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New website available for testing - comments please!

Thread started on 18/8/2007 22:52 Private

Well, the next website version is ready for testing and feedback. There are still some bugs and quirks especially in visuals (such as the corners of boxes), and the front page images and some of the content are just placeholders.

You can access the site at: http://test.carbonrationing.org.uk/ using username: crag and password: greenhouse.

I’ve aimed at solving the priority areas you guys have identified in threads on the forum (check under the website tag). The main changes are:

new front page, highlighting different areas of the site (wiki, forum, people, & will add groups), and with our new front page text and random images to make a splash

overhauled groups section, split by country: groups can be tagged as active or start-up, and new start-ups can be added without going through admin (there’s a quick link to your local CRAG through the groups dropdown too)

new tags: navigation by tag across different sections of the site, toggling between list and post view, and each tag has it’s own wikipage

new “people” section, with individual profiles and photos throughout the site

simplified registration system, with better security against bots, and new subscribers to groups can now introduce themselves to group admins when they subscribe.

... and various other bug fixes.

The main areas of uncertainty, for me, are (and where I’d particularly appreciate your input):

colour scheme: I’ve “funked it up” to improve contrast and readability – but is it too much? We have a brighter light blue for banner and headings, a similar purplish dark blue for forum, a brighter green for CRAG home pages, and a burnt red/orange for the wiki. Anything you’d like to see, and does it need toning down?

home vs. wiki: should there be a separate “home” page with it’s own tab, and wiki home page – or should the too be combined as they are now? The former is more conventional and might be friendlier for some, especially if they don’t know what a wiki is.

And any other comments or suggestions too – don’t hold back from criticism, it’ll improve the final product!

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Great work

written on 19/8/2007 17:14

Guy S

David – this is superb. Great work! I like the feel of it, it’s more streamlined and easy to navigate, and it’s all very clean and clear. Like the ‘People’ section, great to enable personal profiles. Colour scheme is good – I really don’t mind if it’s tweaked here or there, so long as the finished thing retains its current professional feel. Also like the capacity to put pictures on the front page – think it would be good to have several which get cycled through, e.g. Hereford Crag with George Monbiot, pics from the climate march, latest news pics etc.

One possible further improvement: On the Groups page, would it be a good idea to have a fourth coloured pin for ‘retired’ Crags (e.g. Clapham), with an explanation saying ‘this Crag operated from xxx(date) to xxx, but has now stopped running. If you’d like to restart a Crag in this area, contact xxx’...

At present it doesn’t look that great that there are only 4 ‘operating’ Crags – we need admins to update us on the state of their Crags, as per climate camp discussions!

Thanks again for everything you’ve done, David.

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Guy, thanks.The front page

written on 21/8/2007 20:05

david

Guy, thanks.

The front page image panel cycles through all the images under any tag. So, for example, members could upload their group photos under a “group photo” tag and it would cycle through all of those from throughout the site. We could change it over every couple of weeks. Group photos, I think, would be a good place to start – but afaik there are only two at the moment.

I hadn’t thought of retired CRAGs, good idea. The large number of unknowns is just because it’s a test database. When we transfer over, I’m sure there are many more active CRAGs, especially with Andy’s survey results coming in.

Thanks, everyone, for all the suggestions. This update is largely an implementation of those!

PS. There are still some bugs surfacing, so it might be a few days or a week before we’re up-and-running with this. Comments still welcome!

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Shannon's email comments

written on 18/8/2007 20:34

shannon

Shannon’s comments by email, and David’s responses (further responses in
square brackets):

I like the text on the main page. It is better than the old page, which we
have gotten some blasts for in the press.

> That took months of negotiation, so it really should be good text!! see
> http://www.carbonrationing.org.uk/fora/threads/front-page-what-are-crags .
> I’m sorry we were blasted. It’s just the time limits that does it.

The colors are hard on the eyes. For a good place to look for
coordinated color sets, see www.kuler.adobe.com. You’ll need flash.

> I’d brightened it up to improve contrast, which was previously very
> poor. But it’s possible I’ve gone too far.
> http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html is a
> good page: I think “double complementary” is what I’ve been going for,
> but as they say “difficult to harmonize”. The “intermediate” scheme
> above may be better. Hey, that’s a brilliant site, I’ll absolutely use
> that – thanks for the link! [I’ve redone the colour scheme somewhat, losing
> the orange from the wiki and reducing brightness. It’s a triad colour scheme
> with blues, greens and orange. I may add a dark green colour too, but haven’t
> yet found one that’s vibrant enough! Let me know if it’s still too hard,
> and I’ll soften up further]

The image on the main page is very dithered. Is it a placeholder? If
not, we can look for some public domain images or CRAG images to
replace.

> That is a placeholder (the main files weren’t transferred onto the test
> server). You can put in a tag and the front page will cycle through that
> group of images.
> We can always use the Climate March 2006 photos in the absence of any
> others, or even Guy’s wartime rationing stuff. Or, a set of quick tips
> from public domain eg. on energy efficiency?

