This dilapidated old site needs an face-lift and possibly a new motor. My MT has been acting skecthy for a while, so it might be time to move on.
Here is what I need from you:
1.) Tell me what you want- Larger fonts, bigger center column, less graphic intensive loads, etc.
2.) What motor should I use- should I stick with MT? Should I move to scoop and a new server and let you guys create your own diaries, etc? I need something that makes it easier to include video clips and audio files, and something that makes podcasting easy.
3.) Are the RSS feeds hunky dory? Is there anything else I need to add? My Yahoo buttons, etc. Is there anything you think I should add?
4.) How about color schemes? Any suggestions?
Here is what I need from you:
I know there are some people with graphics skills. I need a banner. If you have time, see what you can whip together and email it to me. I will then put them all up and we can vote on them. I could also use some buttons, or some little icons to go with it. And remember, keep a color theme in mind.
Have fun, and thanks in advance.
Mason
In order of my preferences:
#1: Bigger fonts in the comment popup! Any post with more than a few comments, I take advantage of the handy zoom feature in Opera to blow the page up 180%, after maximizing the window. Otherwise it’s just too darn small to read.
#2: Wider content column. The kate moss-sized one you have is too narrow!
#3: Dump arial as your main font. Go with no specificaion (browser default is usually Times New Roman) or something a little more screen-readable like Verdana. Verdana is almost overused, but it’s easy on the eyes.
I don’t have a platform preference, but I’ll help learn you how to customize whatever you might switch to. I’ll mention the graphics to Jen and another buddy of mine who are far more talented than I.
Jim Henley
I like the general look of the site a lot. The column width is perfect and the font readably large. You get 10-12 words a line, which is what you should get. RSS works great for me. I’m cool with the general layout as it stands.
I have found wordpress to be a nice piece of software.
slickdpdx
I second Mr. Henley. I like the look and format you have going on. I also like your current banner.
Rick
John,
I emailed you a suggestion about the time you were composing the post. If you only one thing, make it enlarging the comments fonts.
I famously don’t respect some zoological specimens here enough to devour every written word, but the legal-disclaimer sized micro-font you have going just makes that disrespect all the easier to rationalize.
Cordially…
matt
A few ideas:
Change font to 72 point wingdings
Blood red, or better yet neon green text on a black background
Animated flames for the banner
Very loud and annoying sound looped endlessly upon page load (see itsatrap.net)
recompense will be expected for any ideas you use.
p.lukasiak
call me old fashioned, but except for the font size in comments, I like the way this site works. Content is king, not bells and whistles.
Russ
And don’t forget to make extensive use of <blink> tags.
Nothing says “Look how important this word is!” like <blink> tags.
Jay C
Amen to the two main beefs:
1. Wider center column
2. Bigger comments window/fonts (a MUST)
Shawn
I may be the only one, but I liked the extended entry thing you tried yesterday for long entries.
Like others have said, larger font for the comment window, but I usually click on the time posted to read everything, so that’s not a big deal for me. Loading time seems good to me, but I’m on wireless.
Scoop/diaries-that would be a feature I would like, but might end up increasing your workload.
RSS looks good to me.
Color: I’m not fond of red and orange. Blue and teal maybe? Those would be my colors of choice, but that’s me. (Is teal a color acknowledged by male type persons? My husband tells me Salmon isn’t a color, it’s a fish and plum isn’t a color, it’s a fruit. Just in case, by teal I mean bluish green :o)
shawn
P.S. I’m not a graphics person, but I’ve used Cooltext.com to make logos and buttons for websites.
I’d like to register a vote against a flaming logo!
dorkafork
Do you have any banner ideas in mind? Still want a “balloon” motif? Style preference? Also what type of buttons/icons did you want, specifically what would the buttons/icons be for?
Just some guy
</lurk>
What Mason said on 1. #2 would be nice, but not a big deal. Jim is right on WordPress, it is good stuff. Easy to setup and manage.
I’d also suggest dropping the popup. Have the link go to a drill down page with the comments. Popups suck.
<lurk>
sidereal
I seventh or whatever the call for larger fonts in the comment page (which I agree should not be a popup).
Also the comment box I’m typing in right now is at least half as small as it could be (possibly only a problem in Firefox).
I would greatly disrecommend scoop unless you want to turn it into a part-time job. MT/WP is fine for what you’re looking to do (unless you’re looking to do something else, in which case fess up).
Logo-wise, whenever I think ‘Balloon Juice’ I think of Mark Ryden painting, but that would probably be stealing under our draconian copyright laws.
Mason
For the benefit of those who mentioned it:
I’m pretty sure the comment box is sized that way by default with MT, and by default is not resize-able. I never understood why they did that, but I’ve seen the same problem on a lot of blogs.
Fortunately, Opera ignores the no-resize order and you can manually drag or maximize the window just like any other. Give Opera a try. :)
Mozilla and Firefox users might be able to write some user-javascript or something similar to accomplish the same task.
scs
Please -larger fonts in comments. You’re giving me bi-focals before my time!
Or better yet, keep tiny fontsi comments for scrolling ease, but be able to click on a a comment to blow it up, or just blow up the whole thing if that is not possible. Also allow comments “Preview’ to be bigger fonts so I can actually read what I wrote. Me and my eyeballs thank you.