The sidebar with the recent posts provides the mini-blog feel needed to prevent posts from getting lost.

One suggestion...is it possible to have a running comment count appear next to each post title in the sidebar? If so, I think it's a perfect compromise.

i guess i'll be the first here...

alex, i think i'm gonna be ok! it'll take me a minute to learn how the site works, but it seems pretty great, right off the bat!

great job by you, laura & ken!

congrats!!!

2) He Likes it! Yes, it'll take a minute for us all to adjust but I think we'll soup it up nice so that it's really clean and functional.

shit. i spoke too soon! i'm completely lost. yikes!!!

it's super confusing. but hopefully i'll get the hang of it when i have time to look it through. which is definitely not now!!!

i'll see you guys sometime later this week...

GO YANKS!!!

ooh, wait a minute. the comments don't line up the way i typed them out. different paragraphs and stuff. me no likey. totally takes away from the delivery...

yeah, definitely miss the sidebar with yanks info and recent posts and stuff. i'm sure it's coming. i need to be going. get me off o' here!!!

Test 1.

Test 2.

Test 3.

[5] I think that's a kink that can be worked out.

It seems like the code is forcing paragraphs into consecutive sentences.

[5] Damn, that's a bug. Need to fix that.

[8] It's a bug that sneaked in when I tried to add the [number] links. Easy fix.

Well I love it. I'm more visual so seing the pictures cue up is great. Rock on Banter.

Dig.

Poor thelarmis. Short circuiting? Congrats AB and co. Looks classy.

It definitely looks sharp. Good work all!

[0] I like this! Its incredibly readable! Very clean and well-organized. Thanks to Ken and to Laura - and to you, Alex.

[1] And of course, if you follow via an RSS reader, you'll have no problems.

One question - is there any way to adjust the text size of the comments? My browser is rendering all the other text according to what I've set, but the comments show up in about 10 pt font. Is this my problem, or is it an option somewhere on the site?

Huzzahs all around, I say. Way to go. I'm jealous.

[13] yes!!! waaaay too many things going on at once. : ~

it definitely looks classy. will definitely take me awhile to learn how to navigate it properly and keep up with different threads. as a drummer, i'm great at multi-tasking; but, as a drummer, i'm a big dummy!

ps - i really really miss being able to preview comments before they post. is it possible to bring that back, please?!?!

Nice, clean look. I dig.

OK, gonna have to break the site for a minute to fix the paragraph bug. Hold on...

This stinks!

No not really, just felt like busting chops :-)

I'm liking it.

Ok, the paragraph bug is fixed.

[15] I don't currently have any options for changing the font sizes. The comments are currently set to be a 9pt font.

[22] you rock, ken!

what about being able to preview comments before posting? you know, for idiot drummers who might frequent this site...

thanks!

[24] I turned that plugin off during the upgrade to make sure there were no conflicts. Just turned it back on.

Might have to see if I can tweak it...the preview doesn't quite match the way the new comments look now.

Where's Karim the Banter Pony? We were all promised ponies with the new site ... (weren't we?)

(But seriously .... like the typeface and background color)

i was promised this:

http://tinyurl.com/3lzpvdb

[27] huh. i wonder why me link doesn't seem "linkable." it was underlined on the preview.

thanks for the preview, ken!

Wowza! Very clean looking. Very unfamiliar at the moment, but I'm hopeful this will be a change we barely notice a week or two from now, after the banter faithful have settled in and a few score trucks have made their way through the site. Best of luck working out the kinks!

[28] That's another thing I need to fix.

Same reason as the paragraph bug...I removed all the automatic formatting of comments when I did the [number] linking, so now I need to stick them back in.

[26] gonna post the full link to see if that works... (once again, it does in the preview box. we'll see...)

http://www.mostlymarimba.com/instruments/marimba-models/25-imperial-grand.html

[30] oh, okay. cool!

and i'm out... have fun w/ the new place!

(btw, you should all follow the link i posted. what a *gorgeous* instrument. a dream instrument of mine!)

also, is bold/italics the same as it was?

Is there a spot that links to the other Yankee/Baseball websites? I searched around to no avail.

I definitely like the look.

Is it me, or is there now no way to see which postings are the most recent ones?

[1] re: comment counts...I tried that on the "Hot from the Toaster" sidebar before, but it looked awful. I'll see if I can figure out a clean way to do that in this design.

[32] Bold, Strong and Italics should still work as the previous version. See the Commenting guidelines link for the full list of HTML tags you can use.

[23] No worries, Ken. I found a Firefox add-on that lets me adjust the text on the Banter (and only the Banter). =)

I also saw, because I mistakenly clicked on an old post, that all of the comment links made in square brackets on the last site design, now work on the new version! I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was nice to see.

[33] Links is one of the things I still need to fix on the sidebar. There's going to be a short list of about 15 links with a link to a full page chock-full o' links.

[34] The most recent posts are listed on the sidebar. I expect that sidebar is how most of you regulars will navigate the site.

