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Plugins Bleg

As you’ve seen recently, I’m still getting cozy over here at OFK 2.0, with many adjustments to the template, etc.  Since the last template didn’t get the best reviews, I’m almost afraid to ask for your comments on this one … but I must, because the site is for you.

The one technical problem I can’t solve how to put up headline and blogs feeds, beginning with my friends at DPRK Studies.  I tried installing codes from feedroll into this and several other templates, but without luck.  They’d display intermittently; then, they’d just vanish.  So, if anyone knows of a WordPress compatible plugin, code, or anything else that I can use to display RSS feeds from blogs and newswires, I’d be much obliged.  One strong preference would be to avoid installing an aggregator that mixes up the content of different sources.  Personally, I like them sorted.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can assist.  That little envelope in the upper left hand corner is my e-mail contact.

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34 Responses

  1. So sad you changed it so soon. I saw the reviews for the last template but it was definitely better (and more interesting) than this one.
    Graphic design is more my forte than is web design and development so my comments address aesthetic function…

    Main issues:
    -Lincoln’s quote is not in the blog banner and the banner is missing from every individual post’s page. I honestly never get tired of seeing either and frequently find inspiration in both. Nothing could be more relevant on the blog banner than that quote.
    -The blue on white on manila looks way too soft. I’m used to some kind of harder, darker, or redder anthem.
    -About 1/3 of the page isn’t being used. Accessible information is usually from edge to edge. To keep readers from feeling inundated, the layout can easily be made more welcoming with simple text face modifications [ie: bold, different colors, etc].
    I don’t know if I should say this but for example, Richardson’s layout is made navigable through coordinated text sizes, colors, and arrangement.

    Excuse me in advance if I unnecessarily explained something petty in the last point… Anyway, I hope you resolve your technical issues.

  2. The Lincoln quote and the satellite pice will definitely go in, when I find exactly the right place and style. Please elaborate on “coordinated text sizes, colors, and arrangement.” Any constructive suggestion is appreciated.

  3. The other style didn’t bother me. This one is a little less user friendly to the eye to me.

    But, the one suggestion I do want to make regard the “recent comments” area off the main page on the right.

    If possible, try to set it up like Marmot’s Hole does – where the comments come under a heading with the blog post’s name —— instead of just leaving it where each new comment is presented after the commenter’s name.

    It helps to know what topic the comment is coming under.

  4. For instance, the main body text (the one I am typing in right now) is the same size as the module link text is.
    Basically, to further distinguish content from everything else, I would opt to make the body text bigger and the module text smaller, increasing the gap between text sizes.
    I wish I could give more detailed elaboration, but I don’t know what you will do with the modules as they are right now.

    Call me crazy, but another suggestion would be collapsible menus (similar to what you did with the last template); though, I don’t know how much work this would take…
    It would ultimately leave more space for frequent use items like “Recent Comments” and would also bestow more control to on-site readers.
    In any case, the whole right module would greatly benefit from such a feature.

    If that sounds out of the question, I would stick to keeping the module text small; the more we can see, the less we have to scroll.

  5. I kindof like the continuous changes. Every day I wake up and think, “hmm, I wonder what OFK will look like today.”

    Honestly, if you’re putting this up to a vote, my favorite layout was TKL, because it was really the first blog I got into (guess it’s a little nistalgic, or maybe I just haven’t been looking at blogs for very long).

    DPRK Studies looks similar to TKL, but I can’t post there anymore. Something about the site not liking my computer (I think it was for disagreeing with James in a post…).

  6. I was actually thinking what Dylan was thinking about collapsible menus, which is also what I really liked about the other template. If anyone knows where I can find the plugin, I’d greatly appreciate it.

  7. I don’t have any ideas on how to make your blog work better, but that’s not why I read it. You are able to put your thoughts and ideas together in a logical, thoughtful and insightful manner. I find what you have to say extremely interestong. Keep up the good work.

  9. Well, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, because I’ve about had it with this coding crap, and because I truly appreciate those words.

  10. I second Brent and Red’s comments.

    Format is a ‘nice to have’ vice a ‘have to have’.

    Put your money (read ‘time’) where it will do the most good.

    There’s an old saying in project engineering:

    90% of the tasks are accomplished using only 10% of the available resources; that other 10% eats up the remaining 90%

    What am I trying to say(?):

    Do what you’re good at … some dickin’ around with the ‘stupid details’. We don’t come to yours and Richardson’s sites to look at the ‘stupid details’!!

  11. It’s much improved than previous ones. Sorry I can’t help you with anything technical. I would have thought richardson and james would have helped out. I guess richardson’s busy with his as well.
    anything worth doing is worth doing well.

    I thought your blog seemed more promising than other blogs. The reason being you held interviews. And they were exclusives. Many bloggers pick an article or something from among zillions of onlline places and frankly anyone can do that. I’m looking forward to your next interview. Have you tried Dr Rice ? Or even Asst Hill ?

