View this page "Change.gov To-do List"

[karl]

update css palette to match kalib's mockups

[karl]

I'd be keen on doing the per feed icons.
I assume you want them on the feed list options dialog,but do you want
them in the main popup's tabs as well? I think this would look better,
but you wouldn't have as much room for the tab text.
There is also the option of only showing the feed icon in the tab and
having the tab details as tooltip text? However new users may find
this confusing.

[Joe Solomon]

Karl --

It'd be awesome if you could take on the per feed icons...

Would it be possible to just add the icons as a replacement to the Change.gov icon that's the current default in the news reader (when applicable)? 

The options dialog box is super clean and clear as is (thanks to you!) -- my out-of-the-box hunch would be to maintain status quo on that end.  Adding the icon to the tabs themselves, l like the suggestion - although may clutter up and if committed to may confuse users like you say.  For now, if we just make the feed specific icons appear in the rows left-of-the-text -- then we might be in a better position to see what it looks/feels like and take it from there.

Do you need help on the icon front from me/Kalib?

Best,

Joe

[JoeSolomon]

Dietrich - Quick question -- What do you mean by "sharper icons" under
P2 tasks. Thanks! Joe

[karl]

> Would it be possible to just add the icons as a replacement to the
> Change.gov icon that's the current default in the news reader (when
> applicable)?

Ah, it all becomes clear now.
Yup, no problem.

Generally speaking we should be able to extract a sites favicon
relatively easy (eg digg -> http://digg.com/favicon.ico) however those
icons are generally 16x16 pixels in size (whereas the current change.gov
icon is 24x24). Also the favicons sites use are generally designed to
look good on a white background.

I can stretch it to 24x24, but that won't look as good as a properly
resized image.
I'll use the appropriate sites favicon for now and see what it looks like.

> Do you need help on the icon front from me/Kalib?

I think I've got it covered for now.

--
Karl

[Joe Solomon]

Great!

Thanks for sharing the favicon challenges.  I'm with you and look forward to seeing what it looks like and taking it from there.

Based on results, we can experiment w/a lighter background - and do other crazy tinker-y things.

Best,

Joe

[Dietrich Ayala]

the icon we're using is kinda low resolution. would like to get a
crisper higher-contrast icon.

[Kalib Mata]

The images are 72 DPI. I pulled those graphics straight from the change.gov site. We are talking about the dark-blue items correct?

> Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:09:28 -0800
> Subject: Re: Discussion on change-gov-to-do-list
> From: auto...@gmail.com
> To: obam...@googlegroups.com

[karl]

Have added per feed icons. There is a small delay when the icons are
first shown (popup showing, change of tabs), but after that they
should be cached by the browser like any other image.

I've gone through and added iconURLs for all the current feeds.

[Abi]

I think I'll take on sharper icons too since I'm making the icons
transparent. But I'm a photoshop newbie. So, I'll try to finish the
icons by today and then, you guys can tell me how it should be
improved.

On Jan 14, 9:59 am, Kalib Mata <kgm...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> The images are 72 DPI. I pulled those graphics straight from the change.gov site. We are talking about the dark-blue items correct?
>
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:09:28 -0800
> > Subject: Re: Discussion on change-gov-to-do-list

> > From: auton...@gmail.com

> > To: obam...@googlegroups.com
>
> > the icon we're using is kinda low resolution. would like to get a
> > crisper higher-contrast icon.
>
> > On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 4:04 PM, JoeSolomon <j...@engagejoe.com> wrote:
>
> > > Dietrich - Quick question -- What do you mean by "sharper icons" under
> > > P2 tasks. Thanks! Joe
>

> _________________________________________________________________
> Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync.http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_explore_012009

[Joe Solomon]

Karl - The icons look awesome! That was amazingly super fast and well done - you even got the new Google icon!

Is there any way to speed up the download of the icons? It also took a little bit for the navy blue of the rows to show.

Also - Is there a way to shrink the text in the tabs - so they don't squish up against the edge? I remember we did this quite well w/ObamaFox.

Abi - I look forward to your transparent icon work tomorrow! Thanks for taking it on!

We're at a heckuva pace!

Best,

Joe

[Joe Solomon]

Hey everyone! Over here in rainy Vancouver, we're about to go into the final weekend before Obama's inauguration! S'crazy!

Karl - Any chance of being able to take another strong kick at making the newsreader as rock star as it can be.  Including potentially making it more of a seamless download in terms of download timing.    As well as un-squishing the text in the tabs.

Can you also add DailyKos - http://feeds.dailykos.com/dailykos/index.xml

Any suggestions from all for adding/removing feeds?

Abi - Any progress on the transparent icon front?

Dietrich - I know you're super busy.  We're very close to an initial run.  Any area you think needs chipping in or spearheading before an initial release?

