The IT and web design wizards at the Center for American Progress Action Fund are going to give Climate Progress the first real facelift in more than two years. I am not a person who is particularly visual or expert on web design, so I welcome comments — though it must be said that this will not be a major rehab effort.
Obviously, websites are typically about an inch wider these days. That will be the major change, which will in turn enable us to completely redo the right-hand column.
We’ll move the ad to the right where it will not break up the flow of posts and will generate considerably more page views. Also, we’ll dump the news feed — unless there are very serious objections out there — since the CAPAF interns are helpfully providing what seems to be a more useful extended news highlights of the day. And I’ll turn the archives and Blog Roll into a single line each, the way websites like Wonk Room do.
I’ll probably move the Friedman quote over to the right hand column along with the other recognition the blog has been getting recently. The Time magazine cover will be dropped.
I don’t expect the overall banner design and color scheme to change much, although I’d like it to be thinner (flatter).
If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I can’t promise they will be used, but I can promise they will be considered.
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i’ve always hoped you’d make the column of the main text just a little wider.
For the rest i like the site design, it’s rather sober, but for me that’s a pro.
I’ve added your RSS feed to my reading list. This is a great site. Thanks.
One suggestion for your new site… reserve a space for the latest comments on your posts made by visitors near the top. That way, visitors can witness their interactions combined with the interactions of others, sowing the seeds of collaboration.
Quite a few blog’s have a “comments feed” on the right. I don’t know if that is the correct term but what I mean is a list of the latest comments. This would be worth considering. There is quite a bit of good discussion on this blog, and that could facilitate the discussion.
I’ll add my support for making comments more convenient to access. I come back often to check for new comments.
I’ve found it hard to print things off the blog to share with others–you end up with page after page of filler. other than that, little room for improvement.
You should make the separation from the main posts and the sidebar more clear. See Yglesias blog it looks about as good as anyones.
1) Consider comment numbers.
2) Also, thumbs-up & thumbs-down ratings can be useful feedback.
Truly a great blog, the content more than makes up for any minor formatting or posting issues.
But:
When you add a comment, if there are too many url’s or if this site doesn’t like them for some reason, it won’t add the comment. If you then try again, it says that the comment is a duplicate. Some url’s the site just doesn’t like at all, for some reason.
Also, it would be nice to be able to add graphics, within reason, or at least thumbnails of graphics, to illustrate comment points graphically, and show graphs and charts, hopefully in a way that won’t take too much bandwidth. Maybe your web gurus have some insight into how to add graphic capabilities without killing your web hosting bill. I think it is possible to restrict resolution of graphics using html like this:
A good screenshot: [img=320x240]http://example.com/screenshot.png[/img] will display the image in 320×240 (though the full image will be downloaded).
So, it might be possible to save bandwidth this way, but still allow limited graphics. Or, maybe not, maybe this just changes the way the graphic is displayed, while downloading the whole thing.
Anyway, don’t bankrupt the site! The content is the main thing, and you’ve got really great content.
[JR: Thanks. My spam filter holds up any post with 2 or more URLs. I will try to do a better job of releasing those in a timely fashion! I'll put your various queries to the IT folks.]
You are the best, the most important read…but I wonder how many useful and busy people you lose…because they don’t have the time to read your overwhelming amount of critical knowledge…can you condense?… I really do want more people to read and believe…you need to win!
I know that on subjects close to my heart it is tough to shut me up… I have often been in a quandry… Do I gain converts by overwhelming them or by oversimplyfing the facts… I don’t know…. Good luck, I’m behind you, whatever you decide!
[JR: Thanks! I am trying harder to make it so you can get a lot just from the headlines -- since those go over a Twitter feed. And I'm trying hard not to bury the lede, but put the salient points up front.
My biggest quandary is this. Some people mostly like the science posts. Others like the politics stuff. Others like the solutions stuff. And yet others like the media criticism. So I figure I go in depth most of the time, and let people who are not interested in a post skim it or skip it.]
Widen the text box on OPs. I like the idea of a recent comments section. Please keep Climate Progress text based so I don’t have to buy a new computer just to keep up with Climate Change reading.
I’m actually very happy with the site as is. The information to filler ratio is unusually high for something that doesn’t start with the word “abstract.”
Please, please… make it so that someone who posts a comment then realizes they misspoke or made a typo can go back in and edit their comment. Many other blogs have the ability for the original author of a comment to edit it after it has been posted. This would be a real help.
This is a pretty far fetched request, but I would love to see a “questions” section of the blog. I’ve found climate science to be very complicated and I constantly have questions, but I don’t like interrupting conversations with my questions. I’ve also noticed that there is a vast amount of knowledge from the readers (heck Bill McKibben posts here!), so you wouldn’t have to answer every question, others could. There is a black hole of knowledge on climate change, and a questions section could enhance the greatness of this blog.
