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Messages - Norodo
271
Development blog / Re: « Just when I think I'm back in... »
« on June 27th, 2011, 07:36 PM »
First modem I had was 32kbps. Moved one to ISDN pretty quickly but had that until 2007. I can certainly empathize with modem users.
273
Off-topic / Re: Introduction
« on June 24th, 2011, 05:48 PM »
I'm not sure if Wedge wants to link to the SMF forums to explain things, but sure there is.
274
Off-topic / Re: Introduction
« on June 24th, 2011, 05:30 PM »Even 'improving spiderability' tips I've been shown and recommended tend to lean towards the 'snake oil' category rather than anything solidly useful...
275
Off-topic / Re: Introduction
« on June 24th, 2011, 05:01 PM »
There are some things you can do to improve your spiderability, but you and us have been over it so many times already, both on here and SMF. Maybe an FAQ would be in order.
(Edit: Sp)
(Edit: Sp)
276
Development blog / Re: Package Manager, how we won't miss thee
« on June 24th, 2011, 01:58 AM »I am not going to use checkboxes. It does not work structurally or logically for the processes required by Wedge.
But I'm sure you have a good idea of what you're doing. At least from your other ideas and posts your head seems screwed on right.
277
Development blog / Re: Package Manager, how we won't miss thee
« on June 24th, 2011, 01:53 AM »
I don't think I'll miss it much. Again i have to come back to Drupal, where a lot of what is here called core features are modules, like, on fairly even level with other "plugins". This seems to me to be a very good system.
(Hehe, sorry for constantly mentioning it, but this conversation really reminds me of it. Here's why:)
(Ignore the random text marking.)
(Hehe, sorry for constantly mentioning it, but this conversation really reminds me of it. Here's why:)
(Ignore the random text marking.)
278
Development blog / Re: Package Manager, how we won't miss thee
« on June 24th, 2011, 01:36 AM »
Well, just replacing the image with an image of a checkbox will make it like 50% more intuitive and won't make a lick-a difference otherwise. But I do agree that something done right is better than something done halfway.
Like this:
Like this:
279
Development blog / Re: Package Manager, how we won't miss thee
« on June 24th, 2011, 01:18 AM »
A simple band-aid fix could be replacing the power icons with checkboxes. People are used to submitting those.
280
Development blog / Re: Package Manager, how we won't miss thee
« on June 24th, 2011, 01:12 AM »
Looks a lot like the "Core Features" page! (I'm not implying that it is at all the same thing, but it does.)
One thing I noticed that is unintuitive with the "Core Features" page is that when you press one of the buttons to make it "On", you assume that it's turned on, and go on to another page, while indeed, you have forgotten to save! I was fumbling around a bit when I tried turning on Advanced Profile Fields and didn't understand why it didn't actually activate when I had clicked it a few times. :)
One thing I noticed that is unintuitive with the "Core Features" page is that when you press one of the buttons to make it "On", you assume that it's turned on, and go on to another page, while indeed, you have forgotten to save! I was fumbling around a bit when I tried turning on Advanced Profile Fields and didn't understand why it didn't actually activate when I had clicked it a few times. :)
281
Development blog / Re: Package Manager, how we won't miss thee
« on June 24th, 2011, 01:01 AM »
It would be nice if the plugin repo was a bit better laid out than the SMF one.
If I'm being vague it's because there are a lot of problems with it as it is currently. x]
EDIT: One thing that could be done better is search with multiple factors, tags.
If I'm being vague it's because there are a lot of problems with it as it is currently. x]
EDIT: One thing that could be done better is search with multiple factors, tags.
282
Features / Re: "User" usability
« on June 23rd, 2011, 09:47 PM »
Yep I've already changed that on my forum. I call it "settings".
You can do it easily in the subs file IIRC. But yeah, it's simply a band-aid.
You can do it easily in the subs file IIRC. But yeah, it's simply a band-aid.
283
Features / "User" usability
« on June 23rd, 2011, 01:00 PM »
Back with more.
First, back to what I said last time: (About the drop-down menus)
Conclusion first:Quote And the actual write-up:
(click to show/hide) The dropdown menu system examplifies, at least to me, a system that did not have the user in mind much at all. I think I can understand the reasoning for it,[1] but it just won't do.
Let's look at what MyBB does:
(click to show/hide)
Now this is better but it's still not great. There's some "sensory overload" in some of these screens, where again, there is too much information being presented at the same time. Especially when you are in the user CP.
So what is the fix? I'm not quite sure. What can help tremendously is to make the first settings page you see have more of the most usually used settings, and make the other settings pages easy to reach, if you should want to do so.
In the last topic, Nao replied:Quote from Nao/Gilles on June 22nd, 2011, 07:56 PM Which I think is super. I also think it is nice to discuss usability in general, so I hope you don't mind. :)
2. Icons.
Icons, eh, a source of many debates. With that said, I do think a lot of people do appreciate them. We've all come to understand a set of wrenches or tools to mean "preferences", maybe this could be taken further with an "eye" for the "looks and layout" part of the settings, eg.
First, back to what I said last time: (About the drop-down menus)
Conclusion first:
The web is (for most of us) a visual medium. Menus that the user might be interested in should be in plain view when the user is in the "right place" (profile settings is the right place to start when you want to change your theme.)
Quote from Norodo on June 22nd, 2011, 06:43 PM 1. Drop down menus. The problem is not so much that there are drop down menus, it's more that thee content in them can be ambiguous. For example, the first time you register, and you want to change your theme, where do you go? In the beginning you'll probably be looking for something called "settings" or "control panel", maybe you'll scroll down to the bottom of the page to check if there's a dropdown menu for it, as it is on many boards. When you don't find it there you'll look further. Could your settings be under "Profile", maybe? Yes. Yes they could. So you click account settings and what do you see?
Just an example.
You're getting confused. Where can I change my theme? If you are an inquiring mind you might just hover over modify profile long enough to find look and layout.
Thank God. You're there. The same problem develops if you want to change the default setting of " Return to topics after posting by default." or "Messages to display per page:"
This problem is to a big extent fixed when you use the "sidebar menus" instead of dropdown menus whenever possible, but there might be better solutions...
Let's look at what MyBB does:
You click user CP
Edit options...
And you're there.
Now this is better but it's still not great. There's some "sensory overload" in some of these screens, where again, there is too much information being presented at the same time. Especially when you are in the user CP.
So what is the fix? I'm not quite sure. What can help tremendously is to make the first settings page you see have more of the most usually used settings, and make the other settings pages easy to reach, if you should want to do so.
In the last topic, Nao replied:
But as you see... It's something we're aware of.
2. Icons.
Icons, eh, a source of many debates. With that said, I do think a lot of people do appreciate them. We've all come to understand a set of wrenches or tools to mean "preferences", maybe this could be taken further with an "eye" for the "looks and layout" part of the settings, eg.
| 1. | Creating dropdown menus lets you give the user more information in a smaller space. SMF is very powerful, and as such has a lot of information you want to present the user with. Dropdown menus seems like a good idea, but isn't. |
285
Features: BBCode / Re: Spoiler tag
« on June 23rd, 2011, 12:36 AM »Considering that there are multiple spoiler mods for SMF that are all different...
Then again, I can see this might cause stupid bugs later on, so I agree with you, if the converter will do it, then that would be the best time to do it.
Maybe, if I brush up on my skills, I'll be able to create a plug-in that lets you use descriptions, no?