I would like to open this discussion as suggested at last night's High Performance meet up at Filter Digital. It was noted by several members that our main page has been reorganized to show the discussions list above the events list in the main content region of the page. Many suggestions were made about this reorganization and I will not try to reproduce them all here (please come and comment to make yourself heard).
The overall conflicting opinions were that as a group, events are our most important resource to drive membership. When people come to the gdo page, they are usually looking for events. Rather than clicking on the events tab or scrolling past the latest discussion to view the events' lists, we would be better to either put the list back to the top or have a brief text snippet explaining, "To view our upcoming events click here".
From my perspective, I mentioned that the community as a whole should chime in on this before a direct change is made to the page. I agreed with the original reason behind having discussions at the top of the page which is to, well, drive discussion. IMO, I see the events tab clearly and think that people will find that. However, @bvirtual and @oseldman combined to comment that we really need more event visibility and usual patterns dictate that people see events on the home page first.
What say you community? Give us some direction to let us know what is important, but please keep your comments within the scope of this conversation. If you have other comments about the front page real estate, please start a new thread.
Comments
+1 for discussions
I'm very happy to see discussions being more prominent. There are way too many events in the greater LA area for anyone to attend them all regularly, and having our discussions on-line allows everyone to participate (not just the people in the room at a meetup).
I reworded the "About LA Drupal" block slightly to use the word "event", to make it a bit easier to find the place to click for the list of events.
John Romine
I think that the point is
I think that the point is that new folks might be looking for events that are either located near them and/or focused on their needs.
Only the very committed (or committable) will attend all the meetings.
Each user has her needs.
First, thank you stevenator for opening this subject. I myself been wondering where all the "access points" I was used to disappeared.
There are a few reason people arrive to our page and without any access to analytics my guess will be that events and discussions related keywords are pretty much up there as a source of indirect traffic.
On the the other hand, branding the group's main page to appeal to potential new member is vital to the community growth, not to mention
hide($content['members_public_bickering' ]);from any precious ears :)So, the main page ought to provide a quick answer to various member roles. Members have certain needs while anonymous or potential new members have different.
Given Drupal's ability to provide content based on roles I am in favor of the idea of creating an "external" main page for non-members and anonymous were perhaps the most voted discussions, up and coming events , about and how to become a member will be equally displayed but not necessarily given the same amount of screen real estate. About and How to Become a member can be a small more graphic callouts that can lead the right sidebar or split the discussion area to two columns and leave the sidebar for other content.
Another page structure should be for logged in user/members. That page will have the discussion leading the main column and the sidebar sorted as follow:
Search box
group events
My groups
Group organizers (can be moved above the discussion and places horizontally with other small boxes IMHO)
Hot Content This Week
Group categories
All the rest
Overall, the page suffers from content overload and I personally like to see a better use of the top tabs to alleviate some of the clutter. When looking at the main page none should ask himself "Where should I go now?"
I appreciate your comments
I appreciate your comments uzi, but what to make sure that this remains a very focused thread since all that was brought up was Events vs Discussions. I know there are several issues out there regarding this it may be that a larger discussion should be opened on another thread that can be carried over into the Westside meet up next week. Outside of that may I suggest you start a thread called: "GDO LA suffers from content overload" :) I think you will get a lot of traction on this.
So without going heavily into all of the great suggestions you have here, were you saying that Events should be weighted over discussions?
In a comment below, I
In a comment below, I described how events and discussions used to have equal prominence on the main page. There are several approaches we can take to have a similar layout again.
If we do get to a "events vs. discussions" decision point, I hope it will be because we've exhausted all other solutions.
Sorry, did not realize this
Sorry, did not realize this was a voting only thread. Yes, Events need a prominent spot at the top either as a sidebar box or replacing the "How to become a Member" That can be integrated onto the "About LA Drupal" box.
I'm very conflicted on this.
