Q&A, Part One in Site Updates

First off, THANK YOU! Initially, I was so reluctant to come to PB for the same reasons that so many are still clinging for dear life over at OD. Even though this site doesn't feel quite like "home" yet, I'm settling in. The fact that there is someone who cares about PB and its users is refreshing, and the site is so easy to use.

My question is, is there a way to have a toolbar while writing entries where we could at least have a button to italicize, bold, or underline things? I'm not so big with HTML (back in my teenager Live Journal days I was a wizard, but that's long gone by now) and under the "formatting help" section, to me it all looks like it's written in another language, but I'm trying!

You're welcome! It's very motivating to see people pouring in and enjoying the site. :)

I do plan to have a toolbar at some point. The problem with the "Formatting Help" is that I copied some documentation that assumes you know HTML. So I need to make that a bit more user-friendly for people who don't.

It's worth pointing out that HTML and Markdown are two different things. HTML is the language that gets sent to your browser to render. It's very extensive and you can do pretty much anything with it if you know how. Markdown, on the other hand, is much more limited - but really easy to use once you figure out the basics. It's not for designers who want complete control; it's for basic web document formatting. That's why I picked it for this site. I've used it on other sites and wiki pages, and I love it. But you can still fall back to HTML if Markdown doesn't give you what you want.

My first two entries in my Tips and Tricks book are a great primer, but here's something that's even better:

StackEdit

It's an editor with a toolbar that generates Markdown. In fact, you can even see what the generated output will look like as you type. If you're not familiar with Markdown and want to learn it, it's an excellent way to compose your entries until I get a real toolbar. :)

What CMS/website-making-thingie did you use to make this? It's brilliant.

Thank you! It's written in Django, the "Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines." I really like it. It's based on Python and surprisingly easy to do most things with (well, if you know how to program, that is).

But that's just the back end. The look and feel of the front end is helped immensely by Bootstrap. It's responsive for "mobile first" by design, and takes a lot of the guess work out of cross-device compatibility.

Thank you for this site - I love the feel of it and how it just is so easy on the eye and welcoming :)

Will there be a random button in the future. To go to a random prosers page?

It's a popular request. I'll definitely be adding that.

Is there a way we can block other members? Is that a feature in the works? I enjoy the site, however there are a few people who have made me feel rather uncomfortable writing for members only and I'd like to meet new readers.

Also will there be in the works we can write more in our basic prosebox page that lists the chapters?

I've meant to add a blocking feature but got distracted by other things. It's still on the list somewhere. And I do plan to add more (optional) stuff for a user's profile at some point too.

Will we have the option of grouping favourites and choosing which group can see which entries?

That was actually my original plan, but it adds a lot of complexity. So I changed my mind and went with the more simple design of a basic friends list. I might reconsider it later, but for now there are no plans to do so.

What is the meaning of life?

Forty-two. No. Wait. That's the answer. The meaning... the meaning...

I believe it was Eric Idle who answered it best:

Why does it hurt when I pee?

Oh, sorry. I thought I was at work for a minute there...

Uhm...is there any plan for an autosave feature? I'm a spaz with my laptop and keep accidentally deleting information packed entries about belly button lint and stuff.

In my defense, these Dell Inspiron 15R machines are notorious for having hypersensitive touchpads that tend to go schizo all the time, so it's not just my spazziness.

I'm no expert, but I suspect that there may be a urinary tract infection. You should consult a physician.

As far as autosave... YES! I totally want to implement this. I hate losing things so I empathize. Also, I thought track pads were the root of all evil until I discovered from Apple that it's possible to actually make these things correctly.

Thanks so much for all your efforts here -- the site is looking great and I find myself more and more comfortable with it. My question is.... I've tried to follow the formatting instructions for inserting a hyperlink and having my own title for it show up in my diary entry, instead of the link showing up -- but when people click on it, it takes them to the link. I saw you do it in one of your most recent entries but I'm doing something wrong when I try to follow the instructions. (For example, "I had dinner tonite at The Normandy Cafe" and someone can click on "The Normandy Cafe" and it takes them to the cafe's website).

You can do this with Markdown or HTML, but I'm going to show you Markdown:

I had dinner tonight at [The Red Iguana](//www.rediguana.com).  It was insanely delicious!

Which gives you:

I had dinner tonight at The Red Iguana. It was insanely delicious!

How are you?

Oh, pretty good. Except for this revolving virus thing that won't seem to completely leave my body. It's like having a really mild cold.... FOREVER.

But otherwise life is pretty good! I'm finding happiness and fulfillment in my personal life and professional life. I've got a website that people are using and liking. Things are going pretty well.

How are you?

Thank you for creating this site!

Will there ever be options to personalize the design of our books/prosebox?

Yes, probably when I kick off a premium subscription plan. Customization would be a premium feature, and look something like this:

Cool custom background!

Of course, there are people here who prefer the lack of customization, so I'll also add an optional setting to allow you to suppress user backgrounds. The actual inner text panels I leave as a setting (Classic, Dark) for each user to decide how all of their reading text looks.

1) you're awesome.

2) when I go to comments or bookmarks the white "main content" area takes up all of the gray "main prosebox" area, but when in entries, there's about... oh, I'm bad at estimating pixels and I'm too lazy/drunk to pull up firebug right now, so, let's just say an inch, there's an inch of gray to the right of the white "main content" area that COULD be used in our entries and aren't. This has bugged me the entire time because my photos in my entries COULD be bigger if I could just take advantage of that other inch. So. What's the deal with that?

3) if you're ever in Ohio, I'll buy you a drink. See #1

1. I've been hearing that a lot in this Q&A. Thanks!
2. This is probably not the answer you want, but I've wondered if the entry column is slightly too long. The idea is to figure out the optimal maximum width so that text is as easy to read as possible. If columns of text get too long, it increases eye movement and makes it harder to track back to the beginning of the next correct line. The optimal length is anywhere between 50 and 80 characters (at least according to one reference). I don't think I've set a maximum width on bookmarks or comments yet, but at some point I do want to be consistent. So that's my reasoning.
3. Next time I'm in Ohio I'll accept your drink, if my answer to #2 didn't put you off. :)

Many thanks for your hard work kind sir. :)

When will we be able to edit/delete a comment? I am the queen of typos.

Soon, my queen. Soon. :)

Thank you for the site first and foremost. This many already be here and I may be a blonde and missed it but when writing in a public/memebers only book can we have an entry private? I would hate to have to create a whole new book for private entries when they may be relevant (?) to the entry following or prior to but not for everyone to see. Also will we be able to set entries privacy settings in the future or just book privacy? And I am just lazy lol

Logically, it's a lot easier to just track this at the book level. So maybe it's just me being lazy. But ask yourself THIS! If the book analogy were to be carried into the real world, would it make sense to have certain pages that only certain people could read? What's with these crazy pages written in invisible ink??? ;)

Thank you for creating this site. I need to write. I was wondering if there is anyway of knowing which of my bookmarks that I have read. I know that I should remember but at times my age gets in the way.

Another popular request! First I need to actually start tracking what entries people have read... then I can bold or highlight things you haven't read. It's on the to-do list.

And so concludes Part 1 of this Q&A! Thanks for participating, and all the amazing compliments I received! If you'd like to participate in a Part Two entry, you can leave a question here as well.