Some Site Improvement Ideas [Archive]

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janitorC7

Nov 11, 2007, 03:19 PM

Dont get me wrong, I love MacRumors, just some things that I would like to see improved on.

1. a new design, I know that this has been brought up in the past, and yes, I do like the site , but change is always nice somthimes, I really think that a contest in the web development and design forums would be a great place to come up with a new design, heck, I would even be willing to help out.

2. Greater customization over our public profile pages. I would like to have more fields so that we can know more about our community, music, movies, ect.

2. in the profile pages, i think that the picture should be laid out differently. if you notice the way that it is now, the row that it is in auto stretches, and makes the left side of it way bigger than it needs be.

3. Some intigration with last fm or some other social music service that is out there, so that we can use thoes services so others can see our currently being played on itunes type things.

4. I know that we are trying to suport that the iPhone views websites from the real web. but there are some optimizations that would be nice. first, I would like to see a version of macrumors that is meant for the iphone, other sites have done it, and we could do a good job at it, currently I have to double tap in to see the forum topics on the left, and double tapping also get rid of the dots that are greated from the unordered list, so I cannot see where new topics begin.

5. also mac guides in the left sidebar do not work.

6. I wish that the ad free for members worked on all pages, guides dect. (not a big deal).

7. I wish that when when there are image links on the home page, and on forum, that they would open in a lightbox instead of in a pop-up, my popup blocker does not stop this, but im sure that some may.

8. also the buddy list and groups in the forums, I dont really think they are used, so maybe get rid of them .

9. also adding to the iphone thing from earlier, I would love there to be a forum spy that worked well on the iphone.

anyway, these are just some of my ideas.

Dont get me wrong arn, I love the site the way it is, just thought I would open some conversation, just my way on trying to improve the community that I really do love.

Cool Guys

JC7

Blue Velvet

Nov 11, 2007, 03:26 PM

8. I use the buddy list all the time, it's open right now. It doesn't get in the way of anything so getting rid of it isn't going to solve any problems. My two cents.

janitorC7

Nov 11, 2007, 03:32 PM

8. I use the buddy list all the time, it's open right now. It doesn't get in the way of anything so getting rid of it isn't going to solve any problems. My two cents.

really, just wondering, what do you use it for?

oh, and some other ideas

10. have a current topics page have a list of the last 10 or some topics that you have been a part of, I know you can use your recent posts like this, but if you just had like a whole bunch of posts in one topic, you wont really see your others that well.

11. kind of similar to the last, but an online page with your subscriptions, not just emailed to you, could use java script to put somthing in the top right hand corner when it happens.

12. add a mark to a forum spy topic that we are have participated in.

13. allow users to login from the home page, and have things like PM's and that type of information in a box on the home page, I;m just talking about intigrateing it a little more.

Again great jobs guys, any other opinions?

Blue Velvet

Nov 11, 2007, 03:39 PM

really, just wondering, what do you use it for?

I currently have over 120 people on my buddy list, all kinds of people, not just friends... and I like to see who is around to chat with at any given time. I can also use it to broadcast PMs directly to multiple recipients if I'm so inclined.

Also, before I became a moderator, I used to filter PMs by only accepting them from buddies, a setting in your control panel. Very useful for a loudmouth like me who used to get a lot of unwelcome PMs. ;)

janitorC7

Nov 11, 2007, 03:55 PM

I currently have over 120 people on my buddy list, all kinds of people, not just friends... and I like to see who is around to chat with at any given time. I can also use it to broadcast PMs directly to multiple recipients if I'm so inclined.

Also, before I became a moderator, I used to filter PMs by only accepting them from buddies, a setting in your control panel. Very useful for a loudmouth like me who used to get a lot of unwelcome PMs. ;)

haha I can imagine that BV...

ha, well then cross that one off the list...

edit: which now leave me with one more request, adding the ability to cross out text, haha (okay, that one is not really needed that much...)

rdowns

Nov 11, 2007, 04:26 PM

edit: which now leave me with one more request, adding the ability to cross out text, haha (okay, that one is not really needed that much...)