I'm very conflicted on this. I can appreciate that discussions are first to get the community talking with each other remotely. On the other side, though, I can also see new members coming to the site to see what events are going on (and personally, most of the discussions I get involved in are either on irc or in person though getting people to that stage can take a while). Its a shame that the new theme isn't wider so we could have both events and discussions side by side and not take forever to scroll down (like it used to be). If I had to choose one, my vote is on events with a prominent link to discussions (to me, the primary links just go on and on and discussions get lost in there).
Events
I agree with giving events priority placement. Alternatively placing the "Group Events" block higher up or adding a link to jump to the upcoming events listing could also be a good solution to increase visibility.
Personally, I rely on email to stay updated on events and discussions so I'm assuming it would affect mainly new comers and any changes being made should consider the primary target audience.
Overall GDO was in flux and requires more growth
It's tough, that's for sure. When GDO was being upgraded we lost features + blocks + sanity. Overall there should be a good front page for our GDO/LA group, and how that would look is still an open topic.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
I am sure that there will be
I am sure that there will be another round of this when g.d.o moves to Drupal 7.
Combining content on main page?
Perhaps we shouldn't be segregating content on the main page at all, but instead just show all recent content. It's unfortunate that the current themeing makes the "Events" tab not very prominent.
John Romine
What is the focus of
What is the focus of g.d.o/la?
To have events? Then it seems to follow that events should be on top, (aka the focus).
To build community and discussions? Then same logic applies.
How do wiki's & polls fit in? hmm...
Really, the g.d.o site is limited and we're stuck with current limitations. It is a cranky old D6 site that could use some volunteers to help make it better. The new bluecheese theme works great for D.o but on g.d.o fluid and/or responsive would be an awesome addition. I know patches are welcomed. (hit me up if you want to do it)
I made the changes to fix the problem with events & discussions side-by-side in the new theme. Just was ugly and not very readable. It got me thinking about what the purpose of this g.d.o group is? and also made me think it seems less active than it was 2-3 years ago...
I'd love to see actual statistics on if the changes I made have increased discussions or lessened them. event postings haven't gone down. what about attendance?
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
omg! haha! who down voted
omg! haha! who down voted me asking for more feedback from the community?
(plus an explanation of what changed BECAUSE the gdo theme changed leaving our group in a nearly unusable state).
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
I think that the focus of the
I think that the focus of the group is not the sole determinant of how the home page should be formatted. Since the page is the same for all visitors, it effectively serves as an ad for the usefulness of LA Drupal. I think that in that context, it is very important to show meetings and events in a very prominent position.
While I said front and center at the meeting, I did not literally mean that it needed to be centered. A sidebar at the top of the page would work for me.
Some brief history. A few
Some brief history. A few weeks ago, we had a grid of 4 stylized panel panes:
The old layout can still be seen for a limited time at http://bluecheese-groups.redesign.devdrupal.org/la (use "drupal" as the username / password to see it). Note that it includes a temporary "Special Events" panel pane about SCALE that's been used for announcements like upcoming conferences (Drupal Everywhere, SCALE, etc.) and when LA Drupal members have received a discount for something.
One of the reasons this discussion was started is because someone (Mike?) moved the "upcoming events" and "recent discussions" panel panes below "About" and "Join" and seeing that content now involves a lot of scrolling. This was the concern that someone (Steve?) brought up at this week's High Performance Drupal meetup.
Okay, back to the present. (See? I said the history part would be brief.) While the content in the About, Join, Upcoming Events, Recent Discussions and Special Events sections is highly useful, the design doesn't look so good with the new bluecheese theme that's about to roll out for everyone on groups.drupal.org. This was brought up before in the maintenance group at http://groups.drupal.org/node/204428#comment-676943 and again at http://drupal.org/node/969940#comment-5498490 (which even mentions our group's main page).