I look forward to getting an initial release out there and continuing the conversation about how to make this a killer app for "political engagement and *participation*"

Best,

Joe

[Dietrich Ayala]

UI looks pretty smooth, nice work y'all :) a few other things i
noticed when installing into a fresh profile:

screenshot of first-run:
http://www.grabup.com/uploads/bdf74a0950aa878e6178b30e4c47bf5c.png?direct

- do we want more than one feed enabled by default?

- i think the search feed titles should indicate what they search for.
eg: "google blog search" is too ambiguous. maybe we should change the
search feed titles to "Search Feed Name ('Search Terms')" ?

screenshot of first load of UI w/o any changes to defaults:
http://www.grabup.com/uploads/50bf2abfae91a65fbe6e0daf3118c103.png?direct

- no feed content
- no "edit" icon

actually i just looked in the error console, looks like there's an
error in the feed:

Error: undefined entity
Source File: http://change.gov/open_government/yourseatatthetable-rss
Line: 44, Column: 57
Source Code:
<dc:creator>Meeting with the Honorable Bev Perdue,&nbsp;
Governor of North Carolina</dc:creator>

on a separate note: a core change we should make sometime is to only
create livemarks for selected feeds. this will reduce resource
consumption, as we won't be periodically polling and updating a bunch
of livemarks that the user may never select to be shown.

[karl]

> Karl - Any chance of being able to take another strong kick at making the
> newsreader as rock star as it can be. Including potentially making it more
> of a seamless download in terms of download timing. As well as
> un-squishing the text in the tabs.

I'll get on to this tomorrow morning.

> Can you also add DailyKos - http://feeds.dailykos.com/dailykos/index.xml

No probs.

[Abimanyu Raja]

About the icons, I can't figure out how to make them properly. They always end up being really low-res and unidentifiable with a transparent bg. Can someone else take this up? Next time, I'll remember to stick to coding...

I added the DailyKos feed. I also saw Karl's changes to make the names fit. Some change like Technorati -> Tech make it tough to identify the feeds. Does making the tabs wider rather than names shorter sound better to you guys? 

- Abi

2009/1/17 karl <ka...@interclue.com>

[Joe Solomon]

To echo Dietrich's sentiment, this is looking hot! :)

Also, Great analysis! Agreed on the livebookmark idea - I imagine if we did, yeah, there'd be a lot less stress on the system. I added this to the to do list under P2.

On the names for the menu How does "All News (Powered by Google News)" sound for Google News and "All Blogs (Powered by Google Blog Search/Technorati)" ?

Karl -- Thanks for taking on the changes!

Abi - Thanks for giving the icons a strong go.  I think we're good for an initial launch, but we can tackle this again after we're up. What do you think?

Also - You're right about the names in the tabs.  If Karl's idea for using icons passes muster, we'll be all right.  If not, maybe mixing your ideas with thinking of clearer/shorter names per feed would work.

We're rolling!

Best,

Joe

[karl]

I've implemented the tabs with icons only, see what you guys think.
We can fit up to 12 tabs in there but it doesn't look very nice with any
more than 10 (gets hard to see the tabs). It looks best with 7-8 I think
and looks really empty when there's only 3-4.

However I think this is the way to go. People will quickly figure out
which tab is which, and they only really need the title when they're
choosing them. If they forget there's always the tooltip.

- Karl

> 2009/1/17 karl <ka...@interclue.com <mailto:ka...@interclue.com>>

[Joe Solomon]

Hey guys -- I just uploaded Karl's latest release to AMO.  I'm liking the new way of approaching tabs.

What do you think?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10425

Looking forward to finessing the submission and replying to other threads tomorrow.  As is the case on most Mondays, on this one, I got swamped.

Best,

Joe

[Dietrich Ayala]

looks great. much much better than the text. nice work karl!

[Abimanyu Raja]

Awesome!

- Abi

2009/1/20 Dietrich Ayala <auto...@gmail.com>

[Joe Solomon]

Hey everyone -- glad that everyone <3s Karl's new approach!

So - we got a problem, which Abi predicted, that Change.gov has shut down and moved to WhiteHouse.gov. Jeez.

I just got some solution oriented tweets from Abi & Dietrich with a suggestion to re-brand and re-name.

So - if we want to push this sucker out today - we're going to need all hands on deck. 

1 - For a new name, does Unofficial WhiteHouse.gov Firefox Extension work ?

2 - For some reason, this feels like more of a natural upgrade from ObamaFox. Should we change the name from Barack Obama Extension to WhiteHouse.gov Extension...and upload the new one? 

3 - Based on feedback, Kalib, Can you re-skin the newsreader and alert box for an initial run.

4 - Abi, Dietrich, Karl, Can whoever's most free implement the new design and change any text that's under the hood?

