New software, newish look
By adamg on Mon, 09/23/2013 - 12:02am
The token's time had come. Hopefully, the rest of the site won't feel too odd (but let me know if it does - especially the font for the article text).
The real reason for the change wasn't to mess with the graphics, though - it was more to upgrade to the latest version of the Drupal software that runs the site. I'm sure you'll find some broken stuff - please let me know!
One thing that's missing is the ability to upvote comments. I stupidly didn't think to look until it was too late whether the software I was using for that had been upgraded along with the rest of the software. It hadn't There are alternatives, one of which I'll install.
Free tagging:
Ad:
Comments
Minor nit
The URLs in the comment links on the front page (under the "Recent Comments" block) no longer contain the name of the story, with the result that hovering over the comment no longer gives you a hint as to what story the comment is in response to...
Fixed
By adding the title of the post the comment's in response to (I need to figure out the hover part again).
That's fine, but can you
That's fine, but can you format that for greater readability/skimability?
a mix
First off, let me say that I appreciate how much sweat and tears it takes to wrestle new software into submission. I have great respect for how hard you work at making this a top quality site, especially in terms of content and tone. Good graphic design is important, but for me it's third after those first two - so take these comments in that spirit.
I like the convenient listing of topic, neighborhood and free tags.
But I have some issues with the new fonts. The default for body text is way too small, and the kerning seems too tight, especially with the headlines. The default fonts are not among my favorite - in particular, the loss of typographic punctuation seems like a real step backwards. In order to comfortably read the articles and comments, I have to zoom the text up in my browser - but this really wrecks the front page layout. (on the plus size - when I zoom text now I can make the article/comments use the whole window, which is nice.
The background color for comment previews is way too subtle.
I am whelmed by the logo. The placement on the home page is better, and it's not ugly... but it seems rather innocuous, which is not an adjective that I generally associate with UHub. Quite frankly, I think you would be better served by something that was more assertive.
Thanks!
What resolution monitor are you using? I thought I actually made the font larger :-). I'll fiddle with the fonts.
As for the logo, well, um, I have not graphic ability whatsoever. I wonder if changing the blue to something brighter (like the old one) will help.
monitor res and caches
My primary monitor is 1280x1024.
I've set default sizes for my browsers at 18/16 for serif/san fonts and this works fine for almost all other sites, but your site is teeny weeny. Fwiw, this is the case whether I view the site with it's own character-encoding or force my default.
Btw, the site is now loading here on all the various platforms/browsers. Because I cleared my local caches and forced a fresh download on all devices once I noticed the discrepancy, we can be sure that the issue originated with your server/your isp's server/my isp server's side.
Without going into too much detail, let's just say I am intimately familiar with the workings of my ISP's transparent proxy servers, so I suspect that your isp has set caching parameters that are more conservative than a news-site like yours might find acceptable. Fwiw, you can use tools like tcptrace et al to see if your isp is using proxy servers. Some ISPs alow their clients to force-refresh the caches for their sites on these servers, but the details would depend on your specific isp.
Not an issue for everyday, but something you might want to keep an eye on.
Yep, turns out the problem was on this end
In the old incarnation, I was using a module that created file caches of pages for anonymous users. I didn't install the version for the latest Drupal, but didn't delete the files, either, so the server happily kept serving them up to anons. As soon as I did install the software, boom, the cached pages got updated to reflect the current site.
You can tailor the size by
You can tailor the size by hitting Ctrl and + to make it bigger , or Ctrl and - to make it smaller.
ok, this is weird
Looking into this more closely, but when I load UH on my mac mini (10.6.8) using safari (v5.1.10), I see the old site! On the same machine using firefox (24.0) I see the new one. Even after I clear caches.
When I use my ipod touch - either the safari or chrome browsers, i see the old site. Clearing caches does not matter.
a clarification and another issue
By "new" I mean not just the new layout - but this most recent article. The old site is the old layout and the top story is the fatal cycle crash.
Also, it appears we can no longer go back and edit our comments after initially submitting them. That's going to result in a lot more dupe entries and self-replies to correct typos or add new info - like this entry, for exmaple.
correction:
like this entry, for example.
Should work now
I love things that are easy to fix. There was a checkbox I needed to check.
Bouncing between versions...
I find that when I click on the logo (where the token used to be. I'm gonna miss that token...) I seem to bounce back to the old version and don't appear to be logged in. When I force a re-load however, everything returns back to (the new) normal.
Odd.