I don’t have the extra width. As it is already I have a scroll bar at the bottom to go slightly to the right whne ((rarely) required.
DON’T MAKE IT WIDER! DON’T UPDATE! This computer is a 1996 Macintosh running
System 9.1 with ie 5.1. It originally came with System 7.6. It canNOT be
upgraded further. If you upgrade, your web page will probably be nothing but a
blank page on my computer. If you would like to buy me a new Macintosh,
that would be fine.
To upgrade is to banish loyal followers who don’t happen to have a lot of money
to spend on new computers.
[JR: 96 Mac? You can get a terrific new computer for under $1000 with a gazillion times the performance. Sorry, but I can't keep in the 1990s because a few readers are. You can always go to a library and read it online.]
I second all the recommendations about comments and would add that I’ve seen other websites where you can click on a writer’s name and read all of their past comments. That would be a great feature here.
Otherwise I really like the blog as it is.
Two blogs that I find extremely readable:
http://www.thinkprogress.org (or wonkroom, etc.) – Especially quotations, which you frequently utilize. They also categorize by the article content.
http://www.daringfireball.net – Content is King. No need to make a pretty, flashy site if the content is top-notch.
Other ideas – Could you allow people to create an account and customize the content they see? How about an iPhone/mobile format that is more readable on those platforms?
If you could put the date of a post at the top as well as the bottom that would be helpful. When I click on reference links in your articles, I’m always curious to know when you posted it but I need to scroll to the bottom to find out.
First, let me say that this blog is brilliant. The only problem I could think of is that the search engine is really difficult and awkward to use. It seems to search for the keywords you type in throughout the whole article (as opposed to just the title), which means that searching generally results in simply a list of your latest articles.
For example, when trying to look up the the article where Bill Clinton explains decoupling, I have searched “bill clinton decoupling” which returns a selection of articles, some related to the search, some not. The actual article doesn’t appear, and I have had to follow your ‘related links’ at the end of articles on decoupling to find this piece.
Perhaps a title specific search would help, or an ‘advanced’ search with options to select may fix the problem.
If there is any way you could make posts expand and collapse (similar to fivethirtyeight.com) instead of linking to a separate page when you click “read more”, I’d find that very helpful.
1. keep it clean, simple, fast – no one comes here to be wowed by graphic design – just give me the content with good typography, plenty of white space
2. SEO should be part of the design – read http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/ – consider http://wordpress.org/ extend/ plugins/ all-in-one-seo-pack/
3. make the design accessible – http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
4. make the design semantic – http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/writing-semantic-html
5. install http://wordpress.org/ extend/ plugins/ google-sitemap-generator/ – this will encourage fast indexing by Google
6. enhance comment system, allow registration + editing, increase buzz – perhaps http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/intensedebate/
7. increase allowance for number of links before flagging comments as potential spam
8. optimise performance (Firebug + YSlow are very useful)
I’d like to second Seth’s suggestion (especially as I was going to suggest it myself).
An expand post button, ala Nate Silver’s site, would make navigation considerably easier.
It’s a feature I wish many more blogs had.
[JR: I don't see an "expand post" button on 538. What are you talking about?]
Love your content but would like to see you top it all with headlines first with a quick link to the article to read. Thanks.
The biggest issue I see with the site is that while there is SO much desperately needed info here, it’s so difficult and time-consuming to navigate around the postings to get a good sense of the overall content.
Seems like one way to remedy that would be to have an outline of the site’s topics, arranged by heading and subheading, with links to all posts on each topic. Probably the right sidebar would be a good place for that. For instance, “Stabilization Wedges” would be one heading, and under that would be all 16 of them. To keep the outline from being too long, the actual links to the articles could appear only when you click on the subheadings — for instance, clicking on “Wind Electricity” would cause a list to pop up of all posts mentioning the subject.
That way, right from the first moment someone comes to the site, they would get a sense of the overall content and message presented here (why the situation is so urgent and what we need to do about it).
Please try to make the pages smaller (in kilobytes) as I mostly read this on a smartphone. As it is, it takes something like 30 seconds to load a page – enough to sometimes keep me from doing so. Less is more, keep it simple, etc.
I’d also like to second not making the page a lot wider as when I do read it on a PC, it’s one window open among many.
Thanks for the great site!
Get a graphic designer to work over the layout. You’ve got good taste in colors, but the scheme feels lacking.
