the new ttlb

It’s a big day here at TTLB: Welcome to the new release!
Let’s cut right to the chase. Here are just some of the goodies you’ll now see around the site:

  • Topics, topics, topics: TTLB’s topic-tracking functionality has been completely overhauled, and is now focused laserbeam-like on all the most interesting subjects being discussed in the blogosphere. Check the top of the front page for the at-a-glance view, or view the full topics page for history graphs on all the latest topics.
  • Search: Don’t like the topics TTLB is tracking? Use the search function and make your own topic page. If you’ve signed up for a free account, you can even save your search to your very own ‘My Topics’ page for future reference.
  • Blog Details: The blog details page has been expanded with completely new functionality, including a Metrics tab showing how a blog is doing in terms of traffic and links compared to its historical average (is this a “hot” day or a “cold” day?) and new spiral graphs which show which blogs are linking to the tracked blog — and which ones it is linking to.
  • New Design: With the help of the talented Karl Egenberger, we also have a new look to go with all the new features. Karl enhanced the existing bear logo, added a spiffy (and far more accurate) new portrait of the lovely Lady M, and helped clean up the graphics and styles throughout the site.

While the new release has been in testing for quite some time, there are sure to be glitches, so please bear with me in these first days as we shake them out. In particular, be aware that Ecosystem rankings and link-counts are in flux due to some of the work around the release, but will stabilize back to normal over the next few weeks. (So no “why did my ranking drop???” queries for at least a little while, please.)
Much effort has gone into this launch, and so I’d definitely welcome feedback, comments, and suggestions. Take a look around, get to know the new look, and please — let me know what you think!
Best…
N.Z. Bear
Update 8:28pm PDT: Ah, nothing like an Instalanche to provide some nice performance/load testing! One feature — the spiral Inbound/Outbound links graphs on the blog details pages — appears to be causing performance problems. I’ve disabled it for now whilie I work on a fix…

53 thoughts on “the new ttlb”

  4. The truth, renewed, and bear as ever

    Every wonder why that once-great bloc metric website and Father Bear of the Blog Ecosphere, the Truth Laid Bear, stopped making any sense?

    So did I, and N.Z. Bear wasn’t saying.

    Well, good news: The Bear is back,…

  5. It looks great, though looking at the pretty new link circles a few things don’t make sense… I know which blogs I link to more often, and they’re not the ones that are closest in the circle. I’ll see if that fixes itself over time, however.
    What is strange is the ability to move circles by dragging them. What does that do, and what’s the point in it? Does it have any functionality?
    Great job, thanks for the services as always.

  6. Where did the page go that you could see all the blogs linking to you, and not just the ones that do it most often?

  7. And clicking on the little ballons does nothing. I guess its still a work in progress.

  9. Good job NZ Bear, I enjoy the Ecosystem you made, and am excited to see how my ranking shakes out in the coming weeks.

  12. While you are fixing things I would like to see at least one of my posts show up on my page here,
    Since I have two links in the last month from Cox and Forkum I obviously have written some but they NEVER show not a single one.
    It’s not your new format either.
    Am I missing something is there some way to
    ping here like Technorati or Blogrolling when I update my blog?

  15. Excellent overall design…small suggestion, though – use a small white margin between type and framelines.
    You clearly spent a lot of thought and effort on this. Awesome job.

  16. Whoa, tres cool! And no “why did I drop” from me because at the moment I am higher than usual! Woo-hoo! Mammal status! But something tells me I’ll get my pouch back! LOLOL!
    I love this new site – work out the bugs, and we’ll be there throughout!
    Thanks for all the fun! : )

  17. Yikes, I don’t have a single clue how you get stats for all of us, but thank you for all of the hard work that I do know goes into it.

  18. Well, THIS certainly scared the crap out of me first thing in the morning. (or at least I gave it a “What the hell…?”)
    I think I’ll like it once I figure out how to use it!
    good job!
    Norman!

  20. First, congratulations on the upgrade and layout! It’s really cool.
    One question: is there a link to the list of inbound links? That’s a very useful feature and was far superior to Technorati’s list of links.

  21. Wow! Very nice redesign! (I wanted to mention a “division by zero” error that’s at least showing up on my details page. I don’t even know what it’s trying to divide by zero, but there you go.)
    It’s looking nice, Mr. Bear! I’m lovin’ it!

