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Welcome to the New TalkLeft

Yes, this is TalkLeft. It's our new design. We hope you like it.

The new graphic is by Monk of Inflatable Dartboard. I designed the layout (colors, font styles and sizes, columns and content arrangement) based upon a Wordpress theme named Relaxation.

The indefatigable Mike Ditto did the lion's share of the work over the past week. He converted the Wordpress coding to Movable Type, writing approximations where there was no equivalent. He converted and created a total of 17 templates and modules, while I insta-messaged him every 15 seconds over the past 8 hours asking "Can we do this?" and "Can we change that?" Then he made everything work across IE, Firefox and Safari.

Now, there are going to be undocumented features ( "bugs" is a politically incorrect term.) Feel free to point them out in comments. The new design may take some getting used to. But I hope you like it and agree it's an improvement over our previous look.

We are now going to start the rebuild of the 13,000 plus entries and 180,000 comments posted on TalkLeft since June, 2002. It will take a few hours, but should be done by morning. Feel free to leave comments, and if you experience a problem, please e-mail Mike.

And then it's back to our regularly scheduled blogging of crime-related political and injustice news, concentrating on exposing the abuses of the current Administration.

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    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#1)
    by fafnir on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 12:55:48 AM EST
    Great teamwork! Looks maaaavelous in Safari.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 01:58:55 AM EST
    Am I the only one having trouble reading this on Mozilla? (Left margin is about a half-inch off screen.)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 02:32:20 AM EST
    two thumbs up!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:02:39 AM EST
    Looks great on Firefox.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#5)
    by jen on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:21:37 AM EST
    very nice

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 04:02:48 AM EST
    Sweet! Nice facelift!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 04:47:09 AM EST
    A huge improvement! (Why is the term "bugs" politically incorrecy?)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#8)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 05:28:21 AM EST
    Very nice looking... Classy! Like it's wearing a tux, or a formal evening gown! Good move... One thing I do miss is under "Entries with Recent Comments" the old style also had a link directly to the comment ID for each last comment rather than just to the top of the thread. (Anyway to fix that Mike? I see in the page source code that you MT 3.2 still generates the comment ID's)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#9)
    by Slado on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 05:29:05 AM EST
    Agreed. Smooth, classy. I already feel smarter.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#10)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 05:54:00 AM EST
    Mike, in the previous format TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime also included the title of each thread, i.e. TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime - Sunday Open Thread. It was really handy for navigation when I had multiple threads open in tabs in Firefox.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 05:56:39 AM EST
    Very nicely done... clean, classy and (fairly) easy to navigate. There is one problem - with a screen resolution of 600x800 (which I have... old and blind, ya know) you have scroll right about an inch to fully see the last column, both in mozilla and IE. (comments seem to be having a few issues too)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#12)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 06:03:20 AM EST
    Sorry Mike - I was referring to the title tags for each thread page.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 06:04:26 AM EST
    Clean and fresh. Always takes a bit to get used to change ... Right side hangs over edge, but not when you take out your "Favourites" column and pull it full screen. Thanks for all the hard work and super duper site!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 06:38:29 AM EST
    I'm a semi-new reader and first time commenter. The new site looks great! Very clean and pretty in Safari.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#15)
    by Al on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 06:45:46 AM EST
    That's a very handsome site. I like it.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#16)
    by Lora on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 07:11:39 AM EST
    Very nice! And....yeah, what's wrong with "bugs?" (Ehhhh....what's up Doc?)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 07:14:11 AM EST
    I've got that same issue w/ Mozilla. I'm using 1.7.2 and the left margin is not entirely on screen. Otherwise, it looks great. I like it!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#18)
    by Patriot Daily on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 07:27:44 AM EST
    Absolutely GREAT. LOVE IT. and, no problem with mozilla. linda and laura

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#19)
    by Lis Riba on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 07:49:27 AM EST
    Nice. Also works much better under text-browsers like Lynx, by putting the posts before the links and verbiage.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#20)
    by roy on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:10:45 AM EST
    Minor problem here. After I "preview", the comment form is empty. Makes it slightly inconvenient to fix mistakes. This is with Firefox 1.5 / Windows XP. But cosmetically, the new digs are very classy. Easy on the eyes, too. I was worried b/c the the Bill O'Reilly pirate face ad was the first thing I saw. That thing creeps me out.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:19:45 AM EST
    The new look's not bad, but it will take a bit of time to get used to. One other thing you should have changed along the way is the tagline. Given how often the postings here are really just complaints about politics as usual being comitted by Republicans, the tagline should probably read "the Crime of Politics".