I use Firefox live bookmarks. I mouse over the CP bookmark in my favorites and out pops a list of the ~10 most recent posts in a dropdown which I then click on one to go to the page. Once I am done reading the post, I have to go back up to favorites and repeat the process because there is no link to other new posts on the page. Take a look at any of the ScienceBlogs to see what I mean. They have a link to the previous post, main page, and next post at the top of every page. Huge time saver!
Don’t make the same mistakes Grist did!
“Hell and High Water” was the best and most comprehensive book I have read on the issues and this site is the most politically savy of any climate change site that I am aware of. Keep up the great work!
The one thing I would suggest is an easily identifiable way to email the editor with questions and suggestions. Currently I am looking for your recommendations on making comments to the EPA on their recent proposed finding. Are numbers in support important? Are group comments more important than individual ones? Should the comments be comprehensive given the fact that the EPA has all the relevant scientific papers? Would it be better to submit written comments or sign up for one of the live sessions or both? What other recommendations do you have for comment preparation?
This site is quite handsome as blogs go.
Many good suggestions. Here are a few others.
1) a nav line containing below links. click links to try….
Placed on each post title, at the bottom of a page and the bottom of an article.
top * home * reply * posts
…
reply takes you to the comment box.
post displays all post for that individual on site.
2) embedded calendar with all related CC events.
eg (click link…. ) google cal
This can be resized right down if wanted.
3) Some embeded graphics like sea ice extent, CO2 emissions, oil price etc
Can be added with out using much real estate.
Brighter green, instead of the scummy green that makes the flag look like it’s sunk in a swamp. Or even scrap the green, and go to red-white-blue to emphasize that this is a patriotic effort, not some sinister international environmentalist plot to subvert American prosperity.
Shorter articles, with links at the end of an introductory chunk if you want more, would make the email easier to scan through. Like it used to be.
Wiki pages for the FAQs and basic science, with links there for more background. This site is an important portal for public interest, and there should be lots of easy ways to wander further into climate science and even basic physics. The audience is not only experts, but curious voters who would appreciate a little accessible instruction.
While we’re on the subject I have one other issue with this site. Romm often links previous articles in support of the one he is currently composing. This is a time saver for the writer but often obscures the scientific papers supporting a specific conclusion requiring 2, 3, or even 4 links to find the primary source. This is qualitatively different from Delayer/Denier sites whoes articles often link to each other but never get back to any peer reviewed or respected source; however, it does make it awkward to reference Romm’s articles to inform skeptical and naive people.
Would it be possible for an intern or someone to review new posts and reference directly any professional sources relied on in the article?
It’s an American blog, but maybe you should have a globe in the banner because of the reach of this issue.
Joe: My mistake, the expand post button on 538 is actually labelled “There’s more…”
When you click that button it shows you the entire post without taking you to a new, separate page.
1. Keep the discussions separate from the posts. In the time it takes to get a discussion going it gets submerged by new posts, never to be seen again.
2. Avoid being too prescriptive about solutions. No-one knows all the answers – it is presumptious to push hard in any one direction and slap down opposing views. e.g. a few months ago every other post suggested that if we all bought Toyota Priuses GW would be fixed. Personally I think there is a bit more to it than that…
3. GW is a global problem. It requires a global solution which in itself introduces a whole extra level of complexity into the politics – some would say that the global inequalities are the biggest hurdle preventing progress. I would therefore like to see a less US-centric approach on this blog and more focus on global politics.
4. Less on the day-to-day point scoring political minutie surrounding GW. More really well researched and referenced content supported by links to scientific papers, but structured for readers at different levels.
Aside from all these critisisms I really enjoy the blog. Its on my top 3 list of environmental / energy sites that I visit most days.
This is one of my favorite blogs. I love the content: Fierce, intelligent, broadly based, opinionated, up front. Thanks for the amazing gift you give us in it.
I second Craig Hepworth’s suggestion for a topic-based TOC of articles on the site, in a sidebar, left or right. You can use the “there’s more” technique of 538 on the sidebar as well as the main column to make the site more compact as well as responsive.
When you say “we’ll dump the news feed” I hope you don’t mean to dump the rss feed.
stay focused on the content and hiring another research associate.
Put the date of the post at the top of the page rather than the bottom. This goes for the category under which it is classified as well.
De-emphasize the Friedman quote at the top of the page–makes your site look like an advertisement.
Include in the right-hand side (near the top) a glossary of terms such as “stabilization wedge” which new readers will have difficulty understanding; the current search function lists all the posts which use the term but does not identify where it is defined. Longtime readers know what is meant, but a new reader may turn away, thinking this blog is too technical, as wine neophytes turn away from some wine columns/magazines.
The 538 expanding by alphabet or just a search function (The New York Times allows a double click on the word to get a pop-up with an explanation of the term) devoted to a glossary would work.