Strange
I'm thinking it's some browser caching thing going on that, hopefully, will go away - everything that made the old site what it was is no longer even on the server (except the database, which is still sitting there). I'll take a look, though.
Ditto on the token
I liked it! Can it come back somewhere?
It fixed the 403 Forbidden error I got with the old logo
You know, the one I've been meaning to email Adam about for a... shameful amount of time.
Adam, I hope this whole set
Adam, I hope this whole set of changes works well for you, too.
Can't login
Your hashcash value failed. Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
IE10 (desktop mode) on Win 8.
Fixed, sorry about that
I've turned that module off.
Flickr link?
Am I missing it? Didn't there used to be a link to the photostream from the home page or at least the photos page?
Again - thanks for doing such a great job on this site for us Adam - for my friends well acquainted with the Red Sox who ask me about this site I tell them it's basically the Sons of Sam Horn for all things Boston that are (mostly) not sports.
You're right
I've added a Flickr button.
Yes and no
I like the new editor... :)
But the posts are hard to read with the white on white. The old site had the posts/threads in a off white greyish color.
Not feeling the new font..
but other than that, nice N snappy.
"Track" page is hard to read and has lost functionality
The formatting of the columns in the Track page makes it hard to read. And the red "New" indicator is missing, which I depend on to tell me where new comments are.
why does [url=...] no longer work?
See the above comment
a href
You need to use HTML <a href="…"></a> tags.
Why drop BB Code?
Before we could use HTML, BB Code, or any combination.
Can you take a look now?
Hopefully, it's more legible now.
Nope
even with default font sizing, the columns run into each other. The new flag has been appearing correctly for me, though.
(Oh look at that - the font color tags are no longer recognized in the comment space. Bummer).
I like it!
It has a nice, warm feel to it.
No upvoting?
My self esteem is solidly based on the number of upvotes I get, for God's sake! Think of the children and put in a down vote button also. My self esteem could use that also.
We'll
Its a good think Adam doesn't allow down-vote, you'd be suicidal.
and the collective 'anon' would be invisible
.
This comment is precisely why
We need the up vote button! :(
Looking Good, Adam.
I like the minimal design and simplified layout. The performance and load times seem MUCH improved. UHub used to take several seconds to load for some reason, but now the site populates instantly.
+1 on installing an upvote plugin. And +100 on adding downvotes.
I prefer the up vote only.
I prefer the up vote only. Including a down vote option for comments will encourage people who simply like to add fuel to the fire to increase the spitefulness of their comments just to see how many down votes they can get.
Wouldn't matter for you
Wouldn't matter for you anyway. Anons wouldn't be able to vote down a comment.
Anons can +1 comments
Anons can +1 comments
Two thoughts:
Two thoughts:
1) I wonder if a san serif font work a bit better across the site? The New York Times is serif-serif-serif, but look at their page (compared, say, to Slate's new design) and tell me what feels old and like work and what feels fresh and engaging ... (even though really Slate messed up with that hideous floating shadow banner thing). http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/slate_fare/...
2) Thanks for the hard work!
Icon blindness led to something else
Was looking for the old links (UH on Flickr, Twitter etc.) and note that now they are linked via icon rather than text. Long story short - thought signing out and in might help - when I hit log out - got a page not found error.
UH is like Hotel California now! :-)
BTW - IE 10.0.9
Here, have some colitas
Fixed - you can now leave!
Hmm...
I see no upvote buttons.
Quirk or Feature?
Hey Adam,
Also sending my thanks for keeping a great up and running!!
I've always had a nit that after you hit the login tab to log in, you're sent to an account page rather than back to the story you were on when you hit the log in button. Is that something the new software can let you change??
- J
Hmm, good question
Will take a look.
I agree - this would be a
I agree - this would be a great change!
+100!
+100!
Search is broken
Returns some messy malformed markup. Most maligned.
I like the cleaner design,
I like the cleaner design, but I do miss the T token... it's a good Boston icon. The masthead is generic without it.
new look
ditto. dig the token.
Yes , we need the token !
Yes , we need the token !
http://www.mbtagifts.com/product-images/1158/1158-...
New Look
I like it! I was also able to reset my password. Keep up the good work!
Mobile Version?
The standard site actually doesn't look too bad on mobile devices (the text wraps nicely to the screen size), but the banner ads stretch the page way out. It would be nice to have an optimized mobile site if the software allows for it. http://m.universalhub.com would be handy too.