The links at the bottom of the page run together.

>
> Which ones? In the footer? Or is it the table of links for short guide
> etc. [This is the front page table, bug in Internet Explorer]
>

If you have wiki link, do you need to have all of the wiki topics on
the main page? I like the forum links on the main page- some sites
say “What people are talking about” or something like that with links
to the main page and it keeps things fresh.

> No, not necessarily. I’m still really debating whether we should have a
> separate dedicated home page, or whether it should be merged in with the
> wiki home (as now). I’m going to add a groups block too.

I like the dropdown for the groups page. We should also have the
Columbia Gorge and Georgia CRAGs there at this point. Have we figured
out how to get the map pins to stay?

> Yes, good, thanks. The quick link to your local CRAG is invaluable. The
> other US CRAGs aren’t there because of the split-off, out-of-date
> database. They will be when I transfer!
>
> No progress on the disappearing pins, I’m afraid. I’m having problems
> diagnosing the problem, and no help from the drupal forums so far.
>

I messed around with the map and could not figure out a better way to
show the US than the one you presented. Is there a way to change the
map dimensions to be more wide? I would like to include Alaska and
Hawaii, which are pretty far west. If not, then I think your map will
do and we will just irritate people from those states.

> Being British, I did forget about Hawaii and Alaska – sorry! The problem
> is the map space squeezes the table space to the left. The only way to
> do it is to zoom out too far, or to display two maps, one underneath the
> other – unfortunately the module seems to have problems with that atm,
> but I’ll investigate if its helpful.

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Update on progress ...

written on 26/8/2007 20:56

david

Quick update on progress … I have cleaned up what I had done, but decided to add some more functionality under this batch:

group pages: added status indicator, the brief group description, a members list with improved subscription links, and a group admin dropdown with various lost functions (invite users, send group email etc.)

people: filtering by role, and improved layout

forums: a user block that shows name, picture, CRAGs and other website roles (e.g admin); and a email notification icon alongside RSS that shows whether it’s on or off, and makes it easier to change (no more “my settings”)

That is absolutely it – I think this release is self-consistent and stands up, until we add more data capabilities and upgrade the underlying engine (hopefully over the winter). Unfortunately it also means there are more bugs to squash and layouts to fix, which could take a whole other week.

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Looks good to me.

written on 28/8/2007 11:00

john ackers

Looks good to me.

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Ready to go ...

written on 9/9/2007 20:58

david

We’re pretty much ready to go on this – I just need to find a stretch of time to upload and configure it. There are some repetitive chores available for any keen volunteers!

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Update on Tuesday, site downtime ...

written on 16/9/2007 09:49

david

I’ll be updating the site on Tuesday, hopefully finishing in the morning. During that time the site will be closed to all but admin, but I’ll try to be done at quickly as possible! Thanks for your patience, guys!

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Revision

written on 18/9/2007 17:47

david

This will now be tomorrow, Wednesday 19th September.

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I like it, David!

written on 21/9/2007 20:47

andy_ross

Love the new site! Just gotta work out how to cut and paste my piccie into my profile now.

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Site back up now

written on 25/9/2007 17:17

john ackers

David and I have been struggling with a web site bug that crept in over the last few days. Basically you could get blank pages. Sorry if this has caused any inconvenience. The problem was with with the textile formatting module which has been replaced with a supposedly fixed version. Do let us know if you see any problems.

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Yes, we should be back to

written on 25/9/2007 20:52

david

Yes, we should be back to normal now. If you notice any more bugs, please do get in touch

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Yes, we should be back to

written on 25/9/2007 20:52

david

Yes, we should be back to normal now. If you notice any more bugs, please do get in touch.

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CRAG website

written on 25/9/2007 22:58

John Cossham

Hello John, I generally enjoy using the website to share ideas and information,and promote low carbon lifestyle choices. I am glad you have been able to sort out any problems.

You have probably noticed that the PF2 guy (David?) has posted something on towel rails under the username which I have asked him not to use. I tried to reply to the posting to politely again ask him not to use this name, and have found the access denied. I guess that you or another moderator has done this, if so, thank you. Perhaps he will get the message that using a username which offends someone (for whatever reason!) is unacceptable within a community of like-minded people. Please keep up this moderation until he decides that posting with his current username is not welcomed. I am happy to have your support. Thank You!
John Cossham, ‘PF1’!!

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HI!

written on 26/9/2007 04:23

kirti

HI,to all crag members! I wanted to first say how excited I was and (maybe) to be a part of the CRAG group,
I really dont know how I really feel about our group.I am coming to Uk from USA, for a business trip and wanted to meet some CRAG leaders and asked John Ackers to send me info on them and to this date not got a reply!

