The big ol’ Site-Wide To-Do list

Here it is in all its glory, so everyone is aware of what I’m working on. I will be adding to it as things come up, and crossing things off. FEEL FREE to add to it, make suggestions, and give feedback. And no, you are not “bugging” me if you have an issue that you feel is small. I want everyone to be happy - it’s the Mom in me I guess. I also need to prioritize this list.

To Do:
- SpamKarma2 plugin: move so it is auto-enabled for everyone and users are not bothered with admin screen & settings. Will also get rid of annoying emails it sends and make my job easier, as some users have abandoned blogs due to spam comments, yet failed to turn on plugins to handle it (or even ask for help).

- investigate display issues and Rich Text Editor. If you have problems, you can turn off the usual buttons for simpler ones by going to your profile. Scroll down the page and way at the bottom is a ticky box. Uncheck it and save. I don’t use the fancier editor myself.

- fix the error showing above the Flickr widget
- install code to show how much upload space users have left

- check on all themes that needed tweaks (needs list)
- install new themes, if needed. (You can suggest ones from here, if you find one you love.)
- work on my own themes for here
- install more widgets and plugins
- add video plugin to make embedded videos easier to display
- make Adspace widget. Mostly so you have one that is labelled as such, for clarity. It will function the same as a text widget.
- redo the layout of the main page/blog (same colors, just shuffling things around)
- write some code to separate the link & blog categories as the developers changed it and are not changing it back
- write/modify code to add more export options, including an easily-readable version.
- add ability for users to delete blog
- fix Most Recent Member Posts to show a bit of the entry
- make demo blog so people can test drive before signing up. Hopefully this will cut down on abandoned blogs.
- add options pages to existing themes

Feedback needed: I know, it’s hard to suggest features if you don’t know exactly what is available and what we can do, so here’s a list.

- Do you want to stick with the support blog, or would you (the users) prefer a support forum? The link to the support blog is at the bottom of every admin page.
If I stick with support blog, then I have to:
- write more support articles
- add code to auto-add users to support blog so everyone can post there too.
- There’s an admin bar available for the site, much like the top toolbar that Blogger has.

And to finish, I know some people would love to have editable themes where they can tinker with the HTML & CSS. After much discussion, Ron and I have decided not to go this route for security and support reasons. We will, however, have more themes with extensive options pages like Striped Plus. If you are looking for to control your blog that extensively, we always suggest getting the full version of Wordpress that is hosted on your own webspace. Eventually, we may decide to have the option of a paid version of HSJ where you can do that, but that would also involve (for us) upgrading our webhosting to a more expensive package.

Posted by Andrea on 08-25-2006 at 12:08 pm
Posted in Uncategorized with 7 Comments

Little things

Ther’es a few small extras that you might not have noticed. Text widgets have been increased to 12. I added a Flickr Widget, where you need to put the RSS feed address off your Flickr page in the field, NOT your Flickr username. Otherwise you get our photos. :D  I’ve also added Life’s Little Instructions to the Admin bar. Now when you are in the backend, a small instruction will appear on the medium blue bar, way over on the right, in white letters. It’s very unobtrusive, and just my way of appreciating you all. I added a couple extra, and I’m open to adding more small, brief statements, even homeschooling quotes.

Also, I’ll be working on making, prioritizing and posting a master to-do list here. Now that the renovations in my house are looking like they will actually come to an end at some point, I’ll be able to spend a few chunks of time getting down to some serious business here. Even if it’s just getting things sorted out and answering emails. You can get your thinking caps on for feature requests too.

Posted by Andrea on 08-24-2006 at 02:08 pm
Posted in new features, Site Related with 3 Comments