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11.13am
31 March 2008
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Hi all. I thought I'd start a thread inviting suggestions on how to improve The Beatles Bible. I have ideas of my own, but I'd like to hear from you.
Forum
First of all, the forum's getting a bit cluttered, with various duplicated threads (that's OK, I don't expect everybody to search through all the threads before posting, but it does suggest it could be managed a bit better). I was wondering, therefore, whether it'd be worth having separate threads for John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr , so people could post in/ignore them as they wish.
Obviously if there's a more general topic about the solo years that isn't about one particular person it can go in the All Things Must Pass section. Thoughts? And is there anything else you'd like to see to make the forum work better?
Site
Here's my to-do list, roughly in order:
Finish the history section up to 1970
Finish the worldwide discographies
Add loads of photos and videos
Write book and film reviews
Consider doing the solo years' albums/songs/history, though probably not in as much depth as the Beatles stuff
At some point I want to look again at the site's design. I'm not a web designer, but I coded the theme myself one weekend last August. I think it looks a bit cluttered along the right-hand side so I'm going to be looking at ways to present all the stuff better. I'll probably remove the song of the day, and also think about having a better banner – I don't really like the logo or the faded images all that much. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
12.02pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline 
Hi Joe –
All of the above sounds great and I very much appreciate all of the hard work you put in to this site.
You can count me among those who like the current banner/logo/photos at the top.
Best of luck!
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
6.11pm
13 November 2009
Offline Does the update let you merge topics? That would help with the duplicates I think.
So each of them would get their own thread, where people could dicuss anything related to George, let's say, old or new? And this would replace the JPG&R and All Things Must Pass threads? It would take some shuffling, but I think that could work. Songs, movies, albums and Yesterday and Today could stay. The book section could probably split between the individual Beatle threads and musicology.
An update for the banner would be nice, but I'm not sure how I would change it.
Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!
6.35pm
1 May 2010
Offline
Thanks for all your effort.
To be honest, don't change the top banner!! I love to go up and see which pic I'm going to get. I really really love this feature.
About the site, I like the front page. I think all the information there is ok.. I don't know how to change it to be honest.
ABout the forum, It would be a good idea to have separate threads for John, Ringo, Paul and George solo years. I've seen this in another forum and works nicely. Of course Ringo's one would be a bit lonely, but that could help.
Another feature that could be useful is to have search more accesible (?sp).. I don't know if I can explain. Maybe many people could avoid double posting if they would search the topic in previous threads. Man, I didn't even notice the Search button on the right and I bothered you with a link for a thread. Maybe you could just move it, instead of right, into the left.
But again, I love the site the way it is. Again, don't move the top banner. I love it. And I know the hard work of keeping a website is. I have a very small one and sometimes I just hate it. So, thanks again 
Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness…
12.24am
31 March 2008
Offline OK, I'll put together the areas for each of The Beatles, and I'll move over the threads when I get time.
The forum search isn't particularly great, but you can use the Google search which should scan the entire site. It might miss out very recent messages, but the majority will have been indexed.
I'm playing around with design ideas on a test version of the site. I'll keep the random image in the banner, but I am looking at better ways to display the rest. Stay tuned.
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
5.23pm
13 November 2009
Offline Should the subscribe and the share lines be one the same level?
Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!
5.53pm
14 October 2009
Offline Joe,
you're never going to be completely satisfied because that's the kind of guy you seem – always wanting to improve, so don't be too hard on your designs etc.
Finishing off the History would put closure to The Beatles as The Beatles, so that's a good idea.
I've always been keen on the 'solo' years so I'd always back that, but as you've said before, there's a lot of work involved there. The Beatles history lasted from 1957 – 1970, but Macca alone stretches from 1970 to date and that's FORTY YEARS (gulp!). Add in 10 for John, 31 for George and ANOTHER FORTY for Ringo and, well…………….frightening stuff indeed.
Have I put you off 🙂
"If we feel our heads starting to swell.....we just look at Ringo!"
6.29pm
31 March 2008
Offline I've largely put myself off doing the solo years. I simply don't think I'll have the time or energy, and I don't think anyone really cares that much about most of their stuff. I might write about the songs and albums I find interesting, and some key dates from 1970-80, but beyond that I doubt I'll bother unless I suddenly find I have a lot of time on my hands.
Incidentally, apologies if you're seeing a MySQL error at the top of the forum. I've been tinkering with the design a little but I don't know whether it's something I've done or something at server level. I'll take a look. 
