Changes coming to the site

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bambooweb
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Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

I have been working on a couple of things and would like some comments.

1. Menu changes.
I want to put a standard header and menu on all of the pages in the site. My example is at: http://www.hollenback.com/bamboowebtest/SSL.php
This menu will also work better with the new forum software.

2. Bamboo Notes.
I have been planning on adding the ability allow you to add notes to the bamboo species. The plan was to create the code to do this but last night I realized that I could do this with some modifications in the forum software. What do think of having a link from each species to a forum topic on that species where you can add notes and links to your photos while you talk about it?
The species forum will also show up here on the forum page and will also link back to or show the species info and a link to the photos for that species. Each post will also have the link to the location information of the poster.

Bill
Last edited by bambooweb on Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Changes coming to the site

Post by Roy »

bambooweb wrote:I have been working on a couple of things and would like some comments.

1. Menu changes.
I want to put a standard header and menu on all of the pages in the site. My example is at: http://www.hollenback.com/bamboowebtest/SSL.php
This menu will also work better with the new forum software.


While different, probably will be better once the old timers get used to it.



2. Bamboo Notes.
I have been planning on adding the ability allow you to add notes to the bamboo species. The plan was to create the code to do this but last night I realized that I could do this with some modifications in the forum software. What do think of having a link from each species to a forum topic on that species where you can add notes and links to your photos while you talk about it?
The species forum will also show up here on the forum page and will also link back to or show the species info and a link to the photos for that species. Each post will also have the link to the location information of the poster.

Bill
Sounds good, but I would have to see some examples to be able to add much of a comment.
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by Bamboo Outlaw »

All sound good.
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

An example of phpbb3 with the new header is at http://bambooweb.hollenback.com/phpbb3/
I will be looking at how to make changes to it to give it the functions that are available here.

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Re: RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by Roy »

bambooweb wrote:An example of phpbb3 with the new header is at http://bambooweb.hollenback.com/phpbb3/
I will be looking at how to make changes to it to give it the functions that are available here.

Bill
That part looks alright, but I'm still trying to envision this one:
What do think of having 1..a link from each species to a forum topic on that species where you can add notes and links to your photos 2..while you talk about it?
The species forum will also show up here on the forum page and will also link back to or show the species info and a link to the photos for that species. Each post will also have the link to the location information of the poster.
1...What would I be looking at or what place on the site would I see this link? "..from each species" would be where?

2...There would be a topic for each species? 400 plus?

3...I know this is not something that can be retroactive to discussions already because so much of our (definitely including mine) discussions do not stay on topic.

4..I'm having a hard time looking into your brain and getting a complete picture to sync with what we already have. Not saying we should stay with what we have, but I'm trying to see how the addition would join with what we already have on the forum and image gallery.

And BTW, I'm not playing "dense headed".
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Re: RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

Roy wrote:
What do think of having 1..a link from each species to a forum topic on that species where you can add notes and links to your photos 2..while you talk about it?
The species forum will also show up here on the forum page and will also link back to or show the species info and a link to the photos for that species. Each post will also have the link to the location information of the poster.
1...What would I be looking at or what place on the site would I see this link? "..from each species" would be where?
At http://www.bambooweb.info/BrowseSSL.php ... &Genus=All the link will be in the box where the Picture/data links are now. the two text links will be replaced with icons to go to the extra data. i.e a camera icon for photos, globe for locations, notebook for for the entered information, etc...
It will also show up on the other pages that have the Species list information like http://www.bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2 ... h=AND&Cat=*
Roy wrote:2...There would be a topic for each species? 400 plus?
Yup :D I will use a script to set up the topics so when a new species is added to the list it shows up in the forum and when a name is changed it will change the name of the topic title.

Roy wrote:3...I know this is not something that can be retroactive to discussions already because so much of our (definitely including mine) discussions do not stay on topic.
We will definitely have to try and restrict posts to on topic discussions. I does look like the new forum software makes it easier to move posts so that will help.
Roy wrote:4..I'm having a hard time looking into your brain and getting a complete picture to sync with what we already have. Not saying we should stay with what we have, but I'm trying to see how the addition would join with what we already have on the forum and image gallery.

