Open tech thread: what do you want to see fixed at OpenLeft?

by: Adam Bink

Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 19:00


If you've left a suggestion last night, no need to repeat it, just a new thread

Part of the money you've given to support OpenLeft will be used to hire on a new technical consultant who will be working for all of us to make the site better.

We have a list of things we think will help improve the site in terms of design and tech, but since you're our readers and you paid for it, we want to ask you what you like, don't like, and want to see fixed, in terms of technical work.

Spacing? Ways to improve Quick Hits? Formatting in different browsers? Anything you've got, leave it in the comments.

Adam Bink :: Open tech thread: what do you want to see fixed at OpenLeft?

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Open tech thread: what do you want to see fixed at OpenLeft? | 20 comments
Next Time (0.00 / 0)
Let's do the opposite: donate entirely or close to it through organization or coalitions. Make it clear that this money is not for the candidate, still less for the Party, but is for the agenda. Try not to make it single-issue groups, as that has Balkanized us too much.
iPhone viewing (4.00 / 2)
I bring up OpenLeft on an iPhone quite often. It works much better on the iPhone than, say dKos or mydd, which both have performance problems on the phone because of the complexity of their front page. I would not recommend doing an iPhone-specific interface, like huffpost. That is overkill. It is better just to keep an eye on the front page, try it on an iPhone, and make sure it is possible to pan and zoom to easily read the posts without any performance problems.

I also sometimes do short comments from the phone. Making sure the comment data entry box fits OK is important. If you know someone with an iPhone, have them give it a try. If that is not convenient, I'd be glad to test out any URL you give me and let you know how it looks on the phone.

ec=-8.50 soc=-8.41   (3,967 Watts)

You don't need to do dkos in a browser anymore (4.00 / 1)
Search the app store for Kossack Reader.
[ Parent ]
Totally agree (0.00 / 0)
I frequently bring up OL on iPhone and find that it works much better than blog/news sites that have gone to an iPhone-specific interface.

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...
[ Parent ]
could we see your list? (4.00 / 1)
Thanks for fixing the twitter/bit.ly issue.  Otherwise I think the site functions well.

But if you have some ideas of improvements, maybe we could discuss them?

link to my blog more often (4.00 / 1)
If you had more front page links to my blog posts, this site would be perfect. ;-)

Just kidding. Nothing comes to mind on site issues. Anything that makes it easier for the front pagers to keep cranking out good posts will keep me happy.

They call me Clem, Clem Guttata. Come visit wild, wonderful West Virginia Blue

Agree. I'm a fan - of your comments at BAGnewsnotes. (4.00 / 2)
Maybe you could occasionally include a photo to your posts and comments here?  
[ Parent ]
I just want a space in my username (0.00 / 0)
unless I'm just too dumb to figure out how to do this in the existing system
User ID is user ID. (4.00 / 1)
That's one of those things that can't be changed without giving yourself over to Nyarlathotep.

Health insurance is not health care.
If you don't fight, you can't win.
Never give up. Never Surrender.
Watch out for flying kabuki.
[ Parent ]
Hmm (0.00 / 0)
I don't have to run my name together here, unlike AmericaBlog, for instance. You must be able to make the correction in your profile. Use the directions given yesterday to access your page - top item on right hand list below the ad for Friends of the Earth.
[ Parent ]
no dice (0.00 / 0)
Looks like I'm stuck :(
[ Parent ]
Yup. No way to change that. (0.00 / 0)
You can only create a totally new profile.

However, I don't think that usernames, that are different form the ID, and changeable, are such a good idea. At sites that have this feature it's often misused for nonsense, and the confusion that comes from this vastly outweighs any advantages.

[ Parent ]
:-I (0.00 / 0)
:-I
[ Parent ]
Rate Quick Hit Comments (4.00 / 1)
Why not?

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...
free beer..................breid (0.00 / 0)

How about a rating for blog stories, instead of "recommendation"? (0.00 / 0)
Let's face it, almost nobody of us "normal" users uses recommendation. Has there been any diary that made it to the frontpage without a blogger weighing in, recently? Or at all? Can't remember that. Why not replace recommendation with a more transparent rating, showing how much interest there is in a story? This may help the diaries, too, because the feedback would encourage users to post their stuff.
And high ratings may result in raising the interest of the bloggers. How about this?
Btw, I found a bug! (0.00 / 0)
Writing about "recommendation", I wanted to check the "Hot List" (in the navigation frame on the right side). Up at the hot list page, there's also a link called "recommended content":
http://www.openleft.com/hotLis...

Hehehe, nice SQL error message, right? And that this has gone unnoticed for so long shows that nobody is using that feature. Even more reason to think about overhauling it.

Move user diaries up. (0.00 / 0)
You have to scroll down a long way just to read them, so user diaries often seem either to go ignored or not get as much discussion compared to the front-page stuff.  Quick hits are good for pointing out news stories, but what good is the feature if our responses to them in the diary section aren't given the same opportunity for discussion as the front-page entries?  Is there some way to move user diaries up into its own side column on the main page, so that both they and quick hits get equal visibility?

Single-Payer is the ONLY viable public option.
Suggested change (0.00 / 0)
Put byline on the e-mail teasers.  It is a pain to have to go to the website to see "Who thinks that?"
Ability to fix accidental ratings? (0.00 / 0)
I'm not sure, but I can't figure out a way to properly fix an accidental comment rating.  Just a while ago I accidentally troll-rated a comment I wanted to recommend.  I then recommended it, and at first it showed both my 0 and my 4, so I tried recommending it again, and currently it's crediting me with two 4s, which isn't right either.
Open tech thread: what do you want to see fixed at OpenLeft? | 20 comments
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