Top items on my To-Do list to complete setup of the New Old Site
Mobile Menu –
I added a few things tonight to get things started, but I am not a big mobile user so I want to ask what kinds of things you would like to see there.
All BJ Posts Auto-Publish on Twitter –
I have installed the plugin but need to get it set up.
Set Up Site Display Names for Balloon Juice in Browers –
e.g. Balloon Juice | Post Title
Categories –
I made the 36 top level categories, but none of the rest are in place yet. In the process of figuring out if they can be imported from a list or if I have to make them all manually.
Snark / Sarcasm –
Examples: Fuck the fucking NYT, Our Failed Media, etc. In the process of trying to get this functionality back. Also, same question about import vs. manual additions.
Adding Images back for Author pages –
I have some images to be added, need to get others.
Adding Images back for Topics pages –
I have some images to be added, need to get others.
Create Form to Nominate Rotating Tags –
The previous form was lost in the fire.
Create Form for Site Feedback & Problem Reporting –
The previous form was lost in the fire.
All BJ Posts Auto-Publish to Facebook –
We weren’t doing this before so I will need to research Plugins for that.
FYI
Medium Cool will be back on Sunday.
On the Road will be back on Monday, but we only have 7 posts in the queue so far. 21 submissions were lost in the fire.
Voting Access for All Coalition Fundraising; I’d like to get back to this in a few days; we kind of left them hanging in the aftermath of the fire.
Backups are Being Done Nightly by our Site Hosts.
Our Site Hosts are no longer using 365 Data Centers for their cloud storage.
Two questions
1 – Mobile peeps, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE MOBILE MENU?
2 – WHAT HAVE I FORGOTTEN? I knew on Sunday that I needed to make the mobile menu this week, but it apparently fell out of my ears when I slept – I was reminded today when someone mentioned it in the comments. Wondering if I have forgotten anything else.
NOT asking for suggestions of new features or fixes (cough, back arrow, cough).
Open thread.
WaterGirl
15 minutes and not once comment, maybe none of this matters to anyone. ♀️ I guess that makes it easier for me!
John Revolta
I’m here! But I gotta desktop!
Lyrebird
WG
You are a wonder.
Thanks for the heavy lifting you have been doing!
Wyatt Salamanca
WG,
You’ve done a truly outstanding job responding to this crisis and I can’t begin to thank you enough for your dedication, devotion, and commitment to restoring Balloon Juice to its full functionality!
Thank God Medium Cool is coming back on Sunday!
Grumpy Old Railroader
Desktop work good
MacOS Monterey Ver 12.3.1
Mobil Samsung 21 works good
Android Ver 12
User, on the other hand, has some worn parts, creaks, squeaks and groans but is still upright and mobile
planetjanet
There is a facebook page?
Jackie NC
Hi, the Amazon link still doesn’t work for me
Benw
Can I take you out for a virtual sarsaparilla, Watergirl? You’re amazing!
Doug R
@WaterGirl:
It is the 21st century, any possibility of ordinary common taters having the ability to post pictures?
I know a disqusting service that throws up pictures on desktop and let’s you click for the picture on mobile.
I’m still on a 3g phone in Canada, I just got the text today that my phone is useless in the USA but it still has WiFi.
lowtechcyclist
Other than the absence of the archives (I know that’s way out of your control!) everything looks great to me, WaterGirl!
(I access via PC, using Firefox on the laptop and MS Edge on the desktop, don’t ask me to explain)
Since this is an open thread, we’ve got some must-see TV coming up a week from tonight. And I don’t even watch TV.
Jay
Thank you Watergirl and everybody else.
Happy the site is back, do what you will.
Iphone here, just happy we can read and comment.
Ben Cisco
Desktop and phone are both five by five.
scav
Just here to reiterate how happy I am to have the pie filter back. Thanks and
Long Live Pie!!
BillinGlendaleCA
OK, re-submitted my ORT to replace the one lost in the fire.
la caterina
@WaterGirl: Thanks for all you do, Watergirl! We’re all here lurking and benefitting from your hard work.
Jay
@ BillinGlendaleCA:
On The Road?
In Your Apron, under scheduling, you can set scheduling preferences, (mandates), that the scheduling algorithm recognizes.
of course the Orange Apron doesn’t train anybody on their self managed HR, instead you get “training” on how to assemble flat packed cabinets, Etc.
zhena gogolia
@Jackie NC: Did you click on the actual link? It used to be you could click on the logo and it would go, but now you have to click the link.
BellyCat
Mobile (iOS Safari current version) seems “good as old”. One exception was trying to copy text to quote in comment and the page started auto-scrolling out of control. Will try to replicate and report if it repeats.
(BTW: Great job with all!)
