If you haven't noticed yet, Vox pushed out another release (release 42) that fixes some of the issues people were having with the Vox homepage. Now, you have all your recent comments, posts, and activity visible by just scrolling down the page. The QotD and the Vox Hunt are together (although not above the fold). As improvements go, this is MUCH better than release 41, but not quite yet what I could see myself wanting to have on my homepage.
I'm planning to put together another quick-and-dirty Greasemonkey script for the Vox homepage – the first revision of this (and only planned revision, at this time) will only re-order the content boxes around on the page. For example, I would much prefer to have the QotD and Vox Hunt up in the top right, where currently the "Find your friends" and ad boxes are.
I'd like to make this script something that people would want to use, so for now, I'd like to hear how you'd like your homepage reordered. Please leave a comment if you think you'd like to have your homepage reordered in any way, and let me know what your dream order for the boxes would be. Keep the following in mind:
- On the first revision, I'm only going to reorder the stuff on the left up/down, and the stuff on the right up/down. I'm not going to be moving things left-to-right or vice versa, or merging content of boxes.
- I'm not going to delete anything. If you don't want ads, use an ad blocker. I will however be amenable to putting things that aren't used often (like the find your friends widget) at the very bottom of the screen, where you won't see them often.
If I get overwhelming direction in the comments to order things a certain way, I'll definitely create a version of the script to order them that way. If there's a more even split for what people want, I will probably pick the solution I would prefer and just implement that. If you have any special requests after the fact, send me a note and we'll see what we can do.
I will be waiting to hear what people think until early next week (March 17th), after which I'll decide on an order, put together the script, and post a follow-up with a link for people to install it.
Edit: While hacking Vox to our whims may be fun and useful, the only way it's ever going to be "fixed" for real is by sending Vox some feedback with what you would like changed. In addition to leaving a comment for me for the short-term fix, I urge you to tell Vox what you'd like reorganized on the home page – if they get enough feedback asking for a specific change, they will probably at least consider making the change (as shown by their efforts in release 42 to fix some of the complaints they received from their release 41 modifications).
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March 11th, 2008 on 11:15 AM
"…something that people would want to use…"
Well, wouldn't that be a novelty? :-)
March 11th, 2008 on 11:19 AM
I know, god forbid something I make would be useful to someone! While any programming project will extend my knowledge of the language and benefit me by way of added experience, it's nice to know that there's a purpose for the project, too. My continued interest in developing/maintaining something tends to be directly proportional to its usefulness for myself and others. :-)
March 11th, 2008 on 11:19 AM
Dude — you rock.
In general, I think they've improved the last design. I would move the QotD and VH to the top.
I don't care about my neighbor updates, so they would go below the "whatever is good" now pages.
March 11th, 2008 on 11:22 AM
I'l like the QotD and Vox Hunt up top, too.
March 11th, 2008 on 11:24 AM
I left this on the post that vox put out. much better, but i'd still rather the qotd and vox hunt be at the top.
i dont want to have to HUNT for either of them. and trying to find the
QOTD'S for the different sections, culture, entertainment etc, is also
a pain, since you have to go through each section to get to it… I agree with Steve Betz that i dont care about neighborhood updates that much, and the posts.. well that's what my neighborhood page is for. duh. don't need to be repetitive. and the need for the 'theme' box? yeah.. not necessary.
March 11th, 2008 on 12:08 PM
i've just been checking out the page that just shows the posts. i couldn't care less about the qotd or the other updates. maybe that's just me…i'm just more annoyed that i finally got used to the old one and then they changed it again. hehe.
March 11th, 2008 on 12:25 PM
Are you talking about the VoxWatch page? If there's something that needs to get reordered there, I can work on that after the homepage script is done…
March 11th, 2008 on 12:29 PM
i go to this pagehttp://grrrace.vox.com/explore/neighborhood/it just gives me my posts. and that's really all i'm interested in anyway… you don't need to work on anything for me. :) it's no big deal. :) thanks, though!
March 11th, 2008 on 12:58 PM
I like the recent comments to be the first thing i see and then next (to the right) to that the qotd/vox hunt, at the top where you can actually see it. i dont even care if my neighbors recent posts are on there because i go right to my neighborhood after checking out the home page anyways. and then maybe the this is good/culture stuff right below that.