You mean like this?

janitorC7

Nov 11, 2007, 04:33 PM

You mean like this?

ahhhh, never bothered to try just putting in the HTML, just figured it would not work, it it was not listed, oh well

xUKHCx

Nov 11, 2007, 04:41 PM

9.) FS chugs through quite a lot of ram on a computer so i doubt the iphone could handle it

Killyp

Nov 11, 2007, 04:46 PM

I doubt that's an issue, the iPhone has ~ 128 mb RAM (although a lot of this will be used by the OS). It has plenty of resources available.

WildCowboy

Nov 11, 2007, 04:48 PM

ahhhh, never bothered to try just putting in the HTML, just figured it would not work, it it was not listed, oh well

FWIW, [strike] and other vB codes are listed here (http://forums.macrumors.com/misc.php?do=bbcode).

xUKHCx

Nov 11, 2007, 04:56 PM

I doubt that's an issue, the iPhone has ~ 128 mb RAM (although a lot of this will be used by the OS). It has plenty of resources available.

Well then i would definitely say that it would be an issue, after a minute with FS open in Safari activitiy monitor is showing 65MBs in use and it is going up still. Through it the OS and then perhaps iPod and then you will be running out very quickly.

janitorC7

Nov 11, 2007, 05:00 PM

Well then i would definitely say that it would be an issue, after a minute with FS open in Safari activitiy monitor is showing 65MBs in use and it is going up still. Through it the OS and then perhaps iPod and then you will be running out very quickly.

I use FS on my iPhone without a proablem, well somtimes there is a proablem where the thread will open in a new window, but when I try to go back to the FS page, its also gone to the tread.....

But yea, I use it on my iPhone without a proablem, I would just love some interface improvements that would make it appear more readable on the iPhone

xUKHCx

Nov 11, 2007, 05:03 PM

I use FS on my iPhone without a proablem, well somtimes there is a proablem where the thread will open in a new window, but when I try to go back to the FS page, its also gone to the tread.....

But yea, I use it on my iPhone without a proablem, I would just love some interface improvements that would make it appear more readable on the iPhone

Fair enough, perhaps Safari on the iPhone is better at handling its memory then on real OS X

janitorC7

Nov 11, 2007, 05:39 PM

Fair enough, perhaps Safari on the iPhone is better at handling its memory then on real OS X

who knows.... if so, then apple should fix the real OS X

actually does anybody know a way to view this information from the iPhone?

Shadow

Nov 11, 2007, 05:48 PM

actually does anybody know a way to view this information from the iPhone?

Not sure if this would work but you could SSH in and run top.

Tom B.

Nov 11, 2007, 06:59 PM

An improvement I would like to see for the forums would be an option for more than 40 post per page. The more the merrier really. :)

MacNut

Nov 11, 2007, 08:59 PM

12. add a mark to a forum spy topic that we are have participated in.If you subscribe to a thread you get a check mark.

An improvement I would like to see for the forums would be an option for more than 40 post per page. The more the merrier really. :)I agree that there should be an option for 50.

arn

Nov 11, 2007, 10:31 PM

1. a new design, I know that this has been brought up in the past, and yes, I do like the site , but change is always nice somthimes, I really think that a contest in the web development and design forums would be a great place to come up with a new design, heck, I would even be willing to help out.
2. Greater customization over our public profile pages.
2. in the profile pages, i think that the picture should be laid out differently.
3. Some intigration with last fm or some other social music service that is out there

We'll see :)

4. I know that we are trying to suport that the iPhone views websites from the real web. but there are some optimizations that would be nice. first, I would like to see a version of macrumors that is meant for the iphone, other sites have done it, and we could do a good job at it

there is mobile.macrumors.com though it might not be exactly what you are talking about.

5. also mac guides in the left sidebar do not work.

Working on it...

7. I wish that when when there are image links on the home page, and on forum, that they would open in a lightbox instead of in a pop-up, my popup blocker does not stop this, but im sure that some may.

I dislike lightboxes. Safari's pop-up blocker doesn't affect our image popups. Are you using a different one?

9. also adding to the iphone thing from earlier, I would love there to be a forum spy that worked well on the iphone.

