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Hello, we really need to improve a lot of things at gfxdiary in order to make this a crowded community again. I already talked with a few members on msn, and they had some really good points that could be improved.
I ask them and other people to list them for me at this thread.
Ill make it just like the header contest, ill edit this main post each time in order to create a nice and smooth list of the things to do.
Thnx for reading,
and DO reply if you know anything that really should be improved!
Things which should be taken care of according to the members:
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I talked to Thomas on msn today and one topic lead to another and we started talking about what GfxDiary was lacking/or having problems with and what we can do to fix them...here are some ideas I let out of my shy self:
-> "theres lotsa topics that people dont post in"
-> "by making so many divided topics, you create 'groups' of people that only care about one part of GfxDiary and not another.Like people who only go to DROPZONE,or people who only go to 3DIMENTIONAL"
-> "instead of making different topics as in 3D, bitmap,vector etc. that all are part of 'Graphics', make a system where its only one thread but when you start the topic you choose between those choices
to identify your topic as part of 3d or bitmap or any other graphics field.
Example that Thomas gave me: ""[3d] how do i install max""
I then told him that this idea will bring people together, go to the same thread, and not idle in one particular thread where they wont think of visiting another....going to one thread and seeing all the other topics without looking for them, that will encourage them to visit the topics they might not have touched
-> another thing I mentionned is Picture Thumbnails:
"in a graphical viewpoint, when the site dispays random pics at the home page, cant it keep the aspect ratio of the original picture? cose they look ugly...especially the header contest ones cose their pixel ratio is 4.6 which is very different from the standard resolution which has a ratio of 1.3333 ; so for example when the site displays the thumbnail of a picture that has an unusual aspect ratio, the pic looks like spaghetti, and people wont have the interest to click and look at the pics, which is not good for the artist and the site...plus you are displaying these unbalanced and 'ugly' pics in the home page, which will not encourage people to look into the site.
-> I also talked to T about the mp3 music player...here is what I said:
" to be frank with you, the music player..., lol, do u have a counter on how many times its been used?...cause personnally, i used it twice, ever since ive been here...once to see how it was and what it was, the second time to check if it was still operationnal.rofl (sorry gfx)...a music player usually u dont put it WAY at the bottom where no one can even know its there.
-> "also, you need to add more stats on the suscribed members, one thing comes to mind right now only, and for example, you can add 'hours logged on' or something...seems trivial but people will them see how much time memebers invest in GfxDairy and will become interested.
-> "also, i personnaly never used the black link bar at the top,dunno why its there,u have the same links at the left.
well thats all i said before T told me to post what I said here, so I'll sure come up with more stuff
Thank you
:idea:
I know it's a graphics forum, however, i'd like to see just a small section for Traditional Media. So paintings, sculptures etc can be posted. Sometimes people do sketches of concepts or ideas for web layouts, 3d models etc when they are away from their computer. This section would also give a place to post scanned sketches.
I use this black line navigation very often. When page is just begin loading this black line already appears. So I click GfxForum and waste less time for openning it! :)
And I love ELF's idea about some place where people can post their undone works to make somth. great together.
Well if Bio reads his Private Msg's he can point some more things.
Ok, time to open my side of the argument:
The forum is very sectioned with detailed subforums because this site isnt just for designers. Its also for programmers and webdevelopers, people interested in finding work, and webhosts and domain sellers. These are all interlinked because any major site dealing with digital art needs one of the above topics directly or indirectly. Thomas's upcoming programming site will also use this forum for the programming sections so we do need sectioned forums.
That way people can go directly to their area of expertiese, read the forum, post and get the job done quick and easy. And we dont end up with people posting random topics and treating the entire forum like the DropZone! :x
The black menu at the top of the site, used to move around with the visitor, but due to bugs with IE we had to dissable it. It will stay, because its used as a network link - you'll see why eventually when our other projects are complete. ;)
I agree with what's being said about the image thumbnails at the home page. I was talking with Thomas on a new way to generate thumbnails that may fix this issue. About the Music Player, it was a good idea, but sadly i dont have the time to update it with new music - so it may disappear who knows.
