April 13, 2008
User accounts! Finally!
It has taken a few weeks of off-and-on coding, but we're happy with what we've come up with so far. It's a fairly simple interface, with very minimal options so far. By adding the user accounts, you'll now be able to choose which topics interest you most so that they, and only they, show up on your “My Topics” page. Very cool.
We've also adjusted the commenting system to accommodate the user accounts. But yes, guests can still post comments.
Voting! Voting is very important on Folllow.com because that is how just about everything is regulated. Whenever you get a free moment, click on over to any of the four voting sections to the left and help keep this site moderated as best as possible. The more people who vote, the more votes we can require for a decision to be made, and the better (or more accurate) the overall decisions will become.
A few things to come:
With the implementation of user accounts come almost infinite possibilities. The two features we would like to add next include being able to hide any topics you just don't care about and would rather not see updates for on the main topic pages, as well as the option to have a daily email sent to you which includes links to all of the topics you are "folllowing" that have been updated within the last 24 hours.
That's about it for now. Go grab a username! =)
March 28, 2008
Just a small update for everyone: we're still working on the user accounts and should have those completed soon. Work has been a little bit slow on the website over the past week or so as real life events came up and didn't leave us with as much website time as we would have liked.
Thanks for your patience! =)
March 14, 2008
Category this, category that.
I’ve been messing around with the category list again, and I’ve decided to add an extra feature. This should hopefully lessen the amount of clicking you might be doing. Some people have asked if there will ever be a “click all, unclick all” button, and unfortunately I’m still undecided. Instead though, here’s what we’ve done.
You can now click the name of each category. This will enable you to view only a single topic at a time, regardless of the categories you actually have selected (checked). You’ll notice the category name will become bold, signifying which one you are currently viewing. To go back to the normal view (where it shows you all topics for the categories you have checked), either click Home on the left menu, or click the Folllow logo in the top left corner. A third option would be to just click the “Save Selection” button again, but that’s just a longer way of getting back to the homepage.
A few bugs have also been fixed. Next project: user accounts.
March 11, 2008
I think I've got it. Over the past few days I've been reworking all of the CSS, trying to get it a bit cleaner and more multi-browser friendly. So far so good (or at least close enough). In time, we'd like to get the CSS standardized and thought-out enough to where others who might have some talent with CSS can submit their own layouts for review and possible use.
As much time as it took to rework all of the CSS, that's about all there is to report. I did change those red, orange and green arrows (again) to have numbers (again). 24, 48, and 72 hours.
March 6, 2008
Categories! Categories, categories. Whew.
It took a few days, but the ability to filter which categories are shown is now in place. Everything seems to be working correctly, so we're happy. It's a pretty basic system right now, but already we can see the benefits it will provide when users really want to narrow down their view of the topics. It may need to get more sophisticated later, but only time will tell. As I've said before, we're trying to keep this site as simplistic as possible.
So what's next? Well, I'm going to put the PHP on hold for a bit and work solely on rewriting all of the CSS. Now that most of the layout has been established, it needs to be cleaned up and modified to work well in different browsers. Currently, Internet Explorer 6 is giving us the most trouble, so we're going to start from scratch to make sure everything stays in line. Regardless of the fact that IE6 is pretty outdated, it's unfortunately still used by a lot of people.
And of course, if any bugs slipped through the cracks, we will try to squash them as soon as possible. Thanks everyone!
March 4, 2008
Already we are noticing how much more helpful it would be to be able to categorize the topics. We've decided to implement that feature ASAP. I'd say we're about halfway through its implementation.
The half that we have implemented allows you to now choose a category for each topic. When submitting new topics, please, choose a category. The next step (which is currently being worked on) is to design the filter system, which will allow you, the user, to show or hide specific categories from your view.
Stay tuned.
March 3, 2008
We've been working steadily on things in the background. One latest addition has been that of splitting up the content on the main page into sub-pages. You'll see the links at the bottom of the page. Currently, we have it set to display 15 topics per page.
One feature that we plan on implementing (hopefully sooner than later) will be that of user accounts. With that will come some of the obvious other features that one can then have as a result of having users login. Before I go any further, let me specify that NO, this does not mean you will have to have an account to contribute to this website. Our goal was to make this site open for anyone to edit (within reason). Having an account will allow you to track specific topics so you can more easily "follow" those stories that interest you most.
A big thanks to everyone who has been using the site so far! =)
March 1, 2008
Okay, scratch that. Those number images are really bothering me. I've decided to change them. Now you'll be seeing images that look sort of like arrows. Red still signifies articles added within the last 24 hours, yellow/orange for articles added in the last 48 hours, and green for articles added in the last 72 hours. This change probably doesn't even warrant a news entry, but I wanted to at least document the meaning behind the images.
February 29, 2008
Here we are, day two. So far so good as goes people's response to the website. A few updates have been implemented and a couple of bugs have been squashed. The noticable update will be that of the 24, 48, and 72 pictures that you'll see showing up on each topic page. "That's a lot of pictures!" No, sorry, that's not what I meant. Let me explain.
The main index page of this website displays topics from newest to oldest as far as activity goes. If you add an article to a topic, it moves the topic to the top of the list. If you've ever used a message board, it's the same concept as posting in a thread and moving that thread back to the top of the list. Displayed under each topic will be up to three articles. Which three articles? The three most recently ADDED to the topic, not the three most recently published as people seem to think. This is to always show the latest activity in any given topic on the main page. Otherwise, if we were to show the three most recently published and you submit an older article, those three listed articles would never change.
So...the topic page...
Now you will see next to each article a red, yellow, or green image. Currently, the images are just the numbers 24, 48, and 72. Can anyone guess what those mean? That's right, they are hours. They will most likely be changed to something more graphical later, but I'd like to get the concept going first. The hours represent how new an article is, whether it has been added within the last 24, 48, or 72 hours. This will hopefully help people to more easily spot the most recently added articles when they fall below the more recently published articles.
February 28, 2008
It's live...and unfinished! Rock on!
Honestly, there's still a lot to do, but rather than wait, I'd rather have the site being used and tested while I continue to work on things in the background. The basic functionality should all be there, with major (and minor) modifications to come. It's definitely a work in progress. You may see some pages that look completely out of place, but it will be taken care of as soon as possible. There's a definite tradeoff between spending time on PHP and spending time on CSS.
If you run into any problems, please send an email to folllow.com@gmail.com. Thanks!