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 Trail cuttin, GPS packin bushwhacker, wiki hike compilin, who is now Hope-less
2543 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 8:22 PM
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Please discuss! LongShadow doesn't agree with me on all of these 
* Drop the "Active Hiking Topics" since it's basically the same as "Active Topics". LongShadow reorganized the forums since, so I think it's obsolete. All it does is hide two forums.
* Drop the "Reload Automatically" feature from Active Topics. Seems 1997-ish to me. How many people use it?
* Drop the "Jump to Forum" drop down list from the bottom of Active Topics Zap!
* Drop the menu from the bottom of the forum pages (Active Topics, Top 10, etc). It's redundant - I know people find it convenient, but it's just feels weird having the functionality at the top of the site repeated at the bottom. This could use a usability study, maybe it's a different problem.
* Merge "Hiking Humor" with "The Lodge" Cancelled!
* Drop the "Show all topics in the last X days" drop down list from the forums. Zap!
* Remove the "Page 1 of X" drop down list from the top of forum pages. People want to go to the next page *after* they read what's available on the current page, not before! Cancelled!
* Rework the "Current forum" tree on the left of each page and the "New Topic" link to match the Wiki toolbar design
* Fix the massive page list of numbers at the bottom, showing the first page and the "nearest 20 pages" instead of all of them.
* Remove the "Screensize" and "Format mode" options from the posting page Zap!
I know many people will say "It's a feature, keep it!" but there's a TON of "code rot" in the forums I'd like to clean up over time. I also suspect that the clutter in the pages reduces usability for new visitors for the site, and makes it seem overly complicated and unfriendly.
Thoughts? |
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 double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 10:13 PM
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Move Reply to Topic to the Rightmost position, where it's always been, until a few weeks ago when it was mysteriously moved to the left.
Allow login from the homepage of clubtread, and not from message board only
Ok, on to your questions - and my suggestions
1. Active Hiking Topics - gone
2. Reload Automatically - gone
3. Drop Jump to Forum - agree
4. Merge Hiking Humour with Lodge - sure
5. Drop Show all topics in the last X days - leave it in. I sometimes check what's new in the past 2 hours, or 6 hours. I look at CT from my iPhone, my Mac at home or my PC at work.
6. Remove the Page 1 of X - leave it in, but I'm ok either way
7. Rework the Current forum tree - make the *wiki* match the message board. More people spend time in the message board than in the wiki. I feel very strongly about this. I hardly ever go to the wiki, don't mess with the message board layout. Change the wiki if you want to change layouts
8. Fix the massive page list of numbers - leave as is
9. Remove the Screensize and Format mode - I don't ever use these.
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Hope, BC
Canada
7100 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 10:18 PM
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* Remove the "Page 1 of X" drop down list from the top of forum pages. People want to go to the next page *after* they read what's available on the current page, not before!
Could show Hyperlinks:
Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next
At the top
Thats a bit more work but doable. Of course you could steal that function from the Active topics page as it shows the pages clickable already ;)
I hate the page # dropdown because it is more work instead of one simple click. Sides its old SkOoL |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 10:25 PM
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I love Clubtread, I've been a member for years, and now you have me on a roll re usability comments.
why are there two horizontal menus in Club Tread? Right now we have:
(1)
Home - Message Board - Trails (why not call it Wiki?? took me a while tonight to find these pages) - Gear - Stories - ClubTread Store - Links - Donate - Search.
Then below, we have
(2)
Active Topics - Active Hiking Topics - Top 10 - Members - Search (again) - FAQ - Guidelines
Do we need to see all these links when we are in the Message Board area of the site? And by the way, I clicked Message Board, but I see ClubTread Community as a title on the page. So which is it?
Search is in twice. Why not a text box and a GO box, make it standard
Suggest reviewing web stats, and either reducing the number of choices near the ClubTread banner (both rows) or putting all remaining choices onto one line.
Some items (Gear, Stories, Links, Donate, Search) can go on the home page of clubtread.com and be removed from the ClubTread Community page.
When I want to login, the login button is in fact a link, but there are two other buttons nearby, one to donate, and the other to the wiki. This needs review.
