Brandonsanderson.com upgrade

[Spriggan]

I'm planning out upgrading features and adding new ones to the site and want to get peoples views on what doesn't work and what does, also what features we don't have they'd like to see. Just because you post it doesn't mean I'll add it, but it lets me see what people want.

Edit: To clear up any possible confusion, I will be doing the blog enhancements fist since it's the most popular feature, then once that's done I'll decided where to go next off of input from EUOL, you guys and what I think I can do.

Blog
First off I'm going to upgrade brandon's blog with the following features.  Let me know if there's something here you want.
1) View next post and previous post (if applicable) -most requested by EUOL
2) Catagory Tag support
3) Wiki support for my wiki system
4) related posts and topics listed (based off of tags) Removed, not going to be done
5)  search blog
6) Support for post-by-mail for blogger.com and live journal.
7) Display random post (because it's super easy to do).
8) New XML support (ie change how RSS is generated for the blog).
9) Technorati tag support

Wiki
I don't know if there's support out there for a wiki on Brandon's site, I did make my own but it's not something that was intended for random people to work on (ie it uses very little wikicode but HTML instead and doesn't have permissions set).  But I could work something out if there's demand.

menu
add a store link.

Other features
Not sure, I know there are things that need to be redone (I'm looking at you book page!) but I don't know when I'll get to it since I want to get the blog done first.

[stacer]

I really like being able to comment on blogs--conversations sometimes occur which are really interesting. Then again, he does have this section right here for discussion, but sometimes you just want to directly answer a post, you know?

[Spriggan]

I've already brought up comments and EUOL doesn't want them, he's like me he believes for every 1 good post he'll get 50 stupid posts or spam.

[Eric James Stone]

I suggest an upcoming events calendar.

[Spriggan]

Ya, that's something I want to add but forgot to list it.  That would be a "once I get everything else done" kind of thing.  Actually I'd like to do it in flash or Ajax so we'll see.

[Eric James Stone]

I'm actually using Google Calendar and bringing it in via RSS using a WordPress widget.

[Spriggan]

It's a possibility but I don't like google calender, and it's not that useful unless you use it yourself, which very few people do.  Unless it's something that's a high priority, or EUOL wants it, I tend to code all the features myself and not rely on other's code.

[stacer]

I've already brought up comments and EUOL doesn't want them, he's like me he believes for every 1 good post he'll get 50 stupid posts or spam.

I've never had a problem with spam, myself, but I deal with a much smaller readership, I imagine.

[Spriggan]

No I think it deals more with the possibility of dealing with the hassle of those posts.  I think with a CAPTCHA system link, like on TWG, we could weed out most spam but at the end of the day we have to ask "is it worth it in the long run" and I don't think it's something that EUOL wants to deal with right now.

Maybe we can create a thread for commenting on Brandon's blogs here and just link to that thread on his blog.

[stacer]

That's a good compromise, I think.

[RedAragorn]

I think that could work well, but might be a little unwieldy.  Then again, it should be just unwieldy enough to lose the schlub posts.  I, also, don't get any unwelcome comments, but that's to be expected since my readership is like...zero.  

I also really like the idea of a wiki, but doesn't that leave you with a whole *other* world of potential trouble to patrol?

[Spriggan]

That's a good compromise, I think.

Well if the forum and blog were on the same server/site I'd just use the forum for blog comments but make it so you could display those comments under each blog post.  When/If TWG switches over to a PHP/DB driven forum I'll probably use RSS feed to display comments on his forum posts or something similar.  The advantage to this is we get the TWG forum moderation we all know and love for the blog comments.

@RA: See ya, I agree with you.  That why I'm asking because I'd give out limited Wiki editing access to those that deserve it, but then again doesn't that sort of defeat a "fan wiki".  But then again, we'd probably not call it a fan wiki and just go with another feature for EUOL's site that's managed by TWGers that want access.  I would have no problem giving out access to regular posters here that want to do something like this.

[RedAragorn]

Mm hm....wikis are fun business.  If you leave it wide open, you get yourself into the business of patrolling the grounds and picking up the crap people leave all over the place.  If you make it too limited, you kinda limit its usefulness and it ends up withering and dying on the vine.  Ah, that elusive middle ground.  

I'm in the middle of a wiki experiment at work.  I created a wiki instance for our group with the stated purpose of capturing key learnings that don't otherwise get recorded anywhere else.  I started it a week ago, and so far the only thing anyone has posted to it has been funny pictures of other people in the group.  *sigh*

[Spriggan]

The big fat mistborn image on the main page now takes you to the Mistborn page.

[Spriggan]

Ok so I'm going to redo the menu system sitewide and want input on what to categories to make.  Now since it's a horizontal menu we do have limited space, but I'm going to go with a tab or ribbon style interface (ie the submenu will be horizontal underneath the main menu) so things can be categorized that way.

Here's the current menu structure, anything after a >> is a submenu of the original.

HOME
NEWS
BOOKS>>Elantris, Mistborn, ect..
RANTS>>EUOLogies, Reviews
COMMUNITY
FREEBIES
CONTACT
ABOUT

This is my suggested new structure, feel free to comment on it or add your own:

HOME
BLOG>> Search Blog
EVENTS>>Calender
BOOKS>>Book name, like before
ABOUT>>Contact
COMMUNITY>>Links to other sites, TWG forum (Note: I don't like the name community that much).
SHOP (link to café press store)

This takes out the RANTS and FREEBIES sections but I don't think we need them, maybe we can add an other section for everything else but I'm trying to take out things that having really been used in a long time.  It renames NEWS into events and that section will eventually get an overhaul and adds a shop link for the store that we have running but no content in yet.