Great transition though Adam! I might try my hand at the logo tonight. I have some ideas. =)
Recent comments
Is there no longer a way to have a listing of "recent comments" like there was on the old site? That was a convenient feature.
1) keep up the good work
1) keep up the good work
2) i love Drupal
3) i really miss the token--is it in an archive somewhere?
4) only real criticism--the white on white is very slick and clean but doesn't direct you to the important content as readily--are you done w/ the design portion? a little color might help the reader...
Yep, got the token locked away
And the kidlet still has the original one I took a photo of. I was thinking of playing around with something more permanent now that tokens are in the past, maybe something involving the Custom House.
The design's very much still in play. I want to fiddle with the fonts a bit, for example. Dumb question, but when you say the new design doesn't get you to the important stuff as readily, could you explain that? I've always found it hard to dissect my own work, so I'm probably missing something.
I hate how the new design
I hate how the new design looks like Google's recent screw the userbase terribad redesigns. So much wasted white space. I'm sure it looks great for mobile version but on a computer screen with acres of pixels it looks stupid.
The fonts aren't very legible and there's no option to up or down vote comments. No CAPTCHA to stop spammers either.
What resolution is your monitor?
I haven't actually done much with the mobile stuff - in fact, it still needs a bit of work (but at least the site is now legible on a phone without resizing).
The upvote thing I'm working on today.
You didn't get a captcha? Thanks, will check. Fortunately, that's not the only anti-spam measure in place here (the final one being my aging eyes - I still get to approve/delete all anon comments.
1920x1080 Adam. Still not
1920x1080 Adam. Still not getting captcha as a requirement to post. The site is much faster and I think it will work better. The graphics just need some tweaking here and there for user friendliness.
Okay, I second the 'too much
Okay, I second the 'too much white space' comment. It is more difficult to read.
another +1 re too much whitespace
Btw, this shows how useful a dual upvote/downvote feature could be. Instead of unweildy descending staircase of comments agreeing/disagreeing with the parent, one could see at a glance the forum community's views re the original point.
NOOO THE TOKEN!!
I will miss the token. But the rest of the site looks good, so I will cope. :)
RSS
I found there was no new content in my feed reader (Feedly) since before the upgrade. I unsubscribed and resubscribed using the RSS link in the header, which solved the problem. Might be worth giving users a heads up - not sure if the RSS URL changed or what. Thanks! (And I think it looks great!)
Used to be two feeds
One RSS, the other Atom. I bet you were subscribed to the latter. Good idea on letting folks know!
I had the same problem - no
I had the same problem - no content in my Reader (Feedly) on the day before the election ... so I knew there was something wrong and came to the site to find out. Took me a while to find this comment to confirm my suspicions and suggest a workaround.
Subscriptions
E-mail subscriptions do not seem to be working. At least I have not gotten e-mails right away as new comments are posted to the thread to which I subscribed.
I like new things
Love it on my Galaxy s3, simple and loads fast.
Haven't had a chance to check it out on my desktop or iPad yet.
"Read more" link
is missing on a bunch of the entries.
Also I was getting some error about a 'hashcash' when I tried to log in on another computer.
Futura Black for new logo Font?
Still a little old school but updated from token?
Maybe some more graphically skilled posters could post a demo. I think it would look great.
Love the updated site, btw.
Three Complaints
I hope you know, Adam, that I love this site and appreciate all the work you do on it. However...
1 - I truly prefer the old logo, fonts, and overall design.
2 - I've read comments, gone to other sites, returned here, and all comments are still "new" comments.
3 - I miss the listing of Boston and environs bloggers previously on the right sidebar.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Follow-Up
1 - Still prefer the old stuff.
2 - This is apparently fixed, and I thank you.
3 - Still miss the blog listings.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Watch out for those banner
Watch out for those banner ads. I don't ever remember seeing "find asian girls in your area" and such right up at the top before. UHub has been pretty safe for public viewing and I hope you can keep it that way
Replacement for token
1. Whatever changes you made between this morning and this evening
made the posts much easier to read.
2. I am also one of those who miss the "token". I don't think I realized it was
there until it wasn't :=). As a substitute - what's another symbol - The Citgo Sign
for instance, that could be used? (Maybe the Citgo Sign was used in earlier years).
A rotating banner showing various neighborhoods of Boston? A graphic showing
a cyclist and a car racing along side one another? Or one showing the bazillions of people
who seem to be waiting, waiting, waiting for the T? Or a series of space savers?
