We’re working behind the scenes to bring you a new, improved We Hunted the Mammoth — at least as far as the design of the site goes. As I think I mentioned earlier, I’m not doing anything radical. The aim is to streamline and declutter the site and to make it easier to navigate and use.
Here’s what to expect:
- Less-cluttered sidebar
- Less-cluttered main bar
- Cleaner, clearer design overall
- Better navigation between pages of comments
- Buttons so you can blockquote, etc without HTML in comments. No more need to fear the blockquote monster!
Someone also suggested it would be better to do “nofollow” links for MRA sites rather than using donotlink, so I’ll be doing that.
I will now be able to use WordPress plugins, so I can add other features/options as well. I don’t want to add them willy nilly, but if they can add some useful functionality without cluttering stuff up I’m open to suggestions.
Any other features/plugins you want added? Upvotes and downvotes for comments perhaps? Polls in the sidebar?
Any stuff that gets in the way that you want moved or removed?
Any issue that you have with the design or functionality of the blog now that you think could be improved?
Let me know what you think, from your feelings about font size to possible WordPress plugins to look at.
Oh, and again: this redesign is costing me some $$, so if you’re a fan of the site and haven’t already donated, please consider donating through the PayPal button below. Thanks!
Viscaria, yeah, WP really fucked up by not blocking those malicious ads faster. The main ad platform I intend to use shouldn’t have that issue ever (fingers crossed).
I’m thinking of using a tabbed widget to save space and offer people different ways to keep track of recent comments and posts. Would something like this be helpful to you all? (scroll down a bit to see what it looks like on a web page)
https://wordpress.org/plugins/popular-widget/screenshots/
Or this one (you can see a live demo in the sidebar here).
http://www.gopiplus.com/work/2013/08/04/wordpress-plugin-recent-posts-vs-recent-comments-tabs/#.VdzeLflViko
@Alan:
Yeah, that’s fair. Like I said, it’s how I use the thing.
@David:
Tabbing would be nice regardless. Freethoughtblogs uses a similar widget for recent comments and posts.
Polls?
For those wanting to be able to edit things, maybe a forced preview, such as operates on Making Light and Tor.com, might work (you’re required to preview your comment before you can post it, which gives a chance to spot and fix the points where the tyop unfairy visited your posting, and also gives you an idea of how your post is going to look on the site once you’ve actually posted it).
I’m another voice arguing against any sort of up-vote/down-vote system – they’re too easily exploited by the sort of hyper-competitive mindset which is out to score points rather than actually contribute to a discussion.
Definitely in favour of numbered comments given a lack of threading – if you have numbered comments, it is a lot easier to point out which comment you’re replying to, and give people a sense of where the discussion is going (plus it also means it’s easier to spot cases of ninja-ing along the way).
Any forced preview should also come with a large and obvious link to the Comments policy.
Please please please DON’T BREAK MOBILE. Your original post show no mention of mobile interface, and the interface is fine, please don’t carelessly change the desktop interface without checking that mobile is fine.
I always come here on mobile, I don’t even know what the desktop interface looks like.
Two things :
One more chime-in in favor of numbered comments.
Whenever you update the store, don’t get rid of all the old designs. I need a cock carousel shirt but won’t be able to afford one till hubby gets a job. Also, take Paradoxy up on her offer, she’s got great designs.
Okay, three things.
I often read through old articles just for the lols of it, but I have a feeling that the recommended posts that pop up on the most recent posts are often the same ones. I’d love to have more handy links to click to read more on similar idiocy or to see fewer of what must be the most popular ones?
But if that can’t be done I’m fine clicking random months in the archive and seeing where that takes me.
Hmm. I’ll think about better ways to highlight older posts. (There are certainly plenty to choose from.)
Does anyone ever use the category list to do that? I’m thinking I should just get rid of that.
Might as well pick nits while I’m here… Either get rid of the tag cloud or make the font sizes the same. I know the random font sizes is sort of the point of a tag cloud, but they always annoy the hell out of me. >.>
*The random font sizes are. Om nom nom grammar.
If I keep it I’ll try to make it look better, but I think I’m just going to get rid of it.
Wow, I thought donotlink did a little more than just making a nofollow link. It’s a little worrying that the garbage people would have got our IP addresses helpfully marked with WHTM as a referrer.
@Hambest,
Christ, you married a total beta, didn’t you? Ya can’t even buy your own misandrous shirts? No, your poor beta hubby has to do it for you, because no real alpha would buy them for you. Misandry! That’s misandry! I’m pretty sure, somehow…
[This post may involve sarcasm.]
If the comments are numbered, does that mean the numbers will change when a new poster is let out of moderation, or when an egregiously policy-breaking comment has to be removed in its entirety? That would mean anyone referring to a comment by number (rather than permalink) risks having the reference broken later.
Speaking of which, can posts that have been held in moderation somehow indicate both when they were posted and when they were published? eg. having them appear in the thread at the time they were let out, but with the original posting timestamp, would stop drive-bys from going ignored on the previous page.
This is unsolicited and probably not needed, but I’m a professional web developer who’d love to donate some hours if you ever need help. I can provide whatever info to show I’m not a secret mra plant and my intentions are honest – I’m just scared of putting my real name bc of harassment from /r/kia.
Oh, Rabid Rabbit, you have NO idea! He’s also a total SJW mangina who’s always wanting to get my opinion on things and talk about feels and stuff.
Not a new thing, but the sidebar seems to be cut off partway: it used to display links labeled “Misandry Central” and “Misogyny Central,” but now it ends in the middle of “Misandry Central.” At first I thought it was just my machine, but it I’ve noticed it on another too.
…Or perhaps you’re going for a different sidebar design and then this would be irrelevant.
But I was just curious, has anyone else noticed this problem?
If you go for edits, include a mandatory explanation of changes or a “see recent changes,” sort of like on Facebook?
Also, I vote more of an @ system for the comments section. Replies are everywhere and it’s difficult to follow.
+37 to more kitties
If you want to highlight old posts, you could occasionally do a “greatest hits” day or post a rerun (clearly labeled). That would also give you an occasional day off.
epitome, me too!
THIS THIS THIS.
No more excuses!
Bless your face. You’re awesome.
(Was it you that made a recent purchase from my store?)
… Is anybody else suddenly getting a button at the bottom that says “Follow” that follows you (irony) up and down the page? Is that supposed to be there?
I’m getting that too, whenever I comment on a page. I think it’s a WordPress thing because I follow the blog maybe?