I feel truely sorry to be writting this,but I feel disrespected,I wanted to meet or maybe have a meeting and exchange ideas, just wanted while in uk to meet some fellow CRAG members/leader..is that wrong?now its too late as leave next day!.I feel I am wanting to promote what we stand for in UK AROUND THE GLOBE and wanted to connect.

So for now will leave it and review this and get back to you all once I get back .

I do feel for John Cossham,he has been my friend for many years and its very sad,when you find someone that wants to steal your identity,when you have worked so hard to gain it as a proffesional!
I just want through it and had a lawsuit so if any one, I know how it feels!we all need to support professtionals who have worked so had to retain diginity in their profeesional field.
I would say to who ever is persuing him to back off!For whatever personal reason you may have, please, do not it in CRAG OR AS A MEMBER!

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Kirti, Let's meet

written on 26/9/2007 08:54

john ackers

Kirti, I haven’t seen your email. But I have just sent you an email suggesting that we meet up today assuming you are in London. I think Jessica and Guy might be interested as well if we can arrange a convenient time. We really want to help CRAGs start anywhere including the U.S.

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reply to Kirti, Atlanta CRAG

written on 26/9/2007 09:05

John Cossham

Thank you for your support Kirti re the person abusing my stage name. I, however do not think that the person concerned is trying to ‘steal my identity’ or persue me, they are just being a bit silly and may be unaware of the impact on someone else of using a professional name without permission. I feel supported by the website moderators who (I think) blocked access to the most recent comment under that name. The chap abusing that name will soon realise that it is unacceptable to upset people who are all working towards the same ends, and will choose a different username… maybe even his real name!
I am going to meet with you so we will be able to talk about CRAG issues, as well as how we offset your carbon emissions from the plane trip! I hope you are able to meet with other CRAGgers. Anybody who wants to meet with Kirti could reach her through me on johncossham@tiscali.co.uk .
John Cossham

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Posting Rules

written on 28/9/2007 21:17

david

Hi John – I’m glad you feel the moderation is working. I just wanted to point up the Posting rules we have on the site. Unfortunately these are very well hidden, and I’ll make an effort to make them clearer, on registration and on this forum.

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posting rules

written on 28/9/2007 22:09

John Cossham

I have now read these and more or less understand them. Thank you for drawing these rules to my (our)attention and I hope that all CRAGgers will abide with them as it makes for a better user-experience.

I only have one comment about these rules, which was the point about named products, which I think should be allowed IF RELAVENT to the discussion. For instance, I have made comments about my British-built smokefree woodstoves, and to help others find these stoves so they could perhaps purchase one to enable them to heat their homes with renewables, I named the company which built them. I do know info about other makes of stove, and in future might want to discuss them on the CRAG discussion pages. Would this be so wrong?

I’d be interested in your thoughts on this, anybody?

yours, John Cossham

split off to: moderation policy proposal – please posts any replies there

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The CRAGger flag

written on 2/10/2007 12:19

john ackers

David, how is the CRAGger flag set. At the moment, the Islington page shows that 33 people are in the CRAG but there are only 10. Can we distinguish between those that are in a particular local CRAG, and those that are just subscribed to the group?

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It’s set to CRAGger

written on 3/10/2007 21:37

david

It’s set to CRAGger whenever someone joins a group – so at the moment we assume group subscribers and members are one and the same. I guess you would have to ask someone when they join, whether they are also a real group member, and give them a group role, then link that one to the “CRAGger role”. This is tied in with bringing in their carbon too. Sound right?

We need to take account of offline members too.

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matching people and groups

written on 7/10/2007 11:32

john ackers

I think we need to have two very similar sets of groups. Groups that contain just the members of an active CRAG which happens to be in Anytown (and they are listed in groups page hopefully under name and location). And groups that contain people that live in Anytown that want to join a CRAG. On this pages, people wishing to start CRAGs can ‘advertise’.

If you look on the Islington page, you’ll see why things are complicated as is. (Perhaps that could be done by adding a new pseudo CRAG status for people in a group that are looking).

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User locations

written on 7/10/2007 12:20

david

I have enabled user locations, but they’re not really reflected anywhere on the site yet: you should really be able to show lists of people by location (or you can map them out just like groups).

The other issue is divorcing groups from physical locations. But you can really do that already: groups can have any title, not necessarily their town. All we need is to display separate geographical information and navigation.

Then, there’s the old chestnut of whether group subscribers = physical CRAG members. I don’t think they can: either some won’t sign up (eg. do not use the internet much), or aren’t members but want to sign up for updates. I think we just have to allow for that by giving real members a special role within groups, and allowing admins to specify how many extra “anonymous” real members there are.

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Right-hand side cutoff bug ...

written on 9/10/2007 10:15

david

Hi everyone,

Several people have reported a bug where the right-hand side of the page is cut off. It seems to affect Microsoft Internet Explorer (the default browser on Windows). Because of other commitments (an exam!), I won’t be able to fix this before next week. If it’s a real problem in the meantime, please use Mozilla Firefox instead.

David.

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