I agree with your comment "the clutter in the pages reduces usability for new visitors for the site, and makes it seem overly complicated and unfriendly" There are too many choices at the moment. |
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Coffee swillin', wine lovin', Owl fearin' Andie McDowell stunt double, who sports retro gear
Vancouver, BC
5468 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 10:34 PM
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1. Active Hiking Topics - I never use this
2. Reload Automatically - Never used it
3. Drop Jump to Forum - Don't care
4. Merge Hiking Humour with Lodge - No. It's handy to know which ones contain jokes, because most of the time I don't feel like reading jokes.
5. Drop Show all topics in the last X days - No, please leave it in. If I log in, but only have time to skim the headlines, then most of the threads don't show up the next time I've logged in to Active Topics and I miss stuff I might have wanted to read. I like being able to go back and tell it to show everything in the last 12 hours or the last day.
6. Remove the Page 1 of X - I say leave it in.
7. Rework the Current forum tree - I agree with Seawallrunner, don't mess with it; it's good the way it is.
8. Fix the massive page list of numbers - leave as is. I hate it on some forums when you know you want to go read something that you remember was on about page 40, but you can't get there directly from page two as you can only click on 1 2 3 4.......105 106 107 and nothing in between.
9. Remove the Screensize and Format mode - I don't even know what these are for, so I don't care.
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Trail cuttin, GPS packin bushwhacker, wiki hike compilin, who is now Hope-less
2543 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 10:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by wilderness_seeker
5. Drop Show all topics in the last X days - No, please leave it in. If I log in, but only have time to skim the headlines, then most of the threads don't show up the next time I've logged in to Active Topics and I miss stuff I might have wanted to read. I like being able to go back and tell it to show everything in the last 12 hours or the last day.
Whoops, there's two versions of this one. What I meant was to leave the "show all topics" drop down in the Active Topics, but remove it from the specific forum pages.
quote:
6. Remove the Page 1 of X - I say leave it in.
quote:
8. Fix the massive page list of numbers - leave as is. I hate it on some forums when you know you want to go read something that you remember was on about page 40, but you can't get there directly from page two as you can only click on 1 2 3 4.......105 106 107 and nothing in between.
But how are you supposed to know which page something is on? There's no way someone could possibly know the post they want is on page 251, for example.
quote:
why are there two horizontal menus in Club Tread? Right now we have:
The "Community menu" is a sub-menu specific to the forum. Eventually it will be reworked to be more obvious that it's for sub navigation. Search will be moved out to a central box, and FAQ/Guidelines/etc will be probably put in the footer or someplace else.
You'll eventually see sub menus on other sections, I imagine.
quote:
I clicked Message Board, but I see ClubTread Community as a title on the page. So which is it?
The main menu will probably be changed to "Community" in the long term. Don't want to do that until we fix the home page, since it could confuse new people.
quote:
Search is in twice. Why not a text box and a GO box, make it standard
Yep
quote:
When I want to login, the login button is in fact a link, but there are two other buttons nearby, one to donate, and the other to the wiki. This needs review.
Hahaha, I complain about this every week to LongShadow. He likes his orange buttons and we don't have a new home for them.
Interesting comments about the sub navigation, but of all of the things I listed that's probably the most likely to be changed. It will be done cautiously - you'll probably see the Wiki navigation done at the same time - both to a new, more friendly design.
My biggest beef is that currently on the forums, the multi-line tree structure takes up a lot of vertical space and unbalances the forums.
It also makes it hard to instinctively find the "Add Post" and "Reply to Post" functions.
Great feedback and discussion, this is perfect. Keep em coming! |
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Coffee swillin', wine lovin', Owl fearin' Andie McDowell stunt double, who sports retro gear
Vancouver, BC
5468 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 11:02 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by ShadowChaser
quote:
8. Fix the massive page list of numbers - leave as is. I hate it on some forums when you know you want to go read something that you remember was on about page 40, but you can't get there directly from page two as you can only click on 1 2 3 4.......105 106 107 and nothing in between.
