JFP Launches ‘JFP 3.0’ Beta

Testing...respond to this thread if you're able and your user account is working correctly.

It's working now! Woo, hoo.

It's working for me now. Regarding the new look, it's gonna take some getting used to, but like Gloria Gaynor once sang, I will survive.

And I love the edit feature!

I feel you, golden. I love the new look, but it is jarring to give up the old one! This one has remarkable features; the edit feature is one of many. (And the admin tools are kick-ass!)

There are other features we haven't turned on, yet. We want to get the kinks on round 1 ironed out, yet.

One thing: Note that the comments on forums do not show up in Recent Comments. We're trying to figure out if they can. Otherwise, the commenting will work the same way, feeding through to the different pages, which I've always loved.

And I love the fact that I can see the temperature on top of the page and not having to go to weather.com. It's also in Celsius, too! Take that, Clarion-Ledger!

One small thing...when I was not logged in I did not see a "login" button on the top right. It came up as an "admin" link. Once I hit it, it sent me right to login...but I was Confucious for about twelve seconds (and not the smart one).

Other than that, I'm one of those old birds who has a hard time with change..but my OCD is kicking in enough to LOVE the fact that it is so clean and streamlined. I'm going to poke around and see how it works!! Good job, guys.

OK, I just changed that to login. Thanks.

Speaking of the Ledger, someone just told me that they ran a big ad in their Sunday print edition about their "new" Web site?

Don't they mean new FONT!?! I don't get the print edition so I didn't see it myself. Would love to, though, if anyone has it. Sounds SNARK-able. ;-)

The breaks in the comments (between paragraphs) aren't working for me, Web guys...

I like the new site.

So, at what point did the iTodd start drinking to mitigate the stress of the switch over?? ;-)

I have to plead the fifth on that one.

Our new Web guy, Vince Falconi, lost all his hair over this, too. In fact, he came in bald today. ;-)

Oh right, that was on purpose. From faux-hawk to bald ... I can't keep up!

Oh, and folks, in case you haven't noticed ... note that the old posts, including on the forums, are getting transferred over (they may not all be here, yet). And the stories are getting cool new, search-engine-happy URLs -- and if you click on a story in Google, the old URL turns into the new one. I'm so happy about this I could scream. I insisted on all the links still working.

Now, contrast this with every new re-design of the Ledger site -- where old user comments and posts get sent down the memory hole.

Let me know if any of you are having speed issues, if any pages break and if you're seeing crazy fonts or anything...I'm chasing down the links in the comments right now that are tiny-small.

We *may* find over the next week that performance is an issue...this design is somewhat resource intensive in order to pull from the calendar in the sidebar, allow live editing and so on. There's also some complex caching tweaks to be done, so any feedback from all y'all is welcome.

I had tried to get on earlier, but there was no login button. Now there is, and I'm here.

IG is taking one kid to the doctor. I'll let him know to test as soon as he can.

Thanks, Lady. Hope the young'un feels better.

JFP, I ...uh... am definitely having speed issues.


Got nothin' to do with your site however...

Right now I was just noticing how much longer it took to load, but I automatically assumed that just comes with a host of new features.


If you do not see a paragraph break right before this sentence, that ain't workin' either. ;)

It's not, but the iTodd has been alerted. ;-) As for taking a while to long, we're testing to see if that's a provider issue. If it is, we will solve that one, too.

So Vince is behind this. Good investment. :) I'd like to see a JFP banner somewhere or something stating immediately that this is the Jackson Free Press. I know it is, but visitors may not.

I'd also like to see a warning around the comment box that tells me I have to be logged in to leave a comment. I wouldn't want people entering text, then losing it because they aren't logged in.

Yes, he is now known as the iVince. As for a banner--doesn't that red logo on the top of the site suffice!?!

I don't see the logo, not with Firefox or IE. Strange. Is anyone else seeing the logo?