Regarding the Traditional artwork, i dont think a new forum will be established for it. I see this place aiming for the more "digital" side of the world. Sketches and the like can always be posted in the Graphics > Bitmap zone since it needs to be scanned by Bitmap apps anyway. However, anythign that doesnt belong to a true category can always be posted in the DropZone, this includes Hardware related topics and anything else that doesnt belong anywhere. However, i dont want to see it being abused with topics like "Whats alcoholic drink do you like" and "Funny Picture Post" turning this site into an entertainment place for your amusal. :x
To be honest with you guys, i was planning to increase the points required to become a GfxElite to 1000 points, because now with the arrival of contests, photohunts and challenges to gain ponts, it will be very easy target to reach 500points. And this being the highest rank on GfxDiary it deserves some hardwork to reach that level dont you think ;)
I'll leave it to 500 for now and wait for a member to reach that stage so they know what its like and the advantages it brings. :idea:
Other areas on GfxDiary i would like to imporve are the GfxRing - still needs major improvement and a block on the main page showing the top 10 sites and the last 10 visits. Also the gallery needs more work to imrove the design and fix the bugs. And lets not forget that theres an interview section on this site - that hasnt been updated in a long time :idea:
i think the music player is already gone though,lol
Well you really need good marketing team, cause i guess you soon will add that stupid add by PayPal like "Help us please".
heha
Nah, so long as there are adverts on GfxDiary i think we can survive that!
I'm all for the idea of consolidating the sub forums, making them more organized, specific and trimmed down. Take the whole 'Entertainment' section; it could be grouped into one sub-forum and placed under 'General' as opposed to having 'Games', 'Music', 'Movies' etc that take up alot of space relative to how little they're actualy used.
Have some sort of an individual 'Showcase' forum for design/visual/static images/animations etc, (anything that isn't websites) they deserve a central point to be shown just like sites alone do. Atm they give the impression that they are only if you want to ask questions relating to area rather than displaying anything of your own. This would make it more active rather than resulting in the odd iscolated post from time to time.
"Quark Express" is spelt as "QuarkXpress" :P
Whats the deal with the 'Mr. Green' favicon ?
Same deal with the jukebox... as SithLord.
Centre the top navigation items ! - I still think the rollovers look out of place, or atleast don't look as good as they could... however overall I think it should stay as I also use it often. A site just has to have some nice big fat chunky buttons that you can easily click on (even when slightly drunk)... Its a hard fact web users are impatient/and or lazy when browsing and the less clicks it takes to get some where the better.
Move that giant ugly GFX Diary banner from the side to somewhere more inconspicuous and place some sort of useful feature that benefits the users, or move the existing forum topic titles listing up.
Quote:
Liten up. :P :D
BioAlien, Don't get mad or anything, we're just suggesting things.
Interesting things raised by Trico, heres the answers:
Mr. Green was noxcel back in his days :) He loved his green, too bad he's not around anymore and too bad he ditched green for the whorishly used blue!
About the subforum idea, im all for that, thats what i wanted to do at the start to make the forum a smaller place to scroll. The problem is, we havnt programmed the forum to support Sub Forums :| We just got too carried away with building the rest of the site. To be honest with u, we'd rather wait for phpBB to release their ever awaited next generation forum software so we can see what to do. Continue with this heavily modified version or use their new release with many new features.
About the side banner, its one of the requirements that it must be visible before scrolling (or at least some part of it is). It was down originally and we were forced to move it up after being told off by our advertisers. You guys may not see it change from the standard GD banner, but in certain parts of the world its already operational since the rotation is targetted by country IPs!