I believe the About, Join, Upcoming Events, Recent Discussions and Special Events sections absolutely belong on the group front page and they should be stylized as they were before. Anything else can go on a separate tab. There are a couple ways that I can see about moving forward:
Finally, my call to action:
I propose that during the open lab at next week's meetup that a group of us create a new test group here on groups.drupal.org and see what kind of layouts we can come up with. The screencast I recorded for the Drupal Dojo at http://groups.drupal.org/node/98614 explains how OG Panel pages work on groups.drupal.org and it can be used as a reference.
Thanks @christefano, Yes, it
Thanks @christefano,
Yes, it was Mike who brought the discussions back into focus on the main page and it was me that seconded the notion that our group is more than just events. I really appreciate the history of the page and how it came to exist the way it was before it was changed. I think it will help the rest of us when considering the main question here and that is: How does the landing page effectively serve the most members in our diverse community.
So, I think we have a great thread going here and would be a great jumping off point for the scrum you proposed at the meet up next week. So I am +1. However, I really don't know if this needs to go this far. I did open a can of worms by posting this as highlighted by the first comment from Uzi. So I am wondering if the vote by committee process is going to be feasible. I guess it all depends on how many people show up with an opinion...
Anyone else second the scrum?
I don't think we need to
I don't think we need to limited by the previous design (four blocks). There are lots of other group sites with less boiler-plate and more focus on community and content.
Are there other groups' content we should look at also?
John Romine
The Bay Area example is
The Bay Area example is exactly what I am talking about. Can that happen in the new theme?
Bay Area example is cool
I agree; I really like the bay area example.
Also, I noticed that there's a sidebar block "Group Events" on our home page(!), it's just far, far down because of the "Group categories" block.
John Romine
Do you think...
Do you think this entire issue can be resolved simply by placing the "Group Events" block above the "LA Drupal" , "Group organizers" , "Search" and "Group categories" sidebar blocks ??
Barring any functional or technical issues regarding these blocks, I suggest moving the Events block to the top, which, imo, is the most important block among them, within the context of this discussion. It might be the simplest and quickest way to satisfy most of us in the group.
~ Jeff
OC
I like the Orange County layout as well.
Current tab order: Home
Current tab order:
Changed to:
Lead in paragraph changed from
About LA Drupal
The LA Drupal community in and around Los Angeles, California, is one of the world's largest Drupal user groups. We have a very active Calendar of Events and meet regularly at meetups, trainings and social occasions each month. LA Drupal is California's largest hub for all things Drupal.
To:
About LA Drupal
There six or more monthly meetings, see our Calendar of Events, including job networking, barn-raising, trainings and social occasions.
Why? All that PR fluff ... We are the largest? Twice? Boring ...?
So, link "monthly meetings", and link Calendar Of Events. All in a larger font.
These two changes put "events" in prime time real estate. Linking to the Events page, eliminating the "data glut" issue we face.
While I would like a "list of meetings", I found Bay Areas with it's five lines per meeting, too long, but it's a great format, all the info I need in one short list, to set my month's meetings 12 times a year. OC's site has color. Ah, very nice, if even that little bit.
So, while I mentioned a list of meetings, a short one linking off the front page, it's not needed if the first link in the top navbar, and the first two links in the first paragraph, are to the Events page.
That way, Discussions can keep a large presence above the fold. And Events are rapidly found.
That said, I would still like a laundry list of events, on the front page, but I'm not married to it. Nor does it have to be in the first column. 2nd or 3rd column is fine. With small enough font, that it fits on one page, all 5 lines of info that Bay Area has. In time order.
My two cents.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
I agree... I'd like to get
I agree... I'd like to get rid of any PR fluff. Just useful info on how/where to get involved.
The tabs can not (easily) be reordered. The interface isn't working for some reason, and either the tabs will need to be recreated, or alternatively a submit a gdo bug, help/wait for the problem to get fixed, and then finally we can reorderd.
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Should we create a testing
Should we create a testing version of the new home page could be? Its another tab, but its easier for people to see what is there and get feedback on what is liked/disliked.
