Welcome to HA v3.0, only the third major update since I started blogging almost four years ago, and HA’s first total redesign ever. It’s slick. It’s feature-packed. And it may even be a tad annoying until you get used to it — or I fix the annoying bits — whichever comes first.
But the best thing about the HA v3.0, is that unlike the previous versions, it won’t be another two years until I dive back into the code. As big a change as this may look on the surface, the big news is what’s going on underneath the hood, where I’m laying the groundwork for an ambitious development roadmap intended to greatly expand and diversify HA’s content and features. This is very much a work in progress, so if you see something you don’t like, or don’t see something you think you should, you’ll let me know.
So what’s new, apart from the strikingly, um, different site layout? Well, some whiz-bang features for starters, including…
… fancy new AJAX-powered effects for displaying and expanding content without reloading the page (assuming you’re not one of those weenies who turns off Javascript), time-limited inline comment editing so that you can fix your typos before others abuse you for it, an expanded sidebar designed for exciting new content features coming your way soon, and more! But I’m sure those of you who couldn’t give a shit have plenty of questions, so let me try to answer some of them upfront:
Q: Um… what’s up with that giant “HA Seattle” logo? Are you changing the blog’s name?
A: No, not really. But if you think about it, it probably gives you a good indication of where I’m heading.
Q: I’m a professional graphics designer and I think your new site sucks. Are you nuts?
A: No, I’m not nuts, but neither am I a professional graphics designer, so I did the best I could on my own. But if you care that much, and you want to offer me some pro bono work, drop me an email.
Q: I’m not a professional graphics designer and I think your new site sucks too. Are we really stuck with this crap?
A: Again, this is a work in progress, and I’m not married to the design. So everything about the look and feel of HA could change again sometime soon. Or not.
Q: I think you suck.
A: Eat me.
Q: What’s with that “log in” button? Do I have to sign up for an account?
A: No, not yet. But eventually. Coming soon, only registered users will have commenting privileges, along with access to other exciting new features, though everybody will be invited to register, even the poo-flinging trolls. But for now, login is only available to administrators.
Q: You’re going to allow the poo-flinging trolls to register? Why the hell would you do that?
A: Because I don’t want to get in the business of censoring people, and wouldn’t have the time if I did. But I am working on some exciting new, first-of-its-kind comment moderation tools. More details coming.
Q: Okay, I’m curious… what else is coming?
A: Well, I don’t want give too much away or make promises I can’t keep, but I’m up to my elbows in “threaded comments” code, and I’m hell bent on delivering a usable Rich Text comment editor. But my real focus is putting the tools in place to deliver tons of new content.
Q: The text is too small!!!
A: That’s not a question.
Q: The text is too small???
A: I don’t know, is it? It’s smaller than the old HA, but bigger than a lot of other blogs. FYI, you can always increase the size of the text via your browser, and the new template should adequately handle all but the most absurd font sizes.
Q: Would you like a little blog in your ads?
A: Yeah, well, I gotta make a little money off this somehow. I’m not in love with putting the BlogAds top-left, but they’re my main source of advertising revenue, and that’s where they want to be. The good news is, I segregated the ads from the text, so I’m not interrupting your reading. But we’ll see.
Q: HA looks like crap on my browser. Are you really that stupid?
A: Probably not. If it looks that bad, then my CSS is probably broken. I’ve done a fair amount of testing in the latest browsers, but if things look really screwed up, send me a screenshot and some details.
Q: What are those little pictures in the comment threads, and how can I get one?
A: They’re called “gravatars” for “Globally Recognized Avatars,” and you can get one free at Gravatar.com.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I look forward to reading your constructive criticism in the comment thread.
First!!!
Looks great on Safari! Congratulations on the result of what I’m certain was a lot of hard work.
And keep sticking it to the Times for their support of the new Sonics ownership.
I like it and it’s working well on my Mac running Fire Fox.
Big ups for error correction and Going with HA Seattle. You do cover the rest of the state and national stuff, but HA really is a Seattle blog.
The only thing I don’t like is the center column width could be a bit wider.
