Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 01:17:52 pm

Title: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 01:17:52 pm
The censor is bull****.

The search function is ballsed.

I apparently have access to Grognards - which may or may not be intentional/universal.

The 'Key Stats' and 'User Info' panels are totally worthless and simply take up space, bumping the thread/forum lists down. Move them or integrate them into existing structures to minimize their intrusion into my goddamn field of view.

This Button (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/Themes/hlp/images/english/go_down.gif) is horizontally-based and shouldn't be. It should be square and bigger.

The AdSense 'chunk' would be better placed where the Key Stats and User Info panels are, leaving the threads less cluttered and also giving space alongside the title-banner for some actual ads.

The grey section beneath the nav-bar needs something doing to it.

The nav-buttons need to be bigger.

Add a goddamn Quick Reply.

De-clutter the user information section of the postbit.

The Alexa-toolbar thing at the bottom is pointless and annoying.

The font size of the thread-tree thing (HLP >> HLP >> HL >> New Topic) needs to be bigger and more visible.

Is there any point at all to the 'web-ring' thing?


That's all for now. I'll ***** more as I find more glaring deficiencies.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Taristin on November 12, 2005, 01:23:41 pm
The censor is bull****.
Your own choice. Read through your control panel and you can remove it.
The search function is ballsed.
Already known, read the announcements.
I apparently have access to Grognards - which may or may not be intentional/universal.

The 'Key Stats' and 'User Info' panels are totally worthless and simply take up space, bumping the thread/forum lists down. Move them or integrate them into existing structures to minimize their intrusion into my goddamn field of view.
Can be minimized by the icon next to it. click it.
This Button (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/Themes/hlp/images/english/go_down.gif) is horizontally-based and shouldn't be. It should be square and bigger.

The AdSense 'chunk' would be better placed where the Key Stats and User Info panels are, leaving the threads less cluttered and also giving space alongside the title-banner for some actual ads.

The grey section beneath the nav-bar needs something doing to it.

The nav-buttons need to be bigger.

Add a goddamn Quick Reply.
See first comment about reading your control panel.
De-clutter the user information section of the postbit.

The Alexa-toolbar thing at the bottom is pointless and annoying.
How do you even notice that?
The font size of the thread-tree thing (HLP >> HLP >> HL >> New Topic) needs to be bigger and more visible.

Is there any point at all to the 'web-ring' thing?
To direct people away from nodewars?

That's all for now. I'll ***** more as I find more glaring deficiencies.

Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Fury on November 12, 2005, 01:35:46 pm
an0n is welcome to these forums as long as he behaves.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 01:48:57 pm
Yeah, and not talking down to me would probably be the best way to ensure I do.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 01:50:40 pm
And what the **** is with SMF ballsing up the punctuation in sigs with unicode conversions?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: General Freak on November 12, 2005, 02:36:55 pm
Why can't you tolerate the small, tucked away Alexa banner and accept the much bigger and obvious Google ads? :(
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Fineus on November 12, 2005, 02:45:41 pm
Cheers for the opinions. We (that is, the staff) will of course look at what you've said. We're trying to make this as accessable for everyone and therefore there's no such thing as bad feedback. We do of course reserve the right to not do anything that we don't want to of course ;)

Oh - and welcome back :)
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Flipside on November 12, 2005, 02:51:30 pm
Well, I guess Websites like HLP don't pay for themselves ;)

Doesn't really bother me to be honest, it's not as if almost every other forum/webpage I go to doesn't have something similar.

I guess there are a few tweaks to be made, some of the things you mentioned are really a matter of personal preference, but with my squiffy eyes, I must admit, I had a problems with the font at first, till Sandwich showed me how to fix it :) The Nav buttons, I am inclined to agree with, from a personal point of view, I'd rather see them the same size as the reply one, but it's not a major thing, I can read them as they are.

The grey section above the Nav Bar looks ok to me, did you mean some kind of desaturated image or something instead of just plain grey? That might look good, but I don't have the first clue about php, so I've no idea how hard/easy/feasible that is, and it may make that section too 'busy' anyway?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 12, 2005, 02:53:36 pm
The Alexa I believe is there for some sort of counter, IIRC.

For a bit of a suggestion, the forum index, private messages, and profile should be accessible from the Jump To menu.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Sandwich on November 12, 2005, 02:57:32 pm
Before I begin... is there anything you DO like? ;)

The search function is ballsed.
Yeah, we're having some issues with the DB being completely overloaded by the traffic we bring with us. Slashdot nano. :p We're working on solutions, but if you have any helpful suggestions in that regard...?

I apparently have access to Grognards - which may or may not be intentional/universal.
It's perfectly well known, yes.

