libcom.org v.4
May 1 2006 17:40
Over the next 6 months-year, libcom.org will be going through major changes as we implement a site-wide content management system based on Drupal. This is the software which currently powers the library section of the site.
This will mean a complete change in the backend of the entire site, leading to much more flexible and personalised features. It may mean slight changes in look and feel in the different sections, but most will keep their individual character.
Some features we hope to include:
A single registration and login for the whole site - once you've logged in to the main page you'll be able to submit news, library articles and forum posts without signing in again. The forums will be integrated with all other content, so every article will have a link to make a new discussion about it or join an existing one.
All users will be able to make a customised profile page for themselves, and all their posted content will be displayed on their user page, alongside (possibly) photos and a personalised blog.
It may also be possible to add 'friends' to your profile in order to easily find content other people have posted, and share tags:
All users will be able to tag content across the site - similar to the systems at del.icio.us or flickr - a preview of how this might work is currently being tested at libcom.org/library. rss feeds will be available for all users and all tags - allowing all content to be syndicated anywhere on the internet.
Users will also be able to join groups, which will be able to self-manage their forums and collect their content from elsewhere in the site in a group profile - an expanded version of what already happens in the forums for groups we already host. It may also be possible to set up portals for certain regions, again drawing in all relevant content from elsewhere on the site.
The user panel will include a wysiwig editor and image uploading - so formatting for news and library stories will be much easier than it is now. People interested in helping out more with the site will be able to take responsibility for moderating certain sections and editing content.
The entire site will have selectable work safe, PDA/mobile and printable themes - including possible print on demand publishing and automatic creation of PDFs at a later date.
We're also in the process of developing an on-line store which will initially carry items from one radical publisher.
From our point of view, we currently run about 5-6 different CMSes and databases and many hundreds of static pages, all of which have to be kept up-to-date, and need their own individual maintenance. It'll make the site much easier to update and much more secure with one system and a couple of add-ons.
If you have opinions on this, or have any things you'd like to add to a libcom.org wishlist please post them here.
May 1 2006 17:58
#2
Ahaha. I can't believe you have a "business name", rkn.
May 1 2006 18:01
#3
?! 
edit// oh i see what u mean - yeah payapl wont let u change the name 
May 1 2006 18:13
#4
Capitalist bastards. 
May 3 2006 07:25
#5
You losing the colouring system on the front then? Cos it looks a bit washed out atm.
May 3 2006 07:31
#6
Saii wrote:
You losing the colouring system on the front then? Cos it looks a bit washed out atm.
that's a separate thing to keep us going until we get going with v.4 - I think you meant 'clean' rather than 'washed out'.
May 3 2006 11:50
#7
Quote:
that's a separate thing to keep us going until we get going with v.4
Sorry, being dense here, design-wise does that mean it'll eventually change back to something recognisably like the old design or that it'll be completely redone and this is a holding thing in the meanwhile?
Quote:
I think you meant 'clean' rather than 'washed out'.
Nah I meant washed out. Tis not a whinge, I do page design for a living don't forget, which makes it a professional opinion 
.
Seriously though, I've rarely said a bad word about the libcom design, which tends to have a great deal of sense behind it, but using a palette limited to degrees of grey is a bad idea - there's a reason why papers are trying so hard to go full colour. Clean lines need to be accompanied by arresting touches, otherwise it ends up far too institutional/dull, and this applies to use of colour as well.
May 3 2006 13:44
#8
Hi guys, been a while since i posted on here, hope u'r all doing ok
Anyway, was speaking to Jack at mayday, heard u needed help importing all the articles into the new CMS. I can probably do some script to put it all in, just looking through drupal atm, shouldn't be too hard just to run a simple script to import the lot of it.
Anyway, let me know if u need help
May 3 2006 14:14
#9
hey crypt!
any help would be ace - that goes for anyone else too.
libcom v.4 is going to be so awesome 8)
May 3 2006 17:32
#10
Saii wrote:
or that it'll be completely redone and this is a holding thing in the meanwhile?
Pretty much that - we don't know how a lot of this is going to work yet, especially not specifics like appearance. If people have ideas for design - especially graphics and stuff, we'd love to see them/hear them.
We were going to do a lot of work on touching up the existing design of the site - history is being manually upgraded article by article at the moment for example - since we've realised it's possible to rework things entirely most of the focus is going to be getting on that working - and that means hopefully a much more integrated way of organising the content, which the design will reflect.
Crypt - I think there'sa script for importing static html ages into drupal - however the scripts for geeklog and wordpress look like they're a bit unstable. Any help like that would be much appreciated though!
May 3 2006 17:44
#11
Hi Saii...
Saii wrote:
that it'll be completely redone and this is a holding thing in the meanwhile?
Yeah its being re-done, well hopefully it will be redone. This is just temp. the old colors + image were pissing me off.
Quote:
Seriously though, I've rarely said a bad word about the libcom design....
Yup. I dont really it much either, but i havent got time to think of anything else right now.
Our collective design skills are pretty crap tbh. Any help we can get with coming up with a palette of colors etc. is great 
Though i will be tryin to do this myself obviously.
