[IMC-US] site redesign?

[john duda]

On Tue, Dec 26, 2006 at 08:58:32AM -0800, Amy L. Dalton wrote:

> 
> 3) the format of the topic pages -- more like the katrina page, with 
> both a feature wire and a newswire. (i want to preserve the visually 
> differentiated format of the topicpage special that we have now, though, 
> which portland's does not have.)

i agree, this would be great.

> 
> 2) different listings of the two types of topics -- ongoing themes vs. 
> events or campaigns. the differentiation should show up for the users 
> when they post, for the reader when they view the topic list (this is 
> already the case), and for the admins when they view the stories in the 
> backend.

yeah, this is necessary.

> 
> 3) ability to hide topics and have these show up in a third section, 
> where only the admins see it.

i'm not seeing the intent of the "hidden topic" - could you explain?

> 
> 4) the links to the topic pages connected with each feature viewable 
> within the feature wire.

yeah, definitely.

> 
> since portland is also in mir, the code behind these should be 
> relatively easy to grab, right?

should be. a little harder than cut and paste, but not too much...


> 
> in terms of the "ongoing coverage" boxes -- these would be like the 
> "special coverage" links now in the top left corner, right?

no, what i was thinking is that there would be a new article type,
"ongoing feature", and you'd see the article sumamry and photo for the
two most recent ongoing features there.  visually, i'm thinking of
something that looks like something in between the "resource" boxes on
phillyimc.org and the indypendent box on nyc.indymedia.org.

so maybe this helps to address the issue of how many features you see
up top, because the "ongoing coverage" box would also in a sense be a
feature...

> 
> in temrs of the top section:
> 
> onto wrote:
> >i really dig the redesign layout. nice job john. I was gonna say how
> >having only 2 feature boxes at the top would be a bad idea, but then i
> >noticed the bottom where every recent story from an imc would be
> >syndicated as a headline.
> 
> hmmm, i'd like to see more than 2 features and 3 feature-wire stories 
> visible on the top ...

i think we should definitely play around with different #'s of
features/wire stories to see what works best.

> is there a way that the feature wire stories could be significantly 
> shorter, like a date, headline and originating imc only? this would 
> allow more to be visible.

I really like that you get to see a paragraph of text and sometimes
even an image here...when i look at the local features wire on
www.indy, which has just headlines and orginating local imc, i find it
much less useful than the imc-us local wire, which i can skim like a
newspaper.  often times, the local headline doesn't give enough
context to figure out what the story is about.  examples from the
current syndicated features:

* Remember Those Who Died on the Streets
* And So This Is Christmas
* Ninth Circuit Reverses Contempt Order for Winstead
* Hands Off Oaxaca  (only clear its a solidarity action from the summary)


> in terms of making room for more features without stretching the page 
> too long: i really liked how philly has the top feature bigger, and then 
> after they move down they become smaller -- both the picture becomes a 
> thumbnail and the abstract text gets somehow automatically shortened to 
> one sentence. 

i definitely like the way this looks, i wonder how much manual editing
they do to get the right one sentence description....

> 
> >
> >concerning the banners: are the old ones still in the rotation too? or
> >were they all taken out? I liked the old ones and was hoping they could
> >all be within the rotation

right now they're out - some people were adamant that they not go up
till the tilde got fixed.



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