It’s been quite some time since we did one of these, so we are going to hold a site fundraiser to pay for a top to bottom redesign. Patching isn’t working anymore, things are creaky and breaking and I just need to break down and have someone dive in and build things from the ground up. I had someone who was working on it on the side, but I think we just need a dedicated coder this time around. My old crew wants nothing to do with it (I warned them about reading the site redesign open threads and taking your advice, but they wouldn’t listen), so I am hiring someone new.
So, if you’re willing to chip in, please hit the paypal button and we’ll try to get this over with as soon as possible since I really hate the fundraiser drives interrupting the programming on NPR.
Also, put your wants below so when I compile the list for the poor SOB who says yes it will all be in one place.
I have a special pet picture treat for you all tonight, too.
schrodinger's cat
I want a Tunch photo everyday.
ETA: I will pay in catnip and mice.
Gin & Tonic
I thought that said “put your pants below.”
scav
I vote for as simple as possible, especially for Speed.
Mike J
Please do not make the text medium grey on a light grey background. That fad has mostly died, but you still see it here and there.
Please make the site work with javascript turned off. It’s ok if we lose some bells and whistles, but the site should still function. This includes making all links javascript functions to make them open in a new tab. That way lies madness.
Right now I can read balloon-juice on a text only browser from 1993. It may not be pretty, but it’s functional. One advantage of working in simple browsers is that things almost always work properly for vision impaired people with screen readers.
Add extra crap if you have to, just make it work for those of us who turn it off.
MomSense
It better be Steve!!!
MOAR Steve!
Woodrow/asim
Since the comments section is a huge part of why I hang out here, making that flow better (and I know that’s a hard, hard job) would really help, esp. on mobile. Specific ideas include:
* Better refresh/auto-refresh for updated comment threads on both desktop and mobile
* Improvements (reduce manual effort) in responding to other comments (NOTE: does not mean I want threaded comments!)
* Subscribe via email to the site for new posts
* Option to pay to avoid ads
* Better archiving browsing and/or search (there’s so much interesting stuff here, but it’s brutal to find)
If you’re feeling really froggy, throw in a Responsive rebuild so that no matter what I use to browse the site, I’m getting something that works for that device. And you guys won’t have to have a “special” site version that’s brutally different than the desktop version, every time someone comes out with a new kind of device.
And pie in the sky:
– Subscribe for emails to update on comments to a post that arrives every hour or so
– Notification (via email or browser pop-up) when someone replies to a comment you made
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: Seconded! Poor Steve is outnumbered by slobbering doggies. I vote that John Cole get another cat or two, to keep Steve company and for our entertainment.
Benw
@Gin & Tonic: makes sense. Cole can raid everyone’s pockets for loose change.
SiubhanDuinne
Just tossed a modest contribution your way. Hope it helps.
Re site design: on my iPad, for the past few months (using the Desktop version exclusively, because reasons) the hyperlink feature hasn’t worked — if I click on it to provide a link to something, it just kicks me out of BJ altogether. So I end up just pasting the full link into my comment, which (a) looks ugly and clunky, and (b) occasionally ruins a desired element of surprise.
Also, the contact drop-down doesn’t work any more. If I click on a FP’s name, it just sits there — doesn’t provide an email address or, even better, open a new email with the addy already in place.
Finally, please, I implore you, never ever EVER allow yourself to be talked into doing nested comments. The randomness of commentary here is one of its biggest charms.
Thanks for doing this, John.
Scamp Dog
@Mike J: what’s that browser? I’m tempted to give it a try, actually.
raven
A sawbuck for now.
Keith P.
Please go easy on the JavaScript. Or, point your team at TPM and say, “Not this.”
SiubhanDuinne
Oh — I just thought of one more thing that would be really nice, especially on some of the longer threads: Could we have a button at the top of each page that would take us to the bottom, and at the bottom of each page to return to the top? Would save some tiresome scrolling. Thanks!
mb
If I were king of the world, I’d require every website to have a feature allowing the reader to change to a dark background/light text. At some point everyfuckingbody on the entire goddamn internet decided their website had to be white background/black text. Fuck that. Blows my eyes out to be blasted by so much white. I use a Firefox add-on called NoSquint which helps but it distorts most websites and degrades the experience. Would be much better if web designers would broaden their horizons colorwise just a bit.
