side bar organization
Submitted by Aonghus on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 8:29pm
Comyn,
Active forum topics and recent comments section on the side bar menu seem redundant to me. Though I certainly like the utility of the feature, Is there anyway we can economize on the space used by listing the recent comments with what forum they fall under and trimming down what’s listed along with a “more” link to expand it?
I would like to see the events side bar at the top of the list of links as a constant reminder of what’s coming up, and believe the “account” section should fall at the bottom of the side bar. Also, you might want to consider putting your random pic at the very top above the events to grab people’s eye with a graphical element.
sidebar
I shuffled these things around so many times when we were originally setting up the site that it seems a bit late to mess with it now for fear that we may confuse folks who have gotten used to how the site works. I agree with your idea to move up the events section, and I'd like to see the random image at the top, but here's the deal:
When we were initially planning the site, it was decided that it was too confusing, so I switched to a two column layout. That seriously reduces the amount of real estate we have to play with. Normally, you'd see the image and events maybe in the right hand sidebar - but we don't have one anymore.
Why we shouldn't change the placement of Active topics / recent comments:
They aren't actually redundant. If you remove Active Topics, and somebody adds a new TOPIC in the forums, nobody will know - it only shows up in the Active Forum section! Also, somebody who cruises into the site after a zillion comments on a Crwth won't see any activity has occurred on Beltaine, so the Active Topics section lets you know what topics are alive. It's only when you add a COMMENT does it show up in the comments section. Others have requested more info be displayed in the comments section, but it is beyond me at this time.
As we add new PAGES, they are (note: CAN be) filed in the library and 'promoted' to the front page of the site. The current layout allows users to tune in and quickly see any new Topics, Comments, and Pages (which may be an image if it's awesome enough). As new EVENTS are added, they are put into the calendar, the events block (which I will move up a bit), and can be right on the front page if you set the date (Authorship of the post, not the event) recent enough.
As I said, I agree that we should make the events section more prominent, but I don't see now how to get them up above the list of links. I really think it would be very busy up there too. I only added the random image last week - what I'd really like is to have that be where the Dagda currently is in the Welcome block. That will take some coding though, and no time right now.
random image
I added some code this morning that pulls a random image out of the galleries and displays it in the Main sticky story, a different one each time the page is refreshed. I wasn't able to get the title of the image to print, and although I can set the image to be from a single gallery I have it set to pull from all right now. I can't figure out how to get it to pull from a set of them or I'd set it for the Events Galleries group only. It also includes images that *aren't* in a gallery (there are a couple of screenshots in there that would make no sense in the top story). Anyway, check it out and see what you think.
Site Layout Guide
Please see the new tdbcelts site layout guide (image) for a quick reference to understanding the main page of the site. Obviously this doesn't cover all the controls and different page types, but it explains how to read the main page.
guide is old
I made a couple quick changes - I removed the Active Forum Topics block, I added a link in the primary links called 'What's New?' (this is just another link to the 'recent posts', and I changed the 'recent posts' link to also say 'What's New?' - perhaps it should be renamed 'What News?'
more sidebar
Follow up comment was lost so I’m attempting repost…
This is not an urgent issue, but one of good layout and organization, to avoid the necessity of needing a guide to navigate the site.
If it’s too difficult or time consuming, that’s acceptable. However, have some faith in people ability to adapt, they know the site is new and change is inevitable.
On further consideration, it seems the “recent posts” link serves the function of both the active forum topics and recent comments and moving that outside the account section (if possible) would be best to economize on space and function. (or am I missing something?)
recent posts only
You have a good point about the recent posts link making BOTH the Topics and Comments blocks redundant. That would allow us to move other stuff up.
HOWEVER, it is generally thought to be good practice to design so that a user can see what's new up-front, and not force them to go to another page. WIth this in mind, it might be possible to make a page which acts LIKE the recent posts page that is always visible as a main story, but then that grabs real-estate from the top stories! Aggh!
I thought the guide was a good idea since my presentation at the meeting was, shall we say... lacking? Besides, the main reason for the 'Guide' I created was to give everyone the VOCABULARY of the site. I wasted 40 minutes trying to figure out how I would fit the events above the PRIMARY LINKs section before I realized you were talking about the account section in your original post.
recent post mods
The recent posts page is created using a module called 'views' which I added in with the hope of making more information available to everyone. In it's current form, the page it creates is ugly (to me) and I have no control over column widths etc. so they get bigger or smaller as you click through the pages. Providing better theming on it, or integrating that information to a standard post on the front page will take time (since I would have to learn how the views module works first). Also, as mentioned previously I may need to re-theme the whole site to use a different template to be able to do these types of mods easier, if at all. Personal time for major changes to the site will probably not be in great supply till later this year. Quick changes like moving blocks around, or hiding them, adding links, etc. are no problem - always happy to try and make it easier to collaborate!
acceptable?
I guess if one just wants to quickly check what's new, they could have a bookmark that loads
http://tdbcelts.org/tracker
even if it is ugly.
PS: I took a quick look at re-themeing the view for the tracker and it didn't work, too many irons in the fire right now so it's on the backburner.
I'm liking the recent posts
I'm liking the recent posts link. I can see where there is something new. sometimes it isn't a recent coment, and the active forum topic just seems too broad for me. I don't know if it's minutes old or weeks. I've been looking first at recent comments and see how many minutes or days old it is, then I'll go to recent posts. That's just what I do
That's nice.
That's nice.