Bitcoin Weekly's New Look

[kiba]

If you want to learn more about programing and CSS, working on an existing CMS would help you too if you need to start messing with plugins or customizing themes. What people have done can also serve as a basis for learning, either because it's really bad or it's really good.

Dunno. I thought ruby on rails is a platform.

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[Xephan]

If you want to learn more about programing and CSS, working on an existing CMS would help you too if you need to start messing with plugins or customizing themes. What people have done can also serve as a basis for learning, either because it's really bad or it's really good.

Dunno. I thought ruby on rails is a platform.

Ruby on Rails is a programming framework written in Ruby, it isn't specifically tailored for use as a particular application platform. There are many sites out there which discuss the pros and cons of using RoR. It works better for certain purposes and not for others.

CMS platforms like Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla are made specifically to enable content sites such as webzine and blogs.

So unless your intention is to develop a CMS platform based on RoR, it doesn't make sense to spend time hammering away at RoR when better and immediately usable solutions exist. The time saved from making the site look good could be better invested in new articles and learning new things that could be more useful for your career.

[Serge]

+1 to post above

my honest feedback: when i sow your site it wasn't worth spending any time on it , it straight up told me - there's nothing to see

You don't like the look now? I thought I improved it quite a bit.

You did improve and I'll give you that. But it is still too plain and boring.. (keep in mind i hate slashdot/reddit designs as well, it feels they were done by coders with no sense for usability and aesthetics)

such 'design' as yours i do locally developing stuff, when functionality done - it needs to be brought to life with stylizing, typefaces, color pallets/contrast, all little details such as borders, separators, different backgrounds etc all need to work in harmony to provide pleasant user experience) - with all that, minimalistic feel can be achieved to let readers focus on content in a cozy, comfy way/environment.
just to give a couple of examples I like zappos.com design  here from community bitcoinwatch.com .. there are tons of good examples  just search in google design tutorials and you will see plenty of minimal blogs that don't push away their readers but provide pleasant user experience to focus readers on tutorials and ads

your site sends clear subliminal message to me "i'm not ready to see the world just yet"

[Serge]

if your main goal to learn php.. setup local apache/php/mysql and have at it or keep working on the site and dismiss my design critique as it is totally irellevant to php dev.
but if your goal developing successful site, good professional looking design will play a major role in it.

[kiba]

CMS platforms like Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla are made specifically to enable content sites such as webzine and blogs.

I used Drupal for the last bitcoinweekly website. It was ghetto and horrible.

The time saved from making the site look good could be better invested in new articles and learning new things that could be more useful for your career.

I could have hire a designer or buy a template and be done with it. I don't need to go full CMS. Thus, from a tradeoff perspective, it would be better that I wait a few more weeks after my dollars are translated into bitcoin(Why? So I can support the bitcoin economy) and spent that time investigating technologies, reducing my OODA loop latency, or any number of beneficial activities.

It is also uncertain to me what CMS that I should use for ruby on rails. My job will be forcing me to use a CMS framework probably pretty soon, though right now I am working on an ecommerce site. This provide me an automatic avenue of investigation and if I think the tradeoff in converting Bitcoin Weekly to use a rails CMS is good enough, I will convert to it.

Right now, I have more pressing needs concerning revenues:

1. Upgrade the VPS so that I can run bitcoind on it.

2. Write the ransom system.

3. Follow through on the verbal deal that I made with tcatm.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion. I am a much more rational businessman.

[Serge]

your best bet probably would be getting a template from one of template selling sites..

http://themeforest.net/   is a good one

good designers cost good penny or btc in this case

[Serge]

Drupal is massive and complex so as Joomla. 

WP is very elegant to run a simple blog type of site and sophisticated enough to turn it into backbone of any other type of site.
It is effortless just keep adding content that's all

[Xephan]

I used Drupal for the last bitcoinweekly website. It was ghetto and horrible.

I have to agree Drupal has a steep learning curve and isn't the most user-friendly to start with, especially if you don't have a PHP background. But Wordpress should do fine, most of the time, I don't even need to tell my clients how to use it once it's setup.

I could have hire a designer or buy a template and be done with it. I don't need to go full CMS. Thus, from a tradeoff perspective, it would be better that I wait a few more weeks after my dollars are translated into bitcoin(Why? So I can support the bitcoin economy) and spent that time investigating technologies, reducing my OODA loop latency, or any number of beneficial activities.