Hmm....

janitorC7

Nov 12, 2007, 01:02 AM

We'll see :)

there is mobile.macrumors.com though it might not be exactly what you are talking about.

Working on it...

I dislike lightboxes. Safari's pop-up blocker doesn't affect our image popups. Are you using a different one?

Hmm....

The forums on mobile.macrumors dont work on my iphone, i just get some things that are like telling me numbers to press, but I dont have a keypad on my iphone.

and arn dislikes lightboxes, this kind of surprises me, granted I can understand how somtines they take extreamly longtimes to open, but with proper customization to open immediatly, and without an effect, I find them quite nice..... and I use safari, and have no proablem opening the images

and I;m glad to know that you are working on the new features........

out of curiosity, arn, do you do anything else besides macrumors, like what does god do when he is not presiding?

jng

Nov 12, 2007, 08:11 AM

I think it'd be nice of MR got a redesign but I don't consider high on the priority list at all.

2. Greater customization over our public profile pages. I would like to have more fields so that we can know more about our community, music, movies, ect.

3. Some intigration with last fm or some other social music service that is out there, so that we can use thoes services so others can see our currently being played on itunes type things.

I just don't want it to get too cluttery. I think that's the problem that drives me nuts about the web today: clutter. Look everywhere and you find clutter esp. as people move in the direction of social networking.

I think if people wanted to list their music, they could in their biography field or something. I'd like MR to remain largely a Mac fan community and not move in other directions...

A few weeks ago, I had someone randomly PM me about getting a job in Germany, a total newbie without any posts. Like I'd said, I'd like to keep it strictly a Mac community. There are subforums for things like music and I think that's fine.

saltyzoo

Nov 12, 2007, 09:12 AM

I like the mostly standard vbulletin look and feel. Makes it easy to find your way around.

My only wish for the site is that we could turn off the off topic forums completely - just delete them from my perspective. :p I'm sooo tempted to join those discussions, but they are sooo pointless.

janitorC7

Nov 12, 2007, 10:50 AM

I think it'd be nice of MR got a redesign but I don't consider high on the priority list at all.

I just don't want it to get too cluttery. I think that's the problem that drives me nuts about the web today: clutter. Look everywhere and you find clutter esp. as people move in the direction of social networking.

I think if people wanted to list their music, they could in their biography field or something. I'd like MR to remain largely a Mac fan community and not move in other directions...

A few weeks ago, I had someone randomly PM me about getting a job in Germany, a total newbie without any posts. Like I'd said, I'd like to keep it strictly a Mac community. There are subforums for things like music and I think that's fine.

The things that you are talking about were my same concerns. But when I looked at it, it seemed like there is so much of this community, that is just that a community, and these forums are filled with musicians, designers and filmmakers, just so much diversity in here, I thought that it might be interesting to explore.

RedTomato

Nov 13, 2007, 04:23 AM

there is mobile.macrumors.com

I use it quite a lot. (HTC Tytn I, under T-Mobile UK, WM5) However, the setting for number of posts per page is broken. No matter what I set it to, it only gives me around 5 posts per page, when I'd rather have 20 or 30. Sometimes I go back to the usual non-mobile forum if I want to read a lot on my phone.

The forums on mobile.macrumors dont work on my iphone, i just get some things that are like telling me numbers to press, but I dont have a keypad on my iphone.

I do, and it doesn't work there either.

out of curiosity, arn, do you do anything else besides macrumors, like what does god do when he is not presiding?

Appears on TV and talks about Apple.

pake

Nov 18, 2007, 03:59 PM

14)
A more precise way of finding your posts and posts related to yours would also be nice. You can suscribe to post and find the ones you've started or replied to; it would be great if you could also find posts that quote you. Many times you leave a threat and don't come back, not reading later posts that may be relevant to you.

arn

Nov 18, 2007, 05:12 PM

lofight

Nov 20, 2007, 12:55 PM

Redesign would be very nice!! but not that important..

thejadedmonkey

Nov 20, 2007, 11:39 PM

this website isn't "web 2.0" and I love that. It's like everything online anymore is trying to call out "hip/trendy", but somehow it's not... this site just exists... the information is all there, it's content driven, and does what it needs to do, and does it well. Way better then some of those "web 2.0" sites can with their fancy graphics (increased loading times) and general lack of content....

