Q&A! in Site Updates

Thanks for all these updates =] The site really is beautiful. Clean, efficient, and the different "books" are awesome.

Why thank you, m'dear!

Is there a reason I can't resize images in html by adding in height/width specifications?

There's a nice reference here. Also keep in mind that Prosebox has a responsive layout, so if your image exceeds the width of the layout column (which is a lot smaller on a phone), it will be resized down to fit the column. Same with Youtube videos.

I've really come to love the look & feel of the site. I thought I would miss the customizability I was so used to from OD, but I'm really enjoying the simple layout and the fact that users are only distinguished through their avatars. I guess my question is, are you planning to make the site more customizable eventually, or are you going to stick with the minimalist style you have going now?

I like minimalism. You go to the bookstore, you buy a book. Or you download one to your Kindle. What does it look like? That's right! Black on white. This will never go out of style. It's the peak of readability. For smaller displays like a phone, you can pretty much expect that what you see there is how it will remain. There's limited real estate, and no good reason to waste that. On a desktop, I could see adding some sort of theme to make use of the extra space on the page not used by the entry and comments. But nothing to obstruct the actual writing itself, or site navigation. It would still be clean. But it's not an immediate concern and I think most people have adjusted or really like the minimalist layout.

Will there be a way (or is there currently a way and I just don't realize it!) to bookmark an individual book rather than a user? It may simply mean unbookmarking the user and going to each individual book and bookmarking it, but it seems that when I tried that, I was getting all the books that person contributes to.

Yeah, right now it's all or nothing. The plan is to allow you to bookmark users and exclude their books. That way, you're aware of what books a user has, and can opt out if you don't find one interesting.

Will there eventually be the ability to move entries from one book to another? Thanks!

Yes! The Entry Manager. It will be glorious. And a Draft Manager! Imagine the possibilities. :)

Being able to respond to people's comments from the comments link would be amazing instead of having to go back to the entry.

Yeah, I've been thinking about that one for a long time. It would be super-efficient. This one might be a premium feature. Gotta have a few bells and whistles for the premium folks when that option becomes available.

How about upvoting /and/ liking or hearting or something? I know, I'm outta control. Hear me out, though.

You might upvote something because you feel it's relevant, well-written, or deserves more attention. It may not be something likeable, but it's worthy of some time in the spotlight. Upvoting would allow the quality content to shine.

Hearting, liking, I-read-this, etc. is different. It's acknowledging that you're there and staying with the writer, like blank notes. But blank noting an entry isn't the same as saying, "Hey, people need to see this!"

I would like something like this to be a better Reader's Choice system. I also understand that opinions on the subject are all over the place. Some people would feel uncomfortable with the idea of a voting system, but I think I could alleviate concerns with three things:

1. Only Public and Members Only entries qualify.
2. People can opt out from allowing votes on their entries.
3. Voting is only a positive thing; no downvoting. (this is not the same as reporting abuse; I do plan to have that someday)

I was thinking the other day, too, that some type of "I read this but have nothing to say, really" button would be. Maybe it could be a "footprint" or "wave hello" or "nod of acknowledgement" some such.

This is obviously different than voting, so I could see this as a useful feature for any entry that isn't private. Maybe the Kilroy was here button.

I've had a question for a while actually, but it doesn't relate to the features of the site. Your symbol when you blog is the Coding Horror icon from Code Complete by Steve McConnell, but it's also the symbol of the blog of Jeff Atwood, codinghorror.com. Which one did you get it from? Are you a fan of one, the other, or both?

Great question, fellow coder! Both, actually. I have Code Complete in my library and I read Jeff Atwood's blog.

I would like the ability to print free money from the site. And maybe Chinese food delivery.

Well, not quite. Will you settle for fortune cookie printing?

Will there be a way to block users or delete rude notes? I'd like to think that the best of us have come over here from OD, but there's always the odd troll or bothersome random who muddies up the water.

Indeed. Comment deletion is a priority just because it's a feature people expect. Blocking people isn't currently a priority but I don't doubt that someone will come along and elevate the priority on it.

Any chance I will some day be able to see what members have bookmarked me? Would love to be able to see that.

This is a common request. For now, I think the answer is no. Maybe I have stalker tendencies, but I like the idea of being able to follow someone privately (muahaha, I stalk ALL of you!). That's not to say there isn't the potential for a feature to allow people who want to show off their bookmarks publicly. I just know people often like the warm blanket of anonymity while surfing the net.

One thing that I think would be cool would be to have friend lists, sort of like on OD. Where you can levels of who can see what. Like friend group A and B can read this book, but only friend group B can read this group...make sense?

Yeah, I had thought about having the option to make multiple lists of people, but I decided to keep it simple for the sake of getting it done. Maybe someday. :)

I'm gonna pull an "animal" moment here...NOOOO THEMES

Cool! Makes my life easier. :)

I might be alone on this, but I prefer making entries private/friends only, instead of entire books.

That's another one of those things that I decided would simplify development (and make the database queries a bit easier) by keeping things at the book level. Again, I might revisit that later.

please have a "are you sure you want to cancel" for entries. I hit cancel by mistake and it was all gone!

Hadn't really thought about that, though I do plan on an Autosave feature (though it may be a premium feature). But I could do some sort of Cancel confirmation thing-a-ma-boob.

I would like to add to your list: Being able to show your EDITED entry on the Bookmarks page, but not publish it as new on the front.

I want to redo some of the navigation, and my plan is to consistently sort it by the date it was originally published. This keeps things more simple. And if you have new info you don't want people to miss, just add a new addendum entry. :)

And there you have it! The first edition of Prosebox Q&A! Thanks for your participation, as well as the many great compliments that I didn't paste over here.