Picks Feature Improvements
Finally some of the improvements that I have been wanting to do with the Picks feature are finally completed - including the tutorial. However, for those who are on dial-up you may want to make yourself a coffee, cook dinner, vacuum the house and go and get some groceries while it loads - all 4.5Mb of it.
Starting with the Popular Posts page there are a few new enhancements. Overall the layout has changed hoping to add a little more functionality to the mix and make it easier to see what is happening. I have also added a Top Pickers module in the sidebar which ranks members who enjoy picking and runs for the whole month.
Below that is another module that offers a random array of posts that were published last month. Her's a chance to read a few that you may have missed.
The next major change has been with the actual Picks page. Daphne from Daphne's Dandelions asked for some more info on the blogger to be included - which only took me a few months to finally get around to implementing. Sorry Daphne...
I have also added the ability to Fave the Blog or the Member from on the same page as I try to tighten up how accessible the site becomes. Your Faved Blog and Member's pages will enjoy a few enhancements in the coming weeks as well.
And to top it all off, the Pick page has become a little leaner. When it first started, it actually incorporated 3 different pages to make it work whereas now it only uses one. In the future, my plan is to make this even leaner still be providing some Ajax functionality - for the layman, it's geek-speak for "very fast pages".
Notes on Feedburner
For those of you who think I've forgotten all about the Feedburner issues, please rest assured that I'm still working on them. It seems that Google, having bought Feedburner nearly 2 years ago, is now in the process of migrating these feeds across to their own servers - and having some real issues doing it (though we're not supposed to know that!)
Until this is sorted I can't offer those with Feedburner feeds any more suggestions. My only advice would be to search out the "Feedburner Migration" via Google and see if you can manually do it yourself - good luck! For those who want to try I am happy to coach you through the situation but you must do most of the leg-work - I've wasted too much sleeping time on this issue!
Apart from that, you could 'diss' Feedburner and Google altogether and get a Wordpress blog. It seems that this is the only guaranteed way forward. Or, just sit and wait it out....
I trust you enjoy the new features and look forward to your comments and feedback.
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Comments
Hi Stuart, you are always working aren't you? And it is spring there so gardening must be taking up some of your time. Do you have a time twister like Hermoine in Harry Potter that allows you be two places at once? I can vouch for wordpress, but it is not as easy as blogger to get started. We all benefit from learning new things, right? I look forward to the new features and also maybe some nice pretties for the winners?
Frances
Posted by: Frances | October 12, 2008 6:40 PM
I like the look of the new popular picks page Stuart. Being able to fave a member or blog from the picks list was a great suggestion. Thanks Daphne!
Posted by: Racquel | October 12, 2008 10:26 PM
Hello Stuart
Hope you felt refreshed after your trip away with your family.
I like the new feature on the top right of the pick page. I won't waffle on about how useful it is - but it is!
Getting on and off this page is working quicker too - which frays patience less.
However, I still think having 'fave this member' on the top of the front page on each person's plot will continue to confuse new members. Could a 'fave the blog' be put with it so it is clear they are different?
Congratulations on everything which is working. Commiserations about everything that isn't.
Lucy
Posted by: Lucy Corrander | October 13, 2008 3:07 AM
Is Wordpress the only one it will work in properly, or would Typepad do? I'm thinking of moving my blog to Typepad as I've got one there already and I find it easy to use (never been able to get on with Wordpress).
Thanks for your work on this and keeping us informed.
Posted by: Mrs Be | October 13, 2008 4:15 AM
Dear Stuart
I'm concerned that having a list of 'top pickers' will devalue picks, possibly render them meaningless.
From now on, how will we know picks are being given because readers genuinely appreciate the posts rather than simply wanting to notch up scores on the top pickers lists?
How will we trust even that they have been read?
Esther
Posted by: Esther Montgomery | October 13, 2008 4:41 AM
@Frances - I wish I had a time twister, would certainly make life much easier. Fortunately this weekend was a washout so it wasn't good gardening weather anyway. Next weekend should see me back in there though. The pretties are almost ready....
Posted by: Stuart
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October 13, 2008 7:09 AM
@Lucy - I have contemplated that Lucy but the problem with it is that some bloggers have multiple blogs. The "Fave this Member" button can only relate to the owner of the plot but a "Fave this Blog" button could relate to any of their multiple blogs. This is why there is a Fave button for each blog under the myBlogs tab.
Posted by: Stuart
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October 13, 2008 7:12 AM
@Mrs Be - basically any other blog platform is fine.
Posted by: Stuart
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October 13, 2008 7:13 AM
@Esther - this has always been a dilemma, and even without Blotanical's points system, it still remains a dilemma. You can never guarantee that when someone turns up on your blog that they are going to read your post. While some may use this list as a way to forward their blogging ambitions I like to think the best of people and assume that they are the ones who are most active in reading your posts.
Hypothetically, if you were to get an average of 10 picks for each post and you could guarantee that all ten read your post but now, due to the Top Pickers list, you were getting 20 picks per post and still only 10 were reading them - would it make any difference. If everyone else were getting an extra 10 picks as well (by ten people vying for the Top Pickers list) has anything really devalued.
The question I'm trying to raise is, "Do you write for Picks, or for your readers?" If it's for your readers then nothing will change except maybe your picks will increase. Hopefully, with the increased exposure you may even find a few more readers - wouldn't that be nice.
Posted by: Stuart
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October 13, 2008 7:23 AM
Stuart - I really like what you have done with the picks page - I like being able to see from that page if I have added a blog/blogger to my favs.
Thanks
Karen
Posted by: Karen - An Artists Garden | October 13, 2008 4:35 PM
Thanks so much Stuart. I really love the little blurbs on people there and I love seeing what country they come from.
Posted by: Daphne | October 14, 2008 2:52 AM
Thank you! It looks nice and clean.
Posted by: Anna | October 18, 2008 10:25 AM
Stuart,
I've gotten Feedburner migrated over to Google what should I do now? I put the new feed in my blog settings is there something else I should do to get my site to shop up on the picks?
Posted by: Dave | October 19, 2008 10:16 AM
You're right to go Dave. Your posts should be showing up soon.
Posted by: Stuart
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October 21, 2008 7:10 AM
Hi Stuart, I would like to suggest that the name of the blog be shown somewhere along with the title of the post. Or did you intentionally want that to not be shown?
Frances
Posted by: Frances | October 24, 2008 9:53 PM
Thanks also, not mentioned here but I think it might be new, for allowing Firefox/Mozilla users to access the Picks button function. Before it seemed I could only do it in Explorer. Now I can Pick with abandon! :)
Posted by: Karen | October 25, 2008 8:11 AM
@Frances - undecided. I am trying to figure this into the CSS but having a few hiccups with it. We'll see.
Posted by: Stuart
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October 25, 2008 11:22 AM
YES!!! It looks like Robin's Nesting Place is back on Blotanical! I'm so thrilled! I just hope it is a permanent fix now!
Posted by: Robin | October 28, 2008 1:57 AM