Yes
If we can do this, I say yes.
John Romine
The tab doesn't need to be
The tab doesn't need to be published in order to build it out. I suggest creating one (or more tabs)... then as christefano suggested, use the time tomorrow to gain more feedback from the group to knock something out and publish.
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
and I think that settles it
and I think that settles it with a clear path forward for now. see you tomorrow
lets do it.
lets do it.
I would say the vision put
I would say the vision put forth by bvirtual above tracks with what I'd like to see. Although I think Events should not just be in a tab and a word link. They are essential – and (I vote) should be placed "above the fold." Tabs are great and all, but many people don't look here.
Small edit:
There six or more monthly meetings, see our Calendar of Events, including job networking, barn-raising, trainings and social occasions.
(needs the word "are".) Also, although the links should be bolded and blue, I would discourage making them larger.
We might want to think twice about deleting "The LA Drupal community in and around Los Angeles, California..." This lead-off sentence has some SEO weight and I seem to remember doing a Google search for "Drupal meeting Los Angeles" when I first came to GDO/LA.
I'm surprised no one liked the New York Group's page. It prominently featured the two events closest to today, and more events below. It also neatly placed the conversation along the left-hand column as Christifano mentioned.
One last thing... Why all the down-voting on Mike's posts?
seo weight
i have to agree that this has some good seo presence. I know that i only searched "drupal la" and found my way here with ease
Chris.
I like "LA Drupal Community"
I like "LA Drupal Community" as we are a bunch of hugging hippies offering openness to all surrounding Drupal meetings, and even encouraging them to start up next door.
I went and looked at NY's page. You have to understand, I'm from LA. NY is foreign country. ;-) Thanks. Two comments.
When is LA going to get a logo? With color like OC? (read Not blue! lol)
--
Column wrapping with menu tabs
NY's two columns did not wrap, but stayed side by side. YES, LA NEEDS THIS. Why?
Right now, in Firefox 10.0.2 on Ubuntu 10.04, and previous FF as far basck as 3.6, our columns "wrap".
This means if the web browser window is "narrow", not fully wide screen, then only ONE column shows up. Bad.
The issue appears (last two times I looked) is the columns wrap on the same line as the menu tabs. What? Yup. Try your dual HD panels for one browser window, stretch it super wide, the max, and see for yourself.
And the columns are fixed width, having no min-width, which I prefer.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
meetup.com
I'd also suggest adding a link to meetup.com/ladrupal to either the "About LA Drupal" and/or "Events" block/page to make it easier for new comers. It should also be noted though that some events aren't cross posted there, ie. Burbank.
The changes fixed an
The changes fixed an immediate problem of the site being extremely ugly and (frankly) looking abandoned.
I don not think that it is done, but it solved the problem. I like almost all the examples that other groups are doing. I don't know exactly what can be done with the limitations of g.d.o but this is what I think
+-------------------------------------------------+| About LA Drupal Bla Bla Bla... |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| How to Join | Events For the Month |
| bla bla bla | bla bla bla |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| How to connect |
| Twitter Calendar Google Plus IRC |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Discutions |
| Bla bla blabity bla |
All I am trying to propose is a solution to the problem of the events and the discutions needing to be prominent.
I'm not keen on "How To Join"
I'm not keen on "How To Join" being at the top. If a potential member is totally new to internet communities, then this info is needed. I do like it, and feel it's needed, and it's missing from other GDO groups. I do not see any other group feeling the need to expound how to join. I like it as I feel one priority should be encouraging membership growth. I'm the only one who I know continually expresses this goal, as a criteria, a hard requirement, for how to write our web presence. I feel we do not do enough of it.
I do want "How To Join" to be a link above the fold. It's important.
Events needs to be in the first eye motion order, top to bottom, left to right, means upper left corner. Discussions should be next in eye motion order. To the right of Events. My druthers and rationale and secret to good layout.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
Ok, since this didn't happen
Ok, since this didn't happen prior to the meet-up yesterday, I took a pass based on some of the feedback above. Feedback encouraged!