Keep the site how it is Arn, I like it just the way it is!

Raid

Nov 22, 2007, 01:32 PM

CalBoy

Nov 22, 2007, 07:32 PM

I just thought of another "site improvement" that people here may find useful; in the Forum Spy would it be possible (worth while?) to have the "Thread Starter" tag show up beside the posters name? I was thinking I found the tag useful when reading the thread and thought that incorporating it into the Forum Spy would be equally as useful.

Thoughts?

I don't know...what purpose would it serve exactly? In a thread, it's helpful to know who the OP is so we don't get off topic. With forum spy, it's really a matter of whether you want to participate in the thread or not. Would the Thread Starter tag really help there?

iCube

Nov 23, 2007, 10:06 AM

arn,
How about adding tiff files to the Attachment Key in Manage Attachment area,
I use the "Grab" utility a lot, especially "Selection" in Capture menu. All of which are tiff files. Thanks!!
Great site! Very addictive!
Greg

Raid

Nov 23, 2007, 11:25 AM

I don't know...what purpose would it serve exactly? In a thread, it's helpful to know who the OP is so we don't get off topic. With forum spy, it's really a matter of whether you want to participate in the thread or not. Would the Thread Starter tag really help there? I was thinking it would be useful for those threads where the OP gets asked a lot of questions and to move the topic forward they would have to respond. If you saw that the OP had replied via the Forum Spy, then people could quickly respond to the update. ... again just a thought.

CalBoy

Nov 23, 2007, 12:00 PM

I was thinking it would be useful for those threads where the OP gets asked a lot of questions and to move the topic forward they would have to respond. If you saw that the OP had replied via the Forum Spy, then people could quickly respond to the update. ... again just a thought.

Hmmm...this hinges on people actively using Forum Spy to catch up on already subscribed threads. Personally, I use Forum Spy to see new threads. But I do see what you're saying. It can prove useful, especially if the OP is being bombarded with questions.

MacNut

Nov 23, 2007, 02:30 PM

I would rather see a forum spy feature where if you hover over a link the spy stops so you can click it before it moves.

CalBoy

Nov 23, 2007, 03:48 PM

I would rather see a forum spy feature where if you hover over a link the spy stops so you can click it before it moves.

OMG, YES!

I've clicked on the wrong thread many times because the twunting thing would move on me:mad:

CRAZYBUBBA

Nov 23, 2007, 06:05 PM

OMG, YES!

I've clicked on the wrong thread many times because the twunting thing would move on me:mad:

I third this request.

additionally, why do we archive old marketplace threads?

Clickhere (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=85)

WildCowboy

Nov 23, 2007, 06:32 PM

I third this request.

I agree...not sure if it's a simple issue though. Some strategies I've developed for dealing with it: 1) If new posts are rolling in regularly at the top of the screen, wait until a new one is added, and then immediately click on the link you want...there's a minimum delay between adding new posts to the list, so you can be sure of sneaking in there, and 2) Click near the right end of the thread title...if a new post with a shorter thread title comes in and replaces the one you want just as you're clicking, your click won't do anything, as you'll miss the new link.

additionally, why do we archive old marketplace threads?

Technically, we don't really do it. The Marketplace setup and rules were changed in late 2005, so everything before that date was archived. Everything posted since then still exists in the new Marketplace forum.

CRAZYBUBBA

Nov 23, 2007, 07:25 PM

Technically, we don't really do it. The Marketplace setup and rules were changed in late 2005, so everything before that date was archived. Everything posted since then still exists in the new Marketplace forum.

It just seems pointless not to wasteland 2 year old fs/ft threads.

macmike47

Nov 24, 2007, 06:57 AM

Can I just throw in an idea to have a post rating system? A quick thumbs-up or so for something particularly interesting/well-argued.

Course, in an ideal world, it'd be nice to read everything;). But sometimes you just want to get an overview of a thread without spending half an eon getting there :p

CalBoy

Nov 24, 2007, 11:51 AM

janitorC7

Jan 14, 2008, 12:19 AM