Aesthetic Changes

We’re doing some slight tinkering. Any feedback is appreciated. (Also, if we break something, please let us know, along with any relevant details — “I can no longer load the page in Netscape” or whatever.) Thanks!

36 comments for “Aesthetic Changes

  1. The “who we are” is redundant, I think. Otherwise, the drop-downs are OK, but I would combine profiles and posts into a single drop-down for space. Where you really need it is in your most popular entries, recent entries and regular features.

  2. Steve, we’re not going to drop the counter and the TTLB link just to placate your inferiority complex. But good try.

  3. I’d push up the comment policies link up near the top. Perhaps next to the Recent Comments header? Seems like many newcomers are unaware of their existence.

  4. We ain’t copyin — KB has a drop-down menu for _categories_, while ours is for _bloggers_. Also, ours is tan. :)

    Yes, I noticed the drop downs at KB. They turn out to be remarkably easy to add in. Of course, that probably means I put them in wrong or something.

  5. Adam, if custom requires, you may apologize to Steve on my behalf. I don’t really know the protocol of your secret fraternity of apologizers, and prefer to let my rare and exceedingly mild insults have their time in the sun.

  6. The drop-downs for the blogroll are nice as far as making the sidebar manageable, but they do have the unfortunate effect of denying other blogs linky goodness from T&S. You may want to reconsider.

  7. Generally, I like the dropdowns for the author profiles and posts. I’d get rid of them for the other things, for two reasons. 1) The more clicks people have to make to get somewhere, the less likely they are to do it. Putting links to the other blogs, etc. in drop-down boxes will result in fewer referrals. Leaving them out of boxes allows the title to catch the reader’s eye.

    2) More importantly, the link to my pages links disappeared from the boxes :(

  8. Agreed — keep the links for the Bloggernacle (since we all depend on them to drive traffic), but for the other LDS links, etc., I think a drop-down is fine. And I would do a drop-down for regular features, or eliminate it entirely (I’ll bet nobody uses it, same with the calendar).

  9. Ben,

    I know I’m leaving out your pages at the moment — I was having trouble making that category fit right into the drop down menus.

    (Is there a way to lock the size of the drop down menus? So that they don’t just get wider if there are wide items on the list? I left out category 11 (Resources) entirely, because it made the sidebar expand an extra half inch — not fun. Even as is, one of the drop-downs is causing the text to shift left about an eighth of an inch — you can see it on load up. Also, coding the form with a width instruction, i.e.,

    style=”font-size:11px;color:##993300;font-family:verdana;background-color:#E9dbc0;width:150″

    does not solve the problem.)

  10. I agree that the drop-downs are effective for the permabloggers and guest-bloggers but less aesthetically attractive and effective for the links to other blogs. Having a list of bloggernacle blogs helps to show how developed the community is and it pleases the ego to see the name of your blog in the list.

    But those are just my thoughts. Feel free (as always) to ignore them. :)

  11. It seems to be blowing right through !important . There’s an !important on the style sheet already, and I tried adding it to the form too. No luck.

  12. I just had “Spinozist” come up in the random adjective generator above “Who we are.” Which of you ladies and gentlemen put that in the adjective list? You are my kindred spirit—unless it was inserted in the same spirit as “poorly reasoned,” which also just came up! :)

  13. Here’s a question for Bryce (or anyone else who may know the answer) :

    Is it possible to have a check box, where one can check to see the blogroll as a link list versus a drop down menu?

    I.e.,

    “Check here to see the blogroll as a link list.”

    And then something like

    if (checked)
    {
    include (blogroll1.php)
    }
    else
    {
    include (blogroll2.php)
    }

    Is that kind of option feasible to do in PHP? (Perhaps it would require a cookie, to set “checked” for a particular viewer?)

  14. I think I’ve got the width problem figured out — the key was using the “class=” in the form description, and setting up the proper style in the CSS.

  15. Kaimi–

    In theory, that shouldn’t be too difficult. Cookies for sure.

    Even better — the T&S toolbar for IE and Firefox. How great would that be?

  16. With the drop down menus, I cannot choose to open a link in a new tab or window, so for that reason I don’t care for them.

  17. How’s this for a rule of thumb: Use drop-downs for internal site navigation, regular links for external pages.

  18. Kaimi —

    There’s no instructions on how to email the permabloggers anymore (did it exist before? I’m not sure).

  19. Just another opportunity to appreciate T&S. I’ve been getting a kick out of the random word engine in the top right corner, that says:

    Quite possibly the most __________, yet ___________, onymous Mormon group blog in history.