May 3 2006 17:52
#12
rkn wrote:
Hi Saii...Saii wrote:
that it'll be completely redone and this is a holding thing in the meanwhile?
Yeah its being re-done, well hopefully it will be redone. This is just temp. the old colors + image were pissing me off.
Quote:
Seriously though, I've rarely said a bad word about the libcom design....
Yup. I dont really it much either, but i havent got time to think of anything else right now.
Our collective design skills are pretty crap tbh. Any help we can get with coming up with a palette of colors etc. is great ;)
Yep one of themain reasons for changing over is so we have content almost completely independent of design. To give you an idea - here's the drupal theme garden - although the actual themes in it aren't the best: http://themes.drupal.org/themeswitcher
For point of reference both the onion and iww.org use drupal as well.
May 3 2006 18:32
#13
Tbh I think a lot of the design ideas that have gone into libcom already are extremely good. The use of the purple and blue on the front was a clever move, particularly as it is far more rarely used than the warmer end of the spectrum, and the boxing system was a useful means of dividing it into easily digestible chunks. I'd agree on the banner though, I think using crowds to signify a 'movement' that would call a 1,000-person march a massive success is counterproductive in the UK, possibly even in most of the English-speaking parts of the world. Having said that, I'd also warn against simply using the name in a larger font. Possibly a smaller font banner taking up no more than a square in the top left could work, and expanding the top line of links (a la the guardian)? Or backing it with a symbolic picture (NOT a clenched fist or a rising sun).
Regarding colour usage, most firms have a slab of 'company colours' used in all their design work as recurring themes. This is both to imprint brand recognition and reinforce memory tip-offs in the consumer:
eg. when I see a red and black motif of any kind, I think of red and black flags because I've seen them so often they imprint. Similaryly, Asda green, Sainsbury's orange, and the red/orange motif the bbc use.
Now to be honest, red and black are a dificult combination to use in everyday design work. Red writing on black backgrounds, and vice versa, look rubbish in normal text. However, in terms of brand recognition amongst anarchists, left and left libertarians of all kinds, it remains a useful and powerful scheme to have involved.
Again, the Guardian use it mainly as a heading, but tbh, I think for libcom to do this would smack of copycat work at this point, even if it wasn't also being one by the bbc. I'm tempted to say hang on to the purple to blue palette for a lot of it, particularly given the likelihood that you'll be using a white background for general text. The idea is to use that palette as the colour draw to the text of the piece, so people look at the heading first, and are then drawn to the rest of it.
Online, bright colours hurt the eyes, so unlike with a newspaper, I would very much advise a darker series of colours, again much like the ones you are using now. There are various symbolic problems of course, you can't really use green, thanks to the environmental connotations. You may be loathe to use some shades of blue because of the anarcho-capitalist thing, and as I say, bright red and orange is already overused on the web. Yellow is too bright a colour altogether to show properly.
The very dark reds are available, black is an all-rounder (white-on-black text is very much the classic divider in any case, it has been used for years when a page is looking too cluttered, but bear in mind overuse can turn the whole thing into a nightmare so it should be sparing). Purple I've already spoken about. In each case, the other end of the scale is washes (colours at 10% strength) which can continue a theme, but are again unwise to use overmuch - text is best viewed on a clean white background.
Anyways that's enogh on colour I suspect I'm rambline a bit here, long day.
May 3 2006 18:49
#14
Thats a great post Saii... thanks, will bear it all in mind.
We wanted to use the r n b star as a logo, cos we lacked any other logo. We found the purple and blue dont work at all with red n black at all really. But i think that blue and purple, or somewhere near them could be used better in the future.
May 7 2006 11:55
#15
Anyone who is interested helping us work on this project, if they have any skills to help with tech stuff or design stuff pls PM me or an admin. We have a new forum for work going on about it and if people can help input we would appreciate!
Jul 27 2006 16:11
#16
i find the new format very confusing to look at.
will there be more solid lines separating things?
Jul 27 2006 16:12
#17
newyawka wrote:
i find the new format very confusing to look at.
will there be more solid lines separating things?
Hopefully. Post in the feedback forum and let us know detailed complaints like where you think solid lines should be and we can work on it 
Jul 27 2006 16:14
#18
right, chief
Jul 30 2006 02:46
#19
alright comrades?
good to see some of you the other day - apologies if i offended anyone i was slightly wasted 
what catch (i think) was telling me about the new boards sounds pretty smart - i'm looking forward to v4 going live
only comment to make at the mo' is that the new board looks a bit confusing at the moment, but i expect it'll just be a matter of getting used to it
keep up the good work
Aug 24 2006 22:34
#20
I've just finished a big fucking essay so should have a bit of time to do something (yes I know I've been online quite a lot but that's procrastination, it's different.) I don't know anything useful about computers but if there's anything easy that would be helpful then let me know (though I suspect I may not be of any use ).
Aug 24 2006 22:53
#21
Don't let the dirty f**cking primmo near the technology, he will sabotage it.
Aug 24 2006 23:08
#22
yeah probably 
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