I just did a major OS upgrade on the new server, so I figure now's a good time to abuse it and see if anything shakes loose. I'll keep this link externally accessible for a day or two. Enjoy.
Note that a lot of the content and functionality is only visible to registered users. So you'll only be seeing the public portion of the site.
I'm liking the new logo. Who made it?
I'm liking the new logo. Who made it?
The logo was generously donated by BigHorse. He actually created it several years ago when the site was still very early in development, so I'm happy people finally get to see it.
Looks good LV!
Will we need to re-register?
love the story setup
Nice
Will we need to re-register?
Probably not.
I found a module that will most likely work for importing the users and forum posts from this site into the new site. Testing that is the last step before switchover. If it works, then all of the current logins will work on the new site.
Luther Kane
Looking pretty good so far. I really like the story and image galleries, tons of stuff I haven't seen in years and plenty of stuff I've never seen at all.
I know this is kinda silly to ask, but would I be able to view the new logo in it's entirety, without the bottom part cropped? I've love to save that :)
Looks awesome. We're looking forward.
I'm liking the library setup and the images in the new gallery.
I really like the new setup, especially the tagging system. Being able to search multiple tags simultaneously would be nice, however (you can currently search by the tags floating or popping: none, but you can't search both at the same time).
Do you have a timeline for when the new site will supplant the old one?
I know this is kinda silly to ask, but would I be able to view the new logo in it's entirety, without the bottom part cropped? I've love to save that :)
There's also an alternate version that I use as the site background.
Being able to search multiple tags simultaneously would be nice, however
It's possible, but only for registered users. You'll have access to full keyword filtering once the site launches.
Do you have a timeline for when the new site will supplant the old one?
No timeline right now. There are a few issues on the site that I need to fix before it's ready for prime time. So far the feedback from beta testers and the public at large has been overwhelmingly positive, so I'm feeling more inclined to launch with the current feature set and add new stuff over time.
Everything seems to be working fine, except two things (that may or may not be glitches); 1. I can't log in with my current user name. 2. I don't see any button for creating a new account. LOL I really do love the story search set up though! Excellent job once again!
Everything seems to be working fine, except two things (that may or may not be glitches); 1. I can't log in with my current user name. 2. I don't see any button for creating a new account. LOL I really do love the story search set up though! Excellent job once again!
The site is in "look but don't touch" mode for anyone who's not a beta tester. So for now there are no registered users other than test accounts, and new user registration is disabled.
ALright, so based on that....IT WORKS! :D
Looks nice man. Only thing I would say to edit is the tagline below the site name up in the corner, it hangs its not all the way in the field.
Just someone else saying they love the new-look and especially the story-search.
Guess I'll be the wet blanket because I have mixed feelings.
I will say that the new story archive is quite excellent. I especially like the AJAX search and all of the new metadata.
However, I'm sure you had your reasons, but choosing Drupal is a little disappointing IMO. I think Wordpress has evolved to the point that it can run circles around the traditional CMSes like Drupal, Joomla, the old *nuke systems, etc., and it seems like Wordpress has a much larger following in terms of community and developer support. Plus, Wordpress tends to have a much cleaner look, and it can usually be easily paired with common forum systems like SMF, phpBB, etc. To deliberately choose not to take advantage of all of those long-term benefits is risky. (For all I know, you tried Wordpress and decided it didn't work out, but if that's the case I would be curious to know your reasons why you thought it wouldn't work.)
I noticed that larger images in the gallery tended to overstep the white background in the design. Also, I read your explanation for dropping Gallery2 because there was no way to moderate pics before they are posted. I hope you know that there IS a plugin to do that. I don't remember where to find it but there is one out there, and it worked fairly well when I tried it a year or two ago.
I'm not a huge fan of the design either. That's not to say that I could make one better (because I can't) but it goes against a lot of the modern "good design" principles such as white space and readability (e.g. the purple-on-lighter-purple links in the sidebar). The look and feel just comes across as a little dated. Then again, you have kept more or less the same look and feel of this web site since the very beginning so it may simply be your preference to continue that. I find it hard to argue with that approach.
Those are just my two cents, not that anyone particularly cares. Please understand that this was only offered up as constructively as possible and I'm not trying to be a spoilsport.
I know it's just a beta, but if the story listing for "Castaways" could be corrected to show myself as author I'd appreciate it.
Otherwise, it's looking good.
Thanks
Clovis
Guess I'll be the wet blanket because I have mixed feelings.
I appreciate your comments. I'm actually quite pleased that there's someone out there who even has an opinion on the various platforms.
The Drupal decision was a tricky one. I looked at a bunch of CMSs and even installed and got my hands dirty with several. I was leaning toward Joomla for a while, but eventually settled on Drupal.