Works fine on Firefox and I like new layout. Starting to look really slick. Seems like you may be taking this blog to a new level and making it a money making operation. Congratulations.
Michael @3,
I’ve designed to a minimum resolution 1024 pixels wide, and that leaves me with little room to expand that column, as I need to accommodate both BlogAds, and the ability to serve 336×280 rectangle ads… and I really need to better monetize the site.
For the moment, the BlogAds have dictated the design. Over time I expect to move away from that vertical “skyscraper” format, and perhaps reclaim that space.
I prefer links not to open in a new window. Can you change the setting?
So does “HA Seattle” mean that there will be HA offshoots such as “HA Tacoma”, “HA Vancouver”, “HA Spokane”, “HA Yakima”, etc.? Or am I reading far too into the logo? I think it’d be pretty sweet if you did try something along those lines.
Overall nice job. The only complaint I have is the same as Michael – the center column is a little small. But since it seems you can’t really do anything about it, no problem.
Eventually, after I enable user accounts, I’ll try to make that an option. For the moment, the blogroll is set to open in a new window/tab, and I tend to specify that in links within my own posts.
Are they opening in a new window or a new tab? If you have a current version of any of the leading browsers you can sit it to open in tabs.
I signed up for a gravatar. I am such a kid sometimes. Lemme see if it is going to work.
Again, the layout is very good.
everybody will be invited to register, even the poo-flinging trolls.
there’s trolls on this blog? i hadn’t noticed.
15 minutes to edit? what if i comment on a comment and then the commenter edits the comment i commented on?
p.s. what if bush approved torture and nobody wrote about it?
Looks good in NetNewsWire running on Mac 10.4. I like it, you damned capitalist!
This will take some getting used to, but overall, it’s a nice change.
And, while I think that some of our drive-by trolls will be discouraged by having to register, I doubt that regulars like MTR and Marvin will go away.
The option of a “HA Tacoma” sounds decent, or perhaps it should be “HA South Sound”, just for us snobs that live in the suburbs of Tacoma, but don’t really want to admit it.
(I do miss the preview, although this after-posting edit function may be even better.)
It will be interesting to see if folks change their posts after later comments show just how foolish the original post was.
But… There have been a number of times where I didn’t spot a typo until after I’d hit the “spew” button.
Phil @7,
I thought about HA Washington, but the blog is Seattle-centric, and if the Seattle Times is comfortable covering the whole state, than so can HA Seattle. But that doesn’t preclude working with folks to set up sites in other cities.
notaboomer @11,
Yeah, I thought about that. But I’m hoping folks will show a little honor and use this feature to fix typos and wording only. And 15 minutes isn’t all that long.
How about a So Cal division, for us liberals who were forced to move away from the Puget Sound? (I don’t care if I might be just one of a few). For that matter, why not a NATIONAL VERSION? The dream is endless…….
Just a note, the spell checker that is embedded in Firefox works in the comment box. Note to Trolls: switch to Firefox for your browser needs. You won’t look quite so dumb.
It sucks. The distinctive “look” and “feel” of HA is gone. Having to click on a lick to read your whole comment is soooo Stefan-like. That sucks, too; so does Stefan. The comments are harder to read — that sucks too. I want the old type font back. The new logo sucks. The whole thing sucks. I want the old format back.
Bushit Inflation
A can of corn just shrunk from 16 oz. to 15.25 oz. That’s a 4.7% price increase. The grocery store has it “on sale” this week at the old price. I don’t know yet what the new price will be, but you bet the price of a can of corn just went up by double digits. The official inflation figures are bullshit; the price of every basic subsistence item is rising at double digits. The only thing that isn’t going up by double digits is wages. You can always count on a Republican administration to fuck the working person.
Roger Rabbit’s Fair Tax Plan
No, it’s not similar to the regressive, mis-named 30% national sales tax championed by Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and other wingnuts. Here’s how my plan works:
You’d get the favorable rate on dividends and capital gains only up to the amount of your taxable earned income. (Pensions and other deferred compensation would count as “earned income;” stock options, perks, and other non-wage compensation would not.) All dividends and capital gains over that amount will be taxed as ordinary income.
