Hey, there! Log in / Register

A community news and information site for West Roxbury and Roslindale

ParkwayBoston.com.

Looks kinda cool, has potential, but two suggestions, guys: Forum/comments and RSS. The former in particular will help you beat the Bulletin (less so the Transcript, which already has both).

Geek note: Interesting, they're using the same exact software as the Bulletin, which has what might be the world's worst search engine. Longer term, you might want to explore a platform that is not based on the traditional newspaper "edition" model.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

But it looks like someone's 8th grade kid designed it! I mean... if they want to draw more traffic than say the Bulletin or Wicked Local, the really need to work on design. The content wasn't great either. I did however email them asking if they were looking for a food writer... so thanks for the tip Adam! :)

up
Voting closed 0

Although let's not knock eighth graders - one of the star programmers at the Drupal conference I was at this week (Drupal being the software that runs here) was a 12-year-old kid.

In any case, at the very bottom of their pages, there's a link to the company whose hosting service they're using. Click on some of their customers. Aside from colors, the sites all look fairly similar (for that matter, compare their layout to the Bulletin site). Once they get their feet wet in the difficulties of churning out good content on a regular basis, maybe then they can look at moving to a platform that lets them come up with a better design (compare theirs to Somerville Voices, which I'm impressed with in part because I didn't know you could do that in WordPress or, a bit farther afield, but the same concept, Baristanet), better features, etc.

up
Voting closed 0

is not officially "open" yet, I don't think. I know some of the folks behind it, but I don't think they are ready yet to announce it.

up
Voting closed 0

Thanks for the encouragement Tammy! Was the content not good because we are using a differenet food critic?

John

up
Voting closed 0

Please, Drupal is no monument of engineering. The PHP language itself is a security risk.

This just goes to show you anyone with an internet connection and free time can put up a blog/community site. Nothing special except the people who use it.

I'm looking forward to the AJAX Web2.0 crap like a Google Maps and Crime mashup in the neighborhood so we know which check cashing joints people get jacked at in those areas. Woooo!

up
Voting closed 0

I actually wouldn't recommend Drupal to them unless they went with a hosted service like Bryght - Setting up Drupal by itself is way up there on the learning-curve-o-meter.

However, I would recommend something more robust than a cookie-cutter templating system geared to weekly newspapers featuring a lame search engine, no commenting ability, no calendar system and no RSS. Hire somebody to do it in Movable Type 5, or ask the Somerville folks how they did it in WordPress.

up
Voting closed 0

Checks Cashed...getting jacked...google maps??? Do you even know what you are talking about?

up
Voting closed 0

Awful. Worse than the on line WR Bulletin.

Looks like a 4th Grader made it while he played Wii.

up
Voting closed 0

Adam,

Thanks for the suggestions and the "press".

We did what we could for a community page. We are hoping to enhance it soon...love the comments though...too funny!

Keep up the good work!

John

up
Voting closed 0

Just thought I'd let you know that I have a new not-quite-ready-to-publish site that is closer to what you are thinking of, with blogs, forums, rss feeds, etc. (I found this blog testing my feeds.)

I haven't worked on the "Look and feel" yet, but there's some content out there, so feel free to check it out: parkwayclick.com

I'm very open to suggestions!

up
Voting closed 1