, monitor, etc. I am wondering what people who happen upon this website think of the church. It feels like the blog stuff dominates the content of the website. Is that the intention? I think some people might be weirded out by the lack of managed content. I mean, where’s the info that defines the church, that demonstrates or describes the nature of the church? This site feels too loose to me. This is an English teacher speaking, but I’m also the epitome of the absent-minded professor, and I am definitely into doing things different. But I need boundaries, adult supervision. When I ride a rollercoaster, I always wear a seatbelt and keep my arms and hands inside the vehicle. I need the directions on how to light a fire log. Okay, I’m getting lost in the metaphors. I mean to say that there’s not enough, in my opinion, of structured content that protects the message of our fellowship. What are we about? Blogs? Demon possession? Puppy give-aways? No offense intended because I think it’s great to have Greg’s list and discussions about demon possession, but I’m saying a newcomer might be confused???

As I see it, we are defining the church right now; the collective content is a more accurate picture of who we are (albeit skewed to nerds) than any statement anyone could craft.
Who is managing and monitoring all this? We are.

I love all this chat stuff,

but the “ABOUT” part of the site needs lots of work. Someone visiting us there needs information, pictures, etc.

I travel and visit other churches, using their websites to figure out if I’d want to go there or not. Need a lot more in that section. (No, I didn’t just volunteer to write it up either…!)

Hey Mincey:
Any chance when you go to “about” or our profile, the picture can be bigger? I’m relying on the pic to figure out who people are, and I can’t always make them out. Would really help out…

(Of course some people put weird photos that make them look a lot like Bart Simpson…)