We haven’t posted one of these — as somebody, in classic fashion once described ‘About CHS’ posts — self-important blog posts in awhile. So let’s get it out of our system:
Green thumbs: You may have noticed that we’ve replaced the old thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating tool on articles and comments with only a ‘Recommend this’ thumbs-up. Why? It was too easy for one person to make a drive-by negative impact by clicking the thumbs-down just because they disagreed. There was an increase in these acts of shallow commentary recently convincing us that it was time for a change. As for making it too easy to show approval, well, can’t say this appears to be a problem in the cool, cruel world. Anything we can do to tip the scales of positivity seems healthy, no?
Twitter Ads: Now we’re just showing off. We’ve introduced a cool new ad format here on CHS that we think makes a lot of sense. Our new Twitter Ad template showcases a local business’s social media message making an ad that’s dynamic and, hopefully, interesting for people who live and work in the neighborhood. Here’s an example form our first Twitter advertiser, City Books. You can follow them, btw, here @citybooks and thank for being part of CHS.
Want to create your own CHS Twitter Ad? Start here and choose Midrise and then the Twitter Ad layout.
- CHS by E-mail: Did you know you can get a fresh batch of the latest CHS posts in your inbox every morning? Tis true. Look for this box over in the right sidebar.
- Our other new features are slowly taking shape and becoming part of the CHS experience:
o Reviews
o Forums
o Classifieds - Aggregation: We’re experimenting with high-quality ways to share content with you from other sources. Sometimes it will be a story about Capitol Hill that we missed. Sometimes it will be citywide issues that are also important here on Capitol Hill. Here’s an example that we featured today. You’ll notice these posts mixed in with our regular CHS coverage. We’ll always be about original, one-of-a-kind neighborhood news and information — but we’re also looking for the best possible way to grow beyond that and add the power of Seattle’s online news and info providers to the mix.
- And we couldn’t be happier with the continued growth in new people — and regulars! — coming to the site. Here’s a snapshot of recent usage trends. You can see the latest numbers on our About Us page.
Thanks much. Now back to the news.
Has your favicon (the little icon next to the CHS web address at the top of the browser window) always been there and I hadn’t noticed?
I’ve been struggling to figure out what the connection between a Yellow J and “Capitol Hill Seattle” might be. (revelation: see below).
The 16 x 16 pixel canvas is a bit limited, but maybe there’s some way to get the essence of Capitol Hill in there: “CHS” in Times Roman with obvious serifs would be one possibility, or some variant on the odd logo on the Capitol Hill street signs.
How about a competition for a 16 x 16 pixel Capitol Hill icon (of a Capitol Hill icon)?
Can anyone squeeze Boe into that size (he’s pretty small already)?
Andrew
NEVER MIND! Figured it you. You’re using iconj.com to host your favicon, and they’ve had a hardware failure and lost your (undoubtedly elegant) favicon. The Yellow J is iconJ’s default favicon, I bet!
The Green Thumb’s STILL THERE. I just clicked it and it did its thing.
if it’s the site or just me, but it used to be when I was on the home page with the list of all the stories, off to the right there was a spot for “most recent comments” which was really handy, especially if people were commenting on an older story I might have missed. It’s been gone for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve finally figured out that it comes back if I click on ‘all posts’ at the top but is there any reason it isn’t on the home page any longer? The calendar listing is missing too (both places).
The other odd thing I notice is new stories don’t always show up at the top (particularly switching between the main page and the stories page). Right now, the story about the Miller Community Center’s new preschool and the Ref. 71 fundraiser at the Bottleneck show up in one place, but not the other.
I like the switch to green-only thumbs and all the great work that goes into CHS. Thanks!
Two things here —
The recent comments widget: Good catch! Had to make some decisions on space on homepage but your query has made me re-think that choice. Re-instating!
As for story order, we *occasionally* make the decision to promote something to top of page out of time order. The purpose is to sometimes put an important story front and center. We’re probably doing this a little too much. Downside is a frequent visitor might see a story they’ve already read and assume there is nothing new below. Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for the info jseattle! And I’m very happy to have the recent comments back!
“Downside is a frequent visitor might see a story they’ve already read and assume there is nothing new below.”
Yup, guilty as charged. Once I figured it out, I tried to be a little more conscientious about checking but the old memory bank isn’t what it used to be (she says at the ripe old age of 26…) :-)