The idea is to create incentives for working and disincentives for not working, which is the reverse of Wingnut Tax Policy that punishes work and rewards slackers like me. Another benefit of this approach is that it would facilitate the accumulation of capital by the working class and slow down the concentration of capital in the paws of the slacker class, which is the reverse of the situation we have now under Wingnut Economics.
16:
Note to all:
Roger Rabbit, a fine, fine Democrat and liberal, is getting old. He is crotchety, ill tempered and does not like change. He will eventually adjust to the new look of HA, but until he does we all should just gently pat his little bunny head and say “there, there, Roger”.
There, there, Roger, here are two bunches of virtual carrots for you. Eat up and go shit on Stefan’s lawn.
This post has been erased by MLF in response to Goldy, who requests that this not be an open thread.
This test of the edit function is now concluded. You will now be returned to your regular programming.
In case anyone wants to know, the gravatar website is very easy to use. All of our conservative friends should not be afraid. Even they can do it. I was able to put Elvis Pupsley up there in no time at all. (There is no truth to the rumor that I will be naming my next dog Puppy Holly).
Roger @16,
I thought this was “change” election? As for the “read more” tag, I don’t really plan to use it much, but I wanted to show off the cool AJAX effect.
Roger @17, @18,
And how about NOT using this post as an open thread? I just spent the last couple weeks immersed in code, honing up my CSS and PHP skills, and I’d really love to get some constructive criticism here.
My old job is vacant again for the second time in 12 months, but I’m not going to apply for it. Why should I? The work sucks, the job doesn’t pay well, and the government taxes the shit out of wages and salaries. So why should I work? There’s no incentive to work! I can make more money and pay less taxes by flipping stocks! Apparently no one else applied for it, either, because it’s been relisted. Maybe if the employer offers me stock options and the government gives me the capital gains rate, I’ll reconsider.
@5 Aha! This site redesign is about money! Everything is always about money. Well, I can’t argue with Goldy wanting some of the money, too. Why should Republicans get it all?
Goldy,
my 2 cents:
1. The font is too small, and I don’t know what the fuck a browser is. Is it the portal to the tubes?
2. There is a three inch space on the right side of my screen that appears to be going to waste.
3. Registration is a good idea whose time has come.
Other than that, good work.
@8 User accounts? You mean the wide-open, Wild West, format is gone too? People are gonna have to register to spew? That’ll kill your traffic. The comments will dwindle to nothing.
I can’t tell you how many comment boards I’ve bypassed because user registration is required. Some I had to, because the site engine is incompatible with the AOL program, with the result that AOL subscribers like me can read but can’t post; but mostly, I bypass sites requiring user registration because I can’t keep track of all the user names and passwords and don’t want to hassle with looking up that info every time I want to post a comment on the board. Also, Roger Rabbit doesn’t want to be identified because I don’t want angry, psychotic wingnuts pouring rodenticides into my burrow, and for other reasons.
I understand the arguments for user registration (e.g., keeping spammers out, etc.). But user registration drives people away. It’s just too much hassle. It’s a traffic killer.
It seems to me you’ll cannibalize your own traffic by having subsites. It’s like opening a bookstore across the street from your own bookstore.
I don’t like changes. There’s a reason why newspapers never change their mastheads in 100 years. People get used to a thing and are traumatized when it’s taken away. Now I gotta call my shrink for an appointment ‘cuz I need a shoulder to cry on. Of course, I’m not a people, but rabbits have feelings too.
@14 Honor? You gotta be kidding! The trolls have no honor. Only we liberals have honor.
Roger @25,
I will be supporting the OpenID standard, which is also supported by AOL, which means you already have a login identity. No extra username and password to remember.
@19 YUMMY!!! I LUV CARROTS!!! You sure know how to bribe a rabbit. Where do you want me to deposit my feces: In his garden, on his lawn, or his front porch?
Roger, take a deep breath.
