Sneak peek at the new Universal Hub
Here 'tis. Fire away!
What the deal is:
I'm finally getting around to upgrading the software behind Universal Hub (what you see at the above link is, in fact, a "live" UH, only using a database last updated a few weeks ago).
At least initially, the new site won't really have many new features, except OpenID logins and maybe a tag cloud or two (gotta have the tag clouds!), so the advantages of the new system are mainly for me (it's a bit easier to administer things). Alas, the current templates don't work with the new version, so I had to work with some new ones, so I figured as long as I'm doing that, why not play around a bit with the design? And yes, I realize I'm not the King of Design.
Once it's up and running, then I can start adding new stuff, so if there's anything you'd love to see on UH, let me know.
Comments
I like it, but could you put
I like it, but could you put the header above the first ad. I would rather see the header before the advertisement. I understand the need for ads, i think the top could be more incorporated.
Looks great, I think having
Looks great, I think having the Boston Blog networks and recent comments have the same look and visual priority should be changed, so maybe the blog network has some differentiation from comments on your site (size, color or maybe even icons of each blog beside the title?)
Looking good
I like it, a nice improvement. Clean and simple, the best way to go. Good work!
Looks fine
Loaded it up on the iPhone and it was nice and fast and well formatted. Maybe I can break it later on my regular computer/browser.
Nice + 2 suggs
I like the look & feel. Clean, not too busy, easy on the eyes.
Two suggestions:
1. Is there a jazzier graphic than the city seal? Maybe like the Zakim?
2. For newbies, would it be useful to work in "All Boston, all the time" somewhere at the top?
I'm not a graphic design expert, so grain of salt
It's cleaner.
Serifs only on byline look out of place
Salmon color could be seasonal for Easter, or perhaps if you're a women's boutique...
That light blue isn't really Boston either, at least not with the salmon.
Can you legally use that seal for unofficial purposes?
No to the red.
Needs more visual cues on the page nav buttons at bottom.
Careful with making font small like that. User's default font is *supposed* to be the preferred body text size, and other fonts should be relative to that. Although MS screwed that up early on and so many people do it wrong now that it's passable.
Logo could reflect character of Boston and site better.
Boston is *not* Santa Fe in spring. Red brick, sandstone, a little black wrought iron, some green, overcast skies that are sometimes blue, hint of gold, old triple-deckers in bland colors, clapboard, Masshole drivers with chrome, coffee, perhaps the slightest nod to DD (who has their own problems with color schemes), pride and sense of importance (swelling).
Also, I do like that old idea of trying to have the logo reminiscent of a solar system or galaxy.
Suggest enlisting a graphic designer for logo and basic color scheme.
On the node pages, if the
On the node pages, if the taxonomy keyword links are right above the comment buttons, could they be visually distinguished better?
I think that the commenting should be emphasized.
Keywords can also be moved up, where they help characterize the story like the headline does. Though that can get cluttery.
I've tried dozens of Drupal themes, and not yet found a perfect solution.
Drupal themes
Yeah, what's the deal? :-).
I'm using a theme called newswire, not because I like the default look so much but because it's really a grid theme, while still have some rudimentary CSS/graphical stuff in place to build on. In other words, it's pretty decent for somebody like me who knows just enough about CSS to be dangerous (as opposed to some of the pure grid themes out there).
And once that's in place, making the whole thing look un-Drupalish is fairly simple, if a bit tedious - just a question of changing values on various classes and seeing what happens.
City seal?
Seal? What seal? Unless I'm somehow getting a different "new page" from everybody else, david yamada and neilv are both reading the subway token logo as a "city seal." Admittedly since the T has switched to Charlie Cards and tickets there's already a contingent of Boston residents who apparently don't know what a subway token looks like...
I agree that the color scheme is not optimal. My one other quibble is that the "Universal Hub" banner is a bit too small.
T token
Right you are.
what neilv said
I've been here 15+ years, and already I forgot what a token looks like.
In fact, when I first discovered UH, I first thought (1) it's the city seal; and (2) this must be a City Hall website.
Never mind.
But I'll still put in my vote for the Zakim. It stands for a better, more inclusive Boston.
Token
First, thanks for the comments and suggestions. I'll work on the colors! And play around with the logo/menu above the ad.
I'll also take a look at enlarging the size of the token, since it's not immediately obvious what it is at that size. At some point, I suppose I'll have to ditch it, because there'll be too many people who don't recognize it, but for now, I like it because it's something that only Bostonians would really get (well, if it were larger).
The Zakim is, without doubt, one of the most striking recent additions to Boston, but are there other things that immediately say "Boston" to locals that are not also either touristy things (although I could make an exception for the Faneuil Hall grasshopper) or already overdone to death in logos (i.e. the Zakim)?
other symbols
I feel that T token needs to go, but I like the design otherwise, although I hope the pastel colors are seasonal. Other icons: the steaming kettle, State House dome, Custom House tower, a sliver of Fenway Park.
Corita's gas tank?
but maybe that is owned by National Grid now and there are licensing issues. Although a larger, more easily identified T token works--I thought it was a strange Boston emblem at first too.
Things that say "Boston" to locals
Is a photo of the Filene's Burial Pit out of the question?
Nothin' says "New Boston"...
...like a giant hole in the downtown!
Heh
Or maybe the "Help me!" up on one of the cut-up floors.
I never realized that was a
I never realized that was a token in the header, I always ignored it.
Its more obvious in the new site, but I think bigger would make it more obvious
It looks like every other
It looks like every other stock drupal site template. You'd think with all your free time, you could come up with something a bit better.
What do you have in mind?
I admit it: I have no design sense whatsoever. One of these days, I'll break down and hire an actual designer, but in the meantime ...
OSWD?
I've used their templates before and had much luck in editing them for my needs:
http://www.oswd.org/
All free too!
Karen Zgoda
http://www.karenzgoda.org
http://www.fussy-eater.com
http://editmymanuscript.com
old school
While i like typeface and white space of the new one, i also
prefer this http://www.universalhub.com/tracker
to this http://www.gaffin.com/newhub/comments/recent
UHUB - city seal
I like this one!!
UHUB Zakim
UHUB - patriots
Most cool
Perhaps I should make like Google and have a default logo that I swap out on special occasions (Patriots Day, Thanksgiving, the Sox winning a game, etc.).
That's the ticket
A nice rotating selection would work well here indeed. I admit I've missed the Hancock weather spire for a while here, but the new design looks pretty good and not nutty-over-the-top as some people get when they decide to up and redesign.
(You are keeping the Citgo sign as the favicon, aren't you?)
Re: make like Google
Great idea!
Just don't go all IPO on us, ok?
Nice and crisp-looking. I
Nice and crisp-looking. I wouldn't fret much over the headers and so forth, since nobody pays attention once they've bookmarked the site. I think it looks fine now, with the title more visible than in the "old" (current) version.
As for the logo, why not upgrade the token to a Charlie card? But wait 15 years to do it, like the T did.
Honestly, it looks very
Honestly, it looks very blah-templatey, and not an improvement over this template. It's awfully white, too.
But at the same time, I come here for the content, not to look at a snazzy website, so do what you want! :-)
url
I prefer post URLs to have something to do with the content. To use the current post as an example, 26844 isn't very meaningful to me.
There's a headline URL generator
You can see it in action on the crime pages. I didn't turn it on for the rest of the site because of performance concerns, but that was back on an older, far less oomphy server, so maybe I'll try it now.