But how are you supposed to know which page something is on? There's no way someone could possibly know the post they want is on page 251, for example.
I guess what I'm thinking of is on other forums, I've been scrolling through and let's say I know I posted something around last August, 10 months ago, and perhaps I want to go back to that page for any number of reasons (to remind myself what I wrote, see if anyone responded, send someone the link, whatever). So then I'm on page 100 of the thread and I see that all the posts are from the last week. So I try page 97, and all the posts are from two weeks ago. But page one is full of posts from two years ago. So I figure page 50 would be a good starting point to look for the approximate date I posted, and go from there. However, I am only given the option of looking at the page range close to the one I am currently on, and have the tedious chore of clicking through many, many pages I don't want (1, 4, 7, 10, 13...) until it finally I'm on page 47 and it will allow you to click on 50.
I can't say I've ever needed to do this here, but on other forums I find this really frustrating not to be able to go directly to the middle pages of a thread. |
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Trail cuttin, GPS packin bushwhacker, wiki hike compilin, who is now Hope-less
2543 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 11:04 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by wilderness_seeker
quote:
Originally posted by ShadowChaser
quote:
8. Fix the massive page list of numbers - leave as is. I hate it on some forums when you know you want to go read something that you remember was on about page 40, but you can't get there directly from page two as you can only click on 1 2 3 4.......105 106 107 and nothing in between.
But how are you supposed to know which page something is on? There's no way someone could possibly know the post they want is on page 251, for example.
I guess what I'm thinking of is on other forums, I've been scrolling through and let's say I know I posted something around last August, 10 months ago, and perhaps I want to go back to that page for any number of reasons (to remind myself what I wrote, see if anyone responded, send someone the link, whatever). So then I'm on page 100 of the thread and I see that all the posts are from the last week. So I try page 97, and all the posts are from two weeks ago. But page one is full of posts from two years ago. So I figure page 50 would be a good starting point to look for the approximate date I posted, and go from there. However, I am only given the option of looking at the page range close to the one I am currently on, and have the tedious chore of clicking through many, many pages I don't want (1, 4, 7, 10, 13...) until it finally I'm on page 47 and it will allow you to click on 50.
I can't say I've ever needed to do this here, but on other forums I find this really frustrating not to be able to go directly to the middle pages of a thread.
True - I'm right there with you. CT is getting extremely popular though, and the current method of showing all of the page links is unsustainable over the long term. |
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Big pack hiker who sleeps with bears in tent and falls on slippery logs
Langley, BC
Canada
7647 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 07:49 AM
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| One that I have been planning is to split the BC TR's into VI TR's and Mainland TR's. This would be similar to what we have for the regional discussions. Thoughts on this one? |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 08:30 AM
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> split the BC TR's into VI TR's and Mainland TR's
I agree, so we would have five sections under Trip Reports?
Lower Mainland
Vancouver Island
Alberta
Washington
Other Regions
Is that what you are thinking Jim? |
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Big pack hiker who sleeps with bears in tent and falls on slippery logs
Langley, BC
Canada
7647 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 09:02 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
> split the BC TR's into VI TR's and Mainland TR's
I agree, so we would have five sections under Trip Reports?
Lower Mainland
Vancouver Island
Alberta
Washington
Other Regions
Is that what you are thinking Jim?
Yep! That's exactly what I was thinking. |
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Penhold, Alberta
Canada
2014 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 11:46 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
> split the BC TR's into VI TR's and Mainland TR's
I agree, so we would have five sections under Trip Reports?
Lower Mainland
Vancouver Island
Alberta
Washington
Other Regions
Is that what you are thinking Jim
Since the rest of BC doesn't fall into "The Lower Mainland" what area would those trip reports fall under? |
Edited by - darrenbell on 06/14/2009 11:47 AM |
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Big pack hiker who sleeps with bears in tent and falls on slippery logs
Langley, BC
Canada
7647 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 1:42 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by darrenbell
quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
> split the BC TR's into VI TR's and Mainland TR's
I agree, so we would have five sections under Trip Reports?
