Looking for feedback on touring journals
 

I've integrated my touring journals into my website at www.biketouringtips.com and would like to get some feedback about how it looks and works.

I would be interested in any comments you have, specifically those on how the journals are presented.

I've put up 3 of my own tour journals as examples. I have written all the code to allow anyone to add journals to the site but I wanted to wait on installing it until I got some feedback on how the ones already on there look.

Feel free to post your comments here, send me a PM, or use links on my site to send me email.

I really appreciate any time you might spend checking out these journals.

Thanks,

Ray

P.S. I apologize if there are any errors that I haven't found yet. I've tested these changes with the three browsers I have access to (Firefox, IE 7, Safari). The changes appear to work on these browsers. But, I know that IE6, which is still used by over 10% of the people visiting the site, is a real stickler and I have no way of testing with that browser (you can't use IE6 on systems with IE7 installed). I'm very interested in any problems that someone has, especially if you use IE6.

It looks like a very easy to use site. It's also more attractive-looking than some other relentlessly promoted bike journal sites. The absence of a dirty yellow background is very welcome.

When you open the site to other bike tourists and their journals, you aren't going to discourage people from mentioning their religion, are you? And will you respect the personal information of posters?

I guess one of the things I have to do before I allow others to post journals on the site is to create a bike tour journal policy of some sort.

Is there any kind of material that isn't appropriate in a public bike touring journal?

I don't want pornography on the site. Nor, do I want racial epithets. I don't have a problem with most any topic, if it is done with taste and some sensitivity.

I'd be interested in what others have to say about what, if anything, such a use policy should include.

I don't have access to any one's personal information, other than their user name. I do intend to ask for a name to use in the copyright notice.

Ray

Looks really nice so far (I'm still looking).
Like the drill down combos with AJAX!

I've given some thought to a policy for people posting journals to my website. Here is what I've come up with:

Would anything in this policy cause you to not post a journal?

Any suggestions to add or delete from this?

Thanks,

Ray

I quite like the format! Well done. With respect to your actual journals, nice photos, but I certainly would appreciate more of the bike itself :-) That's the porn that keeps me coming back.

Seriously, though, very well done, indeed. As to what you would allow, my inclinations are to avoid censorship. I do agree with your proposed policy re racist language, however. I would include in that homophobic, antisemetic, etc.

Maybe I wasn't finding the right buttons, but I didn't like the way I had to navigate through the tour. Having the whole thing on one page, with the ability to open and close a "day" is nice, but when I close a "day" I find myself down at the bottom of the page. I would then have to scroll up to find the next page.

I like the First Previous Next Last controls of the "relentlessly promoted bike journal site" (with a page of links to the individual days so I can go directly to one.)

Your policy statement looks good to me. Giving yourself, as moderator, the final say is perfectly alright.

Speedo

Like it!
 

Very nicely done. I may have missed it, but I'd like the option to open an entire journal on one page. That would make it easy to download for offline consumption. Your photos are very nice.

An aside: I think it's moderately insulting to offer praise in the context of "better than that heavily promoted site." (A site I enjoy immensely, by the way.) It's kind of like saying "Gee, your new wife isn't nearly as ugly and shrill as your last."

I'll just say thanks again to you for a job well done.
Mark

I hadn't realized that. Thanks for pointing it out.

I've fixed it so that when you close a day's entry using the "close" button the entry is closed and the page moves so that that day's entry is at the top of the page.

I appreciate you taking the time to view the site and post a response here.

It really helps!

Ray

I like it....

As for IE6, none of the photos appear. I don't have any problem downloading/displaying photos for other sites with IE6.

In any browser, you can't copy/paste random text from a journal -- only the entire page or an entire section. Copy/paste is very useful for someone gathering tips from journals..... (Actually, I'm not sure how you coded this to prevent copy/paste of text. Using tables?)

-- Mark

Edit: "Copy/paste" -- I mean using the mouse to highlight text; copy/paste is the next step.
And in IE6, the thumbnails at the top of the journal show up; the photos in the body don't.

IE6 is my worst nightmare. It is very finicky and breaks web pages easily. I assume the problem with IE6 has to do with how the detail text is displayed when you click on a daily entry. I can write a separate bit of code that opens a separate page if the user is using IE6. A bit of a hassle but it is better than ignoring the 10% of the people who visit the site and use IE6.

This appears to be true in all browsers I've tested it on, as well. I believe this is an artifact of creating a page and then adding to it after the user clicks on something. It appears that the added text/images can't be copied to the clipboard.

I'm not sure how to solve this or if I can. Is it a showstopper?

Thanks for the information.

Ray

P.S. I'll let you know when I have an IE6 version of this code ready.

I've fixed both the problems you had with IE6. Amazingly, I found a standalone version of IE6 out on the internet and have been able to add that to my set of browser's to test. This will make my life much easier!

As for the selecting and copying problems, I have changed how the journals are displayed so that they now longer show the journal entries by expanding the original page but now open up a new window where all the text can be selected and copied to the clipboard.

I also added the links you mentioned for going to the previous and next entry in a journal.

Thanks for the testing and the suggestions.

I hope you like how it turned out!!

Ray

Nice site
 

I went though your site and like it a lot. I've just put up mine which I built just for myself. If you are thinking about adding your own mapping tool I might be able to give you some insights on doing that task.

IE6 is not nice, IE7 is better and I hope they striaghten out IE8 because it has a FireBug clone.