    One other thing.. I know no translations perfect but, might not there be a better translation for your President Lincoln’s quote ? I don’t think it says the same thing.

  12. Ghola,

    You’re right. It doesn’t say exactly the same thing, His Korean translates to (roughly) “One country should not be divided into a free state and a slave state.”

    However, direct translations between these two languages are not that easy…

    노예국가와 자유국가로 반분됀 나라가 오래가지 않다…

    “A country divided into a free state and slave state cannot endure.”

  13. Josh — I see not all agree, but I sincerely think this new iteration is more user-friendly. It may not be as sexy, but using it is intuitive and less confusing.

    (Note, I am drawing a distinction between graphic design and user-friendliness. Both are important and they work together, but they are different things. The last iteration looked great, but it was a bit confusing to use.)

    I want to echo what several others have said — thank you for all the time you put in on your site. And if you have limited time (which I’m sure is the case), once you get this layout to a point where you half-way like it, I would just leave it as is and focus on writing [note, if that point is now, you can stop reading after this paragraph — the following are not big items]. That is indeed why we all come!

    For this version, just a few small bits of feedback. The banner is a little wider than my screen, though i’m probably old fashioned (my laptop displays at 1024×768).

    And as others mentioned, if you move up some of the good stuff (recent comments, about) that’s currently lower down in the middle column to the now-blank (at least at the top) right-hand column, that would be cool.

    Also, the hyperlinked text doesn’t stand out much from the regular text — you might try setting that style to bold.

    Finally, I’m not a big fan of small fonts, especially when long passages of text are involved. Strains the eyes.

    ps, a couple link suggestions:
    HHK has its own website now – http://helpinghandskorea.org
    also, if you link to LiNK, you might want to add another link to their blog, which seems to be updated much more frequently – http://www.xanga.com/linkorea

  15. Red, You weren’t purposely blocked at DPRK Studies – it was the ‘Bad Behavior’ anti-spam plug-in that can be over zealous at times . The IPs you’ve posted from have been ‘whitelisted,’ so the plug-in should allow you to comment there now. I’m truly sorry for the inconvenience.

    If anyone else is having the same issue, please let me know; help [at] dprkstudies [dot] org.

  16. Indeed. There is no way I could have done this without Richardson’s help, so a big thank you to him here and now.

  17. Joshua,
    I agree with Danb on text size – the posts at least could maybe have a bit larger text, although I think the text in the sidebars is fine. I also suggest (or second the suggestion of) pull-down menus for both categories and archives. WP has native support for both (I’ll send the code to you separately).

  20. I would also like to see the old banner from One Free Korea now that the joint website has split —- I mean the banner with the thumbnail sized pictures of the arirang festival, the Chinese soldiers pulling the North Korean refugees away from the South Korean compound, and other such images you had on one of the last banners you had up at One Free Korea ———- I think it – along with the satallite photo you have been using — really brought home the message in one eye viewing.

  23. I like it too.

    I hope my retranslation didn’t cause you to take the Hangul off the title. Honestly, my translation was probably no better than the one you had. Yours was good, but as I said, direct translations between these two languages are tricky.

  24. I took the hangul off because the font looked like ass when compressed to the smaller size, and b/c I couldn’t find the right place for it. I’ll ruminate on that. Sounds like everyone likes the garish old OFK 1.0 banner. I thought it was too garish.

  25. Joshua, if you don’t already have it, go to Adobe.com and download a trail version of Photoshop. I used it to add hangul to my banner pics, and it added very little overhead in the pic size. It’s ~280MB.

  26. The top part is looking much better.

    You might think about making the thumbnails a little bigger since the main asthetic issue is the amount of gray space you have on the right of the screen after you scroll down a bit.

    That is also the only significant aspect of the most recent old design that I liked better than this one.

  27. Richardson, the problem is really about the font size. Yours looks good b/c it’s larger. If you get smaller, they start to look all pixelly. I do have something very cool in mind, however.

  31. Joshua:

    I like the new setup. It’s very pleasing to the eye.

    Red Forman:

    DPRK Studies looks similar to TKL, but I can’t post there anymore. Something about the site not liking my computer (I think it was for disagreeing with James in a post…).

    Hey, that software locks me out too sometimes. Maybe it’s because I disagreed with myself!

    In all seriousness and as Richardson explained, you were likely blocked from DPRK Studies for software reasons (as I was). Remember I “guest blog” there and have no ultimate say on who is or is not blocked. But I don’t think Richardson would ever block someone for disagreeing with me in a civil manner (name-calling, on the other hand, is a different issue).

    If it were up to me, I would never block someone for disagreeing with me substantively. When Joshua, Richardson and I ran TKL together, I only recommended one person for banning, and that was for using terms like “whore,” “gook,” “chink” and also for some anti-Semitic remarks.

  32. James,

    I know. I posted that because I knew it would get the problem resolved, since I couldn’t post on DPRK Studies.