Well, anyway,many thanks for continuing onwards and upwards. I'm still waiting for Boston.com to become
"edgier" although I'm not going to wait too much longer.
Still waiting for comment delete option
I generally like the cleaner new look on my 1600x1200 monitor. Page load seems faster too. Using serif headlines and san-serif content puts the traditions of typography on their head, but whatever.
Once or twice I have accidentally double clicked (or the delay was really long with no response) on submit and had two comments entered. Would be great to delete them as Patch.com allows. Since I log in, I don't get CAPTCHA, which is good for me.
I'm ambivalent on vote up/down. Its sort of petty and high-schoolish, but can add to fun, return views, and participation.
I second this
Ability to delete comments would be great. Also the ability to hide a poster (does it already exist?) would be nice too. I can dream.
Search box
Does not seem to work. I just tried to search and got the following:
function() {
var cx = '001942961696658555529:y3ct5-iz6jk';
var gcse = document.createElement('script'); gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; gcse.async = true;
gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') +
'//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s);
}();
Fixed
Thanks for letting me know; sorry for the time waste!
I miss the token
It's site is about the real Boston and the picture of the token said that loud and clear :(
downvote for logo replacement
Longtime lurker here. Sorry, but I'm no fan of the tokenless logo. Maybe it irks me that it is reminiscent of the Boston Herald's logo.
Once upon a time Boston had a credible claim to being the Hub. Many national companies made this city the site of their headquarters. But that was then, this is now: They were bought or merged out of existence. Boston Magazine memorably termed the phenomenon "Branch Office Boston." That is, I'm afraid, what the new design evokes: A web site produced by the branch office of some other city's company.
I mostly like the new feel of
I mostly like the new feel of the site Adam. I gotta say, I do miss a Boston-centric graphic in the masthead. Design contest, anyone?
Additionally, will there be the ability to edit a comment? I really hate hitting "post" only to see that I made a big, fat typo. Then, I look stupid in front of all you wicked smahhht people.
Looks like the spammers like the new software
http://www.universalhub.com/users/jellyadorable
They found your weakness.
Can't blame that on the software
I approve all accounts by hand and that one looked reasonable. Guess not. Fortunately, the software makes it tres easy to delete both spammer and spam - when I cancel an account, one of the radio buttons is something like "delete user and all content."
Voting up/down and e-mail notification
Still working on these.
Unfortunately, the version of the old voting system for the new software here is marked in foot-high-letters: Don't use on a production system. And it hasn't been touched in more than a year, so I'm not going to install it.
Found a replacement up/down system, but it's sloooow - you vote and then sit there for 30 seconds. Not acceptable, obviously. I suspect I'll have to delete the old voting framework and reinstall it (that'll wipe out all the old votes, but they'd be unviewable anyway because of the problem above).
Also trying to figure out why the system that sends out notifications of replies to things you've posted no longer works.
Did you do something around 2:39P?
I just got an e-mail telling me my subscription to this thread was set.
I never asked to be subscribed to this thread.
Just curious since I see someone mentioned subscriptions and you said you'd fiddle with it.
Software is great until you want to bash it against a wall
I did, indeed, fiddle with the software. Saw there were a bunch of notification messages queued up. Ran the module to send them. And nothing happened, except it generated a nice message in the error log about how nothing happened. Then, about 30 minutes ago, I got a bunch of notifications. And looks like you got at least one as well. My apologies for you getting it, since you didn't ask for it. Now to see why.
Unchecked a box
The software was set to auto-subscribe you to replies to any comments you posted. I've unchecked that, so you'll need to open the Subscribe link at the bottom of a post to get replies to your comments. Assuming the server sends out e-mail ever again :-).
I got the same e-mail
I got the same e-mail notification, clicked the link to unsubscribe, it verified that it had unsubscribed me from updates... but I just got another notification.
Ditto
Dinged me again too. Didn't recall the time stamp. Unsubscribed again.
ditto ditto
.
tags in RSS feed
Dunno if this was intentional, but the RSS includes tags now, at the bottom of every post. Some are hyperlinked, some aren't. I don't see their utility in the RSS (at least as I use it)
Example:
Free tagging:
Storrow Drive
Neighborhoods:
Beacon Hill
Topics:
Driving
BB Codes On New Website
Hi Adam! The BB codes don't seem to be working anymore, e.g.: [img], [youtube]. Even old posts (before the site update) that had images and videos are no
longer working.
Thank you for all you do to make UniversalHub such a great source for local news and information!