A new engine for Crosscut
Today we switched Web platforms for the first time since our launch in April 2007. Our new software makes the site run faster and will enable us to make changes and improvements very rapidly. For now, you should notice few changes in appearance but notable improvements in performance and some tools. Please let us know what you think in the comments section of this post.
We have a new blog where we will discuss Crosscut's technology and future plans. There, chief technology officer Trevor Smith explains that our new platform is based on the Django framework and is hosted on the Amazon cloud.
As we move forward, we'll be experimenting, publicly, at a site we call Sawmill. More on that here.
Topics:
Web / Blogs
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Comments:
Posted Sat, Oct 11, 2:31 p.m. inappropriate
Well I'm happier already. Looks like bigger font size, so much easier to read. So far, so good!
Posted Mon, Oct 13, 8:38 a.m. inappropriate
I like the new look too!
--Juliana Atkinson
Posted Mon, Oct 13, 12:56 p.m. inappropriate
My comment: The left-hand margin is cutting off on both the comments box and the posted comments themselves. I don't recall this happening previously so maybe it's a glitch in the new program - ???
Posted Thu, Oct 16, 11:16 a.m. inappropriate
I do like — though would love to once again see a preview step in the comment process.
Noticed the "most popular articles" sidebar is gone, too.
But overall I like! Things do seem to be running faster and more smoothly.
Posted Thu, Oct 16, 7:19 p.m. inappropriate
Debbalee: That left-hand margin bug is on the list of items to fix next. I think it's only appearing in IE 6, so until I can tackle it you might try the excellent (and free) Firefox browser: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Benajamin: The "most popular articles" is back as of this afternoon. It was gone for a bit because the new system wasn't calculating it fast enough and it was slowing down the site. I missed it, too!
Thanks for the feedback!
Posted Mon, Oct 20, 3:24 p.m. inappropriate
Thanks Trevor! By the way, are links in comments disabled now?
Posted Mon, Oct 20, 7:34 p.m. inappropriate
Yes, links (and other HTML) are no longer displayed in comments.