March 11th, 2008 on 2:24 PM
Me, I've just stopped coming to the VOX homepage, and I don't know that even some improvements are going to be enough to get me to start using it again now that I've adjusted my time-wasting regimen to avoid it.Sorry VOX, you are made of fail.
March 12th, 2008 on 9:57 AM
I wonder if these might be relevant to your topic.1. The ability to categorize my posts2. The ability to edit the HTML code of my posts3. The ability to import text files4. The ability to backupThese may be too much though. hehehe
March 12th, 2008 on 10:11 AM
Sorry, all of those are beyond the scope of a simple greasemonkey script, and most require backend changes on Vox's end. However:1) Categorizing posts can be done with tags. Just tag all posts you want in a certain category with a given category name. Then you can view all the posts with that tag by going to http://yourblogname.vox.com/library/posts/tags/tagname/ .2) Check out the greasemonkey script found here – they might have already implemented a way to edit HTML in posts.3) This definitely requires a Vox modification to do within the Vox post application. What is your intended use of this, though? You could, I think, fairly easily meld together the moblog post-by-email with some scripts to import text files via an email to your blog.4) I'm still hoping Vox will create a means to export your blog entries, since pretty much every other blogging platform out there has this functionality. However, in the meantime, you can use a service like BlogBackupOnline for free blog backups. I've got a post about this service in particular here.
March 12th, 2008 on 12:16 PM
Thanks for your reply.1. Yeah .. at the moment, I am categorizing this way; with tags.3. I always think for the worst. If there's a case where my blog crashed or lost, I could easily import all my previous postings with text files.Anyway, what could we ask for in this free service?
March 13th, 2008 on 1:44 PM
Great idea! Thanks for making this script, and sharing it with us. :)I like that Vox Hunt and QotD are together but wish they were above the ad in the sidebar. I actually like the Vox News, Vox Tips and Latest Themes modules, which I guess could come in that order after Vox Hunt and QotD (or even under the ad). I like being able to see if there's a new Vox blog post and new themes via the homepage without having to search for them throughout the website. Additionally, I think these modules are fine located in the right hand, smaller column.I would prefer Neighborhood Posts to be above Comments, but actually like the "Is Good" module to remain at the bottom of the main content column, below Neighborhood Activity. I just noticed that Vox removed the Neighborhood Media category featured in the previous release. I didn't check that often, but it was nice to have. (I know you can't add that, but I should probably include this in my feedback to Vox.) I like what's included on the homepage, so I vote against hiding/removing anything with the script.While on the topic, but which would require a separate script, can you add links to the navigation located at the bottom of every Vox page? It would be nice to be able to access Team Vox's news/blog and the Vox Reader (VoxWatch) from any page. (I have already requested this numerous times in Vox feedback.)
March 13th, 2008 on 1:57 PM
Thanks for the input.It would be relatively easy to put together a separate script to insert those links in the footer on every page – since Vox uses CSS heavily, it would even appear to be part of the rest of the page, I think.So I could modify it to be:You: Blog Profile Library VoxWatch Neighborhood GroupsExplore: Vox News Culture Entertainment etc…About: (remains the same)What do you think? I'll add that to my todo-list…shouldn't take but a little coding time to get it in shape, test, etc.
March 14th, 2008 on 1:16 AM
I like having the neighborhood updates at the top; however I do think it's kind of counterintuitive to have the comments before the posts. So I would organize the left column like this:1. Neighborhood posts2. Neighborhood comments3. This is good4. No one wants to look dumb (unless that's an ad?)5. Neighbor activityAs for the right column, as long as the QotD and Vox Hunt are on top, everything else is all the same to me. Looking forward to the script!
March 15th, 2008 on 12:35 AM
You: Blog Profile Library VoxWatch Neighborhood Groups
Explore: Vox News Culture Entertainment etc…
About: (remains the same)What do you think? Thank you!!! :DI like the order for the "You" category links, but I'm not sure if Vox News should be placed in Explore (as you have it listed) or in About (as "News" just before Help). I'm sort of leaning towards "About." Since Help and Feedback are resources, and Team Vox's blog is geared towards releases and tips on using Vox features, News might be better suited for the "About" list, especially since the "Explore" links are more focused on personal blog posts and media.
March 15th, 2008 on 7:24 AM
Noted – it's in my todo list, so I'm sure I'll get to it in the next week sometime.