One: Try registering Roger Rabbit at each site or maybe RogerRabbit. Use a single password for every internet site. Such as passwordRR. Do not use your banking password. I have two passwords that cover everything. One for secure sites like insurance, banking and the like. Another, less confusing password that I use on all sites that are just for entertainment or information such as Seattletimes.com, latimes.com and the like.
By the way, your browser should have a password and sign in memory function. Not sure how AOL’s works, but it is there. You can have the needed sign in infoi pop up just by going to the website and then all you have to do is hit enter. Even a bunny like you can do it with one cute paw.
TWO: What the fuck are you doing still using AOL? For God sake man, every other way to connect to the internet is cheaper, faster, less clunky and less intrusive. You can now use AOL for FREE so you won’t lose your email address and ability to chat there. Like disco, AOL dial up is dead!!
@21 Too late! The edit function has already expired on 17 and 18. Personally I think the option to edit should last 10 minutes, not 15 minutes.
30
On the porch where he will have the earliest contact with it.
I gotta say, the edit function is far out cool bitchin’ sweet solid boss and groovy. I have been able to catch stupid errors, correct them and not felt like a dumbass. Thanks.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I found a new toy. THE SHARE BUTTON. I am personally going to drive your traffic with this little goody.
@24(2) That space is for rent.
@31 Roger Rabbit doesn’t register anywhere because they ask for information that would enable an inquisitive site administrator to trace me.
35:
OK, now you are sounding like a paranoid Conservtive. MAKE UP THE INFORMATION. Get an email address that you only use for registering at these sites, lie about your age, name, sex and species. There are ways to disguise your computer ID. You can pretend to be human. They will never find a rabbit pretending to be human.
Hmmm… I’m not seeing any rich text options for text entry in MSIE 6.0 or Firefox.
I’ve also had issues with the “read more” feature if I click it too soon before the Javascript backing it has fully loaded – which takes some time.
Otherwise, the new site isn’t bad. Just not sure how much better it is.
Hmmm… Test!
Me likey.
Very nice Goldy – very nice. I usually come here just to make fun of the retarded right – but with this change – I may start reading the blog with a new frame of mind. Well done.
17. Pelletizer spews: Bushit Inflation – A can of corn just shrunk from 16 oz. to 15.25 oz. That’s a 4.7% price increase.
You can thank your enviro buddies in flyover country who said grow corn for “clean burning” Ethanol. Now that move to corn for Ethanol is happening BIG TIME. As I predicted last year, all corn based products prices would rise this year. Just another PuddyFact being proven in the marketplace.
Great Job Goldy. If I can break away tomorrow I’ll congratulate you in person…
My Left Foot: When are you coming to Seattle so you can TAKE ME & the WIFE out to dinner? I want to meet Tereza. You’ll remember this dinner for a long time
I agree with your Pelletizer sentiment. I think a virtual oxygen tank would work wonders for his oxygen deprivation issues.
Puddy,
Should be sometime this June. We can do dinner for sure. Going to be getting a grandson in the next few days. The daughter-in-law went into labor yesterday but they sent her home to wait a bit longer. I might change my moniker to GrampaMLF. Not an open thread, but what the heck. I am really liking Goldy’s new look though. (Gratuitous attempt to stay on subject).
Goldy: On the new look, can you make the top links buttons too? Home – About – Donate
My Left Foot: Congrats on the upcoming grand-child. Now you have to buy all the accoutrements necessary for a boy or a girl.
Especially if it’s a girl those Barbie gifts can get really expensive. There is an old black joke: “I want to be like Barbie – the bitch has everything…”
Happy early birthday Goldy. The upgrade is looking good so far.
OK, I clicked on the banner ad at the top of the page, sue me I like Woody Woodpecker, and a new tab or window did not open. I hate having to use the back button to get back to HA. Is there any way you can juggle this? Also makes reading between two pages so much more convenient.
Daniel K @37,
Rich Text did not make the final cut. Too many issues, so I want to make it a user option rather than imposing it on everybody. And I’ll have to look into the slow Javascript loading on the effects; I believe I cache my pages, which should speed that up somewhat.