This Button (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/Themes/hlp/images/english/go_down.gif) is horizontally-based and shouldn't be. It should be square and bigger.
I think Eddie was replicating the dimensions of the original buttons when he made those (there's another one at the bottom that says, surprisingly enough, "Go up" :p). The bar they reside in is much taller than it was "supposed" to be, due to our double-height Post Topic and Post Reply buttons. Anyway, yeah, it's a good idea to change that graphic - or get rid of it entirely; not sure how useful it is TBH.

The AdSense 'chunk' would be better placed where the Key Stats and User Info panels are, leaving the threads less cluttered and also giving space alongside the title-banner for some actual ads.
If by actual ads you mean image ads, it's not gonna happen.

The grey section beneath the nav-bar needs something doing to it.
Agreed, but it's hard to figure out what, since that whole section can be collapsed. I'm thinking some faded, shaded wireframe of a shivan or something as a BG...

The nav-buttons need to be bigger.
Which ones? The main 2 are double-height already...

Add a goddamn Quick Reply.
How many times do I have to tell you that God's last name is not "damn" or "damnit"? Besides, there is a quick reply, but for some reason, SMF refuses to enable it for all users forum-wide (despite telling us it's doing that very thing). RTF/M (Read the FAQ / Manual). :D

De-clutter the user information section of the postbit.
Yeah, we've been considering it.

The Alexa-toolbar thing at the bottom is pointless and annoying.
Annoying, yes, but pointless? Hardly... how else could I show you all such nifty things as the attached graphic? ;)

The font size of the thread-tree thing (HLP >> HLP >> HL >> New Topic) needs to be bigger and more visible.
To match the size down bottom? Yup, I need to get to it.

Is there any point at all to the 'web-ring' thing?
Personally, I'm a bit HLP-centric, so it helps to see what kind of satellite sites are out there. So yeah, there's a point.

That's all for now. I'll ***** more as I find more glaring deficiencies.
So, you only "nitpick" for glaring deficiencies? What happens when we really screw something up, do you "bring it to our attention with some sense of urgency"? ;)


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Kie99 on November 12, 2005, 03:31:35 pm
Any way of making the posts-per-page count bigger?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: CP5670 on November 12, 2005, 03:41:42 pm
That's the main thing I would like to see at this point. Make the max number 500 or more. Scrolling through pages can get annoying unless the thread is unusually large. :p
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 03:42:11 pm
Any way of making the posts-per-page count bigger?

Put on a thong and strut around infront of it?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Fury on November 12, 2005, 03:59:04 pm
There you go, increased posts per page to 50.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: CP5670 on November 12, 2005, 04:10:43 pm
Thanks, much better. :yes: But what I actually meant was to have that number a user-specific option, like it used to be. I want to have it much higher than even 50 for myself. :D

Another minor suggestion: there is that button at the top that "shrinks or expands the header." It resets itself whenever you open up a new forum page though. Is it possible to store the state of that header in the user's cookie so it always stays the same way once you have set it?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Kie99 on November 12, 2005, 04:14:09 pm
There you go, increased posts per page to 50.

Thanks.

CP5670:
I think higher numbers increase bandwidth use.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Kosh on November 12, 2005, 04:28:33 pm
I just thought of something. In the other boards we could view the smiley codes (for those of us who don't have them all memorized). Why can't we do that anymore?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 12, 2005, 04:29:39 pm
Go into the archive, and get the smiley codes off of there.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: ZylonBane on November 12, 2005, 04:41:06 pm
Why can't you tolerate the small, tucked away Alexa banner and accept the much bigger and obvious Google ads? :(
Because the Alexa Toolbar is evil obnoxious spyware. Anyway, it's not an issue for me anymore. Under Firefox just right-click it -> "Block Images from...". Voila!

[sandy]I'd rather people not do this, as this is not an advertisment for advertising's sake, but a hit counter for the HLP staff's sake, and thus ultimately the good of the whole forum. Obviously I can't force you one way or the other, but as you can see above, I have no problem sharing the information gleaned from the hit counter with the HLPublic.

However, ZB's quite correct that Alexa certainly has - in the past, at least - been spyware. I don't know what it is like currently, but there's a simple solution that works for everyone involved - don't click on it. Leave it be, let it show up, just ignore it.
[/sandy]
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 05:15:21 pm
There's no need for the cookie.