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#22)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:30:46 AM EST
    roy: Minor problem here. After I "preview", the comment form is empty. Makes it slightly inconvenient to fix mistakes. Same here - both with Win2KPro/Firefox, and with WinXP/IE

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#23)
    by joejoejoe on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:36:30 AM EST
    I love the colors and readability. And the expansion of your banner (the moon and capital) is well done.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:51:57 AM EST
    Sweet! Looks great in Mozilla...

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:53:59 AM EST
    Nice design, smooth and easy on the eyes.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#26)
    by Che's Lounge on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 09:00:45 AM EST
    Very nice. Kudos to Michael Ditto for his efforts. Can you move the O'reilly ad down off the opening page? It immediately turns off any moderates/conservatives who may venture here before they read any of your great stuff. And he's just plain unsightly. Visually as well as intellectually. Scars and patches are only minor improvements. The ads that come up on your opening page should be eye catching and inviting, not repulsive.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 09:04:47 AM EST
    who's that ugly mofo with a scar on his head to the right? can you get rid of him?

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#28)
    by MetaData on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 09:06:23 AM EST
    Nice, clean design. Easier to read the wider columns. I suggest making the header graphic a little smaller. It is beautiful, but takes up a little too much screen space. Yes, I do know how to scroll, but I like more information to be visible.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#29)
    by Kitt on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 09:11:59 AM EST
    Posted by sans-culotte December 19, 2005 03:32 AM two thumbs up!
    sans ..... over here 'without' as well, I see. (Americablog, under an assumed name) Jeralyn: I really like it; it's great. The header is fine.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#30)
    by manish on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 09:42:37 AM EST
    Congrats on the new design.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 10:19:38 AM EST
    Much easier to read - and it looks really nice on Safari and the big screen!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#32)
    by MikeDitto on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 10:45:54 AM EST
    Thanks for all the nice comments, everybody! For those who are having problems in Mozilla, I need more information. It looks fine to me in Mozilla 1.7. Do you have any special toolbars or plugins that don't normally come with Mozilla? And what is your screen resolution, and are you on Windows or Mac? And which version of Mozilla? Roy & Edger: The comment preview problem is something I noticed last night, but by the time 3 a.m. rolled around my brain just wouldn't work to fix it. so that's on my to-do list for this morning. So until then, don't preview. Just be bold and hit post--crppy speling and all! Edger: The title was an oversight on my part. I'll get that fixed later this morning. Also the link directly to the recent comment--that was intentional, but there seems to be a lot of requests to have that back, so we will. But first, if you please, I must get some coffee injected directly in my bloodstream. :-)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 10:49:52 AM EST
    Kudos to Monk and Jeralyn. Nice design!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#34)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 10:50:36 AM EST
    There are always little tiny things... but all in all really great work Mike! Inmpressive in such a short time. You must do good advance planning!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#35)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 10:56:08 AM EST
    Thanks to all of you for your reactions. I am reading all of your comments, as is Mike Ditto, including those recommending small changes. No promises, but they will be considered. My eyes really need a rest for a spell, I'm getting a little dizzy from the intense focus on coding for three straight days. If you are having a problem with the site loading correctly (it seems only a few people are), please e-mail Mike or leave a comment. Since we can't see what you are seeing, it helps if you tell us the following, as an example:
    I'm using Firefox 1.5 Windows at 1024*768)
    I am seeing a problem with the comment preview screen, for now, after you preview, if you right-click and select the back button, you should get back to where you can change your comment. We'll fix it as soon as we can. Thanks again for your patience, and your feedback. I'm really glad so much of it has been favorable.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:10:28 AM EST
    C'mon People! Forget the Tuxedo look or the ucky bugs; LOOK AT ALL THAT TEXT!! I can read a whole story, with quotes even, and barely scroll down! Hell, I can READ the damn text! Bless you all, and everyone of us to boot!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#37)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:23:28 AM EST
    One last nit to pick ;-) Jeralyn, on this page I would suggest this picture. They're both great photos, but the second one IMHO... does you greater justice... ;-)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:28:09 AM EST
    Ok, my favorite critic just weighed in, the TL kid who is in the middle of law school finals.
    It's beautiful! you did a GREAT job on it! it totally brings TL into the now. Just wanted to say hi and good job - now it's back to Brandenburg, desegregation and liberty interests.


    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#39)
    by MikeDitto on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:38:07 AM EST
    OK folks, forgive my test posts here for a bit while I work on commenting. I'll go back and delete them later. :-)

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#40)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:42:05 AM EST
    JM, does the "TL kid" ever comment? btw, I haven't seem a comment from your sister in a while...