MLF @46,
Hmm. Well, somebody paid for that click through, and I’m pretty sure they want your attention. I’ll look around and see how it works elsewhere, but that’s a Google ad right now, and they pretty much supply the code. You can always hold the command-key down while clicking any link to force it to open in a new tab or window.
Goldy @47 – The Javascript issue may have been a first time thing then. Any chance you can bring back the real time comment preview feature you used to have. That was nice.
As is the ability to correct a comment after you make it. Can’t think how many times I’ve wanted to do that because of a typo or missing word.
Daniel K @48,
The original idea was a Rich Text editor combined with comment editing, which I kinda considered duplicating and exceeding the functionality of live preview. But let me look at putting live preview back in until Rich Text is in place.
My concern is that registration will make this thing too chummy. Heck, it’s too chummy already.
Otherwise, ads don’t bother me; you gotta make a living. The format is attractive and readable. Looking forward to RT editing.
I like it!
Good goin!
LOVE IT GUYS!!! Great job!
Omigawd. Goldy’s gone commersh! Well, the only thing permanent is change.
I’ll miss the old funky interface. It was great for troll hunting.
I like it! The text is too small but that’s because I’m old and need my reading glasses. Goldy will need them very soon too!
Roger Rabbit just doesn’t like change and needs a good shrink.
Alright you people! Go out and get some Gravatars already!
Looks good, Goldy. I’m not fond of all the adspace, but I’m sure I’ll train myself not to be distracted by them soon.
I’m for change and experimentation, so hats off on the new features here.
I just hope the essence of HA, the localness, the accessibility of the posts and bloggers, and slightly subversive uncensored flavor of it all, isn’t severely compromised over the long term.
Bottling HA and exporting it regionally is an interesting idea. Would this become like the Huffington Post of Washington politics? News, blogs, and WA celebrity gossip?
In general, I think the new site looks nice, if a bit cramped. I also prefer the low tech HTML comments and dynamic preview of old (hey, where did Preview go? Oh, I guess that’s the editable posts feature).
BTW, banner ads: uchk.
Sign on coffee shop tip jar … “If you’re afraid of change, put it in here.”
Great job, Goldy!
Larger font would be a plus.
Let’s see if my new Gravatar shows up.
Another thing I’m liking is that the page seems to load faster, though I’m sure the ads are going to be the limiting factor somewhat (they always seem to take longest to load).
How does one get the Gravatar gizmo to work?
Goldy,
Anything that’ll throw Roger into a tizzy — I’m all for! Maybe drop the font size even more, so that even his high-power bifocals won’t help. Won’t change his kitten-on-the-keys post content, though. Oh, well.
Graphically, the site is much nicer and “brighter.” I like the next gen effects, too. On the downside, your ads-to-content ratio is starting to look like the Left’s taxes-to-takehome ratio. Add to that the squandering of usable (screen) resources on the right side…
P.S. “HA Seattle” sounds like a directory of comedy clubs. And not only does the logo look like one for a club directory, but the banner ad on top (Elizabeth Berkley on Bravo at the moment) makes it look even more like an arts site.
Oops, that was way off topic.
let me check the gravatar thingie
‘Gravatars’?
Wasn’t that a shitty videogame Atari made in the early 80’s? The original MTV set had one of those back then…..
Looking good so far on Opera. I’ve got it zoomed to 130% size and it still looks good.
That flashing ad is a bit annoying though – top left: book ‘Time Bandit’.
Gravatar info:
you sign up for a gravatar. you chose gravatar. You use the same email here that you used to register the gravatar and it will just magically appear here.(you can have multiple email address and multiple gravatars, with on assigned to each email.) Which ever email addess you use above where it says MAIL, that is the gravatar that will appear. You will be asked to verify email addresses. Just make one at msn, gmail or yahoo and go for it.
61:
Goldy, I have to agree with Mark at 61 with his assessment of the possible connotation of your logo. What does everyone else think?
I have to agree, without knowing what you have in mind with the ‘HA Seattle’ thing, that the horsesass.org ‘politics as unusual’ part has shrunk perhaps a little bit too much?
