topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Tuesday March 19, 2024, 5:22 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Last post Author Topic: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?  (Read 54786 times)

alivingspirit

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 167
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #75 on: May 06, 2010, 12:08 AM »
There has been a huge growth of activity since I first started visiting DC. While the current interface for the forum is very good, as the rate of activity increases, I find that it is becoming harder to keep up with all the activity. Many times I find myself rereading an old thread 500 comments long trying to figure out where I last left off reading. If there is an improvement DC needs, it is in making the forums easier to navigate and stay on top of ongoing threads. It would be nice if DC had a feature to drop me off at the last post that I read on the particular thread that I read before (similar to the Google reader suggestion mentioned above). I know that a feature like that is difficult to implement but it is the one thing I can think of that really would improve the site.

I think its important to point out that changes to a site like this could be counter productive. For every added feature, there is also added bloat, which could confuse newcomers and annoy frequent visitors who never wanted the feature to begin with. I agree with most on this forum that making small changes could do wonders for this site. I am not sure about big things. If it was up to me, I would start by trying to give the site an even cleaner look, removing features if necessary, before trying to add or change other things.

DC is truly a gem on the web. I would hate to see it ruined because it gets cut the wrong way. :) 

PS: We need a Cody smiley.

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,896
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #76 on: May 06, 2010, 12:10 AM »
It would be nice if DC had a feature to drop me off at the last post that I read on the particular thread that I read before


we really need to publicize this more, but on the "unread posts" page, if you click the round "new!" image it will do exactly that.

alivingspirit

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 167
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #77 on: May 06, 2010, 12:40 AM »
Awesome!  ;D I really didn't know that existed. This really makes me wonder about other features I don't know about.
That being said, its not exactly what I had in mind. DC is full of really long threads. It would be nice to know which posts I read and which ones I didn't. The new button takes you to the post that was posted after the last time that you looked at the thread. Many times I start reading when there are 30 posts and only read the first few posts which links to a different page and I don't bother to read the rest. When I come back later and discover there are 500 posts I would like to know what I read and what I didn't.

I can't believe all this time the new symbol was a button!

nudone

  • Cody's Creator
  • Columnist
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 4,119
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #78 on: May 06, 2010, 02:50 AM »
maybe the new button needs to look more like a button? or say "click for new" or something on it? or maybe "newest" or "latest"?

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,896
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #79 on: May 06, 2010, 03:03 AM »
i was thinking i would just make this the default behavior whenever you click on main link to a topic, to go to last read post; then it wouldnt matter if you clicked new button or not.

nudone

  • Cody's Creator
  • Columnist
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 4,119
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #80 on: May 06, 2010, 03:47 AM »
i was thinking i would just make this the default behavior whenever you click on main link to a topic, to go to last read post; then it wouldnt matter if you clicked new button or not.
that is the best idea.

app103

  • That scary taskbar girl
  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,884
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #81 on: May 06, 2010, 07:05 AM »
i was thinking i would just make this the default behavior whenever you click on main link to a topic, to go to last read post; then it wouldnt matter if you clicked new button or not.

No, please don't do that! I rely on the color of the link to draw my eye to threads I have already read before. I have even gone so far as changing the color in the usercontent.css file of my browser to make it stand out more.

If you change the default behavior, then the link color will change back to the default unvisited color for every thread whenever a new post is added. I'll never be able to tell previously read threads.

Stoic Joker

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 6,646
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #82 on: May 06, 2010, 07:40 AM »
She's got a point there - I also use the visited link color method to identify where I've been.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,857
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #83 on: May 06, 2010, 07:54 AM »
I have even gone so far as changing the color in the usercontent.css file of my browser to make it stand out more.

Just out of curiosity, what color do you use?

 :)

app103

  • That scary taskbar girl
  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,884
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #84 on: May 06, 2010, 01:16 PM »
Just out of curiosity, what color do you use?

 :)

#aa00aa (which is the default color for visited links on my system)

The whole thing is here: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=18548.0

cyberdiva

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,041
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #85 on: May 06, 2010, 01:33 PM »
Awesome!  ;D I really didn't know that existed.
-alivingspirit (May 06, 2010, 12:40 AM)
Me, neither!  :-[  I even posted earlier in this thread about how much I liked the "Unread Posts" feature and how I use it all the time....duh. 

CodeTRUCKER

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,085
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #86 on: November 17, 2010, 02:28 AM »
Yes, I know it has been a while since this thread had a pulse, but...

I was Looking at the Badges page and noticed that except for the badge, there are no explanations of what the badges are for?  Perhaps I'm just dense.  :-[

Does that qualify me for the "Badge of disCourage?"

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,896
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #87 on: November 17, 2010, 05:48 AM »
there are no explanations of what the badges are for?

sounds like maybe i broke this when i added the latest badge.. i'll fix.

FIXED.  Thanks for spotting that CodeTRUCKER  :up:
« Last Edit: November 17, 2010, 05:59 AM by mouser »

CodeTRUCKER

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,085
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
« Reply #88 on: November 17, 2010, 09:22 AM »
...
FIXED.  Thanks for spotting that CodeTRUCKER  :up:

You're welcome! :)