Folks– I’ve had a bajillion comments on the formatting of the blog, from praise of the fonts to complaints on the color. The Hive Overmind just upgraded a bit, and now at the bottom of each post you’ll find the time the post was made as well as the date. I know it may not seem like a big deal, but it helps me a lot so I can tell when I did what.
Other changes are on their way, but Discover is taking this slowly, so as not to mess anything up. I don’t blame them; there are other blogs here as well and doing everything across the platform should be done with care. So be patient, and over time we’ll get this thing sleek and streamlined.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
So long as the writing is sleek and polished, we can deal with superficial issues!
August 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I welcome our Hive Overmind Overlords!
August 5th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
If they stick to certified web standards, cross platformness should just happen.
Oh, and “Previews! Pretty please!”
August 5th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
But … you’re PRESIDENT Phil now! Can’t you make them go faster?
Sorry, couldn’t resist
August 5th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
@QD
Previews? I do not know these “previews” of which you speak. I find it difficult to believe that such a thing exists.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Will no one think of the italics?
August 5th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
The Zerg don’t upgrade. They Evolve.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
@ Todd W. & QD – this site is powered by WordPress, and there are comment preview plugins available.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Just the tiniest bit of padding along the leftside of the text would make a huge difference. Right now, if your browser is smaller than about 968 pixels, the text is entirely flush with the very edge of the browser window, looking unfinished.
OSX 10.5.4
Safari
All the best…
August 5th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I’ve got no problems with the layout here, works for me!
Time & date stamping the posts is good, yowza!
Rich
August 5th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hey, one thing at a time… at least we know further changes and improvements will be made!
Phil, adding the time stamp is good. Thanks!
August 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Hey Phil… Have you seen the new “end of world” nuts videos? They’ve left the concept of Nibiru/Planet X and have gone down the path of “The Dark Rift”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNbtuHHoyU
What is your opinion on this nonsense?
August 5th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Fonts, color, et al, look fine from here. Users can change fonts and font size if they learn to use their browser. Overall design is fine.
Comment previews would be welcome. Reduces typos, and also gives folks a chance to tone down intemperate remarks. It entails some degree of server load.
The left margin does indeed disappear somewhere around 968 pixels. The margin seems to shrink gradually, but then vanishes instantly as the sie of the browser window is reduced. (Checked here with Safari and Firefox on a Mac.) The Hive Web People might take a look.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Personally, I think everything looks fine. It isn’t as though I come here for the fonts anyway and the colors don’t make my eyes hurt, so I’m good.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Another vote for previews. And make sure people can’t screw up the formatting of every subsequent comments like they did a few days ago. I also lose the left margine if I make the page too small, but it is rarely that small so I hadn’t noticed. Otherwise it is fine for me.
August 5th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Coincidence? Or did someone read my email?
August 5th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Some of the blogs here require the little two word verifications, some don’t. Is there a way that folks can create an account here (free version) so we can possibly upgrade to things like being able to edit horribly typos and the like?
August 5th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Ew, no, I hate those verifications where it’s a word or string of random characters obfuscated to foil OCR software. Too often *I* can’t figure out one of the characters, and I have excellent character recognition.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Dang! Somebody beat me to the first Starcraft joke!
August 6th, 2008 at 5:22 am
Gee, it’s always been good enough, for me. I can learn the petty stuff (italics, etc) as I go along.
Uh, I think date and time stamp OK, the way it is.
Nevertheless, do what ya gotta do.
August 6th, 2008 at 6:43 am
How about first of all removing the digg, stumble and reddit buttons from the main page and putting the small blog-o-sphere buttons on the actual articles? Lots of wasted screen space on the home page mostly because of those buttons.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:17 am
The “little two word verifications” and “string of random characters” approach to stopping spam has been busted. There’s code out that can beat ‘em.
August 6th, 2008 at 8:20 am
I still want prev/next buttons at the end of the responses, much quicker than scrolling all the way back to the top…
But I agree that so long as the writing keeps up, we can deal.
Dennis
August 6th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Phil, in case you’re reading this and wanting feedback, here’s mine:
My only real concern about text-related stuff is that link text is brown and doesn’t stick out enough. Red, orange, or even light blue would be better for link text.
The only other thing I can think of is probably a better way to “link back” to your old site, or even link back to the various portions of it (Pantry, movie reviews, etc.) instead of the generic “oh it is still online” link text…
August 7th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
“I still want prev/next buttons at the end of the responses, much quicker than scrolling all the way back to the top…
But I agree that so long as the writing keeps up, we can deal.
Dennis”
It would also be just awesome if they included the little ‘»’ and ‘«’ in the actual hyperlink. Then I wouldn’t need to scroll anywhere to find them, because my dumb little browser plug-in would be able to figure out that they are next and back links, and open them with keyboard shortcuts or mouse gestures.
August 16th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Sorry but I still prefer the old version / server /BA blog /way you used to have things by far.
I hate having everything squashed to the far left of screen.
)
(Even though some here reckon I’m far left myself – which I reckon shows they’re wa-aay too far into the political Wrong wing!
I hate the colour and format of this site. (& no it ain’t growing on me, sorry ‘Discover’ people but you need to change your site. You badly need to change your site. In My Humble Opinion Naturally.)
But mostof all .. & I’m sur ey’all se this one coming … :
Yegods! Please Dr Phil Plait Please, please, can you let us EDIT here!
Surely it can’t be that hard to give us all the ability to edit ..?
Even still & despite all these complaints –
Thanks for an awesome blog
I’ve still gotta add -you are my favourite blog!
August 16th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
CORRECTION : (Because I have to – there’s no other way because I can’t @$@!##!@$@# EDIT! *Sigh*)
But most of all .. & I’m sure y’all se this one coming … :
Yegods! Please Dr Phil Plait, please, please, can you let us EDIT here!
Surely it can’t be that hard to give us all the ability to edit ..?
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi Phil
…I hope you still keep track of comments on old entries, as there didn’t seem to be anywhere more appropriate to post this … but, I’ve recently noticed that your RSS feed no longer displays the full article text – just the first paragraph… which makes it a bit of a PITA to keep up with your stuff via an RSS feeder.
Is this an unavoidable consequence of writing for your new paymasters? (which would be understandable – if immensely annoying) … Or something that can be fixed??