My New Site: HandyHomepage

  • Thread starter Jordan
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Jordan

Jordan

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GTP_Jordan
GTP_Jordan
As I mentioned a while back, most of my free time over the past month or so has been taken up by my latest personal project: HandyHomepage. Finally, it's finished! I coded the PHP, valid XHTML, CSS, and most of the javascript by hand, which is one reason I think it took so long! :crazy: I hope it provides a useful service and I would love for you guys to try it out. Please, use it for a few days and see what you think, and as always give me as much feedback as you can. I should also add that the GTP8 will include a "modified" version of HH, to include latest posts and account options on your homepage! :)
 
Jordan
I should also add that the GTP8 will include a "modified" version of HH, to include latest posts and account options on your homepage! :)
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This sounds cool 👍


Before I would use this, I would look for a few features.
1) Choice of buttons under the text box (or a choice of what they point to). In particular, I don't need ebay, but I need an Oxford English dictionary link.
2) Weather should be on that page! I don't want to click the link. If I type weather: 02215 in Google, I get a very simple weather report. I like that.
3) Maybe a very small section with 1 or 2 daily headlines.


And, more minor...
3) Each link ought to have it's own icon. You don't have to host them, just load them from other pages. So I know what the links are for.
 
Nice idea! 👍 I’d love to use it but GTPlanet Forums always has been, and always will be my home page. ;)

I really like the design though, well done.

Blake
 
1) Choice of buttons under the text box (or a choice of what they point to). In particular, I don't need ebay, but I need an Oxford English dictionary link.
2) Weather should be on that page! I don't want to click the link. If I type weather: 02215 in Google, I get a very simple weather report. I like that.
3) Maybe a very small section with 1 or 2 daily headlines.
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Ha, I knew these would be the first three suggestions before I even started on this project! :lol: The custom search buttons may be difficult to pull off with the way the backend of the site is built. It would also be difficult for the average user to make use of such a feature, but I will toy around with it when I have more time. I can do the others, it's just a matter of integrating them.

3) Each link ought to have it's own icon. You don't have to host them, just load them from other pages. So I know what the links are for.
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I don't really understand what the purpose of that would be...it would really clutter the link section.
 
Jordan
I don't really understand what the purpose of that would be...it would really clutter the link section.
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I mean little 16x16 (?) icon like these, which help me find links quickly...



But you are right, it's a design choice, because that would clutter the layout (a little). (Very possible though, just pass another set of links in the URL)
 
Is this like Ajax, Jordan? It almost exactly what you are doing. I think it's the new big thing to do on the web.

For those who don't know what Ajax is, just sign into your Gmail or Flickr accounts... :)
 
I like the design of this site a lot, as it is very professional and easy to navagate. It is very useful (unlike mine atm), i will make an homepage on there in an min. 👍

EDIT:
linky
 
I mean little 16x16 (?) icon like these, which help me find links quickly...



But you are right, it's a design choice, because that would clutter the layout (a little). (Very possible though, just pass another set of links in the URL)
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Yes, I see what you mean. But I must be conservative with the variables passed through the URL - IE limits URLs to 2300 characters. This is also another reason that adding custom search buttons would be problematic as query strings are often very long.

Is this like Ajax, Jordan? It almost exactly what you are doing. I think it's the new big thing to do on the web.

For those who don't know what Ajax is, just sign into your Gmail or Flickr accounts...
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No, I'm not using Ajax for this application. This is just a rather simple PHP script. Ajax is very difficult to code, and re-creating Ajax pages in their intended form (which is paramount for recreating individual homepages) would also be problematic. I suppose you could store the homepage variables in a cookie, but I have avoided those with HandyHomepage to ensure maximum compatability.

Cloud and Snoop, glad you guys like it, and please let me know if you come up with any more suggestions as you use the service! :)
 
I found a glitch.

When I put an apostrophe in the link name
What's for Lunch?
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It comes out like this:
What\\\'s for Lunch?
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Also, can we get rid f the links to Amazon, eBay, and Travelocity? Or do those links pay the bills?
 
Alright, I'm giving up on integrated weather conditions, it's just not going to work without generating even more complaints. Thanks for the heads-up on the quotation mark error, Event, I'll see what I can do.
 
I know this would take a lot of work, but one thing that would really make this shine would be the ability to parse an RSS feed or two and display it on the page. Then there'd be no need to even leave the homepage to check the news!

Great work either J. 👍
 
Awesome idea, made a few homepages with links on before, but not seen anything like this as a service :)

I now use the folder/bookmarking feature in Firefox for my links, but i like the weather stuff and with a couple of other zingers i think it'll work v. well.
 
Hmm...let me mess around it with a bit and I'll get back to you. It looks nice from what DARRK and even sn00pie have posted.
 
Shannon
I know this would take a lot of work, but one thing that would really make this shine would be the ability to parse an RSS feed or two and display it on the page. Then there'd be no need to even leave the homepage to check the news!
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Oh, that’s an awesome idea! 👍

Blake
 
Yeah, that is a great idea! I'm going to give it a shot as it really would bring HH to the next level!
 
I found a HUGE bug. If you type more than 1 word into the google seacrh, It only searches for the first word.
 
If you have RSS reading capability, then you can get weather info!
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Yep, from any source that you like, along with headlines and blogs. :) I'm working on displaying RSS feeds as we speak!

I found a HUGE bug. If you type more than 1 word into the google seacrh, It only searches for the first word.
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Are you sure? I can't seem to duplicate this with any browser.
 
Jordan
Yep, from any source that you like, along with headlines and blogs. :) I'm working on displaying RSS feeds as we speak!

Are you sure? I can't seem to duplicate this with any browser.
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I guess it doesn't like ampersands. I search for "Black & white 2" and it just searches for "Black"

I'm using Firefox 1.0.7
 
Oh, OK, that's getting passed as a variable. I'll see what I can do.
 
Here’s mine. One thing though Jordan – with multiple RSS feeds the footer div isn’t down the bottom like it should be, you should put this in the CSS:
Code: 
#footer {
	font-size: 9px;
	text-align: center;
	line-height: normal;
	[b]clear: both;[/b]
}

Cheers!

Blake
 
Glad you guys are enjoying the RSS feeds. :) I'm going to allow you to limit the number of headlines returned so one feed doesn't completely overwhelm the page, and thanks for the footer CSS issue, Blake. I'll take care of that and the apostrophe issues as soon as I get more time!

Also, be sure and spread the word about HandyHomepage - I've worked hard on it and of course, the more people using it the better it makes me feel. :D Tell your friends, family, it should be useful to anyone who uses the internet on a regular basis!
 
I remember you mentioning the fact that you had a simple page with all your links as a homepage. Gmail has a similar feature that allows a custom homepage but I don't think it lets you put up any links.
 
The RSS feed option is sweet. 👍

Is it possible to allow more than three RSS feeds display on the first row? I'm running at 1680x1050. I have plenty of space to allow for more, if not all six.

http://imageshack.us
 

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