S-L-O-W-L-Y Working on the sidebar

Posted by The_Elves

UPDATE 3: Check out the new "Blog Admin Stuff" section in the sidebar.
When you roll over each link you get a pop-up description about each post. We are so cool we amaze ourselves sometimes! cool smile

Just a heads up. We're slowly figuring out Expression Engine templates, tags and modules, and starting to try and setup the sidebar. Feel free to let us know your preferences in the comments.

Note: the May 2007 archive link that is now showing up at the bottom of the sidebar still needs work. It is displaying results from both T19 and Stand Firm. And there is a lot of stuff yet to fix and edit in the Archive Template page. Please ignore the mess for now. Hopefully we can get back to it tomorrow.

Update: We've found a way for the category structure to be displayed. You can take a sneak peak here. It is nothing like what the final product will be. (Can you imagine one page with everything Kendall has ever posted by category?! Even after only 1 week, the list is overwhelming. He's up to about 160 posts already, maybe a bit more.) But it will give readers an idea of how the category structure works and what gets posted where. TONS of work still needed though to turn this into something actually usable.

UPDATE 2: WOOHOO!!! We've got category links now working in each post. If you click a category you will see all posts displayed in the category. Sweet!

==> Your feedback on sidebar, categories and other blog design elements is both NEEDED & MUCH APPRECIATED. Thanks to those who are offering input and ideas!

Filed under: * Admin • Blog Tips & Features

10 Comments
Posted May 30, 2007 at 8:36 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Pageantmaster wrote:

Great news.

Just a thought, is it possible to have the same at Stand Firm please as once things drop out of the bottom of the central frame it is hard to find them chronologically.  Best I have managed is to search the for the word “the” which produces some 2,600 odd entries but not certain if it all inclusive.

You may not think it worthwhile however if revamping the SF site.

Many thanks.

----------
Appreciate the encouragement & positive feedback.  This elf has her hands full with T19 design & admin.  It looks like Stand Firm should also be able to set up categories and archives in their redesign, but that is totally up to Greg & co.  Remember, we’re caged in over here!  No elves allowed on Stand Firm wink

May 31, 8:36 am | [comment link]
2. The_Elves wrote:

By the way, the Asterisk (*) before some categories indicates a PARENT category.

There are currently 12:
Admin
Anglican / Episcopal
By Kendall
Christian Life / Church Life
Culture Watch
Economics / Politics (US)
General Interest / Humor / Trivia / Quotations
International News & Commentary
Religion News & Commentary
Resources & Links
South Carolina
Theology

I can see a problem now in those category names which contain commas.  (eg: General Interest, Humor, Trivia, Quotations)

Since commas are also used to separate categories, having commas WITHIN category names makes it hard to tell where one category ends and another begins.  The fact that these are links helps..., but still, I’ll see if I can find a way to avoid this confusion.  Perhaps using a different separator between categories.

Anyway, this is still “In Progress” but there is real progress this a.m. grin

May 31, 8:54 am | [comment link]
3. lauren wrote:

elves, you’re right about the comma thing. . . also, one more (kinda unrelated) wish: is it possible to move the categories up under the headlines, rather than at the end of the article?

May 31, 11:11 am | [comment link]
4. The_Elves wrote:

I’ve changed the separator between categories to a bullet.  And I am working to shorten & simplify some of the category names.

I’ll also experiment with moving the categories up top to see how that looks and works.  I’m just afraid of the top being too busy with title, author, categories, and sometimes a short summary or excerpt.

May 31, 11:33 am | [comment link]
5. The_Elves wrote:

Just thought of a possibility / question.  We could possibly limit the display of categories in each article to ONLY the parent categories.

How do you all vote: 
All categories displayed or only the parent categories?

May 31, 11:36 am | [comment link]
6. Randy Muller wrote:

I suggest that you remove the “stickiness” from the top two posts, and make links to those posts under the “About TitusOneNine” in the right sidebar.

May 31, 11:52 am | [comment link]
7. The_Elves wrote:

Soon Randy.  They won’t stay sticky much longer.  As you’ll have noticed, some other Admin posts that were once sticky are sticky no longer. 

But for now, we really want to keep these up top.  They’ll probably move over the weekend.  We need and want the feedback.  There are still bugs to work out and design decisions to make.

May 31, 12:02 pm | [comment link]
8. Randy Muller wrote:

All categories displayed or only the parent categories?

I vote for “all categories displayed”, unless you can show all categories some other way (like in the page that shows the comments).

May 31, 12:54 pm | [comment link]
9. The_Elves wrote:

Randy, further follow-up to #6 about “sticky posts”.  I just noticed, when you use the calendar to view today’s entries, the stickies go away, because they were posted on earlier days.  So, you can always see the latest stories at the very top if you get in the habit of using the calendar!
(The calendar is likely to be my “Blog Tip of the Day” subject a little later.  Right now just trying to figure out why several days of the calendar aren’t working!)

May 31, 1:46 pm | [comment link]
10. TonyinCNY wrote:

This is so much better than the previous service provider.  Thanks for moving over.

May 31, 3:03 pm | [comment link]
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