Or the image, for that matter. Unless it's one of those JS script embeds, like AdSense.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Sandwich on November 12, 2005, 05:18:43 pm
Yes, there's need, because we're legally bound to not altering the code. And considering we're getting for free what people signing up now normally pay $250 per month for, I'm not inclined to mess with that agreement in any way, shape, or form.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Rictor on November 12, 2005, 05:21:02 pm
Seriously, it's not that big a deal. Just ignore it. I mean, it's not like the Net isn't full of ads and such.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: kode on November 12, 2005, 05:52:25 pm
how, if possible, does one go about and turn off that really annoying scrollbar that infests people that have obnoxiously big signatures? at 8 lines, it adds a scrollbar for me. I guess I could turn the damn stuff off, as only my sig is cool anyway, and I know what that one says.

and that unicode conversion stuff, yeah.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 05:54:11 pm
I already fixed the unicode in my sig twice, and it's still broke. So it can ****ing stay broke.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Night Hammer on November 12, 2005, 05:58:05 pm
Whats with the post counts
<----------

Posts: 1,689  - 210 
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: kode on November 12, 2005, 05:58:52 pm
dunno, but the "titles" seem to be exponential...
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Sandwich on November 12, 2005, 06:00:02 pm
You can actually turn off the display of other users' siggies. I'm not going to tell you how, since it's been said a gajillion times.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: kode on November 12, 2005, 06:04:30 pm
You can actually turn off the display of other users' siggies. I'm not going to tell you how, since it's been said a gajillion times.

I just did, and if you read my post again, you'll see that I already presented that option to MYSELF!

WS uses SMF, and has for quite some time, so I know my way about that really awkward and userunfriendly user CP by now. You'd think a forum engine that's actually not-crap could have a good user cp too, but I guess that is asking for too much. :(
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Sandwich on November 12, 2005, 06:06:31 pm
Oops, my bad.

And yes, those exponential things are the postcount groups.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Taristin on November 12, 2005, 06:18:35 pm
/me wonders when he'll make 214...
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 12, 2005, 06:20:35 pm
16384

It's a standard binary progression. You know, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 06:34:17 pm
Geometric progression....
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Taristin on November 12, 2005, 06:49:04 pm
16384

It's a standard binary progression. You know, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc.

Ah. I see. Good to know... I guess.


<-- 12,000th post.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 12, 2005, 06:52:48 pm
I find it amusing I'm still 10th top poster despite having been banned since February.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 12, 2005, 06:54:22 pm
You did have three and a half years before that.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: redsniper on November 12, 2005, 08:57:43 pm
So are we gonna place bets on how long until an0n gets banned again, or what? :p
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 12, 2005, 09:12:49 pm
You realize that in most situations, you would be the one criticized for talking like that?
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Setekh on November 12, 2005, 09:28:13 pm
I just thought of something. In the other boards we could view the smiley codes (for those of us who don't have them all memorized). Why can't we do that anymore?

http://www.hard-light.net/~freespace/misc.php?s=&action=showsmilies
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Sandwich on November 13, 2005, 02:18:46 am
16384

It's a standard binary progression. You know, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc.

Unless I made a typo.... :nervous:
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: General Freak on November 13, 2005, 07:41:38 am
By the way, what I WOULD appreciate would be a quick reply box like in vB and that when you reply to a thread, you get to choose between going back to the forum or the thread (and back to the thread be default), like in vB.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Black Wolf on November 13, 2005, 08:12:49 am
It's a profile setting - go change it before one of the admins gets mad at you. :p
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: General Freak on November 13, 2005, 08:19:07 am
I've lost my curiosity over new forum settings..oh dear.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: kode on November 13, 2005, 10:05:05 am
It's a profile setting - go change it before one of the admins gets mad at you. :p

actually, the smrrt thing to do for the admins would be to make it the default setting.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Fineus on November 13, 2005, 10:10:26 am
Why? Is it really so hard that you can't go into your own profile and change it yourself?

No offence, but right now there are other priorities. Don't be so bloody lazy :)
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: kode on November 13, 2005, 11:03:16 am
Why? Is it really so hard that you can't go into your own profile and change it yourself?

No offence, but right now there are other priorities. Don't be so bloody lazy :)

I think it's in your best interest, unless you want that question to be as common as "when's freespace 3 coming out" was at it's peak.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Fineus on November 13, 2005, 11:08:24 am
Perhaps, but as I say it's not really top of the pile of things to do at the moment. Of course we're looking at refining.. well.. everything as much as we can. But at the moment we're trying to sort out server load times, access.. that kind of thing.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Goober5000 on November 13, 2005, 11:26:25 am
From what I understand, we tried several different ways of doing it and none of them worked.  We don't have time to figure out why until we get the higher priority problems fixed.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: an0n on November 13, 2005, 11:48:13 am
You'd need to change like 1 thing through phpMyAdmin.

Go into the database, find wherever the **** the user options are stored (I'm guessing users) and change the default value for new entries.

Far as I know, it doesn't take anything from any HTML forms at sign-up, so it's just using the default value set for that field in the database.

And if you really wanted to put things right, you could redo the entire field and set it to the new default value. Just delete the field and recreate it with the new default value. Then it'll change everyones and no-one will have to *****.
Title: Re: Nit-picking
Post by: Sandwich on November 15, 2005, 04:27:18 pm
You'd need to change like 1 thing through phpMyAdmin.

Yup, that's basically what we did with everyone's quick-reply box show/don't show setting.