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
6.35pm
31 March 2008
Offline Fixed it. It was a problem with the thread 'Who wouldn't like the Beatles?' – I'm not sure what as I couldn't open it, but it might have been to do with an apostrophe in the URL which shouldn't have been there. Sorry if your messages got deleted.
skye said:
Should the subscribe and the share lines be one the same level?
I need to leave a gap below the Facebook 'like' thing, as it's supposed to fill with mugshots if you know enough people who also like a page (though in my experience I tend just to see 'X people liked this page'). I could add the subscribe bit to that area but it'd probably be too deep.
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
6.41pm
13 November 2009
Offline Switch the google search with the share? I don't know, I'm sure you'll work it out. 
Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!
9.49pm
1 May 2010
Offline Are you already changing things here right Joe? I checked the banner and it looks nice.
I've got a question. The rating thing went out right? That's ok if you decided to leave it out. I think I was the only one using it though.
And about adding the solo years… I think the news fill that gap. I mean, after all you're folliowing Paul and Ringo's solo career in that section right? 
Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness…
9.56pm
4 April 2010
Offline Polls, please.
"The best band? The Beatles. The most overrated band? The Beatles."
11.01pm
31 March 2008
Offline mithveaen said:
Are you already changing things here right Joe? I checked the banner and it looks nice.
I've got a question. The rating thing went out right? That's ok if you decided to leave it out. I think I was the only one using it though.
And about adding the solo years… I think the news fill that gap. I mean, after all you're folliowing Paul and Ringo's solo career in that section right?
Yeah, I've been making a few design changes but I got a bit bored and gave up. I'll leave things as they are for now.
I took out the ratings as I didn't see very much use at all, and they cluttered the page a bit. Seems better to keep things simple.
The solo years are documented to a degree in the news section, but I only really cover the big stories. I don't really have time to do the “Paul spotted doing his shopping” or “New concert date added!” stories that some sites do.
I've got a couple of books which list around 30 key dates for each year 1970-2000, so I'm thinking of doing that. It's how I did the Beatles history before going back and filling in the gaps. It'll cover release dates, film premieres, births, deaths, court cases and stuff like that. And I'd like to write about some of the better-known solo songs like Live And Let Die , Jealous Guy and My Sweet Lord – that'd be fun and interesting.
Polls: I hear they might be added to the next release of the forum software. At the moment they're not available and, again, I don't have time to set them up manually each time someone wants one. Be patient and I'm sure they'll be here soonish.
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
3.13am
15 February 2010
Offline I would love to see information about the solo albums and songs. I'm always curious to see who actually played what on songs, and to see that information (if available) about solo albums would be great!
PS. I can't believe I just noticed this – 
– that's hilarious!
4.57am
4 April 2010
Offline i would like the “Top of forum” button back.
Special kudos if you call it “The Toppermost of Poppermost”
"The best band? The Beatles. The most overrated band? The Beatles."
8.18am
8 April 2010
Offline I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I click on “Topics this member has posted in”, it only shows the topics I've started.
12.39pm
31 March 2008
Offline MrBig said:
i would like the “Top of forum” button back.
Special kudos if you call it “The Toppermost of Poppermost”
You're on Safari, right? I've noticed it's fallen off the edge – something to do with the css. I'll take a look.
Edit: sorry, had a look, couldn't fix it. I'll plead ignorance on this one, but I might ask one of the coding gods where I work.
Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
3.25pm
12 March 2010
Offline Let me say that I find it hard to make suggestions, because I think you REALLY did a great job with the design and structure of this website.
Don't change too much!
3.53pm
4 April 2010
Offline Joe said:
MrBig said:
i would like the “Top of forum” button back.
Special kudos if you call it “The Toppermost of Poppermost”
You're on Safari, right? I've noticed it's fallen off the edge – something to do with the css. I'll take a look.
Edit: sorry, had a look, couldn't fix it. I'll plead ignorance on this one, but I might ask one of the coding gods where I work.
Google Chrome, actually. Ubuntu 10.04
"The best band? The Beatles. The most overrated band? The Beatles."
7.50am
21 May 2010
Offline For some reason when I go onto the forum, it says I'm not logged in. When I try to log in it won't let me, so I can't view the new/updated posts, but when I click on a topic, it says I'm logged in.
I'd like to be, under the sea, in an octopus's garden, with you.
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