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Love it. 10x easier to see
Love it. 10x easier to see what's happening.
Chris.
looks good in both themes and
looks good in both themes and all needed information is visible. I do with there was a way to have a block with recently commented posts.
I like it as well mike. I
I like it as well mike. I moved the "About LA Drupal" up to the top region of the layout and split it from "Ways To Connect" as they were running together. I also gave the ways to connect a little padding to match the right column. I also saw you grabbed the language fix and added "are". Nice!!! :)
The page is beginning to look a little less intimidating at the top.
is there any way to trim the
is there any way to trim the output of the next event to a summery? If someone is interested they will click through to the node. Right now if there is a lengthy event description then it adds a bit of scrolling.
agree
If possible, a summarized view for the upcoming event could help the discussions from getting buried. Also I previously mentioned meetup.com/ladrupal but it's still not listed under "Ways To Connect". Otherwise I feel the recent enhancements have made a significant improvement.
it's the "teaser" -- so if an
it's the "teaser" -- so if an organizer makes it longer than the default, it'll mess up the front page.
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Title & teaser
Can you shorten the home page display to make it just show the title and teaser, and leave off the taxonomy terms, organizer names, etc?
John Romine
the front page uses the right
the front page uses the right sidebar (with a bunch of default blocks),, the sidebar is optional.
many of the blocks can be used in the panel layout however... if we wanted the page to be taller.
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Event title & teaser
Sorry, I mean can you shorten the Next Event display on the home page to just show title & teaser?
John Romine
what about trimming the
what about trimming the output so that an organizer cannot messup the front page with an extremely long teaser.
ya, I know its drupal but its
ya, I know its drupal but its not the way GDO has been setup. so funny thing is, we can't
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
The best we can do with the
The best we can do with the bluebreeze and bluecheese themes as they are now is have shorter teasers. I did shorten the teaser of the next event by 2 paragraphs so it looks slightly better.
Whenever there's dynamic content, like upcoming events and recent discussions, the layout will shift around like it is now. This is why I wrote the 2 static "About" and "Join" sections long ago and put them at the top.
So you are saying that it is
So you are saying that it is up to the content creator to write a teaser that is succinct enough to fit the design.
Teaser length includes teaser content - shorter on front page
Our front page content is a "service to our members", potential members, and a "benefit" to our members. As well as showcasing "good page design." Those are two important criteria I use for page layout decisions. Figure who the "reader" is and target those viewers' perceptions.
It's been pointed out to me that this comes up short for an open source user group. I agree. There is other criteria, likely more important. This post is about my two criteria, service and benefit to members, in general, not individual members.
Teaser length also must include content. What to cut, what to include. Again, I focus on member benefit.
What, Where, When, and Who, not necessarily in that order. Who and What should be first. As a benefit to a speaker, I've put Who first, then What (Topic). The other two, When and Where, are different for us, as both are repetitively the same, most of the time. I vote for When to always be included, particularly the time, then the date. Those are the order I need them in. With 1+ hour driving times ...
The other part of content is an expansion on the meeting "content", typically more info to encourage attendance, likely expanding the "Topic" few words, with a sentence or two. This acts as an inducement to "click" to the full page, for the rest of the info.
I feel the Topic description, even a brief one, is the single most important piece for a teaser. Why? I feel I have the option to skip meetings where I know the topic well. When I need to beef up on a topic, and the meeting is on that topic, is a huge inducement, compared to raffle, networking, food, lightning talks, the "Main" topic is the inducement to me.
I believe other members view "Topic sentences" with the same value. Meaning benefit to our members. Service.
I'd like to see the next "two" meetings in the "Upcoming Events" column block with a "longer" teaser, the 1-2 "Topic" sentences. No more. The remaining monthly meetings can have just Who, What, When, and optional is Where.