Todd, I just emailed you a screen shot. That's what I'm seeing. It looks great, but no logo. :/

I can see the logo and I'm on IE. My home computer uses Firefox, but I won't be home for a few hours, so I'll check it out then to see how it works.

Quick!! Someone call the internet police...the CL has broken in and STOLEN the LOGO!!!

I can see the logo in IE.

Logo's broken on Windows and probably Mac too. May be a cache issue...

Also, the analytics script should be right before the < /body > tag not in the header.

There's also a lot of inline CSS styles. Should drag that into the main CSS file which is cached and re-used.

Speaking of CSS, it might be wise to combine the two that are loading, or if they're used for independent views (article vs homepage), have that determined by the server before delivering the content.

Tables are still in the layout and can cause some render delays.

Duplicate use of ID tags used... Could cause confusion in standards-based browsers.

Quite a bit of white space in the code could also increase render times.

Encoding type is missing which has been known to cause a browser to think a little longer than it should or render how it wants to...

Images are also causing some problems... The total size of the images is 65866 bytes, which is over 30K. Add that to approximately 20k of HTML, and you've got a some more delay.

Will forward to iTodd with other issues that could be causing more delays.

Well, turnabout is fair play. We stole theirs on April. (As if anyone would want it.)

That is weird, Brent. No wonder you were whining. ;-D

Looks great on desktop! kudos..Doesnt transfer as well visually on my phone though:-( all the print in one looooooooong column. New jfp mobile in the works??? hmmmmmm??

Not on my Mac. ;-) Sounds like perfect stuff to send in e-mail, Knol. Most of here find it Greek anyway.

JFP Mobile? Who wants to know? ;-)

I can see the logo using both IE and Firefox. Very, very strange indeed.

And, thanks, Donna. Our baby girl was diagnosed just a month ago as a type 1 diabetic. She's been suffering from a bad cold, which makes her blood sugar go really wonky. If the doc can give her some good medicine that won't affect her sugar, she'll be okeydokey. She's been a real trooper, with all the insulin shots she has to take. We're really proud of her.

Oh, the poor little thing. Prayers for her.

The "Preview" button seems to have some bugs. I've tried it twice now and it brings up a blank screen each time.

testing html
testing paragraphs
<ol><li>testing lists</li></ol>

testing blocks

that would be me :-). aaaarrgh..

blockquote works while paragraph doesn't.
entering a linebreak

strong creates very large text... css issue.

Thanks, Knol...I know there's a lot of CSS cruft but that's partly been because I've had this site half up with the Events Calendar and half hidden. I plan to marry up those styles and try to clean them up as well.

Tables we'll have to live with until we implement the CSS framework that Vince is working on...

The performance, unfortunately, is at least partly the ISP, but I'm sure some tweaking and file size stuff will help.

Meanwhile, I just got an e-mail pointing out there's no Register feature. Ha! Now THAT'S a problem! ;-)

I just got an e-mail pointing out there's no Register feature. Ha!

What, us, exclusive? ;-)

It's been funny to have a stealth site going for a while now. This one wasn't so easy for the nutroots to break into (remember back a while when they were taking PDFs and pretending they were their own?) Sigh.

I just love the EE back-end so far. So many more options, and so many easier ways to do things.

I want my line breaks, though. :-(

I disabled adblock, but I'm still not seeing it. However, I can see the logo on other computers in my office. Strange. The problem is on my end, though, but I'll let you know when I figure out the cause.

This loads twice as fast for me as the old one. Everything looks great - very well done. My one critique would be to not have the "email me if someone replies" checked by default.

EDIT: Oddly enough, it is now telling me that I can only post once every 30 seconds...when I haven't even posted yet.

Agreed on that default suggestion, Harry.

I agree, too. Sometimes, I may forget to uncheck that box and will be flooded with e-mail alerts the next time I check my e-mail.

I just tried to edit my last statement, but a litle box on my computer says "Browser Not Support". But since I'm on a work computer, I won't screw with it.

Golden: Let me know if that changes when you get home.