Mike J
@Scamp Dog: The color coded one is lynx, the monochrome is links.
jacel
Contribution sent. In recent weeks I’ve also been seeing this site on an iPhone, and have been surprised at how well that works. Somehow the posts and comments are more readable than at a lot of sites I try to see on the small screen.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: End button on your laptop will do the same thing.
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
I would make up the difference but I don’t think my dog would be good to a cat.
canegiallo
How can I send you a check? I don’t do paypal.
Keith P.
I’d also recommend using Bootstrap for your CSS. Will make life easier down the line.
Tim F.
Double the pay for front pagers.
schrodinger's cat
@Tim F.: Two times zero = Zero.
Botsplainer
No Kinja, I beg you.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
How much for a month in charge of the ban hammer?
Mandalay
@raven: Completely O/T – have you seen these photos?….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3215411/Vietnam-veteran-rediscovers-candid-wartime-showing-dawn-patrols-war-buddies-died-action-baseball-game-jungle.html
Tim F.
@schrodinger’s cat: Yeah, but it’s twice zero. If you can have infinities bigger than other infinities then twice zero should be more than the original zero.
gogol's wife
@canegiallo:
Same here. But you won’t get an answer. If you do, I’ll send a check too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@gogol’s wife: I’ll do Paypal, but I’d prefer to send a check
JPL
@gogol’s wife: me too….
raven
@Mandalay: Great shots. There are so many websites with so many pictures but I always find myself fascinated by small things. Many of these are in places where I was and the picture of the convoy takes me right back there. The M-16’s were the ear models with a 3 pronged flash suppressor made just for catching on crap in the bush. #31 is Nui Ba Dihn, The Black Virgin Mountain that could be seen for miles and miles.
This is is pretty dumb. “showing troops unaware of protests at home “.
dedc79
Add bold/italics/link/quote buttons for commenting via mobile device.
John Cole
EMAIL ME and I will send you my address.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Holy crap, Best. Fundraiser. Evar! There’d be bidding wars.
JPL
@John Cole: The email doesn’t come up under the contact info for me.
geg6
A mobile site that is actually readable and actually works on a mobile would be nice.
dnfree
In Safari on an iPhone, eventually balloon-juice.com winds up being some kind of feature of Myspace, which then wants my location, and I have to shut the whole thing down and start over. So if you can figure out how to break that connection, it would be great. Sometimes it happens fairly quickly and sometimes it takes days before I wind up on Myspace.
Thanks for all you do! I seldom comment but enjoy reading the front pagers and occasionally the comments.
EmDeeAhr
Until the fundraiser is done, why not replace “This space reserved for your ad” in the RSS feed with a fundraising link?
Roger Moore
Bring back the balloon man.
flukebucket
Ladies and gentlemen if you have not seen the Nathan Ener rant you need to.
Percysowner
A threaded commenting system. Be able to reply directly to a person under the comment. Ability to track comments in a thread. As a user I love disqus, but I have no idea how it works on your end. But disqus like features are nice.
gbear
Have you new designer go visit Wonkette, and then do everything the exact opposite of what they do. Never has such a beloved site screwed things up so thoroughly.
raven
@Percysowner: NO!!!!!!!! Don’t do it.
Srv
I will donate once I’m sure this isn’t a conspiracy to get rid of the archives.
I would guess getting off of wordpress is the only solution, and that would run into the 5 figures if it’s even possible. Perhaps you should set a cutoff and make this a static archive site and start over on a new platform for new posts.
Mike J
@Percysowner: No, no, no and fuck no.
Arclite
I want a shrubbery. And a white picket fence.
trollhattan
@gbear:
Amen. It locks FF up faster than Sarah Palin can plow through a pile of meth.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
Seconded.
Arclite
I think my big request would be *comment threads*, so I can follow conversations. Right now with the flat comment model, it’s hard to tell who is responding to whom.