Yes, I know GDO does not give us, LA chapter webmasters, much control over "teaser" length, per the set of events, to just have the "first two" events have longer teasers. And the poster can override the "Summary" default length.
Now, Where has "length" issues as well. Name of firm, city name, street address, just where do these location facts get too large for our front page, and stop being a service to our members?
Just my thoughts, for your considered feedback.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
edit
Much better. But I'll point out my edit to the first line again:
There six or more monthly meetings, see our Calendar of Events,
should be:
There are six or more monthly meetings, see our Calendar of Events,
I added the "are"... thanks
I added the "are"... thanks very much.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
Maps of our meeting locations? Two maps, one for SoCal?
I'd like a maps of LA/OC and SoCal. The SoCal includes Santa Barbara and San Diego, with dots where all meetings are. And one of LA/OC where meetings are. Linked to google. I'll do it, as soon as consensus such maps are a good thing. Feedback? New thread?
Why two maps? We are a bunch of hugging hippies spreading Drupal love. Erh, did I post that? :}
Seriously, we have leaders and members of all SoCal groups attending each other events. Yes, 2 hours (100 miles) is not too far too drive in LA, for one evening meeting.
I'd even go further, and state every section at www.LALUGs.org needs to be in our site.
I'd like to see "Drupal Education in LA/OC" resources, listing colleges teaching Drupal. It will happen!!!
And I'd like to see "CMS Resources Around Town", and point to Meetup.com and how to search it, and list PHP, MySQL, LAMP and other Open Source User groups, just like at LALUGs.org. Including Joomla, wordpress, etc.
Just one man's opinion, and I'm sticking to it.
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
I like Fluid width, and dislike fixed width - teaser length
I see the two columns are now fixed width, instead of the better fluid, that fits wide screens, putting more above the fold, for faster access, valuing the reader's time.
I agree that long teasers are wasting the time of readers, our members. So is fixed width, hiding stuff under the fold.
There are two ways to enforce "policies", either software or management. And neither are available to a volunteer organization, with so many active contributors.
We have peer pressure. I've had short private email thread about the enhancements on our page to date, where we have all focused on "good web page design". Why? We are web site designers. To have members put up with "poor" design, and how it impacts job networking potential, I am glad to see the recent changes.
How to keep them in place? Same as getting them in place. All members will let us know about changes needed, to restore or improve the site. Then, public discussion.
I've always had a big problem with the length of both top columns. It's been terrible, always scrolling, always clicking off the front page, as the FIRST thing I would do, to find info I wanted. Glad it's changed.
Now, can I get back fluid width? ;-)
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
This was the impetus of the
This was the impetus of the discussion really,,, In my first comment I gave a (too brief?) background on why the changes were made. The new bluecheese theme was rolled out Friday (in time for Drupalcon).
I agree fixed width doesn't work well -- and effectively broke functionality with our old layout. Its why I also made more changes earlier this week since I saw fixed width was soon to be the only choice.
If anyone wants to help create patches that convert it to a fluid / responsive deisgn, patches are welcome. Lots of work going on, you can help make it better:
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
you should post those in the
you should post those in the la drupal issues wiki
Switch the current event blocks
Considering the current layout, I think "Ways To Connect" and "How to become a member of LA Drupal" are great as they are, and can easily be adjusted as needed.
To avoid having to confine the event teasers to a limited space, I'd suggest placing an "Upcoming Events" block at the top right, listing the next 5 upcoming events. This block would contain just a linked title and date for each event, with a "more events" link that went to our "Events" page. This would ensure the top two blocks would always be approximately the same size.
Then dedicate the next full panel space to "Next Upcoming Event" -- showing a full teaser, so the event organizer doesn't need to worry about the size of their teaser.
The rest of the page would be "Recent Discussions."
This would create a page that provided a quick glance at who we are and what's happening soon, and then feature our group discussion.
If our layout needs differ from what is currently available to us, we should try to work with the g.d.o webmasters and themers by suggesting what might work better.
