Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rocklee]

I'm going to try and inject some life into a blog project that I started months ago but never got to finish. I have only just started to get into a habit of keeping a blog and it is a great idea for keeping tab on how one has been progressing in their life, however I'm not so experienced in what works for everyone as I designed it to "just work". A quick background check, Its been almost 5 years since I was actively involved in web programming and graphic design. I only just got back into the game early this year only to desert it again when I came to Korea.

Anyway, this is sort of what it looks like (sorry if the picture is not clear) :



I am using some CSS, but its mostly everyday HTML and a bit of javascript. I am not that familiar with CSS, but I'll be learning how to use it if I want to allow users to change their default templates.

Right now the main blog allows the following :

- avatar identification for each blogger
- a description for each blog entry (subject, description and content)
- formatted text including tables (users can change their fonts, add smilies and HTML tables)
- thumbnails or images (which gets reduced if they are bigger than the content window)
- the number of comments added to each blog and who added the last one)
- users leaving comments can also post images, smilies and even quotes

Blog options
- add a new blog
- view current and personal blog (if you are already logged on)

Blog search (wordgraph)
- search for most popular topics found (not working yet I just created some text to see what it looks like)

Top posting bloggers
- list the top 10 or 20 bloggers

Recent Blogs
- list 10 of the most recently added blogs (either all or just yours)


Things not yet implemented or isn't working yet :
- calendar requires a bit of code to do, just wondering if this is important on a blog
- Blog search, thinking about what search method to use without resorting to using another page or popup window
- RSS, I think I'm the last person on earth to know what this do mainly because I don't really like being tied to the internet every minute of the day, however it seems to be useful to some people
- embedded media like a music player feeding off a playlist

Design wise, you can see that I haven't done much about it just yet. I do prefer to have a few curves here and there rather than all the boxes and straight lines, however I am thinking of allowing users to submit their own templates for their blogs. Question is how to do that!

So blogging veterans, please lend me your advice.

[jazblanc77]

The main thing I want in a blog is to be able to customise it VERY easily. I am literate in HTML and slightly so in CSS, but it would be nice if there was blogging software that would allow changes in appearance with the click of a button. By customisability, I mean things like controlling single, dual, or triple column layout, fluid or fixed, layout control (show a calendar, categories, recent posts, friends/links, rolling feed, polls, counters, etc - all incorporated into the program, not just as an addon), changing the background and banner by just entering an image location, colors, fonts, upload images, insert music/video player (perhaps a java player), WYSIWYG text editor, etc. All of this should be able to be done without having to edit code.

In terms of multi-user capabilities and RSS, I couldn't give the slightest if they weren't present in a software pack.

One of the things I actually like about MT, which I am using now, is that it allows the user to mass edit archival posts for things like date, categories, etc. I also like the calendar, though it included in the default template anymore, since v3.0.

I think most users, especially those who use MT, would agree that spam protection, user control (IP ban), and enhanced comment control are good functions to have.

[zappadelta]

The one I'm using, Typepad, is good for everything you mentioned there Jaz. It costs a little money, but I think it's worth it. I find it very easy to use.

[The King of Kwangju]

Are you trying to solve a problem, rocklee, or are you just doing this for fun, to see if you can make some blog software?

If you're doing it for fun, nice start.

If you're doing this for others to use, I would start with what the current blog software packages don't do, and build from that. You might even want to build on an open source pacjage, which will save you a lot of work. You could do a lot by making a good Moveable Type template.

As far as design is concerned, most blogs follow the same pattern, a main column with the posts, and a sidebar. Dan Cederholm made some breakthru templates for blogger, but that was years ago. Nothing has changed much since.

I've wondered what a newspaper style blog would look like - 4 columns, with post summaries in each and links to the full story. Or making the main page look like a magazine article, just one post on it, and comments to the fore.

Sad thing about comments - they are often hidden in the interior, but in a good blog, they are as important - and as good - as the main story.

Personally, I never look at a calendar. it doesn't tell you much. But maybe if it had other information, like meetup dates, holidays, and posts from other blogs?

And yes, you need RSS. And all your presentation should be done with CSS.

Luckily, RSS is easy. CSS can be hard, though.

[rocklee]

Thanks for the feedback.

At first I was doing it for myself as I didn't really like what was out there (wordpress etc). I also have my own website, so I thought why not I try writing an online software as an add-on to my site.

[jazblanc77]

[rocklee]

[dbee]

If you're building an application OP, you'll need to put it all on a database and use a scripting language like php to make it all dynamic. The php and the css will be the part that takes all of your time I'd imagine.

Check out oswd.org for some blog templates that you can use, and get some ideas from. You might think about going to hotscripts.com and checking out some of the open source blog apps that they have on there as well, while you're at it.

[rocklee]

Thanks dbee. Actually, I'm basing the blog on a forum that I built on, so its feeding from the user table and blog tables that I created on the database. And yes, I'm using PHP to make it dynamic. The link you gave me was very helpful as I need a lot of help on design layout, thanks for that!

I noticed that for some blogs, they either have :

1. the content listed on the same page as other blog entries (comments are on another page)

2. a title and maybe a description that links to another page with all the comments

Which do you guys think is a more preferred standard?

BTW, is there a software that will allow me to design a WYSIWYG CSS based web page? I'd like to know more about how CSS work by cross checking the source codes.