# Radiant Factory **URL:** \ **Category:** Radiant CMS\ **Created:** [November 29, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681 "2007-11-29T22:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/1 "2007-11-29T22:32:01Z")
Hi Folks, I’m launching a new service called Radiant Factory ([http://www.radiantfactory.com/](http://www.radiantfactory.com/) ) - basically a theming service for Radiant. Let me know what you think! - Ryan H. ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/2 "2007-11-30T02:49:22Z")
Do you provide design services or just take existing designs and work them over for Radiant? I can’t design my way out of a wet paper bag. I know what I like and what I would like my website to look like I just can’t make it happen. 🙂 Later… Richard ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/3 "2007-11-30T02:58:43Z")
I have the same question here. Am looking for a designer to improve the looks of ([http://210.98.49.34:3000](http://210.98.49.34:3000)). We already use Radiant anyway. saji - Richard H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [2007-11-29 20:48:22 -0500]: > > Hi Folks, > > Post: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > Search: [http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/](http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/) > > Site: [http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant](http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant) > > * * * > > Radiant mailing list > Post: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > Search: [http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/](http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/) > Site: [http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant](http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant) – Saji N. Hameed APEC Climate Center +82 51 668 7470 National Pension Corporation Busan Building 12F Yeonsan 2-dong, Yeonje-gu, BUSAN 611705 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid KOREA ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/4 "2007-11-30T03:08:39Z")
I don’t know, I kind of like the clean look of you existing page. Not too much info to confuse the visitor, yet it explains everything. 🙂 The page you are looking for is temporarily unavailable. > Please try again later. Later… Richard On Nov 29, 2007 8:39 PM, Saji Njarackalazhikam H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/5 "2007-11-30T03:19:48Z")
Saji, I concur with Richard. Your design is very clean and probably only needs a few finishing touches to integrate and re-balance certain sections. Sean ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/6 "2007-11-30T05:40:43Z")
Sean, Thanks for the encouraging comments. Maybe I should sit down and put the finishing touches as you suggested. Thanks anyway for this wonderful CMS! saji - Sean C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [2007-11-29 20:18:41 -0600]: > > Thanks for the compliments. I forgot to start the server. It is up now 🙂 > > > > > The page you are looking for is temporarily unavailable. > > > > > > > > Richard > > > > > > > > > > > Let me know what you think! > > > > > > Radiant mailing list > > > > > > KOREA > > > > > > Search: [http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/](http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/) > > > > > > Site: [http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant](http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant) > > * * * > > Radiant mailing list > Post: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > Search: [http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/](http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/) > Site: [http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant](http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant) – Saji N. Hameed APEC Climate Center +82 51 668 7470 National Pension Corporation Busan Building 12F Yeonsan 2-dong, Yeonje-gu, BUSAN 611705 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid KOREA ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/7 "2007-11-30T16:01:39Z")
Richard and Saji, No, I’m not planning to provide design services, sorry. I can give you some good referrals though. Email me at info at radiant factory dot com if you’re interested. Saji, i agree with the others - your site looks great. How are you doing the sparklines and graphs in Radiant? Good work on that site. - Ryan ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/8 "2007-12-01T14:13:12Z")
Hi Ryan, Thanks for the encouraging comments. The sparklines are done with the library described in [http://nubyonrails.com/articles/sparklines-graph-library-for-ruby](http://nubyonrails.com/articles/sparklines-graph-library-for-ruby) BTW, neither the sparklines or the graphs are done in Radiant. My background is in climate research: though I do a bit with ruby, doing anything with Rails is yet beyond me. All the data and graphs are produced by our science team using scientific software such as the NCAR command Language (http:// ncl.ucar.edu). We use a Drb based server to accept such data and incorporate them into the Radiant webpage. Methods implemented within the Drb server will create sparklines and other such derivatives. (The radiant administrative interface is still a bit daunting for some of our scientists - that is why we use a Drb client). I am getting some of our web support team trained in Rails. We have plans to create a Rails based interface that will produce some of these graphs dynamically. BTW, I was encouraged to use Radiant after reading your very well written tutorial. Best wishes, saji Saji H., APEC Climate Center, Busan, Korea 611705 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/9 "2007-11-30T03:15:42Z")
Hi Richard, Thanks for the compliments. I forgot to start the server. It is up now 🙂 saji … - Richard H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [2007-11-29 21:07:38 -0500]: > On Nov 29, 2007 8:39 PM, Saji Njarackalazhikam H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > > > > Do you provide design services or just take existing designs and work > > > > > > > Radiant mailing list > > > > – > > > > Site: [http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant](http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant) > > * * * > > Radiant mailing list > Post: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > Search: [http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/](http://radiantcms.org/mailing-list/search/) > Site: [http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant](http://lists.radiantcms.org/mailman/listinfo/radiant) – Saji N. Hameed APEC Climate Center +82 51 668 7470 National Pension Corporation Busan Building 12F Yeonsan 2-dong, Yeonje-gu, BUSAN 611705 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid KOREA ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/10 "2007-12-02T03:13:02Z")