As a side note, I'd like to point out that the current "More Upcoming Events" block's "all events" link does not work. If my suggestion about the "more events" link isn't possible, I'd rather see no link at all, or a pager.
If organizers were using the
If organizers were using the default, it works fine. There is only a problem with layout for events where the organizer has forced the teaser to be longer.
Although I am not against this suggestion, I feel there is more benefit to the end user quickly visiting the site if they were able to quickly ascertain the when/who/what/where of the next meetup. The point of a teaser is to take advantage of limited space -- to "tease" the reader to read more. Often, the title is insufficient.
--
mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
Simpler Next Events
Okay, although I am loving this new three-column layout and think it is WAY better than what was there previously, I have a comment.
I would rather see a simplified Future Events block, but list a couple events.
Currently a next event looks like this:
Next Event
DrupalCon Denver
Posted by martab on January 10, 2012 at 3:34pm
3 votes
Start:
2012-03-19 (All day) - 2012-03-23 (All day) America/Denver
Organizers:
Drupal Association
Register now for DrupalCon Denver at http://denver2012.drupal.org/
Follow us on Twitter @DrupalCon
Add new comment ⋅ Categories: DrupalCon, Conference, Greater Los Angeles Area / Other
Why is all this information in the block? "Posted By" is already in a smaller font, that tells us the information is supplementary. "Organizers", although it's great to give credit to the hard work, is this relevant on the teaser?
"Votes"? I'm not sure how relevant this is. I find I screen this box out anyway, but maybe other people find it useful.
"Add New Comment" Really? I don't know enough about the event at this stage, why would I comment? "Categories"? Unless there is a good reason for having these on the front page, I question their presence. Maybe people do find them handy. But in this teaser mode they should be microsized font in a light color, not big bubbles.
In my humble opinion the teaser should be:
Next Event
DrupalCon Denver
3 votes
Start:
2012-03-19 (All day) - 2012-03-23 (All day) America/Denver
Register now for DrupalCon Denver at http://denver2012.drupal.org/
Follow us on Twitter @DrupalCon
This would allow for at least two blocks (maybe three).
With 6 events a month, that means some weeks are going to have two or more in a week. It would be a shame for a casual visitor to only see the next meeting was Monday, but miss out on the meeting on Wednesday.
Maybe I didn't understand what was said earlier about the limitations of the Blue Cheese theme, or the permissions granted to the Organizers. Maybe this can't be easily simplified. But if it can, I think it should.
The voting widget, "posted
The voting widget, "posted by", list of organizers, etc. are all in how the teaser is themed. I believe Mike and I already linked to the relevant issues for the theme's development and deployment. Here are two more:
#951114: Support all screen sizes
http://drupal.org/node/951114
#1074224: Redesign groups homepage for authenticated users
http://drupal.org/node/1074224
Is anyone interested in working together to clean up the theme so that it looks better for our groups? I've already put these in the LA Drupal issues wiki at http://groups.drupal.org/node/200238
Less crowded Event Teasers
Of course I am happy to help out where I can. But I'm not sure this is so much a theming issue as a permissions issue. Without seeing what access the organizers have, I don't know what can and can't be done with my suggestions above.
Most of the discussion so far was about the length of the teaser and the tab order. Did I miss something? I guess when Mike said, "I know its drupal but its not the way GDO has been setup. so funny thing is, we can't," extends to field layout as well (?)
My bigger question is: do all the local user groups need to march in lock-step with GDO? Or is their a mechanism where they can use a custom node--teaser.tpl.php? Is there any way they can utilize their own css?
If the answer to both of those is a resounding "no" then I guess it would be necessary to work with GDO to develop a "better" (or more flexible) teaser.tpl.php. Again, happy to help out here. Just making sure my opinions/desires for a more limited Event Teaser are shared by the community.
I'm happy to table this discussion until y'all get beck from Drupalcon if you want.
Thanks.
Thanks.