5 - If this works, we can still do an initial launch today, which I think will feel good :-)

What am I missing?

Best,

Joe

[Dietrich Ayala]

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Joe Solomon <j...@engagejoe.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone -- glad that everyone <3s Karl's new approach!
>
> So - we got a problem, which Abi predicted, that Change.gov has shut down
> and moved to WhiteHouse.gov. Jeez.
>
> I just got some solution oriented tweets from Abi & Dietrich with a
> suggestion to re-brand and re-name.
>
> So - if we want to push this sucker out today - we're going to need all
> hands on deck.
>
> 1 - For a new name, does Unofficial WhiteHouse.gov Firefox Extension work ?

i think it's lengthy and "unofficial" is not an enticing description.
i'd prefer WhiteHouseWatch or WhiteHouseFox, something in that vein.

also, i guess it's ok to stick with the Obama/White House theme for a
short time, since it's the current focus. however, i favor a broader
theme of "engaging in change" for the long term. we should be looking
towards a name for this, that is not so narrowly focused.

>
> 2 - For some reason, this feels like more of a natural upgrade from
> ObamaFox. Should we change the name from Barack Obama Extension to
> WhiteHouse.gov Extension...and upload the new one?

i think this is a great idea.

> 3 - Based on feedback, Kalib, Can you re-skin the newsreader and alert box
> for an initial run.
>
> 4 - Abi, Dietrich, Karl, Can whoever's most free implement the new design
> and change any text that's under the hood?

sure, can do this whenever we settle on names, etc. also, should we
add the PublicSentiment feed?

[Joe Solomon]

Dietrich and team - Thank you for calling out the lame name.  I think WhiteHouseFox sounds like a much better one.

I also agree with you about the real plan, to create an extension for engaging change. To be honest, I felt torn launching as a Change.gov extension, as we knew we wanted it be more than that and free of a specific website.  And with 'WhiteHouseFox' I also feel a bit torn.  Maybe we should follow that mutual gut and roll with a change name.  Like Yes We Can Change or ChangeFox or .. maybe OpenHouse.

WhiteHouseFox would help penetrate an initial market (which as a marketer makes me feel all excited) although I'm with you on exploring a change and transparency focus as part of our foundation.  This might also help us come up with kick ass ideas ..

What do you think?

I'm game on adding Twitter, we can update the RSS feed with a different search query (although still Twitter) post the inauguration (Thanks Chris - for keeping us in the loop - your feedback would also be appreciated on our name change!)

Best,

Joe

[Seth Wagoner]

I think ChangeFox is the way to go. There's nothing "unofficial" about Change ;-)

--Seth.

[Joe Solomon]

Seth -- ChangeFox is solid!

What do you think about GovFox?  Jenn Lowther, a new media consultant, recommended it last night.  For some reason, it feels right to me - as if it should exist already.

What do you think?

Best,

Joe

[Seth Wagoner]

On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Joe Solomon <j...@engagejoe.com> wrote:

Seth -- ChangeFox is solid!

What do you think about GovFox?  Jenn Lowther, a new media consultant, recommended it last night.  For some reason, it feels right to me - as if it should exist already.

What do you think?

Karl thought that "ChangeFox" didn't really say anything about what it did - whereas to me "Change" has been pretty much *the* brand of the last couple years. On the other hand, one could argue that the change has happened - but I think Obama would say the change is *far* from over and I'd concur.

To me Change is exciting while Government is much less so. But branding is not really my thing...

Cheers,
Seth.
 

[Dietrich Ayala]

I second ChangeFox, or Change{Something}. While more ambiguous than
GovFox, I think it's got more gut-power. I also think that the name
opens up more possibilities and broadens the potential audience.
GovFox is a great name for an extension for GovTrack.us.

Or maybe we're just hitting a difference in what we think the next
logical step for the extension is :)

[Joe Solomon]

All right a few days in the trenches thinking about this and Seth and Dietrich sold me.  ChangeFox could be a wild brand for helping people engage for change with their browser.  I think we should keep the focus on political engagement, at least in the beginning, to flex the muscles we've already developed. 

Kalib - Would it be possible to re-skin the newsreader and alert so we could push something out? We might not need a logo out of the box as much as removing the Change.gov logo and finding a color theme that you trust.

I find it interesting that this project has come full circle in a sense to one I helped out with 2 (?) years ago with a push for enabling people to leave comments on the WhiteHouse.gov website.  It was called RaytTheNet - a bookmarklet w/the ability to leave and rate comments on any website.  The project died :( but maybe there's something to the idea - especially when a team could be listenning..

RaytThenet.com
Screenshot - http://bligoo.com/media/users/0/908/images/white_house_rayt_Aug07.png

Best,

Joe