February 20, 2007 - 11:41am
Update on the update
I updated the site this morning. A few things to report.
The front page is not displaying correctly in IE 6. It works fine on IE7 and Firefox and Safari.FixedTinyMCE, the WYSIWYG editor I had installed, did not want to work again. Currently it is disabled. I'll see if I can get it working again soon.Fixed that too.
The good news:
- The server is patched and happy and Drupal has been upgraded to 5.1.
- Some new modules have been installed:
- image assist - Try clicking the little camera icon next to the tree in the editor. That should allow you to upload an image and automatically include it in your post. The UI is a bit clunky, but I think it'll work for most people.
- voting - logged in site members can now vote on content. I'd like to change some of the sections like "favorites" to be based on content with the highest number of votes or highest rating. More and more, this site should be powered by the members not me.
- free tagging - Notice the next time you post that the keywords section is clear text. You can put any arbitrary meta-tag in there. So it is up to you how to organize the content. Once again, over time I'd like to move to having a tag cloud or some kind of way that users can easily browse the site by metatag.
- BBCode - BB code is the square-bracket based tags a lot of other forum packages support for tagging. People enter BBCode in here all the time and are frustrated when it doesn't work. Now it should let you do things like [b]bold[/b] and [i]italics[/i]. Part of me wonders whether TinyMCE is really the way to go or whether BBCode and raw HTML would be enough for most people. I don't know... Thoughts?
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Thanks Floyd,
I think uploading pictures directly willmake life much easier!!!
Voting was a great idea, same with all the other things you implemented.
So (I am not a web programmer, but know a just a few tidbits about it), the BBCode will work even when the Rich Edit is enabled, or do I have to disable the RichEdit to be able to put these tags in?
Thanks so much for everything
Srishti
I think the BBCode will work even in rich text mode. Let me test.
Yup. Pretty cool.
Floyd,
Maybe the site needs an area for sourcing materials or equipment. A lot of new users' inquiries revolve around "Where can I find ________?" I know that it gets addressed on a piece-meal basis in the various forums and the links, but perhaps it is time for a single location where folks could be directed for information. And if it could be updated by users, then it would be a continuously growing list with less of a maintenance burden on your shoulders.
For instance, if someone wants to know where to find bulk yeast, the list of sources could include Sams Club, Costco, etc. Or, an inquiry for rye chops could point to grain mills or stores. Who knows, it might even put a little more cash in your pocket to offset the costs of running the site.
Just an idea. I hope its useful, rather than a pain in the neck.
Paul
PMcCool
that sounds great, does it do [color = red] [size = 12] color [/color=red] [/size=12]
gues not
jeffrey
I was able to post the Grain Bread image on the thread started by Jerry about Panera's Whole Grain Bread. Today my amaranth, millet, and quinoa came in the mail, so I will soon be able to experiment with grain breads to approach something similar to Panera's. I just love the crunch of millet, sunflower seeds, and cornmeal in a hearty loaf.
Teresa
What about a menu bar at the bottom of each page so you don't have to scroll up to the top to find your way to another area of the site?
Teresa
That is a good idea. What links would be useful? Home and Forum are about the only two I personally ever use.
Floyd,
I really want to thank you for having this website, I learn a lot from others.
PS: Where is the voting page?
Thanks you,
Jane
Voting is on the bottom of the body of each story. You'll see 5 stars... Click the stars by the "Rate This" text.
Yeah, I'd love it if people would start voting on content. New stories, old stories, photos, whatever. After more votes have been accumulated I'd like to add a couple of blocks like "Top Rated Content" (based on average score) and "Most Popular Content" (most positive votes cast).
It'd be nice to find a module that let people vote on comments too the way you can vote up or down comments on Digg. It is too easy to overlook the gems that come out in the discussion. And for unhelpful comments, it'd be nice to just have the community vote them down so they disappear rather than me wonder whether I should edit or delete them. I don't enjoy "censoring" people, but obviously some comments are more helpful than others (thankfully, the vast majority on this site are helpful).
What about including Lessons also? Yep, Home and Forums are the main areas I go back to. If you are at Home, it's easy enough to navigate to the other areas.
Thanks for asking!