Comments on: A touch of grey

By: bob

bob — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:15:44 +0000

It seems to be some kind of anti-hacking trap, but I’ve tripped it misconfiguring some settings behind the scenes.

By: TB

TB — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:25:12 +0000

I can absorb a lot of information off my screen in very little time.

When all the recent comments or posts are laid out, including the bodies, it takes me about a minute to catch up if I’ve missed a day. Currently, only the comment dashboard has the bodies. The Post one doesn’t.

Some boards have an “expand all” toggle that lets you flip back and forth between modes.

On the right of the comment list, “view post” flips me back to the thread if I want to go there.

It works pretty good for me right now.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:15:37 +0000

Get it now? n/t

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:13:36 +0000

I’ll be doing away with the dashboard interface, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be taking away the functionality. It’s important to make that distinction. I think that there are better ways to package what you need than the dashboard way.

Functionally, the interface, whatever it is, needs to provide you with two things: A list of recent posts, and a list of comments.

Let’s refine your specifications.

The general idea of a reverse chrono list is clear, but what precisely do you mean by having it “all laid out and expanded nicely for reading”? Bodies visible? Comment trees below post? Or to approach it another way, what’s lacking in the recent post list to the left?

The comments view is more vexing. There are several ways to present comments. One way is like posts, a reverse chrono dump. You could navigate your way from the comment title to the thread of which it’s a part.

Then there’s the focused comments-to-me list, that is, the list of comments to your posts. Or to your comments. Or anywhere on a thread you started. Or another thread–optionally monitor interesting threads?

It’s not that I don’t think that lists of posts and comments aren’t a good idea. It’s more like an embarrassment of riches of ideas.

By: TB

TB — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:25:41 +0000

The dashboard interface has the immensely useful function of showing recent posts and comments in reverse chronological order, and all laid out and expanded nicely for reading. The increased graphics and editing functions are only a part of its charm.

If that interface goes, this system will become almost impossible to keep up with.

By: TB

TB — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:21:34 +0000

You’ll red-button everyone!

By: bowser

bowser — Tue, 01 May 2012 23:50:11 +0000

It says “WordPress 3.2.2 is now available. Notify your Administrator.” I think I’ll keep that a secret.

By: podrock

podrock — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:55:14 +0000

…all it said was “no fair cheating” or something like that.

By: Tommy Test

Tommy Test — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:36:51 +0000

It’s restored to something like the way it was, but a little better under control, I think, and that’s a feature, not a bug.

The dashboard is an artifact of WordPress’s roots as a single blog system, when posting in the back room made sense–the content was produced by a sole proprietorship. But you post in public in a forum, and ultimately I’ll be integrating the post form directly into the user interface. You can already get a list of your posts on your author page, and I plan to beef it up to show comments too. I recognize that there are some features of the dashboard that you need as a poster, and I’ll bring those out to the user interface. But I’ll get rid of the dashboard for all but admins eventually.

By: Tommy Test

Tommy Test — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:32:02 +0000

Remember, you’re a member of the “ubermoderator” group, so you have additional privileges. When things work right. Which they weren’t, but I think they might be now. You should see your normal complement of stuff now, and Tom should see his stuff.

What little message?