Ryan H. wrote: > > The radiant administrative interface is still a bit daunting for > > some of our scientists > > I’ve run into this before - I guess I just take it for granted that > the admin interface is easy to use, because _I_ like it. But that’s > not the case for everyone. I’m curious, what about the Admin interface > is daunting to your scientists, and how might it be improved? OK, I’m not a scientist and it’s not daunting for me to use the admin interface. But a couple of things would be nice to have (perhaps): 1. A way to search for a page without having to go through the tree hierarchy. A nice neat auto-complete field that narrows down the list of pages based on the text you type would be great. After a few levels of hierarchy and a lot of pages, I imagine the current navigation will start to get a bit tedious. 2. A way to change the published status of multiple pages from the index page directly, rather than going to each page itself. 3. On the page editing interface, a small link to “View this page” - it’s fine if it appears only after the page has been saved once (so that Radiant can render that link). It’s a bit annoying to create a new page, but then from the index page (“View Site”), there’s no way to get to the page since the parent page that may be connecting to it is still in cache… and you must either expire cache or type in the full URL or something. 4. The “View Site” link to open up in a separate window. I think I do really like the minimalist look of the admin page, but some of the above ideas will hopefully not clutter it too much. Cheers, Mohit. 12/2/2007 | 10:11 AM. ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/11 "2007-12-01T21:00:22Z")
> The radiant administrative interface is still a bit daunting for > some of our scientists I’ve run into this before - I guess I just take it for granted that the admin interface is easy to use, because _I_ like it. But that’s not the case for everyone. I’m curious, what about the Admin interface is daunting to your scientists, and how might it be improved? > BTW, I was encouraged to use Radiant after reading your very well > written tutorial. That’s wonderful! Thanks for letting me know that! - Ryan ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 7:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/12 "2007-12-02T07:02:03Z")
Mohit, Every one of your requests have been one way or another addressed by some extensions I have written for Digital Pulp. I’ll see what I can do to release the pertinent bits. Sean ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/13 "2007-12-02T13:31:00Z")
> 1. Can we make the edit page a little more friendly for those of us > without 1700x2400 displays? 🙂 I feel your pain. A couple of thoughts: - “Save Changes” and “Save and continue” buttons could go at the top, perhaps level with the “Edit Page” heading, but floated to the right. - The same two buttons could be given access keys, e.g. S and C, so that you can trigger them with a key command, rather than pushing them with your cursor. A ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 11:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/14 "2007-12-02T11:00:34Z")
I concur with every item on this list and would like to add one more. For such a minimalist interface editing a page sure does take up a lot of vertical space. I find it very annoying to have to scroll down to save every time. 1. Can we make the edit page a little more friendly for those of us without 1700x2400 displays? 🙂 Later… Richard ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/15 "2007-12-02T18:11:00Z")
Thanks Sean! Cheers, Mohit. 12/3/2007 | 1:08 AM. ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/16 "2007-12-02T22:18:10Z")
Putting the controls on a sidebar is OK with me. I would even be fine with a smaller text for the page title and various controls. I’m screen height challenged, not blind. 🙂 Hmmm…what about a way to customize the CSS of the Admin pages for each install? Would that work? It wouldn’t even have to be anything fancy like a table in the DB, just a static file on the server would work for me. We could then change the look & feel of the pages pretty easily and to fit within our own guidelines. Later… Richard ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/17 "2007-12-02T21:11:25Z")
I think I prefer having the buttons underneath the form, because it is more standard and fits the open-edit-save workflow. Moving the buttons to the top breaks with convention. What about a 2-column layout (similar to this: [Frog CMS - Content Management Simplified | Frog CMS](http://www.madebyfrog.com/news/preview_layout_for_version_1)) , moving the meta-data form inputs to the second column? If some of the metadata were moved out of the way horizontally, then the body of the form could be shorter. ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/18 "2007-12-02T23:03:18Z")
Richard, This is rather trivial to do with an extension. Write your desired CSS, put it in your extension public/stylesheets directory. Then put something like this in your extension’s activate method: ``` SiteController.class_eval do before_filter :customize_admin_css def customize_admin_css include_stylesheet 'my_stylesheet' end end ``` Obviously you’d want to name your stylesheet something else. Hope this is helpful! Sean ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/19 "2007-12-03T05:58:57Z")
Hi Ryan, > I’ve run into this before - I guess I just take it for granted that > the admin interface is easy to use, because _I_ like it. But that’s > not the case for everyone. I’m curious, what about the Admin interface > is daunting to your scientists, and how might it be improved? 1. Too much information - we have some people producing El Nino forecasts, some El Nino monitoring information and another set maybe some sort of summaries. 2. Images - As you may have noticed, we need to display lots and lots of images. It is not quite that easy to deal with images through the admin interface. Mainly these are the items. So what I did was to make a customized client for each of our “content providers”. Since I understand the common-language used in this community, it was more convenient to go this way… also a convenient way to restrict access to the Radiant admin interface. saji ---
**Author:** ![rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rpheath](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rpheath)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681/20 "2007-12-02T22:30:29Z")
Ryan H. said the following on 02/12/07 03:08 PM: > I think I prefer having the buttons underneath the form, because it is > more standard and fits the open-edit-save workflow. Moving the buttons > to the top breaks with convention. What’s to prohibit top AND bottom. You’re going to be close to one or the other 🙂 Or have a scrolling _region_ in a frame (of some kind) and the buttons/controls are in the frame. > What about a 2-column layout (similar to this: [Frog CMS - Content Management Simplified | Frog CMS](http://www.madebyfrog.com/news/preview_layout_for_version_1)) > , moving the meta-data form inputs to the second column? If some of > the metadata were moved out of the way horizontally, then the body of > the form could be shorter. Does that left hand part scroll independently from the (presumably fixed) right hand part? – Clear the battlefield and let me see All the profit from our victory. You talk of freedom, starving children poor. Are you deaf when you hear the season’s call? Were you there to watch the earth be scorched? Did you stand beside the spectral torch? Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face, Scattered on the ashes of disgrace. [Next page](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-factory/121681.md?page=2)