Cafe Face-Lift

by Don Boudreaux on July 30, 2009

in Cafe Conversation

You will all have noticed that the Cafe has just received a face lift — one that, Russ and I hope, will not only improve its looks but also its functioning.  A few days might pass before all the bugs are worked out.  We appreciate your patience.

Russ and I thank the Mercatus Center at GMU, and especially Cord Blomquist, for help in making this improvement possible.

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  • ArrowSmith
    There is a big flaw, as you keep replying deeper into a thread the post gets narrower. This is a problem. Also this problem is across all browsers(IE, Firefox and Chrome).
  • Yet Another Methinks
    In return for the pleasure of letting me sit on your face-lift, here is your slice of the morning hearsay :


    "
    controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?



    If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

    If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

    If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

    If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?


    If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?


    If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?



    So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant
    "

    Send me your harmless squirrel; and I will make it into Hitler look-alike.
    ~~B T~

    "Did Boss Tweed truly say that"

    "Probably"

    "
    I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures.
    Boss Tweed

    I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating.
    Boss Tweed

    The way to have power is to take it.
    "
  • Frank
    A live link to EconTalk would be great.
  • vikingvista
    1-click to listen to an EconTalk podcast while reading through Cafe Hayek discussions would be a great feature.
  • Congratulations on the move! I think you will find the platform more empowering.
  • William
    Looks nice, but the RSS feed no longer indicates whether an article was written by Don or by Russ. Please look into this!
  • Hi guys,
    If you are still open to enhancements, may I suggest putting your full names, maybe in mixed case, so bloggers like myself can simply copy and paste your name when we link to a post.
    Regards,
    LL
  • Mauro Mello Jr.
    Ahh, a new design and layout emerged. Very good!
  • MWG
    I am having trouble adjusting to the new look. I like the structure, but it's too white... It's burning my eyes.
  • martinbrock
    Thanks for the progressive reorganization. I like.
  • mmm... needs something more on top, in my opinion. Maybe a picture of the blog authors perhaps?

    And, yeah, as Devin noted, I was wondering about the barrage of new posts that I had already seen.

    Looks more hip too!
  • paulmcmahon
    Like the new look.
  • kmeleanthony
    Great work Cord!
  • Looks great. I was wondering why my Google Reader showed 20 new posts from Cafe Hayek.
  • I_am_a_lead_pencil
    Testing
  • caolson
    I caught wind of this change yesterday and I though my browser wasn't loading CSS right. Then I thought I liked it better this way. Then I realized it wasn't TypePad anymore.
  • Ian
    Thesis is spreading. Awesome.
  • Yes, it's a great framework for WordPress. I highly recommend it and if anyone is looking to escape TypePad, you should look at Foliovision, the company that facilitated this transition process. There's a link to them in the footer.
  • anowrast
    WAY TO GO CORD!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Wow. This is impressive.
  • Anonyman
    As someone who obsesses about information design, I beg you to please reintroduce some color, even if it is only mild shades.

    The vast expanse of white actually makes it more difficult for the brain to sort out what is important on the page. Design matters.
  • Yet Another Methinks
    "
    reintroduce some color, even if it is only mild shades.

    The vast expanse of white
    "

    I like the *Big Sky Country*. Better to keep it this way until you develop a taste for it.

    Grazia,

    Yet
  • The design isn't final by any means. The main thing we want to accomplish was converting the blog from Typed to WordPress. Now we have a lot more flexibility in the design and functionality of the site. So, look forward to the design being improved in the weeks to come.
  • RD
    It is rather white, you at least need to spruce up the title or something.
  • Looks great, Don and Russell. Keep up the great blogging!
  • Like Don just explained, Cafe Hayek won't be in the practice of banning anyone, but the new comment system does allow you to "like" or "report" comments, essentially vote them up or down. The result of this voting only shows up if you select "Best Rating" under the "Sort by" menu at the top of the comments area.

    I also want to encourage everyone to use the "Reply" function in the comments area. This will help to sort out if your comment is a reply to another comment, rather than a reply to the post itself.

    If you have any questions about this stuff, feel free to post them here. I'll be checking in regularly to provide answers.
  • Unit
    Can the links to the next and previous post that are now at the bottom of the comments be also put at the top of the page?
  • The reply feature will definitely help the flow of the discussion! What does "Subscribe to all comments" do? Also, will trackbacks work now?

    You can edit your own comments too?
  • If you subscribe to comments you can either receive emails when someone adds to the thread or add the thread to your RSS reader.

    Yes, comments can be edited for a short time after posting, so you needn't worry so much about little typos.
  • martinbrock
    Hallelujah. Even with preview, I just can't seem to proofread often enough.
  • DonBoudreaux
    While I believe it to be perfectly legitimate for owners of private sites, such as this one, to ban whoever they want for whatever reason(s) they want, our policy is that persons making poor arguments are best ignored by us (the owners) rather than banned. If commentors wish to engage those who argue weakly or with accusations rather than with reason and evidence, that's fine. Commentors are also, though, free to ignore arguments that are weak or foolish.
  • vikingvista
    I'm starting to think a linear format, with quick "replied to" and "replies" links would be easier to follow. To find new posts, I must read through the whole comments section.
  • vikingvista
    The new format with ratings, monikers listed first, and reply trees greatly facilitates such ignoring.

    Thanks for all the great improvements. I feel like I should be paying for this. Do you take anonymous donations?
  • ArrowSmith
    Thankfully you can ban all the trolls. It will be so refreshing to be able to discuss politics and economics free of the ad hominem attacks.
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