Test Post
This site’s not quite ready for the public yet. As we’re still in the testing mode, it seems useful to have a test post. Editors/Admins, use this as a soapbox for testing the various features and plugins of the WordPress system.
Note: All posts and comments from the old blog will be imported over here during Thanksgiving weekend.
UPDATE (Nov. 22): Welcome visitors and testers. Please use this as a comment thread on the site layout – things you feel work, things you feel don’t. Right now my primary need is to clean up the header. If anyone knows how to move the search box into the menubar, and render the header properly in CSS (right now I’ve basically hacked the image into the php), please let me know either in the comments or via email, my last name at gmail dot com.
Testing 1, 2, 3.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 am
Is this thing on?
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 am
Yep. Any other lame things I can say while I’m testing the threaded comments?
Anonymous NIMBY troll Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:35 am
Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure something out.
Clem Reply:
October 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Nice new digs!!
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Thanks!
Bianca Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Woo! It must have been quite a piece of work to port over all the blogger stuff. Looking forward to the switchover.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 12:37 am
That was actually the surprisingly easy part. As soon as I saw I could just push a button and import everything I danced a jig.
Oh wow, threaded comments. Noice.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Yep. I can set how deep the thread goes. I may set it higher than it currently is – I think it’s at 5 right now.
And the transfer was actually pretty simple. There’s a simple “import” button I push and it automatically brings everything over. Most of it was done back around October 1, and I periodically update the posts and comments.
As you can see, it’s pretty much ready to go. I’m not really happy with the theme, but neither have I found anything better. I’m thinking this weekend I’ll just do the switch, which just requires me to put up a post at the old place saying “OK we’re done here, time to move.”
The Google rank will take a brief hit. Should be back up soon enough though.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Not just threaded comments – AJAX comments, where it posts without having to reload the page. Spiffy.
Bianca Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Oh, and I love the “Rafael: is awesome” in the “about” section.
Matthew Melzer Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
And I’ve been shamed! :-)
Love the new comment threads and the clean feel in general. This will (hopefully) increase my participation, at least as a commenter. Great work taking it to the next level, Robert!
skiddie Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:38 am
Excellent. Looks excellent.
Matthew F. Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Threaded comments are nice, but is there any way to highlight new comments since your last visit? Or are threads sorted by the most recent response to that thread?
Hmm, most recent attempt to bring new posts and comments over wound up duplicating everything. This weekend may be the best time to just do the switch.
Bianca Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Hey, I like the logo at the top!
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Yep, still working out the placement and formatting, but it seemed like the right touch.
Nice work, Robert! I’m liking the new look.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Thanks! Doesn’t look anywhere near as good as your site, but my lack of CSS/PHP skills and my usual preference for simplicity seem to combine to make it workable. I’m most excited about the comments, which should allow for a better flow of discussion.
Wow, nice new website!
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
It’s spiffy, huh?!
threaded comments – anonymice should make for far better functionality.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Yep. We’re gonna party like it’s 2006!
Jack Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 am
your name means anonymous in chinese!
wu ming Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
nice to see someone’s paying attention.
Wow, way better comments section. Between comment threads, and no more anonymous, this oughta be great. Congrats Robert, and thanks for all the hard work!
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Thankks! Would like to clean up and polish the look, but that can come later.
Bobierto Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Yep, absolutely … it looks good and clean now, you can fidget with it as you go along. Your blog has gotten me much more involved in transit issues, as well as in SD and CA politics … well the 2008 election helped energize me there, but your blog has gotten me more plugged in to advocacy from the ground up. Thanks for that and keep up the great work – can’t imagine where you find the time. What kind of work do you do, anyway?
Great setup Robert!
To make it look “cleaner” I would try more white. The grey-ish panels on both sides darken it too much. Especially when the main column down the middle is all colored boxes. Too much blue and grey.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Yeah, I tend to agree. Blue and gray doesn’t quite work.
Not bad
If we really want to see if this baby can handle our posts, we need someone to start an Altamont vs. Pacheco debate. It’s the only way!
wu ming Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 am
altamont was the better choice, but i’m willing to hold my tongue if the damn extension to sac gets built ahead of schedule. there, i said it. i still want the train to go through atherton, preferably on a new right-of-way secured entirely with eminent domain, built atop a massive concrete berlin wall, just out of spite.
out here in the valley, we’d love to have a berlin wall concrete monstrosity connecting us to the rest of the state in hours. hell, most people would be eternally grateful for an eminent domain buyout of their underwater ranch house (quite possibly literally underwater, in the case of natomas).
[/bombthrow]
Walter Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I agree 100%. Make the people in the city take BART to the East Bay to get on the train. The East Bay’s population dwarfs SF’s anyway and it’s obvious that the people on the Peninsula don’t deserve this train. Let them continue their other self-righteous causes while the people in the 510, 408 and 925 gratefully ride the train. Apparently, the 650 is doing just fine being (mostly) BART-free. They’ll be sorry later. Or maybe they won’t. Either way, we’ll have the right alignment.
Glad to see this happen.
Good work.
Mm… having trouble logging in.
Much better. Very clean. Love it! I’m making the appropriate change on my blogroll immediately!
the CAPTCHA code is very difficult to read.
I wonder what bold looks like? and how about italics?
what happens if you link something?
Just testing.
wu ming Reply:
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:47 pm
yeah, i’m not sure how i feel about only barely passing a turing test.
This uses html formatting, right?
In case it got missed in the comments on the other site, I wanted to share a few links to a design blog I like to get inspiration from (since I am, on my own, completely uninspired as a designer) that list a number of WordPress themes, some of which might be nice alternatives.
40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes
100 Amazing Free WordPress Themes for 2009
100 Excellent Free High-Quality WordPress Themes
threaded confuses me. Now im lost. do i need to always go back up and see who responded to who?
Matthew F. Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 2:23 am
So it would seem, for now. Too bad he can’t rip out the Daily Kos commenting system.
Joey Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I guess that might get a little annoying. Hopefully it will keep things more organized though.
flowmotion Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Yep, threaded discussions will help confine the off-topic conversation branches.
Tough luck Anonymous I-5 lover.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 27th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
This is basically the same as the Daily Kos commenting system, without notification of new comments or autorefresh. Then again, Markos *does* have his own tech admin. We do have threaded comments and AJAX posting, which is still pretty damn useful.
Hey if you need any help with the color scheme you can email me the style.css file and I will fix it for you. Also, I have another link you can add, I have been following Kevin Flynn’s http://www.inside-lane.com/ he gives news for Colorado’s transportation (mostly Denver), most of his opinion posts have to do with the new rail transit being built.
Also, nice logo ;)
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 27th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
To be clear everyone, Avery did the logo for this. It looks awesome. Thanks so much for it!
I would make the boxes wider. When you get enough threaded comments, you will get boxes too small to be practical.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 27th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Yeah, there will be that issue. Let me see if that can be done.
Do I need to register on the system, or is entering my name and email address in the comment field enough?
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Name and email in the comment field is sufficient, but registering enables you to permanently bypass the captcha, along with several over features I’m still figuring out. No need to do so if you’d rather not.