Jordan Rules
@Mike J: Agreed!
schrodinger's cat
@Tim F.: It should be, but it isn’t! Math is a harsh mistress.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Balloon man blew up on my blog
gbear
@trollhattan: My desktop grinds like a coffee mill whenever I’m on Wonkette.
John, go get some ideas from Charles at LGF! That’s such a nice simple site.
scav
Thread structure the way they are camp.
lurker dean
@gbear: this. i stopped reading it after the last redesign.
gvg
numbered comments on mobile site.
Since no one seems to want threads maybe when we do reply to it could not just put up the name but also the number of the comment you are replying to? Say raven at #7 instead of just raven?
I like the idea of up and down buttons SiubhanDuinne at #13
donnah
@gbear:
Oh, amen! I loved Wonkette and went there all of the time, but I had to give it up. It got junkier and more cluttered and has so many pop ups begging for donations; ugh! It’s a big disaster area. The posts and the replies were hilarious, but it’s just not worth it.
SG
Pleez…no redesign that looks like a damned mobile app. No tiles, no endless multiple pages for one entry, nothing trendy! Keep it classic, keep it simple. Just fix what’s broken. It’s the writing that matters here, not flashy design or bleeding-edge code.
ITA.
Mike J
@gbear: I don’t understand all those acres of extra space on either side of the content there. One teeny little column of content in the middle, twice as much space empty on the sides. I also hate the teaser only style that LGF and Wonkette share, but LGF makes it even worse because the comments don’t load until you click for them. IN addition to that, he;s got comment up and down voting, which pretty much always turns into a circle jerk.
shawn
The logo should be less balloon and more juice.
Redshift
The two main things I would like for mobile are having it scroll to the previous position or at least to a comment # anchor after posting or refreshing, like it does on desktop, and having the next-post/previous-post buttons replicated at the bottom of the page, so I don’t have to go all the way back to the top.
Redshift
@schrodinger’s cat: Not if you’re not on a laptop.
Gin & Tonic
@Percysowner: No fucking way.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
I would just love a site that doesn’t load for 45 minutes every time there’s a sound-clip posted on the site.
seaboogie
@gbear: Did you see the Trump “China” mashup at LGF? It is hilarious.
dr. luba
No complaints. I don’t need bells and whistles, am just happy that the site is loading at a reasonable speed. Keep that up.
But, if you’re asking, I like that feature that Charles has (Little Green Footballs) that lets you see the comment being replied to without actually scrolling back to the comment–it opens it in a pop-up. That way you don’t lose your place in the comment thread.
And moar puppies.
Yatsuno
@Mike J: Is it too much to ask for the return of recent comments? If we’re going to burn the old one down might as well build the new so we can see where the action is no?
ljt
@Redshift: @schrodinger’s cat:
On a mac, hold ‘command’ & down or up arrow
dr. luba
@flukebucket: He’s ranting about the Black Panthers? Seriously? What, both of them?
Mike J
@Yatsuno: I would like it, but from what I understand that feature brought the database to its knees.
dr. luba
@ljt: Thanks! It works! A new trick!
debbie
I don’t do Paypal and I don’t use Apple Mail. Could someone please spell out the email address?
Roger Moore
@Arclite:
No thank you. Threaded comments were great back in the days of USENET, especially because people could be counted on to quote properly. But they don’t work well on web sites where all the comments are posted on the same page and people refresh frequently. If you want to see new comments, you have to scroll all the way through the page to find them because they’re scattered all over the place. That creates a tendency for all the comments to cluster toward the top of the page, and then toward the top of the single comment that’s at the top of the page. Anyone who’s read Slashdot can describe the phenomenon.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
I don’t have a laptop, just an iPad.
Yatsuno
@Mike J: I guess if we’re going to redo anything the database could also be redone. I assume. I know nothing I’m just a tax guy!
RSA
It’s funny how the things I’m thinking of to make BJ more usable on my iPhone are just fixes for poor design decisions on Apple’s part. Like being able to scroll to the bottom of the comments to read the last few. Or being able to navigate easily, say, 1/3 the way through the comments.
Thanks, Obama.