    A lot of words that show up there are unusual. I still need to get around to looking many of them up. So I spent a little time figuring out most of the words that show up there. At least I think I have most of them now. Sorry for the length of this, but maybe some will get a kick out of the adjectives and words T&S is using to describe itself:

    abstruse
    acclaimed
    adamant
    admired
    aggravating
    aggravating
    agoraphobic
    alliterative
    ambitious
    anacoluthic
    annoying
    antideluvian
    antidisestablishmentarian
    Anti-Nephi-Lehitish
    apocalyptic
    apocryphal
    Aristotelian
    Augustinian
    banal
    basilic
    bathetic
    belletristic
    bizarre
    bombastic
    boring
    bothersome
    bourgeois
    bungling
    callous
    canny
    captious
    Cartesian
    catholic
    caustic
    cavalier
    chafing
    charismatic
    chiastic
    Christian socialist
    clairvoyant
    clueless
    commented upon
    commercialized
    communitarian
    compelling
    complaisant
    concise
    confusing
    contemplative
    contorted
    controversial
    cool-headed
    copacetic
    countermajoritarian
    crass
    criticized
    daffy
    dangerous
    Delphic
    demagogic
    demagogic
    denounced
    denounced
    derivative
    deteriorating
    ding-an-sich
    disconcerting
    disgruntled
    disturbing
    dyspeptic
    dyspeptic
    easily dismissed
    eery
    efficient
    elitist
    energizing
    enthusiastic
    ephemeral
    epicurean
    ergonomic
    esoteric
    esoteric
    evanescent
    exasperating
    exasperating
    existentially stunted
    fallacious
    fatuous
    feckless
    forgettable
    functionalist
    gallant
    garish
    gaudy
    genteel
    genuine
    globalized
    goggling
    grandiloquent
    gutsy
    half-baked
    ham-fisted
    harmless
    harrumphing
    Hegelian
    hen-pecked
    hermeneutical
    hide-bound
    high federalist
    hip
    Hobbesian
    Holmsian
    hotheaded
    humble
    humiliated
    hylic
    hyperbolic
    iconoclastic
    ignored
    ill-conceived
    illogical
    imperious
    imperious
    imperturbable
    impressionistic
    incomprehensible
    incongruous
    infamous
    insignificant
    intellectual
    invigorating
    irenic
    ironic
    irredentist
    irrelevant
    irritating
    Jeffersonian
    jejune
    judgment proof
    juristic
    Kaldor-Hicks
    Kantian
    labyrinthine
    lachrymose
    legalistic
    libeled
    liliputian
    linguistically challenged
    lively
    logical
    logocentric
    long-winded
    lucid
    luddite
    Machiavellian
    magniloquent
    malistic
    Marxist
    mawkish
    mellifluous
    mendacious
    mensual
    millenialist
    misunderstood
    monomaniacal
    mordant
    most contested
    mottled
    moving
    mugwumpish
    mundane
    neat
    nebbishy
    neoclassical
    neophyte
    nit-picking
    notorious
    noxious
    nugatory
    obsequious
    oleaginous
    optimistic
    original
    Orwellian
    Orwellian
    Oscar-nominated
    overhyped
    over-the-top
    paleolithic
    paleolithic
    palliative
    pallid
    pallid
    Pareto optimal
    parliamentarian
    paternalistic
    perfect
    perfervid
    peripatetic
    pessimistic
    pestiferous
    pestiferous
    pettifogging
    petty
    PG-13
    phat
    phenomenoligical
    phlegmatic
    pilloried
    placid
    Platonic
    pompous
    poorly insured
    poorly reasoned
    porous
    portentious
    poseur ridden
    postmodern
    post-Sunstonian
    posturing
    powerful
    pre-modern
    pro-Brighamite
    progressive
    promethean
    prominent
    propaedeutic
    protean
    protestant
    provocative
    pseudo-intellectual
    puckish
    puerile
    pugnacious
    puissant
    pulchritudinous
    puritanical
    pusillanimous
    quasi-contractural
    quiescent
    quotidian
    raucous
    recondite
    reflective
    reflective
    regressive
    reinterpreted
    repetitive
    revolutionary
    rhadamanthine
    ridiculed
    ridiculous
    rip-snorting
    riveting
    riveting
    romantic
    rural
    savage
    scatter-brained
    scientific
    scientific
    scintillating
    screable
    seaworthy
    self-absorbed
    self-important
    sententious
    sesquipedalian
    significant
    simpering
    simplistic
    sinister
    slap stick
    Socratic
    sophomoric
    soporific
    soporific
    special
    Spinozist
    spoofed
    steely-eyed
    stirring
    stultifying
    stultifying
    stunted
    sub-optimal
    surreal
    sybaritic
    sycophantic
    talked-about
    taxing
    tedious
    tempestuous
    tenebrous
    terran
    thought-provoking
    tralatitious
    trenchant
    triedral
    trifling
    uncanny
    under-rated
    unintelligible
    unionist
    unpredictable
    unread
    unstable
    unusual
    uplifting
    utilitarian
    vegetarian
    verbose
    verbose
    voluntarist
    well-seasoned
    wise
    witless
    zealous
    zygotic

  20. I hate to tell you this, danithew, but you can get the complete list just by looking at the page source.

  21. LOL. Bryce I should have known. It was still fun because whoever puts this thing together enjoys words and so do I.

  22. Steve Evans,
    I abase myself for my stupid rudeness. I wallow in dog’s vomit deep into the night, wailing. I am unfit, I am unclean, I am sorry.

Comments are closed.