The showcase comments, all existing types of artworks can all be posted in their rightful sections be it showcasing bitmaps, flash, 3d or vector. They can all go into their designated sections. I dont see the need to create a whole new forum for the showcasing of artwork because it will automatically render ALL the graphics related forum USELESS! People will go ahead and use them to post their artwork be it FINISHED or UNFINISHED taking away the activity from the graphics related forums. Theres a reason behind my current arrangements. I dont want the graphics related forums to be only for help and support to avoid the n00b element because all the good desingers wont even bother viewing them. :idea:
I hope this clears ur points. Keep them coming :)
To trico ;)
"Quark Xpress" is spelt as "Quark X-press"
hmm.. strange.. the box sais X-press. but the software itself saiz QuarkXpress ;)
stupid fharts :p
and dont sai it isnt true.. ;) i work with that program whole week ;) (mon to fri ;))
my side of the story:
- less forums (put more category's in 1 forum, like dropzone and introduction, those are most of the time dead)
- get rid of the nuke part of the site and let thomas rewrite the site and maybe only use the phpBB forum :p..
hmm.. thats it.. i cant think right now.. just woke up :p
:roll: Okay I believe you, I'm not going to spend £600 just to look at the box packaging... :P
whahah :p
a PM button next to the rest of the buttons on post, next to profile, www ect. annoying have to profile www. and shouldnt take much longer then 2 minutes?
Yeah the PM button should be reinstated - thats a valid suggestion!
a QUICK EDIT area like the quick reply so I dont loose 10 points due to my lazyness.
The testchamber!! :P Plus all the fixes suggested... They seam REALLY good!
Most of the sugestions talked about here have been completed in the new version of GfxDiary!
Now the warnings are also counted and can be monitored on your accounts :)
I've been reading this topic again. The suggestions here are really really good, thanks a lot guys, definatly keeping them as a reference in the development of GfxDiary 2005!
If you have anything else to add dont hesitate to keep it coming :arrow:
Layout structure is almost identical to this layout in terms of blocks but damn im loving the speed 3 times faster 8)
- Skin support (on the fly - not reloading page)
- Collapse/Expand blocks (members only)
- Show/Hide left and right panels (members only)
Guys would you like your Member Profiles as a subdomain or foldername?
eg: bioalien.gfxdiary.com OR
eg: gfxdiary.com/bioalien
Let me know, this is important - we need to think about this cos its a lot of time,effort and resources to establish a subdomain for every single member :?
hmm..
se.gfxdiary.com :) its a lot better i think ;) if its possible ;)
GFX-Diet _o_
Folder I think is better
Subdomain seems interesting, but most have their own websites, so the folder will be better.
Well sub will need a folder anyway, so both is possib. But yea just folder is cool.
I just dont get why do you want to create a subdomain or folder anyway Bio? Become more similliar to DevArt?
lol. I don't know how u can say making sub domain/folder for members is like da. Its just a standard thing. ~Why does he want to?.. well im guessing becaused it provides an even nicer free service to members. Ppl without a site, or just starting off would like it. I spose ppl with a site could just upload a auto redirect php script to forward visitors to their domain.
LOL i wouldnt waste time and money on giving a free subdomain to members, if they pay, then yes, othewise a silly thing.
Depends.
1) Most hosting packages come with "unlimited" subs.
2) We all know bio is nice guy.
:D
Thanks guys for the feedback. I'll see what we can do about the subdomain/folder idea. Its not really about making people pay, its just for convenience - members rather have their home in a site, where everything can be reached. Also a good way to showcase it to their friends and the rest of the world. How many posts, how many pics, etc they've worked on.
Well, GfxDiary 2005 is definatly a reality, not a dream!
Behold, an early concept named GfxDiet:
- Currently upto 50% faster + still more speed to come
- Damn customizable as you can see from the two screenshots they show u how you can hide the sides, and the blocks and the site remembers every user's settings.
