NRW-Tourismusmagazin

trenc · 2009-09-29 13:17:46

Last week I launched a small project of mine:

It’s a magazine and news site to promote the touristic destination of North Rhine-Westphalia. And yes, this time is only available in german and it’s not fully filled with texts, but this will come with the news.

Greatest problem was to structure the site with a usable navigation and I made multiple attempts with diferent version to do this. I think this version is reasonable, but I’m always open for suggestions.

Technically I decided to use a xhtml strict. I would prefer html 5, but it’s still in draft status and some browsers can’t go with it. But think html 5 will be a great step then.
I use a lot of plugins and txp interna to structure the side, so some of the plugins I had to modify to ensure a small footprint, reduced sql queries and an acceptable load performance. On some site it will use jQuery scripts, but the site will always working without javascript.

Used plugins:

aks_header
ebl-image-edit
rah_sitemap
rss_article_edit
rss_auto_excerpt
rss_unlimited_categories, I had to modify it, to reduce sql queries, which are a resulted in an old and (for me) not needed build in url handler
tru_tags
upm_img_popper, Customised and modified; stripped some things and added other to work with yab_image
yab_email, Modified; Javascript will be called external
yab_image, Modified with some pre settings
zem_contact_reborn, and of course
zem_contact_lang
custom admin interface plugin, Some modifcation in admin interface write tab (pluggable_ui, some jQuery stuff)

Depending on the evolution of the site, some function will be removed, some other added (a poll system — btw. I working on an usable plugin —, newsletter, advanced search etc), will see.

jakob · 2009-09-29 14:21:58

Hi trenc, looks extensive and interesting – quite a big job by the looks of it. Thanks for all the background info, too.

May I ask why you (or how you are) used rss_unlimited_categories and tru_tags together?

custom admin interface plugin, Some modifcation in admin interface write tab (pluggable_ui, some jQuery stuff)

That would be interesting to see. Could show some example screenshots?

Small tip: none of the header images show for me. It’s not a problem with your site per se but you could avoid it but naming your header images something other than “banner” – many browser Adblockers block images that contain the name “banner”, which from checking the css seems to be the case. If the images have a different name the problem won’t occur.

trenc · 2009-09-29 15:45:06

Hi jakob,

I’m using tru_tags and rss_unlimited_categories together because I needed a clear cut between a categorization for a navigation filter and a real tagging support. So I decided to use both of them. Tru tags has in addition the ability to easily add tags on write tab. With rss_uc you have to go the category page to add tags. Furthermore a tag listing in the write tab with rss_uc would be quite unusable, when the tags have reached a certain amount. So the rss_uc here include the static categories and tru_tags the real tags.

Could show some example screenshots?

Sure. Here are two snapshots, oft some modifications:

write tab modifications
I don’t add stylish jQuery effects. I only removed and changed something.
On the left side I made a radio input for a custom field and on the right side I removed the textpattern category select fields (because rss_uc is used instead).

upm image popper modifications
And here is the modifed upm_image_popper. Here I removed all things that I don’t want, and now it supports yab_image. So a click on »Artikelbild (linksfließend)« will insert a <txp:yab_image align="left" id="xx" /> and so on. And a click on Teaserbild will replace/add the id of an image in the article image field in the write tab.

So, all no big issues.

Small tip: none of the header images show for me. It’s not a problem with your site per se but you could avoid it but naming your header images something other than “banner” – many browser Adblockers block images that contain the name “banner”, which from checking the css seems to be the case. If the images have a different name the problem won’t occur.

Oh, many thanks. I never thought of that. I’ve changed the names.

uli · 2009-09-29 16:10:46

Thanks for the tech info and insights on your modifications. I’d be glad to be as independent of e.g. overaged plugins as you are, but my profession is the design. There are only tree small things that catch my eye:

The grey color in the header search bar and in the “active” menu items. They sadden the site’s look a little where it could need a fresh, strong note.
The links in the footer should look like links, at the moment they don’t. No underlining necessary but the fresh green you used for linking in other spots would do good.
The green divider line below this block (plus the white space below that) is too much and don’t seem to have a function.

Nice job, Tommy!

jakob · 2009-09-29 17:07:32

The header infos show now and I recognise places :-)

Thanks for the extra infos about the backend, too!

nabrown78 · 2009-09-30 13:11:29

Thanks for showing your list of plugins…that’s really useful to see. You should submit your site to welovetxp.com!

I was wondering how you stripped the whitespace from your html? Does that make for significant size/download time savings?

colak · 2009-09-30 14:27:05

nabrown78 wrote:

I was wondering how you stripped the whitespace from your html? Does that make for significant size/download time savings?

Hi Nora,

pat_speeder does that

trenc… Nice site!!!

trenc · 2009-09-30 16:18:04

uli wrote:

There are only tree small things that catch my eye:

The grey color in the header search bar and in the “active” menu items. They sadden the site’s look a little where it could need a fresh, strong note.

The links in the footer should look like links, at the moment they don’t. No underlining necessary but the fresh green you used for linking in other spots would do good.

The green divider line below this block (plus the white space below that) is too much and don’t seem to have a function.

Thank for your hints and tips. Only the seach bar I leave grey.

nabrown78 wrote:

Thanks for showing your list of plugins…that’s really useful to see. You should submit your site to welovetxp.com!

Ah yes, why not. Thank your for the tip.

I was wondering how you stripped the whitespace from your html? Does that make for significant size/download time savings?

As colak wrote pat_speeder do this. I myself is using aks_header. With aks_header you can also gzip the site on runtime, ‘because my apache doesn’t.
The whitespaces stripping is nice, but not really worth. But the gzipping saves about 75%. Have a look here.

Last edited by trenc (2009-09-30 16:18:41)

uli · 2009-09-30 16:56:31

Saw you also removed the other dividers in the footer. I had these in mind, too, but thought I’d be nitpicking. Yes, well done, they’re unnecessary, the several lines of links do structure themselves sufficiently :)

Edit: In the Aktuelles/News section in list view, can’t the posted date be mistaken for the event’s date? Maybe lighten up its color?

Last edited by uli (2009-09-30 17:51:15)

trenc · 2009-10-01 07:57:51

In the Aktuelles/News section in list view, can’t the posted date be mistaken for the event’s date?

Hm, yes. That could be misunderstood. I’m looking for a proper solution.

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#1 2009-09-29 13:17:46

NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#2 2009-09-29 14:21:58

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#3 2009-09-29 15:45:06

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#4 2009-09-29 16:10:46

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#5 2009-09-29 17:07:32

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#6 2009-09-30 13:11:29

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#7 2009-09-30 14:27:05

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#8 2009-09-30 16:18:04

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#9 2009-09-30 16:56:31

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

#10 2009-10-01 07:57:51

Re: NRW-Tourismusmagazin

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