One of the things I thought about for one of my sites was a Wiki - it's another piece of software but the advantage is that all the technical stuff is kept together, leaving the forum for banter and meetupsboard said:
ZRoadster.org Homepage
- Thread starter board
- Start date
I like the Italian site too. What we have at the moment is more of a default setup on the homepage and I can switch the gallery to be similar to that of the Italian site. I've been trying to get the functionality that everyone wants while not having a blank page to look at 
I was also thinking of a wiki too but wasn't sure which would be easiest to setup. I have been thinking over the last few days and while we can edit a lot of code to do what everyone wants, I think, where possible, we should keep things as simple and standard as possible using existing freely available plugins. That way if someone wants to take the site on in the future it should be relatively easy to do so.
We have various wiki options available to us but I'll have a look to see if there are any we can just drop in to Wordpress without any issue. If anyone has experience of something that works then let me know. If anyone has development skills then feel free to get involved. This isn't a closed doors deal where if you have something to offer we won't take you up on it, any help is certainly welcome.
With regard to the users online on the front page, this is something I want to get working. I have the framework but I think we need to get the forum and front page in the right file structure for it to work correctly. So if we can get the front page in some sort of state that we are happy to have as a landing page then we can build from there. I will create a development copy of the site so we can break it elsewhere when trying stuff out but there may be a short bit of downtime while we switch stuff around
All feedback is good feedback. Gary Hyde can testify that I don't take offence very easily at all so if you think something is crap or a bad idea then don't hold back
I was also thinking of a wiki too but wasn't sure which would be easiest to setup. I have been thinking over the last few days and while we can edit a lot of code to do what everyone wants, I think, where possible, we should keep things as simple and standard as possible using existing freely available plugins. That way if someone wants to take the site on in the future it should be relatively easy to do so.
We have various wiki options available to us but I'll have a look to see if there are any we can just drop in to Wordpress without any issue. If anyone has experience of something that works then let me know. If anyone has development skills then feel free to get involved. This isn't a closed doors deal where if you have something to offer we won't take you up on it, any help is certainly welcome.
With regard to the users online on the front page, this is something I want to get working. I have the framework but I think we need to get the forum and front page in the right file structure for it to work correctly. So if we can get the front page in some sort of state that we are happy to have as a landing page then we can build from there. I will create a development copy of the site so we can break it elsewhere when trying stuff out but there may be a short bit of downtime while we switch stuff around
All feedback is good feedback. Gary Hyde can testify that I don't take offence very easily at all so if you think something is crap or a bad idea then don't hold back
Switched it to a light grey theme for now and got rid of the 3D banner in favour of a fading banner which now means it looks a bit cleaner. I'm still not sure on the banner but I think with a small selection of top images it might be a nice touch. NeRo suggested a wiki plugin which I have installed so that gives us a nice option there which I think will be better than a traditional FAQ.
from what I have been reading, a number of you have done some nice road trips, zed and not zed related. If anyone is interested in writing them up then how about we have a road trips section?
Cheers,
James
from what I have been reading, a number of you have done some nice road trips, zed and not zed related. If anyone is interested in writing them up then how about we have a road trips section?
Cheers,
James
We figured a week was long enough to be playing about with the site so have put the front section live now so we can tweak it as we would like it to be.
We will use the logo in the top left of the forum to link back to the front pages but for now it's a case of typing the address in the address bar, not ideal but we'll sort it
We will use the logo in the top left of the forum to link back to the front pages but for now it's a case of typing the address in the address bar, not ideal but we'll sort it
Just seen the new homepage,i like it :-bd
springer
Dedicated Member
Hate to agree with the "Martian" 
but the Homepage does look good.
Only suggestion I would like to make is change the print to black or a darker colour,not grey and pale blue, I think it makes it difficult to read3
but the Homepage does look good.Only suggestion I would like to make is change the print to black or a darker colour,not grey and pale blue, I think it makes it difficult to read
3
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2011
- Points
- 226
- Location
- Langley Mill
- Model of Z
- Z4 3.0si Individual Ruby Black Last one produced in this colour combo
I like it too, but is it possible to have the log in on the front screen and then linked direct to forum *-
bill
bill
The ticker should be grey now, we are limited for colours on that one and they aren't the best. It's a flash plugin so I'm looking for something to replace it so it's universally friendly.
We'll work on the colours more over the next few weeks as well so we get it as friendly as possible. The next stage is to link the two systems (forum and Wordpress) so they talk to each other and then you will get your universal login on the front page.
Cheers,
James
We'll work on the colours more over the next few weeks as well so we get it as friendly as possible. The next stage is to link the two systems (forum and Wordpress) so they talk to each other and then you will get your universal login on the front page.
Cheers,
James
Should have gone to Specsavers thenspringer said:Hate to agree with the "Martian"
Only suggestion I would like to make is change the print to black or a darker colour,not grey and pale blue, I think it makes it difficult to read
the ZRoadster.org at the top of this page now links back to the home page
springer
Dedicated Member
You just like the sheep advertMAURICE THE MARTIAN said:Should have gone to Specsavers thenspringer said:Hate to agree with the "Martian"
Only suggestion I would like to make is change the print to black or a darker colour,not grey and pale blue, I think it makes it difficult to read
3
The homepage now has the bridge enabled so you can login to the forum from the front end and it pulls back information to the home page. This also enables you to use the chat function on the home page.
What you type is visible to all including guests so please bear this in mind when you are using the function.
The bridge software is a little buggy so we need to see how it works out and may have to wait for an update as there seem to be some issues with it slowing down wordpress and also it throws an error when updating pages on the site so please report any issues that you see so we can check them out.
Hopefully this is now coming together into what you are looking for from a site. Let me know if you prefer to have the recent posts scrolling on the right side of every page or if you prefer to have the chat and forum login information over there. i think having both the left and right columns on every page is too much as we will want to get lots of content on some pages so restrict it to one or no columns. It's easy to switch those items around so just let me know what you think and we can go with the majority.
Thanks for not staying on too late tonight as it meant i could get this done at a more reasonable hour
Cheers,
James
What you type is visible to all including guests so please bear this in mind when you are using the function.
The bridge software is a little buggy so we need to see how it works out and may have to wait for an update as there seem to be some issues with it slowing down wordpress and also it throws an error when updating pages on the site so please report any issues that you see so we can check them out.
Hopefully this is now coming together into what you are looking for from a site. Let me know if you prefer to have the recent posts scrolling on the right side of every page or if you prefer to have the chat and forum login information over there. i think having both the left and right columns on every page is too much as we will want to get lots of content on some pages so restrict it to one or no columns. It's easy to switch those items around so just let me know what you think and we can go with the majority.
Thanks for not staying on too late tonight as it meant i could get this done at a more reasonable hour
Cheers,
James
Snoops
Zorg Addict
I do like the new Zroadster logo but the one on the home page is quite large isn't it :-o
yes i was thinking that too thought i would leave it for a few days to see how i felt about it but i think it's too big and in your face. i'll remove it from there when i get chance
thought i would leave it for a few days to see how i felt about it but i think it's too big and in your face. i'll remove it from there when i get chance
Snoops
Zorg Addict
board said:yes i was thinking that too
Why don't you just reduce the size of the image but maybe put a nice shadow border around? I would say about half the size it is but it needs a "frame"... IMHO
I'll see if I can have a play tomorrow. It could replace the text logo area but not sure about that yet. If anyone feels like having a go at it feel free the whole image needs to remain the same size so it doesn't get squashed or stretched when it sizes to the display area.
the whole image needs to remain the same size so it doesn't get squashed or stretched when it sizes to the display area.