The header will be improved and possible put the logo on there, not worried too much about the colour scheme/images. Just working on the user/structure interaction at the moment. There will be 3 themes:
- my standard trademark grey theme (GfxDiet)
- a colour version of GfxDiet
- a skeleton version (wireframe) for people who HATE design :twisted:
pour your hearts out, hate, love everything... :arrow:
i got one thing to say: (Y) :P
Whats up with orange bars? man i suggested you to start using other colours, but dont ruin gfxdiary 2005 with ya tests in colours! :D
Looking good!1111 Can't wait. Keep up the good work bio.
me likes
Im very tempted to make the site 100% tableless all with CSS - but im a stubborn guy, i dont wanna follow the new design trends. Oh, RedD as i mentioned not to worry about the colours, i wont go TOO crazy ;)
This beast is damn hard to build - but there is progress being made. Dont expect it anytime soon though! Just be safe knowing what the future holds (lots of clickable buttons that do magic around the site) :)
oooooo buttons, pretty buttons, i like buttons
wierdly, i think the orange gives it an HL2 feel, (orange and black + grey) which is cool
That orange has turned grey - i was only testing colour schemes for the colour version of the site. You might see it in the colour version ;)
There are some setbacks .. the release might take longer than we anticipated since we changed the focus of this CMS engine we're building. The way it will be used (the heart) is completly changed now, after a phone call with Thomas i've began rewriting the plans for the CORE that will power GfxDiary. Yes, it means we will no longer use the engine we developed for www.CodeUnit.com on GD2005, instead we're creating a new system from scratch with a much bigger aim in mind.
Obviously we'll reuse some of the code we already written so this will greatly speed up the progress. I knew this would happen, i saw it coming a while back. Which is why i have an updated version of the current GfxDiary with the new GfxDiet skin along with a few bug fixes ready for action to please you guys while you wait for some major power to sweep you off your feet. I'll keep you informed on what happens and what we decide.
P.s. if anybody is wondering why the PLAN is changing its simple. We're thinking about our own future and expansion. We cant keep dedicating so much time in the future - since we have lives and a job to support us financially. So the aim of the new plan it to make good use of the months we'll be spending to develop this beast while at the same time, ensure we have a good financial cover and a dedicated server in the bag ;) 8)
Trust me, you will not be disappointed. This site is still more than usable to enjoy for the time being :arrow:
I've re-approved all the sites that were previously deactivated from GfxRing. These sites are sites that did not put the GfxRing code on their pages, and just treating the ring as a Top Site. I want the ring to build up, and allow all the sites to gain some traffic from GfxDiary for now while i work to enhance it.
Im thinking of using GfxRing as my final year project for university 8) adding a crawler or a database check to see when the last hit was received from a website so i know which site still has the code and which site is cheating ;)
So many things, so little time...
Just scanned through the GfxRing entries and removed all the broken links to the sites that no longer "alive" on the ring. Soon this problem will be solved when i get started on the script to make the system more clever (as part of my university assignment).
Update:
- Now you know what the "orange" was for ;) (GfxDiet Exotic skin)
- The site left/right panel collapse on both sides was pulled back from the official release to give us more time to make sure its fully implemented.
- The block minimise/maximise has been put on hold. I doubt we will release this functionality as it will only add more loading times and extra unwanted JS code to the site.
I guess you can all see the result for yourself. Light graphics, fast loading times while it visually looks stunning (compared to GD2004) 8)
p.s. eventually when the time comes, we will be releasing more skin packs for the site.
Nice, Bio! but there are sone "overdone/undone" things. F.e. this auwull menu under the header. It's hard to see what is written.
BioALIEN wrote:
How else would you discribe the EXOTIC theme? I love it though ^^
Ahahaha, CardPlay seems to be addicted to it too. To be honest, im actually using it too right now :oops:
RedD: i agree about that bar under the header, the BG colour needs to be made lighter. Its already in the things TODO.