And BTW, I'm not playing "dense headed".
It should make it easier for visitors that are looking up a species to get the experiences of all of the users of the site. It will also tie in with some other additions I would like to make to the site.

Bill
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by Roy »

"I can see clearly now that the fog has lifted".
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by svendrix »

Bill,

One thing I was going to suggest before this thread, but forgot, was incorporating a WIKI of some kind in? I don't know if your hosting provider has any capabilities of that built in.

I personally would love to see a wiki article for each species of bamboo (or boo-topic). People could edit the pages (and all previous revisions are tracked if you need to revert). Just an idea, maybe a forum article is the only way to go with your provider? I'm thinking that a forum topic infrastructure could end up being pretty messy trying to get through everything if you're looking for a particular piece of data.

I personally like the idea of the header menu system you proposed. One other thing I have wondered about, is how hard would it be to add a "imperial vs metric system" option in your profile. Currently when I use the species list, I have to remember to switch from metric to imperial every time I look up a species. Yeah, I wish us darn Americans would give up and adopt the system the rest of the world uses, but until then, I'm sure there are some who would also prefer this.

I am excited to see you putting all of this work into redesigning aspects of the site Bill! Thanks again for your work here!

---Sven
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

The problem that I see with a WIKI for plants like bamboo is how much the growth varies depending on location. For example if I put on a WIKI that Sasa palmata is a short plant that is less than two feet tall the people that grow it in better climates where it can get over 7 feet tall would have a problem with my entry. There are also a number of bamboos that run fast in one climate but act as clumpers in a cooler climate.

With the forum entries each entry will hopefully have the location information of the poster so the reader can use the information from locations that are close to what they have.

Bill
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Re: RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

svendrix wrote:One other thing I have wondered about, is how hard would it be to add a "imperial vs metric system" option in your profile. Currently when I use the species list, I have to remember to switch from metric to imperial every time I look up a species. Yeah, I wish us darn Americans would give up and adopt the system the rest of the world uses, but until then, I'm sure there are some who would also prefer this.
---Sven
In your profile look between the date format and the photo width for the default units. I plan on adding selectors to more pages like the data on the picture pages that will change the units without reloading the whole page.

Bill
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by rfgpitt »

Sven,
I used to think my old baseball coach drove very fast when I saw the speedometer was @ 75 (in a 55). Too bad it was a ford aerostar minivan that was displaying kilometers per hour. ......funny we call it a SpeedoMETER and not a SpeedoYARDER. (sorry for that - tough day at the office)

I too hate the conversions. Maybe we could get a temp converter so we could be nice to the people over the pond when we post.
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Re: RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by mantis »

rfgpitt wrote:funny we call it a SpeedoMETER and not a SpeedoYARDER.
wow.
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RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

The latest example of the changes to the species listings is at: test page
Yes, I know most of the links from the icons do not work. :)

I am also planning on adding Google site search to each page that will be on a line under the menu. I could add a link on that line to a unit converter popup.

I have also been looking at phpBB3 add ons and did find a spell checker and a way to make the "watch topic" and "Subscribe forum" messages e-mail the text of new posts.

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Re: RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by Roy »

bambooweb wrote:The latest example of the changes to the species listings is at: test page
Yes, I know most of the links from the icons do not work. :)

I am also planning on adding Google site search to each page that will be on a line under the menu. I could add a link on that line to a unit converter popup.

I have also been looking at phpBB3 add ons and did find a spell checker and a way to make the "watch topic" and "Subscribe forum" messages e-mail the text of new posts.

Bill
They say there is no such thing as a stupid question; so I'll ask one.

When one hovers over one of the icons with the mouse pointer, will a little pop-up identification text tab pop up?
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Re: RE: Changes coming to the site

Post by bambooweb »

Roy wrote:They say there is no such thing as a stupid question; so I'll ask one.

When one hovers over one of the icons with the mouse pointer, will a little pop-up identification text tab pop up?
I have also been adding "Alt" text to photos and images so when you hover over an image the text will show in most browsers.

Bill
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