Mary G
It’s not a big deal, but when I click on a link in a comment in my tablet, returning to BJ takes me back to the top of the post, so I have to scroll around looking for the comment I left on.
dr. luba
@Mary G: It would be great if links opened in new tabs. I can do that on my website, and amateur effort built with iWeb, so it should be doable here.
Mike J
@dr. luba: Hold the control key while you click the link. On a tablet, hold the link until a popup comes up with the option to open in a new tab.
Open in a new tab is fine of you use target=_blank, it is an abomination unto the Lord if you replace html links with javascript.
Elie
Would be great if I could find my last comment by somehow filtering on my handle…
jeffreyw
I’m in. Not sure what the deal is, but the site makes a mockery of the Nosquint addon in Firefox. I try to punch up text size and the column widths shrink until all I see are lines with only one word on them.
I would love to be able to insert photos in comments.
Recovering bonsai
As an avid comments reader but very infrequent commenter, I have no complaints. I’d be sad to see Balloon Juice move to threaded comments, which severely detract from LGM, or to Disqus, which seems to take forever to load.
RK
A comment section should have real time responses in some fashion (You shouldn’t have to refresh these days to see new comments.) Being that this site seems to be all about the comments this should take precedence in a new design.
Gary K
Several commenters have recommended you to check out the features of LGF. But please do not ever tell me you would “like to use your location.”
Baud
Comments RSS.
Roger Moore
@Yatsuno:
I suspect this could be done even within the current setup by aggressively archiving old comments. You’d close posts to new comments after a few weeks and convert them to static pages. Once you were done, you could delete the old comments out of the database, keeping it small enough that you could do queries for new posts without killing the hamsters.
raven
@jeffreyw: I’d love to insert YOUR photos!
Omnes Omnibus
Please no threaded comments. And is there a non-Paypal way to give?
Wormtown
@Recovering bonsai: @Recovering bonsai: same here…avid reader, infrequent commenter. Haven’t noticed any major problems. greatly appreciate the site…..How about a like button for comments?
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
If you have clicked on the web page, as opposed to clicking in a comment, then you can use the “Home” key to instantly go to the top of a thread, or the “End” key to go to the bottom of a thread. I’m using Firefox, but I bet it works on most browsers.
Try it, and let us know if it works or doesn’t work for you, what browser you are using, etc.
WaterGirl
@dr. luba: Do you guys know that you can click on the @username in a reply to see the comment that is being replied to, and then use the back arrow in your browser to return to the reply?
Also, do you guys know that you can anchor yourself anywhere in a thread by clicking the date and time that’s under UserName says:?
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Short term fix on a mobile device is to click on the date and time to anchor yourself in that comment, THEN click on the @username so you can go back to the comment that is being replied to. Then the back arrow works to take you back to where you originally were in the thread.
Keith G
A box in one corner of the banner that we can click to stream a Thurston Cam®, because…..Puppies!!!!!
Renie
@Keith G:Even better a cam in John’s home so we can watch all the doggies and Steve all the time!!!
J R in WV
@Renie:
OOOHHH!! Yes, Yes, a Steve Cam, 24/7 !! I’ll pay for that!!!
;-{)
Woodrow/asim
@WaterGirl: I do know those ways to navigate comments here, and elsewhere.
That said — they aren’t intuitive to the web page (although a basic part of any website using anchors). They are kind of “hack-y”, and fragile, in my experience, when pages get long. And they don’t work on the mobile version of the site.
Suzanne
I want the three columns of the site to work properly on my iPad so I don’t have to use the mobile site. I also want to be able to copy text on the mobile site, so I can quote or copy/paste.
Suzanne
Yes, sometimes when this page refreshes, I get taken to MySpace.com or gogardenclub.com. WHYYYY.
Lee
Since you are so opposed to threaded comments (I have no idea why), these 2 from above:
– Subscribe for emails to update on comments to a post that arrives every hour or so
– Notification (via email or browser pop-up) when someone replies to a comment you made
I grew up on threaded comments in my old newsgroup reader (mid 90’s), so it can’t be a ‘get off my lawn’ thing.