Harry: What did you do before you were told you could only post every 30 seconds?

All...are you seeing the edit comment link for a defined amount of time, or is it staying there?

I want my line breaks, though. :-(

Done, sorta. I've got to fix them for all blogs, but they're working in Noise.

And God said "Let there be line breaks." And there was...and it was good.

The edit is staying there until I post another comment (at least that is what it looks like to me). I can edit my last comment. Not the one before that. Does it have a timer on it?

Strike that. I can edit the two comments before this. So, I'm assuming they have a timer on them and then its going away.

So does anyone have an opinion on where the damn Share button should go on Comment/Story pages?

(Singing) It's the little things that piss me off...

You asked...

The share button's a little obtrusive and only effective if it allows emailing a link and portion of a story to a friend or co-worker. I didn't see that option or it wasn't obvious. Most of those other sites (digg, reddit, etc) I doubt most JFP users use to "bookmark" or "share" JFP data.

If it stays, I'd make the author/time/date line more visually pronounced and the Share button underneath with ample vertical padding.

What in @#$% is an "anonymous member." Been bugging me all day.

I doubt most JFP users use to "bookmark" or "share" JFP data.

Knol, the terms of service specifically forbid you making assumptions about other users. ;-) I'd say you're almost right, but I know that some of our users like to Fark stuff about Melton.

Donna, my guess is that an "anonymous members" is someone who has a JFP cookie, but who is logged out. Only a guess...I'll look into it more.

Can we also get times on the recent comments? ;-D

jfp: I don't remember the exact timeline, but I believe that I clicked on Kamikaze's article from the right sidebar, then clicked on this one and tried to post. The first time it would not let me, so I waited a couple of minutes and retried with great success.

Ok, Harry, let me know if it happens again. I'll check the timeouts and see how they're set. Could be an issue of going from Jackblog to Noise...dunno.

Along the right sidebar, under "jfp best bets and recommended," when I try to click on the Mississippi Museum of Art Call for Artists, it just takes me back to to the front page of the site.

EDIT: As always, I'm thoroughly impressed. :)

Thank, kp. That makes sense...the one major step I haven't yet taken is importing LoungeBlog, which was the original blog in the old CMS and, well, huge and bloated. I hope to do that tonight!

real nice site...must say that im impressed...however, you guys could add awesome color like the clarion-ledger website...

Man, this is smooth! Easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. Thanks.

And so polite. I'm enjoying the greeting at the top of the page when I login.

Wow. Surreal. It's a shock to the system when you see this format without expecting it, but I think I like it. :-) I do like how the book, food, games, etc. sections are placed in the middle instead of on the side. That makes them easier to notice because I found myself forgetting to look over there. Let me try something:

blue
[s]strikethrough[/s]
size 5

ETA: Still no strikethrough?

[strikethrough]strikethrough[/strikethrough]

On the front page where the Jackblog section is, who can't tell who the author of the blog entry is until you click on the link. What if I forget what I wrote? :-P

Are you going to make it where the long threads go on to several pages instead of one loooonnnggg scroll? I know that you tried it once and it didn't work, but it does work on every other site that I go to...

hey folks,

thanks for the feedback. looks like i'll be plenty busy this week. :)

also, concerning the anonymous member, it's most likely referring to a user who logged in and unchecked the "Show my name in the online user list" option.

I noticed that in the forums the identifying info for the person posting is different from the way it is structured here in the blog area. That makes it really hard to see who the person posting is.

I read a whole entire thread thinking that the only people posting on it were someone named "Oldtimer" and someone named "Jacksonian"...

Well I'll be damned- it now is breaking it up into seperate pages! That didn't take long!

Now- can you make it where a person can go to the exact page he/she needs to get to? Some of the longer threads can reach 50 or 100 pages- wouldn't it be great to be able to navigate directly to something on page 38?

