Update, April 19, 2010

[fu]

I know I'm pushing it, but surely it must be Monday somewhere still?

denise is busy resting up her finger, mark is busy coding and hacking away at the review queue, so it falls to me to let you know what's going on. Short update, but I hope you find something sweet in it:

Code!

The awesome foxfirefey wrote up the code tour for bugfixes over the past two weeks.

Of note:

* when paying by credit card, the state is no longer required for non-US/non-Canada countries
* we now list subscribers on the feed profile pages
* announcement of upcoming changes to the font sizes for select styles. For better accessibility purposes, we've switched the way we declare font sizes. This means that with the next code push. you might see some differences in your layout if you use an official layout and haven't customized it, depending on your browser settings. That link explains how you can change it back once the change goes live if you hate things.

Also, welcome to new coders jportela who got his first two patches committed this week, and mayank, who submitted a patch which just needs to go through the review process! Both of them are GSoC applicants, and I'm very excited to see them poking about, getting familiar with Dreamwidth, and submitting patches.

Swag!

damned_colonial has information for ordering alternative sized and colored clothing from Zazzle. If you like the designs, but are looking for something in a darker color, say, follow the link above.

Thank you to everyone who has paid for an account, bought swag, or squirreled away a couple of points in anticipation of future use. denise will have detailed information for us all next week.

I'll leave the good stuff to her, but I can at least tell you that swag sales have been going very well. We're planning on rolling out alternate designs soon (including dreamsheep) -- we'll announce them when they become available in the shop.

If you have additional design ideas for t-shirts or swag, we'd love to see or hear them! If you want to provide images, Zazzle's recommended image guidelines provide the size and resolution requirements for printing on various products. If you want your design available on multiple products, it's best to provide a vector graphic that can easily be resized. Note that you'll need to first sign our Contributor Licensing Agreement so we can use your design.

Any design that we put on a product will earn the creator a year of paid time. Contact mark and denise at the_bosses@dwscoalition.org if you're interested.

Following Up

Last time I was here, I said that we'd have a follow-up dw_biz entry about fundraising goals. That's been delayed since denise is on extremely minimal typing, and doesn't think it's fair to make me talk about money (I completely agree! Now, make me sit down to tell you about the joy that is coding in jQuery... actually, don't. I don't think we have that time and space in this news post!)

Anyway, I just want to let you know that we haven't forgotten about that promise, and we will have that update for you just as soon as denise is recovered.


That's it for this week. If you have any questions, or problems please don't hesitate to contact Support. They are awesome and are always happy to answer any questions, no matter how small or how large. I'm off to code now; will be back to bring you more news when I'm next needed!

Comments

[ivorygates]

Awesome update, fu! I can't wait for the dreamsheep!

[arrow]

It's still Monday in Hawaii!

[florahart]

Dreamsheep swag! Win! *\o/*

As ever, I love how much the now-three of you stay on top of promises; you said you would say, you can't, and now instead of just not saying and hoping we don't notice, you're just right there explaining the delay. ♥

(also, nice timing going all official-like right when Denise goes all injured. I expect she would rather not be injured, but it must be making it a lot less pressureful on her to have an extra someone that can do stuff like make these updates. :D)

[denise]

oh god a world of yes. we didn't mean to make fu do this again so soon, i swear, but i'm really grateful to her that she's willing to!

OT

[ex_pseudonym472]

awee, I miss the mariners! stupid me moving out of the area :(

[ex_pseudonym472]

Thanks for the update!

Any chance of getting designs that are printed on the back instead of the front? I don't wear shirts that would draw the eye to my chest for personal reasons, but I'd love to be able to have the logo on the back.

[denise]

sarah also said that she'd like back-printed shirts! i'm not sure if you can get zazzle to switch front and back while customizing, but if not, i will be adding back-printed shirts in the next round :)

(curse this slipped tendon anyway!)

[ex_pseudonym472]

Oh score!

I'm playing with Zazzle and as far as I can tell, you can't just customize it to print on the back.

I really do hope you heal up soon. I'm sending warm fuzzy happy healing feelings your way... in a totally not creepy to hear a stranger say that kinda way.

[denise]

fear not, never creepy. <3

[ironed_orchid]

Agreed.

Aside from not liking stuff across my chest, I like the idea of a big red swirl on my back for when I'm cycling.

