If Seventh Sanctum looks a bit different that’s because it is. After months of waiting, it’s out! The updated, Bootstrap-driven version!
So, hopefully you’ve seen it, but if by some rare happenstance you saw this entry on my home site, go check it out!
Now, I’ve tested it, I’ve integrated feedback, but there still could be errors and issues. So be sure to send me feedback!
So some features you should see:
- First of all, you’ve got a more modern, streamlined look. The old site was a bit retro and frankly the text was just a bit too small.
- Secondly, this should scale on mobile and smaller devices. So try it out on phone, tablet, and so on.
- Third, I streamlined the generators. The choice-of-amount really didn’t bring much to the site because people would just have to click again to generate more – and that’s usually what a visitor would want. The new layout should be a bit tighter.
So try it out and let me know if you have any questions or find any problems!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Sorry for a bit of a delay here folks, got a bit under the weather and had a convention to go to. Not an ideal combination, but had a blast – and got to meet some Sanctum-users there.
So first of all, I did some updates to the Seventh Sanctum test site, Page of Generators. I’d like you to try it again to make sure the updates work.
And after that? A launch this month. Quite looking forward to it.
Still having talks about how to do community building, but a lot of the “old gang” are busy right now. But it’s not forgotten. I’m always open to suggestions of course – the more I think of it, the Disqus links really do have their limits. I may think this over during the holidays when I have some spare time – and yeah, I’m taking some time off.
Redoing the site has given me new generator ideas and I think it’s time to get some out after I got the site updated. Actually the modification of the site has let me really re-examine some of my code so I think I’ll have an easier time of implementing things. Lately a lot of my ideas have been about concept/fusion generators.
Was wondering if anyone has ideas about building a challenge community. Yes I know they’d like the contests back, but also I want to think about writers.
OK, so back at it, I’ve got some work to-do, so check the beta and let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Thanks for the feedback people sent in – and it turns out a few genertors DID have a formatting bug. Any generator with a single dropdown-box control was apparently prone to a formatting malfunction. I think I’ve corrected it at this time. Be sure to take a look at the beta site, http://www.pageofgenerators.com/.
So now the next question is when to launch and I’m targeting November. I just have to figure out when because things are a bit busy – and the holiday season makes it both easier and harder to do.
Now with this out of the way – unless someone finds anything else (do let me know) – my next concern more before/in the new year will be a community. Disqus is fun and all for one-offs, but right now I’m debating a mailing list, a message board, and http://elgg.org/ which I saw at Trilobyte studios. The Disqus comments are nice, but also have their issues and aren’t as intimate (I’m not planning to get rid of them).
Oh and new generators? Yeah, I seriously have to revive some of my ideas it’s been ages since I did one – and the new framework makes them easier to do – and easier since I just reviewed a lot of code.
So thanks to everyone for the feedback and help.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Yep, the next generation of Seventh Sanctum is here, and ready for you to test at one of my experimental domains!
http://www.pageofgenerators.com/
I’ve been through my own beta testing, but I’m looking for:
- Any bugs.
- Any formatting/compatibility issues.
- How it works on mobile.
So let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
OK I’m now converting the generators over to the new code base! It’s taking effort, but it’s also going faster than I thought. Mostly it’s intense moments of thought combined with sheer “does that work . . . yeah” drudgery. It’ll get easier the more I do, but the drudgery party isn’t going to change.
So here’s a view of an active generator – my only question is the twitter bug – I probably ought to add a few more social media tools in there. Any thoughts?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Here’s a look at the latest site design for the generator page. A friend gave some brutally honest feedback on how the overuse of the brass bars was, well EYE WATERING and had some contrast issues. Fortunately it was Bootstrap to the rescue, and I managed to tweak the look in a way that works and seems to be multi-device friendly.
So thoughts?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Since I finalized the design, I’ve now started moving it into code. Here’s a demo of the front page.
You’ll notice that I chose the 3rd logo because that one was overwhelmingly popular – and I have to say I dig it’s mixture of complexity, simplicity, and class. Thanks for the feedback. The first logo is also going to appear in a modified form for other things, perhaps buttons or something.
I have to alter the ad space (and color) and I’m having a devil of a time getting the blogfeed to format properly. On the other hand the new components are really smooth to redesign in Bootstrap, and very easy to alter.
I removed the social media buttons as extraneous for now but I might put them back. If there’s any suggestions on how to make it easier to sync up with the Sanctum, fee free to share.
Of course the real test is plugging in live generator code because, well, that’s the critical part of the site. The big issue is getting the nicely formatted forms to work and then getting the output properly and prettily formatted – which sounds easy, but there’s some variable data and presentation in here that may be a pain. I could jam it in unformatted, but it’d be pretty boring and not have the greatest layout.
I’m trying a very non-standard linkroll/siteroll/blogroll – smaller chicklets showing associated sites. I think it actually works.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Hey gang, this is a Seventh Sanctum Update – I’m moving them to this blog so I have less to update and because it’s one of my big projects.
This entry, however, is a placeholder for routing.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