When I log in, I am taken immediately to the Events page instead of the home page. Also, when I get notified via email that someone has posted a comment, the email does not say who made the comment, and the title of the thread is in the body of the email instead of the subject line. I used to get:

Subject: JFP Comment Response: [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts

A response has been posted to [Kamikaze] Parental Precepts by BubbaT.

...and now I get:

Subject: Someone just responded to your comment

Someone just responded to the entry you subscribed to at:
Noise

The title of the entry is:
JFP Launches 'JFP 3.0' Beta

It was a little easier to sort out the notifications when I didn't have time to go through them all yet. Now, I'll have to open each email to see which comment goes with each thread and go the Web site to see who said what. That's a little cumbersome to me. What do the rest of you think?

I noticed that in the forums the identifying info for the person posting is different from the way it is structured here in the blog area. That makes it really hard to see who the person posting is.

I read a whole entire thread thinking that the only people posting on it were someone named "Oldtimer" and someone named "Jacksonian"...

I saw what you were talking about, Rico, and I think that the font for the user names should be a lighter color, white if necessary, to make it stand out, and maybe put the secondary descriptions like "Oldtimer" and "Jacksonian" in italics. A future goal could be for the users to be able to change their descriptions. I'm able to do that on another forum, and it's pretty cool.

About the page numbers - could it be in bold to make it easier to see?

I'm taking special note of your thoughts on the look/feel/whatever of the forum, since the forums are kind of my babies right now.

MORE TWEEEEEEEAKING!!!

Thanks, folks; keep it coming!

Also, Knol, the inline styles? Yeah, I know. Soon and (hopefully) very soon, that'll all be gone.

Speaking of the Ledger, someone just told me that they ran a big ad in their Sunday print edition about their "new" Web site?

They did. Yawn.

Would it be possible to add the time in hh:mm:ss format along with the temperature?

I just noticed that there is no picture of the newspaper's cover. Can we get that back?

L.W., I've asked for the cover to be put in that middle box that links to the cover story. They haven't gotten to it, yet.

If I click on the "JFP Launches ‘JFP 3.0’ Beta" link under the top story I go here (which works):

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/jfp_launches_jfp_30_beta/

If I Click on the link in the bottom right corner under the Ad:

Recent Discussions
Just Commented On...
» JFP Launches ‘JFP 3.0’ Beta 75
It takes me here (which doesnt show story):

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/events/entry/jfp_launches_jfp_30_beta/

Also my general feeling is the symmetricalness and font of the columns "bodysoul, food, drink, books, film."
Is would be great if music was in there. But the 4 little orange dots and font headers and layouts are all pretty but my impression is that I had access to more information in the other format. When the JFP page loads links, a few ads, the one main story, 1 top story, 1 jackblog entry and 1 happening today. So my main view whether on my laptop or 18 inch flat screen does not seem to give me as much infomation without scrolling down.

Same with yahoo's new beta "my yahoo" home page which replaced their classic "my yahoo" home page. I use to be able to see my weather, top 20 news items from and 2 other columns of items like mail preview, etc... I like being able to see alot of options without scrolling in my 1024x768 screen view without making everything tiny in my view.
So the spacing seems more towards pretty than getting the most info in on one screen.

So more ad space and fewer things to take in isnt my favorite. If the top main story was condensed that would help. Also the main AT&T;banner is squeeched and only takes up 1/3 of the grey place-holder thingy.

Herman, just as many people complained about the other site being cluttered (it had come to look like a house with two many rooms added on). Obviously, we're not going backward (and the dots and headers stay), but any specifics about priority stuff is helpful, and obviously about stuff that doesn't work.

You won't be able to see 20 news items without scrolling, I promise. And you couldn't on our old site. This one's cleaner, and you actually get more info on the front page even if it doesn't seem like it at a glance.

That AT&T;banner ad problem shows up on mine in Firefox, but not in Safari, and did on the old site as well. I've alerted Todd about it.

It's a good point that we should incorp music more into the front page. I'll think about how to do that.

Part of the theory was to break up the original home page into 5 home pages so that people interesting in music can go straight to the music page and not have to page through all those old blogs.