Redshift
I read the site a lot on my phone (just because it’s always with me wherever I want to read), and use it to comment a fair bit too. I have to say I almost never use the menu. On the rare occasions where there’s something I might use, it’s not urgent so it’s easier to go do it on the desktop version where it’s easier.
So for me personally, it’s not worth you putting much effort into it.
Redshift
@BellyCat:
I’ve seen behavior like that occasionally for a long time. Trying to drag the beginning of the selection over to the beginning of a line, and it decides the next position to the left is up at the top of the page. Sometimes it’s given me enough trouble that I skip copying the first letter and just add it back in after pasting the text.
FelonyGovt
So far everything looks great and I can’t think of anything needed for mobile (I mostly read BJ on my iPhone). I can’t believe how much work you’ve done in such a short period of time, WaterGirl, and I’m very grateful.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay: Yes OTR.
I’ve set my preferences in ‘My Apron’ my ASDS obviously drops acid prior to doing scheduling
ETA: One part of training is how unions are bad; really, really BAD. I think Steve in the WTF wrote that part.
Redshift
@scav: Yes, the pie filter was probably what I missed most with the temporary site.
Mark von Wisco
Not a mobile user, but just want to say that I’m glad to see the site back up and running.
Jay
@ BillinGlendaleCA:
one part of My Apron, is every 3 to 4 months, you have to reset, because the system just drops it out, and the one person doing the scheduling for 365 people, full and part time, forgets.
eg, half my department’s staff are foreign students. They can’t do more than 20 hours a month, or they could be deported. Just after Mother’s day, they scheduled Hammidi for 40 hours in that week.
oh well, meeting tomorrow with the new HR, I am either going to be fired, or back at work. Should be fun.
dnfree
You’ve done a remarkable job, Watergirl, and most of us can’t even imagine what goes on behind the scenes.
I don’t know how the auto-publishing works with Twitter, because I’m not on Twitter. But if you start posting to Facebook, will there be comments both places (here and on Facebook)? It seems that would get confusing to follow, at least for me. Could you shut off Facebook comments so the only comments are here on the site? Who knows what I’m already missing by not seeing comments on Twitter. Or not.
H.E.Wolf
I don’t use the mobile options, but OMG thank you for everything you’ve been doing backstage to make things functional again!
Ruckus
On the phone, everything looks great.
Ruckus
Now back on the big screen.
Looks just as good.
WG, thank you for all the effort!
NotMax
Reduce font size of comment numbers. Currently are overpowering
NotMax
Possibly due to my browser set-up but shall mention that everything in the static white bar at page top works except for Refresh.
randy khan
The willow is too close to the blog.
Seriously, it looks like you’ve got a long enough list for now, and there’s nothing I would put ahead of anything you have on the list.
Eolirin
This is not a need to do thing, but if we can get dark mode added I’d really appreciate being able to have that functionality. That was one of the nicer things about jackal action.
kalakal
I read BJ on a phone 99% of the time. Seems to work fine on Android. Thanks WG
WaterGirl
@planetjanet: This has always been a Facebook page but we haven’t done anything with it in years and years and years.
John now wants posts to automatically go up on Facebook – in large part because Facebook would have been one more way to get in touch with people when the site was down.
WaterGirl
@Jackie NC: Are you clicking on the Amazon link itself, which never did anything on the old site? Or are you clicking on the words above it, which is how you initiate the process?
If it’s the latter, what happens? For me, it opens to Amazon.
WaterGirl
@ BillinGlendaleCA: Thank you, Bill!
WaterGirl
@Jay: Fingers crossed for you. What you have described seems like a very odd process. You should at least know what you are being accused of, even if they won’t let you know who accused you.
This has been a long, what, 5 weeks or waiting?
WaterGirl
@dnfree: Oh, I wasn’t clear. The actual posts won’t be on Facebook, just a link to the post – just like we do with Twitter. If they click it, they will be taken here.
Sorry for the confusion.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I think it’s your settings.
WaterGirl
@Eolirin: John was kind of intrigued by the dark mode on the “home away from home’ site, so that might well be a possibility at some point in the future.
NotMax
‘@WaterGirl
Am perfectly cool with that.
Incidentally, a curious anomaly. Headline for any post (currently) shows up in a sans serif bold face. However, immediately after posting a comment, if one scrolls up to the top the headline is in a different font and weight entirely. Refreshing the page returns it to the sans serif bold.
Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, just that it is inconsistent.
Mousebumples
Double check the author line for On The Road, maybe? My memory is failing me right now, but something about it seemed… off, when we had that one post in the last week.
Thanks for all you do!
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: Yeah, that’s on my smaller list. I have been manually changing it to WaterGirl until I can remember where to change the default!
I didn’t include the smaller stuff from my list, but I appreciate anyone mentioning details to fix in case I haven’t noticed them myself.