[35] yeah, total comment counts would be helpful!

ok, i'm really out now.

later!

looking good.
it's more dynamic.

guess a few more kinks still need to be worked out but on a nice track.
i bet almost everyone who originated from the toaster days likes that our brackets work again. hell almost all of us were still commenting like that.

i don't know if this is a firefox thing, but i would personally prefer not to have to scroll to the right at all - that is just have everything left to right on the page view.

Gotta say, the mobile version of the site looks great and reads cleanly too. Beautiful job all around!

[42] just checked it out. agreed - it looks great. much, much quicker to scroll through the posts and comments.

While we're making requests: more information.

I second comment counts on the recent post sidebar.

When you hover over the thumbnails it brings up the full size image and a caption with the post title - great. Would be better if it included the tag/category. So if i'm not interested in taster's cherce, how do I know "apple sauce" with a picture of a restaurant (this post) ain't a cherce post? So ideally the caption would say the post title, its category/tag, and its comment count.

Would be nice if when hovering over the text links below the slideshow the image corresponding to the post i'm hovering over would pop up. also with the tag/category (and, hell, the comment count too).

Maybe in the 'upcoming schedule' sidebar include the past couple game scores.

also, the verticle column of image thumbnails should maybe be moved to the left side, or maybe the shading should be changed to make the filmstrip pop more. I missed its presence the first few times i looked at the site.

Finally, the new layout is awesome, and it's not even my birthday! Great job folks!

[44] Good suggestions, ny2ca2dc.

Great layout, I'm sure "usability" features will be a work in progress.

Really nice on the eyes, and a lot to choose on the home page. My experience with the Banter is just a year, so I cannot reminisce about the "Toaster" days.

Congratulations on this labor of love. I hope there is a benefit from the effort.

So here I sit at work where my school district's fascist firewall prevents me from accessing the Banter. The good news, though, is the site seems to be optimized for mobile users. The bad news is that I can't see what everything really looks like and will have to wait until I get home to congratulate everyone. Can't wait.

Does anyone have an iPad who can tell me how it looks on it?

It's a bit to get used to, but I'm liking what I see so far. Mostly I'm just happy we kept the legacy comments structure.

Very nice! Well done.

What happens when a thread goes past 50 comments?

I dig the new look on my phone but will have to check on my laptop later. This seems evil, therefore I approve.

[51] Nothing at 50, but it'll do the old Toaster hide/show thing every 100 comments.

[48] It looks good on the iPad. I'm going through all of it now. Will let you know if I have any specific comments.

[48] looks really nice on the iPad. Definitely pops!
I'd prefer larger font, but not complaining. Great job!

And I can see it from my blackberry, yay! Good job, Alex and co.

Thanks you guys!

[55] Sliced, if you use Firefox on your computer, there's an add on called "NoSquint" that lets you adjust the size of the text - and keep that setting for just the Banter. Takes a tiny bit of tweeking, but it works nicely.

Of course this wouldn't work on the iPad . . .

Much better!

Oh, on Recent Posts: now I see how it works. Obvious enough. Thanks.

On font size: you know that on a Mac you can use command-+ (or minus) to embiggen the whole page, right? When the font looks too small to me I generally just do that. True, it embiggens other stuff too, but generally that's not horrible.

[58] thanks, Shaun. I don't use Firefox, and the problem isn't really the font, it's my middle-aged eyes!
it's really easy to resize the font on the iPad touch screen, too.
I really like the new look, Alex and Co. It's very impressive! Bright and modern are the first words that come to mind.

[61] I'd use the same woids to describe the company, too, in this here honorable tribunal.

I had to double take to see if I was in the right place.

Okay.

I love the neutral pallet and clean design. Kudos to Laura and Ken!

OK, testing this:

http://kenarneson.wordpress.com/

Did it work?

Didn't the first time, but now?

http://www.twitter.com/kenarneson

I think so.

I'm finally looking at the actual site just now -- absolutely beautiful. Love the look. As for the feel, it'll take folks a while to get used to it, but I'm already liking it. I'm sure we'll all love in time.

One thing I noticed, Ken, that might be something that only bothers me. For those people who are connected to another website, their names still show up as hyperlinks, just like they used to. But if you click on the name it doesn't open the link in a new window, so you navigate completely away from BronxBanter, when that might not have been the intention. That's probably an easy fix, right?

But as I say, that might not bother anyone else.

Once again, the site is beautiful.

[66] The commonly accepted best practices in web design holds that you should not open links in new windows, except in a few, specific cases. This would not be one of those cases.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/01/should-links-open-in-new-windows/

[67] Thanks for the link about links. The article was an interesting read and brought up some stuff I hadn't thought about. Quick question. When I've written for this site (recaps, interviews, etc.) I've always made my links open in new windows. Based on what you're saying and based on everything laid out in the article, it looks like I should stop doing that. Correct?

Two more things. After poking around a bit, it seems like almost all the Banter links are set to open in new windows. With so many people contributing now, maybe a style sheet should be created for uniformity.

Also, a quick bug to fix. On the main page, midway down in the Regular Features section, the "Game Recaps" link is dead.

The main thing, though, is the more I look at this new design, the more I love it.

[68] Yes, probably.

[69] I suppose a uniform style sheet would be a good idea.

I fixed the broken link, thanks.