Jackson Free Press

Y'all...I just finished a few hours of messing around with Jackpedia and wanted to use it as a launching point for criticism, discussion, suggestions, etc. Here' the page I just updated somewhat extensively: Restaurants and Dining. I've added links for all of the 2007 Best of Jackson recipients and I've added descriptions for all of those that had write-ups in 2007.

The question becomes...how is this for a start in terms of organizing one of the "main" pages that Jackpedia would cover. Notice that on the description pages (click Julep, etc.) I have links back to the main Restaurants and Dining page. On the Fenian's page, I've made room for both the "JFP Description" and "Jackpedia Description".

I'm also experimenting with the built-in Categories feature here, which is what you see at the bottom of the page. ExpressionEngine's wiki is annoying in the way that it doubles-up that link to the category...I can't figure out what it does that. (I *could* put the first category link toward the top of a page for a slightly different look. See Aladdin's write-up for an example.

Also, any particular thoughts on the way Jackpedia is organized in general or any questions, comments or brainstorms, let's get those going on this thread. We'll be making some design tweaks and such in the next few weeks as well, so those suggestions are also welcome. Thanks!

Previous Commentsshow

I think the restaurants ought to be grouped not alphabetically, but by some more specific category such as type of cuisine, price or area of town. I would start from the general and allow people to click their way down to the specific. For example: Venues-> Bars -> Gay and Lesbian -> Dick and Jane's.

Brent Cox

Apr 15 2007

Okay, you invited input... On the front page I'd list categories vertically. It's more intuitive since a line of links looks like one sentence, even if the items are separated by commas. Use bullets instead: * Arts * Music * Nightlife * Restaurants and Dining And below the link, maybe add a creative sentence or two summarizing what the category is.

Brent Cox

Apr 15 2007

The front page needs to be simplistic, though. Don't overcrowd it with a million categories that aren't even filled out yet. I suggest the front page be very, very basic and add to it as Jackepedia gets bigger.

Ole Miss Alum

Apr 16 2007

I agree on the vertical list. We do need a number of basic categories there, though, to pull people in. Right now, we're in the load-up, beta stage so people need to be encouraged to post with pre-set categories.

DonnaLadd

Apr 16 2007

Thanks for the feedback. I'm tempted to do sort of a combination of the two, which might look like: Major Link - Minor Link, - Minor Link, - Minor Link Major Link - etc... So that you can click directly into a subcategory as well as into a Major category. So it'd be a combo in a way, but I've see a lot of wikis that sort of give you both levels, since links are cheap on a wiki. :-) As for the way the top level is organized, any thoughts? I've been thinking maybe go with something radical like: PEOPLE - Musicians, - Artists, - Politicians, etc... PLACES - Restaurants, - Nightclubs, - Galleries, - Buildings... IDEAS - Events, - Festivals, - Publicizing Events That might be too granular. - T.

Todd Stauffer

Apr 16 2007

I like the top level organization like that.

Brent Cox

Apr 16 2007

NEW CATEGORIES for BEST of JACKSON "Brightest Hottest CLASSICAL DJ" KAREN HEARN!! M P B!! Favorite New Electronic Bill Board.... Charity-Donate one $1 Dollar to Stewpot for every day George Street stays open this time with the new owners.

briano

Jan 15 2009