And I am still waiting for my new gravatar to show up here, though it seems to be showing up everywhere else…
@41 “You can thank your enviro buddies in flyover country who said grow corn for ‘clean burning’ Ethanol.”
Well yes, that’s part of the problem, and if you’ve ever stopped spewing long enough to read anything on this blog, you would know that I’ve been debunking the ethanol craze for a long time.
But, more to the point, do you really think debasing the currency has nothing to do with this? That printing paper money to pay for a $2 trillion war isn’t a large component of rising prices?
Okay, Gravitar test. Let’s see if it works.
Hmm, that Gravitar pick is pretty small. I may have to pick something else.
Just trying out my own new Gravatar… :)
Cool! It works!
Okay, how about this one.
The previous one is still too small. Let’s try it again.
Once more, with feeling. (Maybe I need to log out to change the gravitar?)
It seems that changing the gravitar is harder than it looks. Let’s try it one more time. If it doesn’t work this time, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.
******
Nope, no change. Well, that’s enough for today. I’ll try again tomorrow.
i like the ajax feature a lot but it changes the font from an eay-to-read tahoma to a hard-to-read arial or something. can you change that?
Quincy @77,
It shouldn’t change the font. What browser and platform are you using, so I can test it out.
Real Mark @72,
Don’t be an asshole and attempt to ruin the gravatar thing for the rest of us by heading us down that road. Even at HA we have etiquette, and putting another HA user’s picture on your gravatar (in this case, mine) is as much a violation as spoofing somebody’s username.
Change your gravatar or I’ll ban you. Really.
Goldy,
How do we get avatars?
BTW Goldy, I love the cesspool feature!!!
goldy, i’m using whatever the latest IE version is.
Goldy, never mind the avatar question, I got it to work finally!
Awwww… c’mon Goldy! Have a sense of humor! :*
Besides, I was wondering how long it’d take you to notice.
Is the new one better? (Gravatar’s cache needs to update, so it hasn’t switched yet…)
Nice redo, Goldy, but why can’t you get my ad toward the top once in a while?
trying out the gravitar. Which didn’t show up
Let’s try this one more time.
Yeah, I still got nothing. Weird. I’ll try again in the morning.
I think the new format looks good. Improvements I would like to see are not having so much obscenity. It really drags down the product.
PS– Your Q&A is very clever. YOU are more clever without the obscenity. Really.
Okay, I’m back, and my gravitar changed. (The picture of the girl is not me, just used for a test). It’s interesting that once you change the gravitar, it changes for all your postings, no matter how long ago. So no way of using a different gravitar to make a point specific to your post – too bad, I had a few that would have been nice to try out. I guess I could still do that if I use different user names and e-mail addresses. But I guess I really should just pick one and stick with it, which is the original purpose of the thing. But I don’t have a current picture other than my passport one, and I certainly don’t want to use that one. So perhaps I’ll pick one that’s at least a decade old.
Michael Bond @85,
Your ad was set to be in the random rotation at the top with the other two paying ads, but it looks like it got stuck. I’ve reset the BlogAds settings, and hopefully that should do the trick.
I’ve been busy of late so haven’t been around to hold you people accountable – an ugly job, but someone has to do it.
Let’s see if my gravatar holds. From what I’m seeing so far, many of the HA Happy Hooligans either desperately need to see a facial reconstruction surgeon or they have a Disney animated character fetish.
Snark at me all you wish.
The Piper
OK…so where is my very artistic gravatar???
The Piper
Mark @ 84: What the heck is that picture you are using as a gravitar? It’s too small to tell much, but I’d swear it’s a KKK hood tipped over at a 45 degree angle. Is that a picture of you at least weekend’s rally?
@94 – ROTF LMFAO!!!! I almost fell out of my chair!
I think the gravitar re-sets once a day. The change I made yesterday evening was visible this morning, but this morning’s change still isn’t visible as of 15:45 this afternoon.
I’m still waiting for Roger Rabbit’s gravitar. It ought to be entertaining.
@96…rhp6033…
So, my brand new out-of-the-box Gravatar won’t show up until tomorrow? Where’s electronic FedEx when you need it?
The Piper