Blog renovations
As you will have noticed, there have been some changes at ‘Thoughs on Freedom’. The blog template has been changed and we have added some new features, including:
* “Quotable quotes”, to be updated semi-regularly
* ALS poll questions, to be updated semi-regularly
* A Discussion page so that commentators can start their own topics or make meta-comments.
If you have any further suggestions on how we can make this blog better, or if you know of any Australian libertarian blogs that we are missing on our blogroll, or if you want to contribute as an occasional blogger, then please leave a comment and/or send me an e-mail.
How about a new symbol? The statue of Liberty is too American for an Australian Blog!
I recently thought that a great flag would be to combine the colours of the Aboriginal flag in the Eureka flag format!
Imagine a black flag, with a red cross, and four white stars, one for each point of the cross, and in the center (an original touch) a golden sun on top of the cross!! People often comment that Uluru is like the sun in rock form, so this could refer to that, symbolically.
Comment by nicholas gray | May 8, 2007
In long discussions the comments appear to belong to the author shown above them when in fact they belong to the author shown below them. I think it has something to do with proximity and white space.
Comment by terje (say tay-a) | May 8, 2007
Who said that?
Comment by John Humphreys | May 8, 2007
Any chance of increasing the size of the font on the comments or making the background lighter? It’s a bit squinty.
Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 8, 2007
How about just the original Eureka flag without the bleeding heart statement?
Comment by Elijah | May 8, 2007
Eureka flag’s a union symbol now… statue of liberty is very American, but it does say “liberty” a lot more than anything I can think of.
For the discussion page, I think a proper forum would be better (rather than blog style), where anybody can start a new thread… but I guess you’re limited by wordpress.
Comment by Fleeced | May 8, 2007
In Firefox 2 and IE 7 - the tagline ‘Blog of the Australian Libertarian Society’ is indented under Thoughts on Freedom and wrapping over two lines - probably not what you had in mind. I’d reduce the fontsize so that it sits neatly underlining the blog title.
Comment by Slim | May 8, 2007
And in my browser the letterspacing for the title is too tight.
Comment by Slim | May 8, 2007
Very swish, John, but then I’m using a 21″ cinema screen that makes things look pretty swish. I’d check to see how many platforms there are where the tagline wraps over two lines. It doesn’t on mine but that’s only me.
Comment by skepticlawyer | May 8, 2007
Preferred the old method of stating the commenter and date at the top, much easier to scroll down and see where the thread is at. Maybe include time posted as well so that when non-Eastcoasters come to a thread they no whether it is currently active or not. Oh yeah, and make the “Comment by” in bold so it stands out more.
Nice overall feel to it though, I like the mods.
Comment by Brendan Halfweeg | May 8, 2007
what’s a meta-comment?
is it a really good one?
Comment by pommygranate | May 9, 2007
In Firefox 2
My version is 1.5.0.11 and it says there are no updates. Is that a beta version?
Anyway, the wrapping occurs in my version too. Needs fixing.
Comment by DavidLeyonhjelm | May 9, 2007
Elijah, I think that a black background to a flag looks more dramatic. It was not designed with a ‘bleeding-heart’ mentality, but a ’strong-colour-contrast’ mentality. And I’ll admit it was intellectually pleasing to mix an Aboriginal symbol and a libertarian symbol together- too often, the left tries to give the impression that Aborigines are naturally socialist. As shock value, i like it.
Comment by nicholas gray | May 9, 2007
Can’t see the results of the poll without voting again.
Comment by Brendan Halfweeg | May 9, 2007
Yes John, I’d like to continue occasional blogging.
Comment by justinjefferson | May 9, 2007
Not everything in the world has to have an aboriginal flag on it.
Comment by Yobbo | May 11, 2007
Thanks for the feedback peoples. Unfortunately, wordpress doesn’t give me the option to do most of what was suggested. For people who have the subtitle folding over I suggest changing the font size on your screen.
Pommy — a meta-comment is a comment about the site or about the comments policy or about the nature of blogging or the nature of libertarian blogging or any other broad issue that goes beyond a narrow topic of the moment.
justin — I’d like you to keep blogging too. You’re still down as an official “author” so you can post a blog article any time the mood strikes.
Comment by John Humphreys | May 13, 2007
The wrapping is because of the window size of the browser… increase the size and it doesn’t wrap. That said, are the words “Blog of the” necessary?
Comment by Fleeced | May 13, 2007