Of course, we also need to get the Music Listings more integrated, Herman. I'll be talking to you about how that'll work very soon. :-)

Agreed on music on the front page. Honestly, we're not done at all on that middle feature section. We've never had them broken up into categories as they are (other than music, really), so it's fun to have to play with. Maybe music should replace one of those?

I just posted this on the music blog; we need to remind musicians and others to make sure they have a Jackpedia page as August approaches:

Now that the new JFP site is up, it's a perfect time to ensure that you, your band, your company, your business, etc., has its own Jackpedia listing. Just go to Jackpedia, sign in (your same user name probably works) and have at it. Remember that the JFP's second annual user-generated print version of Jackpedia comes out in August, so we need your help getting Jackpedia more loaded up than ever. Pass the word.

how about adding a link to the home page directly above or below the comment box? I think that was a user generated change in the last site.

Right away I miss the old site, I really like it, like an old friend that got put to rest... :-( just having my moment of silence. will forge ahead after that, naturally...

how about adding a link to the home page directly above or below the comment box? I think that was a user generated change in the last site.

Right away I miss the old site, I really like it, like an old friend that got put to rest... :-( just having my moment of silence. will forge ahead after that, naturally...

it's defintely alot cleaner and prettier for sure. I like the edit function next to my posts when logged in.

I really like the "News" 2 column up top view with the smaller images:

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/news/

just having my moment of silence. will forge ahead afte

Big hug, Laurel. I feel you. We all spent a lot of time with the old girl. She needs to be in a museum, or have her own retirement home or something.

Can you make it where when you click on one of the links on the "last 100 comments" page, it takes you directly to that comment instead of the start of the thread?

It seems to work ok when the thread is only one page long, but when you have a thread with multiple pages, clicking on the link just puts you at the very beginning of the first page, and from there you have to click your way through multiple pages to get to the comment that you clicked on in the first place...

This also presents still another reason why you need to be able to select the *exact* page that you wish to go to...

Rico: So far it appears to be a choices between paginating the comments and linking directly to a particular comment from the front page's "Recent Comments" feature. I'll keep working on it, but if you had to choose, which would be your choice: pagination or direct links to comments?

Direct links to comments if it has to be one or the other. I've never been to a site where one had to make that decision though...

If you can't do both, could you try doing it like the boards at http://chowhound.com?

It works a little differently from any other site that I have been to. The default page is something similar to the recent comments page here. If you visit a thread for the first time, all the comments on the thread are visible. But if you return to a thread *after* someone has posted a new comment, you don't have to wade through all the other postings to get to it; the only "open" comments are the new posts.

It is probably easier to understand by looking at it- I don't even understand what I'm trying to say here

That's OK, Rico. You're doing fine, buddy. ;-)

The office geeks are around looking wild-eyed this week. It's great!

Well, since it is brand new, I figure that this is the time to ##### and moan while everyone there is thinking about it! (Now I can see if the cuss word filter is turned on yet)!

How's the pagination thing going? I can't see the last comment made because I can't get to the last page. I don't see a link for it any more.

Oops. My bad. I didn't remove the comment limit when I went back to one-page comments. Now all the comments are on one page but they should be linked from the front Recent Comments list.

Thank you kindly. :-)

Oh yeah...why does an asterisk appear next to some of the user names at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen?

Looks great! Good work



(added)- preview button takes me to a blank page though

Looks good so far.

WOW!!! When did JFP get this new look? I didn't think I had been gone that long. It's funny how you go out of town for a short stay and when you get back the whole world has changed! :) It looks great! I have to admit; I do miss the old look, but I like it.

What happened to the edit feature? I was going to test the filter to see if it let cuss words through unedited and immediately edit it, but I don't wanna do it if I can't edit.

UPDATE: Just after I posted this, the edit feature showed up! I'll try the cuss words now.

I typed the words unedited--they went through. Apparently, the filters don't work.

Yes they show up...hehe