News Site updates for the week of August 12, 2024

[Art]

To keep all of you informed of site tweaks and updates, I will be providing weekly updates (as needed) summarizing what has or will be done that week.

Updates for this week:

• Adding to Useful Links - if you have any, please post them in the useful links thread or add them yourself.
• Adding to Glossary - anyone can add to the glossary and we definitely need your help!
• Lastly, the Showcase system MAY serve as the future home of all of our Journals. Here is where I need your thoughts. What do you think?
  • Please see my Journal that has been converted to the article format. This is what our Journals will look like going forward.
  • Question for you: Do you prefer that our Journals switch to the new Showcase system format that separates overview, specs, gallery, updates, discussion?

Planned updates:

• Re-design of Journals and movement into nav bar.
• Improvements to widgets to show "Load More" button.
• Continued addition of items to Glossary and Useful Links.
• UX improvements for mobile increasing simplicity of uploading images and creating posts.
• Bug fixes

Completed updates:

• Removed Trending Content from the top of the site and moved it to the sidebar (on right on computer and bottom on mobile).
• Increased the number of posts visible in Latest Posts to 10.
• Achievements, badges and leader group standings were removed.
• Showcase system implemented.
• Resources system was decommissioned in favor of Articles system.
• Potential change of homepage from forum list to New Posts and New Journal Updates.

Have a great week!

 

[Burr740]

Glad the little badges are gone. Some of these bells and whistles, while nice and cool can easily become clutter. Big fan of keeping things clean and simple.

On the journal thing, the only difference I can see in yours is how your avatar/info is now at the bottom of the op? I dont see any separated specs, gallery, updates, etc (windows pc)

 

[Art]

On the journal thing, the only difference I can see in yours is how your avatar/info is now at the bottom of the op? I dont see any separated specs, gallery, updates, etc (windows pc)

Correct. My tank thread is using the "articles" thread format. The only difference is that the initial post is longer and has the OP author block. Then the first post stays at the top of every page when you have longer threads, as it does with mine. This format is a hybrid between the standard thread or the full article format that you can see in our Showcase, for example the Dutch Dreamscape.

Our options for our Journals are:

1. Leave them in the format that they are now. Pros - easy, familiar; Cons - hard to follow timeline and update specs, pictures
2. Convert them to look like Art's Tank thread does now. Pros - first post stays on each thread page; Cons - hard to follow timeline and updates unless first post is kept updated
3. Convert them to the Showcase format that you can see in the Dutch Dreamscape. Pros - easy to follow timeline, give updates, separate specs and pictures; Cons - separate section (in the Showcase) and the discussion thread is in the Journals forum. Use the Dutch Dreamscape to see how this would work.

Would appreciate opinions from the community before me changing anything.

 

[Burr740]

Idk just me personally I dont see anything that improves with the new options

Number 3 I definitely dont like the "main" first post separate from the discussion.

Number 2 sounds good but not everyone puts the full details in their first post. Not everyone even has them at the beginning. "New 120p coming, currently building the stand. Heres some pics

And lets say I decide to try 5 more ppm NO3 for a little while. Would I update the main post? It may or may not be something Id stick with, plus, if I did update the main post then everyone who started reading from the beginning would see this new level of dosing and assume it was like that from the start. Or say somebody switches to EI after a year, updates first post to their new dosing. Would it not then appear thats what theyd been dosing from the beginning? Seems like a strong potential to become very confusing

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I dont see a definitive problem that needs to be improved. As for "updates" once you read part of a thread then clicking on the title takes you to the first unread post automatically. Its really effortless to pick up right where you left off

Most of us are already conditioned to have 5 second attn spans thanks to social media. The less clicking around somebody has to do to see what they wanna see, the better imo. Plus I dont think we want new folks and visitors to have to learn navigation peculiarities and what all the clickable buttons mean before they can really use the site. Theres not enough time in 5 seconds for all that

Again just sharing my thoughts since you asked, others may feel totally different

 

[Art]

Thanks Joe. This is really helpful.

If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Would love to hear from others on this topic. I think it is always good to stop, reassess and see if something can be done better. Sometimes, however, the answer is that it is just fine the way it is.