CodeStore Version 6
I know what you're thinking - CodeStore version 6!? There were four others before this one? Well, yes, there were. It's just that this one has been around for 2½ years and so it's hard to remember it ever being any different.
The reason it's remained unchanged is that I'm always been fairly happy with it. It works in all browsers and is fairly distinctive. There's always room for improvement though. When I first designed it I was new to CSS and I've since learnt a lot of other techniques and best practices that I could have done with back then. Hopefully a version 6 can make use of better design and make the site more accessible/easier to use.
It's not all about looks though, is it? I want to make some big changes to the under-lying design as well. Mainly to the way the site is navigated and how the content is accessed. It's no longer a site with a few articles and some blogs. There's a lot of stuff buried away that's probably hardly ever seen. I want to make it better for you guys as well as making it look proper nice.
So, I'm open to ideas and suggestions. What would you want to see in a new version? One idea I have had is for a "Downloads" section. In this I would list all the articles that happen to contain a downloadable sample database. The section would be view-like and describe what the database does, including links to view a online demo, download it and read the article.
Work is keeping me quite busy at the moment, so I doubt anything will happen until at least next year. Plenty of time for you to put your thinking hats on. I do have a rough page layout I've been working on that I'll try and share with you soon.
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Can we download this template?
Arjan
Which template?
As an ardent supporter of the current design since its earliest betas, I have to say that I still like it -- but not quite as much. You're right, Jake, navigation is the main issue. I'd consider separate "archive pages" for blogs and articles (not that you don't have them now, but the category lists on the main page are growing out of control). The downloads section is a good idea, and I'd certainly keep the newest article links on the main page design. Getting back to a place where the navigation cartouche is smaller than the main content div, though, should be the primary goal.
Agree with Stan - the current layout is nice, it's just the navigation thats got a bit out of control - Blogs by Month should be removed from the main page, kept but put under a sub-page maybe? Download area is a good idea but saying that - whenever I want to find anything, I don't trudge through content menus/navigations I just go straight for the search...
Hmm, maybe I should just tweak this design then. Something different but still obviously codestore.
THat's something else I really want (need!) to improve on Jono - the search. This is the #1 way to content on most sites, but Domino search is (yep, you guessed it) not that hot.
The fact that I have trouble finding content that I *know* exists on this site tells you something about the state of things!
The codestore template ;-)
Jake, Not wishing to be known as a thieving slacker, but codestore is always my first destination when I need to do something, and I know you've mentioned/demonstrated it already.
So, apart from checking in every day to see what you're doing, my main need is to track down those small and large bits of info. Some issues I notice:
- when I'm searching, the search results show comments posted to articles. What I really want is the article itself. Maybe someform of advanced search to only search on main articles?
- sometimes, all the comments really add to my understanding of an issue. Is it possible to have a version of a page with all of the comments expanded/viewable?
- there is often crossover between blogs and articles, and again it means knowing where to find something. I like the categorisation of articles - why not categorise the blogs too?
That's it. Change or no change, I'll still keep coming back. Pinching your code has made me look like a halfway decent developer!
Navigation is the key and to work on this, you need to look at what people reading this site are after.
Tell me, what are the things people want to do when they get to your site?
- Read the latest post
- Read the latest article
- Get an answer to a question
Perhaps structure your site around those needs?
Many blogs have archives by month - to me, that is pretty useless. Users will generally not know _when_ you wrote something, just that you did. Drop the "blogs by month" and focus instead on a more usable search interface.
What about "blogs by category"? That might be more in tune with people's preferences and the way they look for info.
Cheers,
C.
Could you change the rss feed to include at least a summary of the article/blog? Would make it a lot easier to use FeedDemon offline...
Anura. You're right and these are things I've been wanting to for ages. Half the trouble with searching is that there's no way of separating the results. I need to sort this out.
Something else I want to do is implement a Related Reading system - both on articles and blogs.
The trouble with my blog entries is that they aren't categorised. For the first year they didn't even have a title! I'm probably going to have to go through them all and change this.
Carl. To be honest part of the reason for the Blogs By Month is a "look how long I've been doing it" thing. Well, I've been doing it long enough now not to care and that section is going!
Aks a question? I was thinking of a "Ask your peers" section where there is a topic of the week, suggested by you guys, that is discussed.
I just don't know where to start. It's all a bit daunting...
Jef. I don't see how a summary makes it easier to work offline. Surely you'd need the whole thing?
The RSS feed will probably stay the same. Domino ain't too hot at letting you provide a summary of HTML without breaking some tags.
I suggested that you'd add 'at least' a summary :-)
It indeed would be nice to 'close' a database from the list of recently edited databases...
Wouldn't it Erwin! No need to right click and press remove and then answer that sodding "Are you sure?" prompt.
Talking about right-clicking. Why is there always that pause when you right-click something in Notes. What's it doing.
I want an X in the corner of the bookmark. When I press it the damn thing is removed. No questions asked!
I agree Jake! It would be nice to have better bookmark functions.
In fact I would like to have ALL outlines editable, even the one's in databases. That way users can easily customize their own menus.
As for why it takes so long to popup? Dunno, but may have something to do with Replica ID's and ACL's, and the time it takes to read them.
By the way, I thought that you already found a way to add the close button. It took some time to realize that it's paintshopped.
Hi Jake...
As to your comment..... Nice "NEW" server!!!!
Patrick