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Channels, Topics, and Design Tweaks. Oh my!

So after an all night-marathon development session we are finally ready and happy to announce ActiveRain's newest addition: Channels & Topics.

For an overview of what Channels and Topics are check out this post by Brad Andersohn: "How to Use ActiveRain Channels"

Although the content being displayed today in most of the Topics and some of the Channels is sparce and even somewhat confusing, we have great plans for what we believe Channels and Topics will grow into over the next few months. More immediately (tomorrow night) we will put live a few extra design finishes on the home, channel, and topic pages to help make it clearer. (We recognize that some of the design elements are not displaying properly and as a result are making it difficult to navigate through the channels and the topics.

Here is a partial list of the changes we've made:

1. Rearranged the layout on the ActiveRain home page. Most notably, we removed all advertising on this page, added Channel and Topic Navigation, and provided greater prominence to the featured articles. (Within the next few days we expect to have posts from people our members subscribed to show up in the list.)

2. We removed the ActiveRain logo from the header area on pages optimized by the ActiveRain Customizer.

3. Featured Members are now displaying on the city level for logged in users. We play to make it display this way for non-logged in users soon.

Please check out the changes and let us know your opinion on this blog post. Our company philosophy is to release site upgrades as fast as reasonable and then look to our members for feedback. We do this so that if we are moving in a wrong direction with a product we can learn about our mistakes early and then adjust our direction before wasting unnecessary time and resources.

Posted by Jonathan Washburn on 09/16/2008 06:23 AM

Comments (51)

Channels & Topics in the ActiveRain Channel

Originally posted at: jonwashburn: Channels, Topics, and Design Tweaks. Oh my!

51 Comments on Channels, Topics, and Design Tweaks. Oh my!

SEP

2008

Noticed the new front page this morning and it looks great! It was kind of fun to see the changes. The only thing I noticed that looked odd was the tags underneath the channels. (User created tags?) Some of them don't make sense or appear to be typos.

Kris, Astute observation about the tags underneath the Channels. That is the main design fix that we are going to make tomorrow. Topic creation is 100% reliant on the contribution of our members. I believe that it will entail a learning curve over the next few months and over time our members will learn the strategy of the new system and that will help to self organize it.

Jonathan-WOW the AR team has been out in again. While we slept with visions of blogs dancing in our heads you took us to another new level. Looking forward to seeing how the Channels come together as I have been confused about what to tag my posts when I check the box.

Jonathon: I think the members here for the most part will get it regarding the topic tags. (Although, the brat in me was thinking about tagging a new post with my website name for the heck of it :-) I refrained though..the brat doesn't come out often or stay out long :-)

Noticed it the first time I logged in this morning. I'm sure your hard work will be well received.

Jonathan -

The layout looks great! I've noticed a few bugs that you're probably already aware of. When trying to post today, I lost my post several times, until I skipped the "Active Rain Channels" and just selected everything else.

I've noticed in individual blogs, at least the customized ones, the menu bar is currently floating in the middle of the header, thus inadvertantly covering the header.

I love the way the "Active Rain Channel" title is used in an alphabetical index - looks like we need a post on how to name our post so that it will be best found!

Home Page looks good! I'll be eagerly awaiting the appearance of my subscription list. Now if only my groups could show up (preferably in alphabetical order) on the same page as my subscription list. :-)

Also re removing the Active Rain logo from pages built with the Customizer .... I'd like to add it back in on my blog. The upper right corner looks so empty without it. Any objections if I copy it and add it to my header image? Or will that be a no-no?

John,

LOVE the new look! The page looks much more streamlined and the channel colored buttons immediately make you feel at home on Active Rain. I foresee nothing but positive feedback from this new layout. Now we have more incentive to work on our city ranking.

Btw: you should promote blogtalkradio somewhere on the home page, i really think that event can get big.

Keep up the good work you guys, this is getting exciting!

Jonathan..... I like the look of the new home page. It looks vibrant and alive. I like the larger pics and links for the features. They stand out more.

In regards to the Channels & Topics.... I am still confused by them also. Do I need to tag it with the exact words that are showing upunder the channels? And in regards to mortgages for the professional and the consumer. Shouldn't many of the topics be the same? ex. Under professional, you have down payment assistance. But you don't have this for the consumer. This is very important also for the consumer.

In regards to the header on our blog pages? I kind of liked that and will miss it. Was there a reason why you took that down?

Lastly, in regards to the featured members for that state... it's now just for those in the city/town? No pictures for the featured members for that state anywhere? Just curious.

Overall, change is good and I like the main format. Just curious on the rest that I mentioned. But I will say that you guys do a great job with these ideas. thanks for all you guys do....

jeff belonger

Jonathan,

I love the new look and really am excited about the future with Active Rain!

I am liking the new changes...one thing i noticed is that it seems to crop your profile pic when you show up on the right as a contributor....

Jon - Overall, I like the appearance a lot for the home page. I still have some exploring to do, but it looks really nice. I guess I am less stoked about losing the exposure across Texas since I am #1 here, but I guess I will only show up on the home page if someone logs in near Austin. It seems like a mild penalty for those of us who are #1 or 2 in each state.

Woot! Innovation is good. Glad to see some design changes on AR and not just on Localism.

ooo... I'm also seeing a more specific IP lookup for my area when I visit the site. It's pulling my city and not just the state.

A job well done !! to all AR. The new front page looks great and the features will take time but create a better community. Thanks for investing all this time and effort in making such a great platform for all of us

Jonathon,

Great new look and functionally....Kudos to all you folks! From my initial look-see my primary observation is that there is much duplication in relevant subject matter. It would be great, IMO, if topics could be better defined to accomodate searchs, etc. Tweaking plurality, acronyms. For Example:

Mortgage/mortgages

Applying for a mortgage/Applying for a mortgage loan

Down Payment Asssitance/DPA

FHA/FHA Loans/Applying for an FHA Loan

USDA Rural Housing/USDA Rural Housing Loans/Rural Housing.