Lower Mainland
Vancouver Island
Alberta
Washington
Other Regions
Is that what you are thinking Jim
Since the rest of BC doesn't fall into "The Lower Mainland" what area would those trip reports fall under?
Oops, yeah. I was thinking Vancouver Island, and then BC Mainland.
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| Eryne
Intermediate Member
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Chilliwack, BC
Canada
570 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 3:25 PM
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Those are great ideas. I like them. It'll be cool. I like the big orange button. It reminds me of the the big red button...
If you are planning to regionalize BC trip reports, it makes sense to use the regions that ShadowChaser is setting up for the wiki. Then I won't be confused.
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Trail cuttin, GPS packin bushwhacker, wiki hike compilin, who is now Hope-less
2543 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 6:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by LongShadow
One that I have been planning is to split the BC TR's into VI TR's and Mainland TR's. This would be similar to what we have for the regional discussions. Thoughts on this one?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo 
All this is going to do is create more work for me - I already spent hours and hours cleaning up the existing trip report forums. We already know we'll need to go through them all when we link them up to the wiki - so why do it twice? Once we build the wiki linking, a forum is moot.
If I had my way trip reports won't be in a forum for much longer - it's meaningless. They should be in their own table with each entry tagged with the same regional information as the wiki entries.
Then the user interface doesn't matter - we can cut it up and search it any way we want. I can make it look exactly the same.  
Do you take bribes? I'll toss in a fancy WYSIWYG forum editor too, haha. |
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Hope, BC
Canada
7100 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 6:27 PM
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Ah you meen create a new table for trip reports (same structure), but add a region field which matches the same ID as the trail associated in the wiki?
Sounds like a good idea, easy to do, the only time consuming part is taking the time to sort through them as you mentioned. |
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Montreal, QC
Canada
716 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 6:51 PM
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1. "Active Hiking Topics" - never use it
2. "Reload Automatically" - never use it
3. "Jump to Forum" - never use it
4. Drop the menu from the bottom of the forum pages (Active Topics, Top 10, etc) - I think I have actually used this on occasion, but it's not critical
5. Merge "Hiking Humor" with "The Lodge" - don't care
6. Drop the "Show all topics in the last X days" drop down list from the forums. - I use this all the time on the main forum page, but don't need to use it on other pages
7. Remove the "Page 1 of X" drop down list from the top of forum pages. - I prefer this to all the little numbers, since I'm clumsy and it seems easier than aiming for a little number and likely missing.
8. Rework the "Current forum" tree on the left of each page and the "New Topic" link to match the Wiki toolbar design - don't care, just don't keep changing it again and again.
9. Fix the massive page list of numbers at the bottom, showing the first page and the "nearest 20 pages" instead of all of them. - could be persuaded either way
10. "Screensize" and "Format mode" - never use
How did I end up with 10 items when the others had 9? |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 7:51 PM
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> How did I end up with 10 items when the others had 9?
no worries Anemone, you made your comments after additional questions and features were introduced.
the additional features are called "scope creep" in the web design industry (and in project management, at large). We'll get many more scope increases before this discussion is over, I am sure |
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Hope, BC
Canada
7100 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2009 : 11:43 PM
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| What about a way for us busy bodies like me to be able to vote on someones report ? it would be neat to have a best report of the month or something similar. Could also have ratings for the hikes, from poor to great. |
Edited by - AcesHigh on 06/15/2009 12:19 AM |
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Trail cuttin, GPS packin bushwhacker, wiki hike compilin, who is now Hope-less
2543 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2009 : 8:23 PM
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Made a few more changes - see the items in red above.
As an added bonus, you can now actually log in by pressing *enter* after typing in your password. Gasp. |
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2009 : 12:46 AM
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My jury is still out on some of these items , though Lodge and Humour could be kept separate.
T.R's, island vs. mainland and then elsewhere ? Wiki format ? Why not divide province into
ministry of environment's 6 or 7 zones and ' legend ' this by means of a fore-page Map
showing the regions and then on to the category one is looking for ? I.E. , numerate the
category.
Home page recent posts could be altered to last 14 or 15 recent topics.
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Edited by - cambium on 06/16/2009 12:48 AM |
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