site critique: tcal 2

dangerman

Hi folks,

I was wondering if people can take a look at the newly revised http://tcal.net/

It is generally very beta-ey and buggy so be careful.

Some points:

#1. It requires javascript. In a perfect world I will add code so it degrades gracefully, but beta beta beta, thats my excuse.

#2. I'm going out on a limb using AJAX for the commenting. It works for me in Firefox and IE6 which covers 86.7% of visitors. I'm hoping it will be ok in Safari (2.9%) but I can't test this myself so any comments on this are particularly useful. It doesn't appear to work in Opera. I have a distinct feeling I may have to roll away from the ajax simply because it'll cause people problems. TCAL points to a huge amount of broadband content anyway so return users are more likely to be at least modern browser enabled, but I know, it's bad usability.

#3. I'm aware that going live with a site in this state could be considered bad practice, but TCAL is for fun and I have some time right now to get this out.

#4. It validates xml. At least it did a little while ago...

#5. I'm not sure how I feel myself about the 'submit a link' 'popular posts' and 'register & post' pop-up divs, try em on, I'm very open to suggestions on those ones. Register & Post is close to just a place holder.

#6 There's some very dirty layout code in there, which I'm a little embarassed about but will fix soon.

I appreciate comments on the look & feel, and as per the above I'm very interested in the comments feature. I've no problem with people leaving bogus comments, if I spot them I'll delete them. To try the ajaxified stuff, just browse to http://tcal.net/ and click on the comment graphic or text at the bottom of each post.

Update: Bleh. Almost certainly gonna get rid of the ajax stuff and go back to bog standard wordpress stuff.

Thanks a mill,

danger.

edit: if interested you can read more on my thinking behind the design here: http://tcal.net/archives/2005/09/20/tcal-20-a-geek-update/ .

cgarvey

If the AJAX is clicking on the Comments (x) link, being able to see comments and reply, then that works in Safari. At least I presume it does. When I post a commend (with no email address), the WP comments PHP page tells me I'm missing required details. Looks good though!!

.cg

dangerman

yeh that's it. It's small, but it's at least a starting point to play around with.

Cheers.

cgarvey

Yup absolutely .. and there are many benefits , even of that small snip .. works fine in Safari 2+ anyway!

.cg