[sky]

Oh, is the font thing why journal front page fonts always look so uncomfortably huge? I've never changed my font size settings from the default in Firefox, but most of the journal fonts on DW are way too big for me. I actually have to zoom out a couple times to not be overwhelmed by the text. I've never had this problem on any other site :|a

[andraste]

The swag I want most is a mug with a dreamsheep on it! I was going to get one with the 'd' but will hold off a little longer and get the sheep.

[nacbrie]

I never knew how much I wanted a dreamsheep mug until right now this second.

[shanaqui]

omgyay Dreamsheep.

Feel better soon, denise.

[rydra_wong]

Dreamsheep! \o/ As the creator of the original dreamsheep, helens78 is surely owed our eternal gratitude (and many years of paid time).

[helens78]

I am just excited to see so many sheep (and so many people excited about the sheep)! :D :D :D

ALSO OMG I AM BUYING DREAMSHEEP FOR EVERYONE I KNOW. :D

[yvi]

Now, make me sit down to tell you about the joy that is coding in jQuery

I'd totally support that :)

[jeshyr]

+a

[jeshyr]

Dear rb,
Don't try to post without really looking while you have numpad-lock on. It makes you look stupid.
Love,
Me


Ok, Take 2:

Dreamsheep swag = WIN! \o/

[pauamma]

I have nothing to say, except:
1- That icon reminds me of the Gary Larson (IIRC) cartoon about the frogs leaving the French restaurant through the backdoor.
2- I want leg of lamb now.

[spiralsheep]

we now list subscribers on the feed profile pages

Ooo... shiny!

::wanders off to look::

[weaverbird]

Great update. YAY Dreamsheep!

[azurelunatic]

Wheeeee!!!

[haruka]

I'm a little worried about the font change; this is the only site where the font is at a perfect size for me all the time. Everywhere else it's way too tiny (and most browsers won't adjust it and KEEP the adjustment every time you open them.)

Looking forward to Dreamsheep! (if I could get one on a mug, I'd be all over it!)

[foxfirefey]

I wouldn't worry about the font change--this font change will make it so that the font style of more styles follows the preference set in YOUR browser, and doesn't set itself manually (which sounds like it then ends up "too tiny" for you).

[afuna]

What this change will end up doing, is to make the remaining official layouts act the same way as most of the other official layous -- if you could point me to a journal where the font size is just right for you, I can confirm whether this is the case! (That is, that the current behavior of most of the journal layouts -- and the one that we just made the remaining official layouts follow -- is the one that's working for you)

[fu]

I hope you don't mind my switching to my other account -- I just realized that I was logged into the wrong account when i first replied, oops.

Anyway -- the layout on the journal you showed me is one of the layouts where we'd had it previously working the way we wanted; that layout isn't going to change. What's going to happen is that those of the other official layouts that may have been too small for you before, will likely end up acting the same way as above.

(Not yet right now -- but when code push comes, etc *g*)

[haruka]

Thanks for the reply!

[turlough]

Dreamsheep swag, yay!!

[helens78]

I can't get over how many people are excited about Dreamsheep swag. But then I am also really excited about Dreamsheep swag, so I can hardly blame people. :D :D :D

Can I put in an early request for mousepads and magnets? (I would totally go for Ridiculously Overpriced Magnets and Tote Bags, by the way, as well as stickers!)

[tree]

this is because dreamsheep are awesome! \o/

also, dreamsheep shoes! *wants*

[lanterne_rouee]

thank you for the update! :)

*continuous healing vibes to denise*

ooh, sheepy! something cozy and sheepy might be right up my alley. lol (though if i could run amok, there are a lot of things i want already.) do they do blankets, by any chance? those little fleece throw blankets? that would be cool. (and warm.) probably not a commonly requested logo-cized item though. haha.

[white_aster]

+1 to Dreamsheep yay. :D

Now if only there was an easy way to sell DREAMSHEEP PLUSHIES, my...my world would be complete! :D

[lichking]

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! :D

[deird1]

I've just bought an account.

Not because I want the extra features - but because you guys handled the whole payment thing so wonderfully, without backing down. Thank you!

[iamshadow]

THIS. I am so impressed that you guys stood your ground and didn't compromise. That, to me, is wonderful.