I guess thats enough as you get my thoughts.

Again kudos!

Hi Jon - I'm getting used to the new look. Removing the AR logo from Customized pages has created a couple of issues: 1) There's no way for users to get back to the AR home page except to use their browser's Back button, and 2) Some Rainers who customized their header image around the logo now have blank spaces in their header. Here's an example.

OMG!!! I am on the main page!!!

How does AR know where I am? Hmmmm

I like the home page and the idea of channel and topic navigation. With so much garbage it can help me read what I want to read rather than reading about things in sections they don't belong.

Thanks for constantly making this site better!

Wow AR - Keep it up!

Next, lets work on putting a drop down option for our tag cloud so our outside blogs look clean AND the format of our outside blog feed from AR as it relates to pictures!

Thanks for making this a great tool!

Very cool! I love the new look and the recognition featured members are receiving!

I got goosebumps when I logged on this morning and saw my mug in the top right hand corner of the home page!

Doyou guys every sleep? :)

Still getting used to the new homepage. You guys never rest do you?

Jonathan everything looks great except for in individual blogs, at least the customized ones, the menu bar is currently floating in the middle of the header, which makes it cover the persons header.

Will this be corrected soon? It looks terrible for anyone visiting.

Thanks in advance!

I like it! I keep thinking though that we should have a list of topics under each channel to choose from. Perhaps one being "other" which we can then type in?

This might help keep things clear and concise.

Still exploring the new additions, but so far love what I have seen. Thank you for all your hard work.

Hey Jonathan, You state you removed the AR header from our customized blogs but on mine all it did was really mess it up. Other than that I love the new look.

Jon....I like the new look although I have always believed the part where the guidelines are should be bigger and in red, capitals or something like that for all to notice and read. Maybe above the channel section on the right? It got pushed down .... and more unnoticeable.

I like the larger photos and new look. Like my header better without the constant member count and logo as well.

Only downside...having to go back and channel posts, if I want.

Oh...I looked at Bryant's and it is sooo messed up...mine has a white spot now....and I can't change anything from the customized site..it's down. What was the reason to take ActiveRain off the header? I didn't mind it.

Kudos to our development team! As usual, they have really stepped things up, and continue to offer our members valued enhancements to make site navigation a smoother, more meaningful experience!

Janice: Sleep is for the weak ;) 3 hours should be enough for anyone!

Brett: "You guys never rest do you?" — you have no idea how close you are :)

We're working hard to bring the Customizer fully into the "rain", and we're still investigating layout issues on a small percentage of customized blogs.

Speaking with a bit of insider knowledge, I can safely say that the road ahead is full of fantastic surprises for ActiveRain!

I did a double take when I logged in, but I like it.

Hey AR folks -

Thanks for keeping us "cutting edge." We look forward to continuing enhancements and improvements.

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Looks great. I wasn't sure I had arrived at the right place at first.

Jon- I just noticed your VW Bus is missing.....I loved your Bus :)

The front page is missing recent blogs. I think it should show these on the front next to featured or a mix of the two? I dont know maybe you wanted only featured to show since they are most likely better written.

Big fan of having the featured member on this city level. It makes more sense as real estate is such a local market. It's nice to see the ActiveRain platform evolve over the past year. It's great to see technology that moves along to help us out as the industry changes. Good job Active Rain!

I would like to see some sort of a live ticker on the main page that scrolles posts as they are published, regardless of whether or not they are featured (it would be fine to just scroll the title or something like that).

It would also be nice to have a resources repository of some type, with tools for agents and other industry professionals...perhaps some articles and how to's.

I like the look! When you click on Home Buying, or specifically: Home For Sale, I think it should break down the listings by state at the top.

Jonathan

Nice new look. Infact, before I saw your post, I was blogging to others in AR about what is going on.

Two Points:

1. When you guys roll-out a new change, it would be nice to get a heads up. Not all of us go to the home page. Anyway that we members can be notified? Instuctions or help on this?

2. Unless I missed it, it appears as though all blog articles are in order of oldest to the new. Would think people would want to see the newest, especially due to all the changes in the market.

Thanks just my 2 cents.

Wayne

I like the concept and the design. I will come back and take a closer look at things .. It certainly looks like you have put a lot of thought into this.

I have noticed the changes and really appreciate them, and I appreciate how AR is evolving.

Well, I guess I was most excited to see my photo on the home page...I love the new way you post the featured agents for the area not just the state...you guys are awesome! I have been picking a channel for my most recent posts but haven't had time to play with them yet. Looks great though.

Hi Jonathon, WOW, wasn't ab;e to get to AR untill just now and was totally surprised by the new look and to see my picture right there in front of me ! Looking forward to learning how the upgrades can benefit us all.

I must be missing something. There is usually a link to Localism from the blogs page of Activerain and couldn't find a link anywhere to view the new look and make a comment. So, I typed in localism.com and it took me to the old site. I can't find the new one anywhere to take a look.

I love it...I love it...I love it..Why: It's easy to read and I see other blogs on other topics... You guys did a great job,,,, I also sign off and called it a day, but I had to check out my A/R blog.... and I was WOW...

I really have to work on getting into my community and bloging about the neighborhood....

Hi, Jonathan! Under the
Welcome to the Community!

you welcome real estate professionals.

yet - on the channels, consumer channels are equal to professional channels.

perhaps the welcome should welcome consumers as well.

On the home page the blog choices are limited to Featured-Most Active-Last Comment. Why not give the same choices that are available at the top level of Blogs:

Show: Featured | Professional | Consumer | All | Subscribed