Thanks Paul.
I have some various related thoughts that I may as well throw in here...
In some ways I think it may actually be counter-productive for us "early migrants" to be tweaking a million things individually with code here and code there. I think some things really ought to be in the basic modules and core and skin to begin with, rather than potentially having to individually tell 100 different ning refugees how they can insert code to get something as basic as, say, having a member name showing next to each video in the main video section. I guess what i'm saying is there is still a lot of things that I feel should be in the basic outofthebox set up that are either missing or confusing.
We already KNOW that our JR sites can be customized in a million ways to do and be just about anything we want. But as 'early beta migrants', the more we tweak and customize our JR sites, actually the further away from the outofthebox imported network we will get, and thus we will no longer be able to 'see' and make suggestions on what a brand new migrant will see when first installing the Bundle and importing their Ning archive.
As an example, I learned early on that I could clone my Ningja skin and then customize the clone to make it look more the way i want. However, it was suggested that I stick with the JR version of the Ningja skin since that's the one that will be updated regularly. Now I'm hesitant to do much of anything on my JR site, appearance-wise at least, because I'm not sure how often or for how long I would have to keep 'comparing' and copying my custom code tweaks and updates between my cloned skin and each new ningja skin update. The more code tweaks i add, the more of a PITA each module/skin update will be.
Thus, I'm still sticking with the regular ningja skin and updating it dutifully every few days, but I don't even want to add a site banner or my colors, fonts., logos, etc yet. I'm not sure how much i should customize on my own by testing or adding code, and how much i should just mention to hopefully get changes made in the core, skin or modules themselves (like for instance the member names showing alongside videos, profiles, photos, and music clips, ...which I feel should be there by default, not something that we should be adding code for in each module or skin instance). That's just one example of many.
The other related issue to this coding thing is that if I mention how it would be good to have something be a certain way by virtue of common sense or clarity, I immediately get people telling me I can insert some code into an obscure template to get that change. BUT... most of these things I am bringing up are things i feel should be there as default/outofthebox simply in order that ning migrants not feel utterly confused and lost. They are not things that strike me as being terribly difficult to change in the basic setup.
Yes, I truly DO understand that any ning refugees coming here to JR will have to take some responsibility for their own sites and learn how to make site changes for themselves. But as it is now, there are too many things in the initially setup site that seem kinda crazy to me that will likely cause a whole lot of confusion and frustration to former ningsters arriving.
I wonder if I should start a thread listing some of these site design issues I find so confusing, but I'm afraid people will (as usual) jump in to tell me how to add code to 'fix' it...and keep insisting that I try their code. But unless you want every single new ning customer asking for help with the same mundane 'fixes' over and over for all eternity, then it might make more sense to fix it in the JR platform itself, to be default. I have a hard time trying to bring attention to each problem I see as needing a universal change, without being told I need to code it to change it- the REAL problem is that only changes it for my OWN network, not for everyone else who will follow me and want to correct the very same issue.
Thus, I don't see the overall goal here as being only about my tweaking my own JR site to my personal liking (I already know that's totally do-able)- rather the overall goal, as I see it, is bigger - to make the whole JR Ning Bundle into something that has (at least initially) a somewhat familiar and reassuring feel and look the moment each new weary ning traveler comes in the door and unpacks their bag. Everything can be customized of course, but that initial impression is important.
Sorry for the long post, but I find these thoughts to be a little tricky to clearly express. Thanks for your time in reading!
--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 12/29/14 09:23:54AM
JAMROOM
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but thats a nifty slider..however is not responsive and i believe is flash so wont work on ipads and such (plus flash crashes insanely often)