I can see your concerns, and I understand that my choice may seem a bit perplexing. But I'm coming from a rather peculiar perspective. I made the decision on a software platform back in 2007, with a focus on longevity. This decision was largely informed by my previous experiences with TikiWiki and CPGNuke/Dragonfly. A full explanation of the decisions would make this overly long post even longer, so I'll stick to some of the higlights.
I looked briefly at WordPress, but it was never a serious contender. At its heart, WordPress is a blogging platform rather than a CMS. And the people I know who've had to build sites in WordPress didn't have much good ot say about it. If I were building a site around a blog, then WordPress would be the obvious choice. In my mind, the centerpiece of the site was to be the story archive. And Drupal's core feature set makes implementing the story archive fairly trivial.
I think Drupal's biggest shortcoming is its steep learning curve. Once you get over that, it's hard to argue with the power of the node content system for the sort of site I'm building. Additionally, I've been very impressed with the Drupal developer community.
Regarding Menalto Gallery: It's a great solution, but I have to take the very long view when it come to platform selection. There's plugin for moderation, but it's not officially supported and isn't being maintained. Additionally, the Menalto dev team doesn't consider moderation to be a priority so it wasn't included in G3.
Lack of moderation wasn't the only reason, but it was the ultimate deciding factor. There are a number of other issues that I would have been willing to tolerate had G2 included moderation as a standard feature. With Node Gallery getting nested galleries, it was a close call with the slight advantage going to Node Galleries. When AcidFree relaunched, it simply wasn't a contest any more.
Despite G2's excellent feature set, there are a number of advantages that a native Drupal gallery gains just by being native. Previously, G2's feature set was enough to sell it since most of Drupal's gallery solutions tend to be mediocre. But the revival of Acidfree sealed it.
Integration third-party forum software was never something I considered a big advantage. I only considered Menalto gallery because most of Drupal's gallery options were wanting. I wouldn't consider using non-native solution for the forum. Drupal's forum, though not as powerful as SMF or phpBB, is part of the Drupal core and thus will always work in future versions. There's no such guarantees for outside applications.
As for the theme, I latched onto an idea and went with it. I'm not a designer, so I understand it has its shortcomings. The default images should be smaller, since they cause problems with the layout on smaller screens. Not everyone's viewing the site on a 23" monitor. The color scheme is very much descended from the previous site, but I went for something different with the layout (more rounded corners, fewer borders). I'm sure a professional could do better, but for now all I have is me.
I welcome any and all constructive criticism of the site. Thank you.
Luther Kane
I know it's just a beta, but if the story listing for "Castaways" could be corrected to show myself as author I'd appreciate it.
Fixed now. Sorry about that.
Luther Kane
That was fast, thanks LVK.
LVK,
Fair enough on all points. I did think that you had given things some thought, and I am glad that the story archive is the "feature" of the site (as it should be). It also seems like you and I are both good with the nuts-and-bolts stuff but not so much the graphical elements. As I admitted, I couldn't do any better if you put a gun to my head.
Question: are stories and images supposed to be filtered by sexual content if you are not registered? In other words, if you are not logged in should everything with the tag Sexual Content: Explicit be hidden? If this is the case, I've found 9 stories that are not hidden but have the Sexual Content: Explicit tag.
Also, adding to clovis's comment above, the story Doppleganger (link) was written by Pongo. If you want, I can get you an image SvenS drew for it.
If there is perhaps an opening for suggestions, the stories seem to lack a Ratings filter, is it intended to be this way?
Question: are stories and images supposed to be filtered by sexual content if you are not registered?
Yes. Thanks for the heads up, I've fixed the issue.
Also, adding to clovis's comment above, the story Doppleganger (link) was written by Pongo.
Fixed.
If there is perhaps an opening for suggestions, the stories seem to lack a Ratings filter, is it intended to be this way?
"Ratings" can mean a couple of things, and I think it's worthwhile to explain both:
The ratings as they appear in the current story archive (G, PG, etc), no longer exist. It doesn't work well for inflation stories, and I figured a system based on tags and keywords would be more effective.
The 1-5 star ratings for stories are excluded by design. You can only see the rating you've given to a story, not the average ratings. The reason for this is explained in the Welcom Beta Testers post under Ratings and Content Recommendations.
It's great generally, and in particular i really like the rating system for the stories because it resolves the spoiler problem i mentioned earlier. Thanks for putting in so much work. I think you can feel proud of yourself for how you've done and i can't wait to use it.
Beta site closed to the public for now.
If all goes well, the next you see of it will be when it goes live.
I like what I see so far, especially with the story section.