A big thank you

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A big thank you

Postby phil » Wed Feb 18, 2004 2:36 pm

Just wanted to say a really big "thank you" to Mnemonix for all of the effort he's put into articles for the site. As I've said elsewhere today, he did that excellent article on popper modifications, and tonight should see the publication of his ground-breaking article on Computer-Controlled Roasting.

So a really huge "Thanks, mate!" is in order here. You're a real asset to the site.

Now how are the rest of you coming on with all of your articles? :wink:
La Spaziale Spazio 2 group semi-auto

La Spaziale Lusso grinder (espresso),
Macap MC4 shop grinder (brewed coffee)
Three Thor tampers
Two Hottops, first since Feb 2003
No partridge, no pear tree either
Conas, Zassenhaus hand grinder....
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Postby Raf » Wed Feb 18, 2004 4:24 pm

Hear, hear! Also re the articles: please keep them coming in a steady flow. ;)
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Postby Steve » Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:08 pm

<hides in corner> mines under developemt on the ambex :) honest gov
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Postby Raf » Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:37 am

Phil, just two minor points of lay out:

1. Maybe it's time to remove the "NEW" badge from two or three of the older articles? ;)

2. In the article, it would be nice to have a way to jump from page three back to page one or two, instead of having to use the "back" button. I kind of like the way American news sites handle this, they mostly use < 1 2 3 > with < being the last page and > being the next, you get the idea.
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Postby phil » Thu Feb 19, 2004 11:50 am

As an f y i, ContentExpress provides something a little like this "out of the box". Here's an example :

(Article Title)

(Article Text)

[First] [Previous] [Back to Main Article] [Next] [Last]

What this gives you is the ability to jump to the first or last page. The next, previous or "up a level" options are not really as useful.

The bad news is that when this option is enabled, it also enables all sorts of additional behaviour to do with hierarchical contents. The next version of the package is moving away from this foolishness thank goodness, but the delivery timescales on that keep slipping so I don't know when it'll be available. I'm not prepared to implement the current beta.

Neku - as for your specific suggestion, my push back on that is that when I break an article into multiple sections for readability and quicker loading, I don't think that jumping from page 2 to an unspecified sub-topic on page 5 is all that helpful.

What I have seen, and I think is more useful, is a list of the page contents for each page in the article at the base of every page and the opportunity to jump to any page from that list. Check out this (rather extreme) example.

Now you've got me going on the subject of layout, what's bothering me is the amount of white space I'm having to leave around in order to place text and the appropriate illustrations together. Page 2 of the CCR article is a classic example.

I have a number of options here:
  • Use thumbnails and pop-ups (fettled by a bit of javascript)
  • Again using js, bring up related images on a click (Example - the picture of the thermocouple electronics that M built, and the associated circuit diagram - I could do a "click here" (or "click on the picture") to see the circuit diagram)
  • Stop worrying about it and leave it as it is
  • Stop worrying about it and let the pictures go where they will, as long as the text flows nicely around them (in this case I think I need captions though)
  • Some combination of all of this stuff
Views on the suggestions please.
La Spaziale Spazio 2 group semi-auto

La Spaziale Lusso grinder (espresso),
Macap MC4 shop grinder (brewed coffee)
Three Thor tampers
Two Hottops, first since Feb 2003
No partridge, no pear tree either
Conas, Zassenhaus hand grinder....
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phil
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Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2003 12:05 pm
Location: Swindon, UK

Postby Raf » Thu Feb 19, 2004 11:58 am

phil wrote:Neku - as for your specific suggestion, my push back on that is that when I break an article into multiple sections for readability and quicker loading, I don't think that jumping from page 2 to an unspecified sub-topic on page 5 is all that helpful.


No, but the other way around may be useful: when you've finished the article, you might want to explore some points on page 2 in depth, without having to pass by pages 4 and 3 first, or without going back to page 1.

About your suggestions: I'm not sure if it's necessary to specify page by page what the contents are. You can do it for the "next" page and maybe the "last" page, and additionally offer the < 1 2 3 ... > thing?
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Raf
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Posts: 1706
Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2003 9:48 am
Location: Brussels, Belgium

Postby Danny » Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:08 pm

My Article is comming, really...

I am still not in kitchen heaven yet... Just when I thought it was the end I discover that the morons who put my plumbing in decided to plumb my washing machine tap *and* espresso tap into the hot water circuit... Was not impressed.

Please let it be finished soon.
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