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#41)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:43:34 AM EST
    Looks great, looks fine in Safari, Firefox and Opera! Curious, Is it necessary to use Justify Text? why not align left the text? Otherwise, keep up good work!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#42)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 11:46:41 AM EST
    Ok, the comment preview screen is fixed, you should be able to edit your comment now in the same screen you preview it in.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#43)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 12:02:42 PM EST
    eya Jeralyn good layout generally. little bit of bleed left col. into center on Opera and excessively wide perimeter margins. ; )))

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#44)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 12:07:18 PM EST
    mmmmm! looked at it in the newest Opera and it's just fine, older versions have the bleedover

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#45)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 12:25:33 PM EST
    Sarcastic Unnamed One--how ironic, I had just privately e-mailed TL my comment--which I do fairly frequently--and decided to post my above reply publicly too, when I scrolled up to find your remark. I hadn't thought anyone would notice my absence. Thanks for noticing.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#46)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 12:40:58 PM EST
    Susan, you ears must have been ringing! J's comment obout her son made me think of you. Your posts are intelligent and informative, which bums me out because I usually want to disagree with their conclusions! ;-) Anyway, glad to see you back.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#47)
    by MikeDitto on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 01:36:40 PM EST
    Sunshine Jim: I understand the latest Opera has significant improvements in terms of adhering to the standards for both CSS and JavaScript. I'd definitely recommend upgrading if Opera is your thing.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#48)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:17:41 PM EST
    Ok, we have taken several of your suggestions. We've tweaked. The only thing left to be done is to get "exact phrase" searching into the search box. Now it's time to blog. And comment.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#49)
    by Aaron on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:27:39 PM EST
    Nice new look that retains the continuity of the old but is easier on the eyes and is easier to read. Functionality and good looks, the same qualities I look for in a women, good job. By the way I voted for you many times at the blog awards. I felt obligated to do so since this is one of my preferred resources. Blog on baby!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#50)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:49:23 PM EST
    Excellent! Instantly it is easier to read, with a cleaner, tighter look. It works fine using Netscape 7.1 on my Mac. Good job! Now, on to the endless battles with BushCo, but in a brighter format.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#51)
    by Dadler on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 03:52:57 PM EST
    Looks great, J. But I'd suggest going back to the more impressionistic capitol dome and moon for the header image. Just me.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#52)
    by MikeDitto on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 04:18:13 PM EST
    Ok for you folks having Mozilla problems-- I isolated it to a bug in Mozilla that was fixed sometime before or around version 1.7.8. I put in a workaround that should fix it for you. Let me know if you still see the problem.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#53)
    by Edger on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 04:20:50 PM EST
    Just want to say that after reading posts all day while working, and commenting occasionally today, how much easier the new format makes it to follow threads and conversations. All the added whitespace is much easier on the eyes, and makes it that much more of a pleasure. Great work Jeralyn, Mike, and Monk. Very professional, classy and impressive!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#54)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 05:24:51 PM EST
    Extraordinarily professional. Aesthetically perfect. Amazing. Excellent job!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#55)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 05:29:36 PM EST
    Wow! Great looking blog.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#56)
    by unbill on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 06:02:29 PM EST
    Great new look. Three things: 1. the comment screen (the place where I am writing this comment right now) could be at the top of the comments (with the comments in reverse order). 2. Quotations here in the comments looks funny when they are right under the date or at the end of a comment. Too little space. 3. The archives look a little strange because the headlines of most posts in the individual archives don't fit on one line with the date. These aren't bugs, but the site would look better if they were fixed.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#57)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:38:05 PM EST
    On the issue of the right hand bleedover, I am using mozilla 1.7 something, but the situation is the same when checking with IE. I think the problem is that my screen resolution is 800x600 and the header graphic width is 864... with that width, the screen is going to have to scroll for those using the lower resolutions, regardless of browser, I would assume. It looks really great in the higher resolution though!

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#58)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 08:41:47 PM EST
    Jeralyn & Mike Ditto: Aesthetically pleasing in Firefox. Looks outstanding in the Blazer 2.0 Handheld browser. HUGE improvement in readability on handheld device. Load time is also less. Shading behind comments needs to be darker. Comments run together and white space causes eye strain when reading on an LCD with normal setting. Could use more borders to improve readability. Too text intensive for this much white space (especially reading comments). Haven't experienced issues posting comments yet. I can appreciate the amount of work that was put into this. I was worried that it was going to become a Daily Kos knock off. I'm pleased you stayed with the familiar graphics/color scheme.

    Re: Welcome to the New TalkLeft (none / 0) (#59)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Dec 20, 2005 at 08:24:32 AM EST
    And I feel the same way as "dadler" about making the capitol dome and moon in the header more "impressionistic." A softer approach. I always liked that picture.