Huh? You could get Wordpress installed with a new theme in less than 30 minutes without paying a single cent. So from a trade-off perspective, be it in terms of MHash/sec or value of your personal time, or the long term success of your site, it doesn't make sense for you to keep doing the work of a CMS developer when you are supposed to be an editor/writer for Bitcoin weekly.

The rational businessman focus on spending time/resources where value adding work cannot be substituted, not in those areas where ready made solutions exist. In the case of Bitcoin Weekly, writing new original articles and perhaps drawing new comics are the value add, not trying to roll your own CMS and webzine theme when so many free one exists.

It is also uncertain to me what CMS that I should use for ruby on rails. My job will be forcing me to use a CMS framework probably pretty soon, though right now I am working on an ecommerce site. This provide me an automatic avenue of investigation and if I think the tradeoff in converting Bitcoin Weekly to use a rails CMS is good enough, I will convert to it.

Frankly speaking, for a CMS, I'd recommend you don't bother with finding on for RoR. RoR is a really niche language (even Twitter decided to abandon it for their middle/backend) and so there are less options for a CMS and correspondingly even less available themes and plugins you can just download and use.

So unless your job is forcing you to use a RoR CMS, you're better off getting a hang of the big 3 CMS. You've already tried Drupal, so it's down to Wordpress or Joomla

Right now, I have more pressing needs concerning revenues:

1. Upgrade the VPS so that I can run bitcoind on it.

2. Write the ransom system.

3. Follow through on the verbal deal that I made with tcatm.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion. I am a much more rational businessman.

1. You're going to start your own pool?

[AtlasONo]

Soo much unused space

[kiba]

Huh? You could get Wordpress installed with a new theme in less than 30 minutes without paying a single cent. So from a trade-off perspective, be it in terms of MHash/sec or value of your personal time, or the long term success of your site, it doesn't make sense for you to keep doing the work of a CMS developer when you are supposed to be an editor/writer for Bitcoin weekly.

My value proposition is no longer writing and editing, though I occasionally write an article. I exercise very little editorial control. What I merely did was I write a system that allow writers to review their work, thus removing me from the loop almost altogether. Then I encourage them to write in a very specific mindset. The last step I need to do is write down the policies and guideline of how Bitcoin Weekly writes article.

Instead, my time is spent on a lot on programming the CMS or promoting the content.

So unless your job is forcing you to use a RoR CMS, you're better off getting a hang of the big 3 CMS. You've already tried Drupal, so it's down to Wordpress or Joomla

Wordpress seems to be the best choice. Find a couple of plugin and be done with it. On the other hand, I like too much learning ruby on rails development.

I care about others appreciating my magazine and efficiency and making money, yes. But I also like doing rails development, therefore I will trade some fun for some inefficiency. End of story.

1. You're going to start your own pool?

Inaccurate. I need it because my business model needs it, unless there's a less hassle free way to do it. Manually ransoming articles and paying people takes quite a bit of time each week. I wish to automate that drudgery away.

[Xephan]

My value proposition is no longer writing and editing, though I occasionally write an article. I exercise very little editorial control. What I merely did was I write a system that allow writers to review their work, thus removing me from the loop almost altogether. Then I encourage them to write in a very specific mindset. The last step I need to do is write down the policies and guideline of how Bitcoin Weekly writes article.

Instead, my time is spent on a lot on programming the CMS or promoting the content.

Wordpress seems to be the best choice. Find a couple of plugin and be done with it. On the other hand, I like too much learning ruby on rails development.

I care about others appreciating my magazine and efficiency and making money, yes. But I also like doing rails development, therefore I will trade some fun for some inefficiency. End of story.

Ah, ok, I see I've misunderstood your role in Bitcoin Weekly, apologies for that

In which case yes, since your purpose is to enjoy doing Rails, it would make sense personally to continue doing this since the only reason left to move to something like Wordpress is to promote the content more efficiently by leveraging their built-in SEO. Have fun with Rails

But our comments about appearance being important still stand though

[kiba]

IF you guys have aesthetic suggestion, I am happy to hear them.

Also, I am happy to feedback, negative or otherwise on the look of Bitcoin Weekly.