  22. Yup – no whining here either. I’ll gladly devolve tomorrow for a peek at Life as a Large Mammal today.
    I am Mama Bear – hear me roar!

  26. Pretty darn spiffy, Bear! I like the new look. There is one problem, I’ve seen however:
    Your link on my website shows me as a Playful Primate, but when I click through I’m listed as a Large Mammal. Don’t get me wrong, seeing Playful Primate does wonders for my ego, but I’m not sure I deserve it. I’ll have to check and see if I missed something or maybe there is something that has yet to work itself out(How would I know, I’m not the expert). Hey, If you decide to leave it the way it is, you’ll get no argument from me.(LOL)
    Great Job, Bear!

  29. I like it a lot. However, there are still some troubles: I claimed the blog that you see in my URL as mine, but it does not show at such (i.e., it isn’t shown at “My blogs”).
    I’ll look forward to your updates, Bear. And thanks for the Ecosystem!
    Eduardo
    (from Asunción, Paraguay, South America)

  30. I have the same problem as Eduardo: claimed my blog, and it doesn’t show in my blogs. Tried claiming it again, and got a message saying it had been claimed.
    Also, the dial thingies don’t show any hit statistics at all.

  32. I can’t seem to get a details page to load. I see some text but I think it’s getting stuck on the stats and charts. Could I just be missing the most current flash player?
    I don’t mean to gripe. I can’t wait to see everything.

  33. Looking good! I like the nice new clean format. I’m sure in a few days things will start settling into place and most of the bugs/discrepencies will be located. We’ll be patient.

  35. Ooooo. So much pretty!
    One tinsy thing, though. My eco-status on my webpage no longer shows anything for my ranking. I am ‘nothing’ in the TTLB ecosystem, so to speak.
    I’ll give it time before I go whining to the rest of the blogosphere. Other than that, nice work N.Z. Bear!

  37. The new look is pretty spiffy, N.Z. 🙂
    a problem: nobody’s rank display code seems to work anymore
    a request: could you integrate coComment support into this blog?

  38. Folks: A quick update (more complete status to follow this weekend) — the rank display code was indeed broke, but I just implemented a fix. Please let me know if you are still experiencing problems with it or if it’s showing up now…
    NZ

  40. None of the options are clickable on my ‘My Blogs’ page when I’m logged in.
    Furthermore, my blog does not appear at all where it says ‘My blogs’. So I have to search my blog then click ‘Claim blog’ only to find a message that says ‘blog already claimed’.
    I also do not know if I’m supposed to use the old code in my sidebar to display my status (circa 2003-2004) or if there is a new one I’m supposed to use, and if so, not sure where to find that.
    Help!

  41. None of the options are clickable on my ‘My Blogs’ page when I’m logged in.
    Furthermore, my blog does not appear at all where it says ‘My blogs’. So I have to search my blog then click ‘Claim blog’ only to find a message that says ‘blog already claimed’.
    I also do not know if I’m supposed to use the old code in my sidebar to display my status (circa 2003-2004) or if there is a new one I’m supposed to use, and if so, not sure where to find that.
    Help!

  42. The rank is showing up on my site, but here it says no inbound links. It says to add site meter to my blog, but I already have site meter on it.
    Would appreciate knowing if I have something wrong – if so how to fix.
    Thanks.

  44. WOW!! The new system sure looks slick!! A few minor issues:
    Where has the listing of incoming links gone to? Please tell me it’s coming back soon!!
    The spiral thing is pretty, but the blog titles are mostly illegible, so it’s not actually telling me anything.
    There have been several links to posts of mine recently by blogs that ARE in the system… but they don’t show up.

  45. The new changes look real good.
    Just one thing, and I don’t know if it has been reported, but I am still getting the “divide by zero” errors.

  49. Looks nice, but is anyone ever going to answer where the links have gone? And I see no spiralling anything, just the meters and my most recent posts.

  50. Folks: Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been focused on nailing down some performance issues, which I believe are pretty well fixed — hopefully you should notice that everything on the system responds pretty darned snappy now.
    The spiral inbound/outbound links are still disabled, but will be coming back soon, as I believe I’ve identified the problems they were causing.
    I’m also tracking down the remaining issues with the blog-status code, although that should be working for most users at this point.
    Bear with me over the near-term while things settle down, and thanks…
    NZ

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