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Underground > Policy & Help >

Things to do with Column 2

  
 
Tom Coates
09:01 / 15.12.02
Ok - so thanks to Grant I have a big list of all the suggestions anyone has ever made about Barbelith and I'm working through them one by one, writing a second condensed and practical list of things that really CAN be done and probably should be that I can try and bash into a logical shape and then try and persuade Cal to implement...

One of my favourites so far has been 'Can't we do something with Column Two' - which I have to confess is pretty close to my heart... So does anyone actually have any brilliant ideas?
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
10:02 / 15.12.02
Put the Abstract there. Either there or at the top of the pages of the actual topic or something. As an example for why, it's only when you go in to the 'London Curative' thread, then post a question to ask where Bar Chocolate actually is, that you find the address in the abstract. It may possibly encourage people to fill in the abstract when they create topics if they are easily displayed like that.

Oh, and the option to jump straight to page 2,3 etc from the topic list page.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
10:52 / 15.12.02
It'd be the ideal home for topic abstracts. I think page numbers should go just under the thread title - it just seems like a more natural place for them.

One fairly major problem is going to be the length of abstracts. If they're going to go into column two it may be a good idea to think about putting a more restrictive character limit on them.
 
 
Tezcatlipoca
14:59 / 15.12.02
One fairly major problem is going to be the length of abstracts

I agree, and if you put a hyperlink to the thread abstract there you can be sure nobody will use it. You could reduce the topic abstract box to contain the same number of characters as are available in column 2 for each thread, but that might get a little restrictive on the abstract length.
 
 
Utopia
21:00 / 15.12.02
Well, abstracts really don't need to be that long anyway. The abstract really should only be a summary of the first post, or some sort of query, etc. I too would like to see links to later pages appear again in column one (why was this done away with on the new board? page loading times?).
 
 
Tryphena Absent
00:34 / 16.12.02
The problem would be with the posts that have the rules of a game in the abstract or something along those lines, though I suppose they could place them in the original post, it's just so neat to have them hidden away like that.
 
 
grant
15:28 / 16.12.02
Well, I'd make Column 2 hold the first two lines of the abstract. If it gets cut off, put an ellipsis at the end.
You can generally get the idea from the title and the first two lines of the abstract, and that way rules or directions or instructions can go long.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
12:44 / 17.12.02
Good point that bloke, is there an absolute limit on the length of the abstracts themselves?
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
20:59 / 18.12.02
Tarot threads.(index)
I-ching threads.(index)
Rune (index)
Faq.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
13:20 / 20.12.02
Why?
 
 
Tom Coates
19:10 / 22.12.02
Of course it doesn't STRICTLY have to be related precisely to the threads on the left. We could use it for 'top ten threads today' or 'other interesting things to read' or 'moderators favourite threads' or something...
 
 
Persephone
20:21 / 22.12.02
Not to be a pain... and this doesn't have to do with Column Two... but I was just wondering if it's on the list to have a button for printing threads in text format? For contributing to the more involved discussions, I'm often wanting a text that I can highlight passages and scribble marginalia --as my short-term memory isn't always up to the job. I was thinking, the database already holds all the information that you'd want... so this would "only" be a matter of building the interface?
 
 
deja_vroom
10:31 / 24.01.03
What about making a table on the right with text? Each day of the week, a new text covering issues of interest to the board? Not original text, of course, just stuff collected from the News sites, with links to the original sites, perhaps? There's a word for that... "Clippings". What about?
 
 
deja_vroom
10:32 / 24.01.03
What about making a table on the right with text? Each day of the week, a new text covering issues of interest to the board? Not original text, of course, just stuff collected from the News sites, with links to the original sites, perhaps? There's a word for that... I got it: "Clippings". What about?
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
11:32 / 24.01.03
Welllll..... (and this isn't supposed to be having a go at either Tom or Sleazenation) but there are difficulties keeping the 'zine up to date and fresh, I worry that a second column may become a bit behind if the people involved can't keep it up to date (unless you're suggesting one of those auto-refresh things)
 
 
gridley
11:56 / 24.01.03
It seems easiest and most usefull to slip in as much of the abstract as actually fits....
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
12:02 / 24.01.03
I actually think that it would be useful to have links to the second, third, etc. pages of the topic there - then you could jump to them straight from the forum front page rather than going to the topic front page first - useful if you've been following a topic for a while, and would cut down on bandwidth a little, maybe?

(I'm on Barbelith A LOT and find myself getting slightly frustrated with having to go to the topic first page to get to the rest of it...)
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
15:56 / 24.01.03
Cat's got a bloody good point there... I know my memory's not what I'm told it once was, but didn't we used to be able to do that?
 
 
Spatula Clarke
11:27 / 26.01.03
Another couple of ideas. Maybe Column 2 could contain links to pages on the FAQ that specifically deal with questions about that forum?

The other idea, and the more useful one to my mind, is that Column 2 could be used as the place to put 'sticky' threads.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
15:29 / 27.01.03
Definitely agree with Kit-Cat as I find that particular missing short cut intensely irritating.
 
 
Nietzsch E. Coyote
18:54 / 27.01.03
Well I also agree with the general consensus about the links to later pages but that should still be part of column one.

However for column two, I think we should have links to the wikis. The Faq for each section, Any group projects. Magick for example could wiki up its tarot threads. Film, TV and Theatre already has Donnie Darko. It would be very like the sticky threads idea but more encouraging of collabortive effort.
 
 
Nietzsch E. Coyote
02:04 / 31.01.03
What say? Tom, anybody? Does putting a list of group project wikis in column two sound like a good idea?
 
 
gingerbop
20:46 / 29.04.03
Im not sure if i quite get what Cats saying:
Does she mean, for example having a link to Magick and Music etc, in column 2 of Conversation? If she did (or anyway, in fact) i reakon i'td be a pretty groovy idea.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
23:31 / 29.04.03
Nah. I think KCC was talking about the fact that you can't currently see, say, page five of any given thread without first having to open up page one. Sticking the page numbers in column two would prevent this.
 
 
gingerbop
21:59 / 30.04.03
Aaah, yes thats also cunning, come to think of it. Especially with ones like barbequotes etc.
 
 
cusm
15:25 / 01.05.03
Seconding the idea of stickies. They're damn useful, and col2 is a good place to put them.

Note that stickies doesn't have to be the only thing in col 2, there's still room for stuff like wiki links and the like.

As for page numbers, I miss the days when page numbers were linked with the thread title. I think they ought to be put back with the # of posts stats, if possible.
 
 
Potguns
06:44 / 06.05.03
Howabout a number of views / hits box as well? Im just curious to know how many people look at the site on a regular basis and individal threads...
I mean theres 2000 members and those are the people who have signed up, how many people just use the site as reading material?? + it would only be a little box and give more scope to the amount of people we are communicating with.

Just an idea
Pot.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
12:01 / 06.05.03
Don't hitboxes get out of whack due to search engine spiders and the like?
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
13:50 / 07.05.03
Yeah, but barbelith isn't spidered - most of it, anyway. I think Tom's got robots.txt set up to exclude most of the site in searchengine harvesting terms...
 
  
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