Announcement: Be excellent to each other.


Caravel Forum : Caravel Boards : The Site : Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum
New Topic New Poll Post Reply
Poster Message
Insoluble
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1638
Registered: 09-04-2014
IP: Logged
icon Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+2)  
CarvelNet chat is all abuzz today at Skell' suggestion that the forum's design could use a fresh coat of paint. Especially in the context of attracting new players and encouraging them to stick around. So please feel free to post any ideas you have! My understanding is that this is something that is not actually going to happen in the immediate future, but it's always nice to have suggestions

Here is what has been suggested on chat so far:


skell:
It's very important to make their experience with the forum, which is the heart of the Caravelgames, as easy and smooth and enjoyable as possible.

RabidChild: Well, okay, what would you like to see? One thing I think could be improved is the post interface.

skell: I think the header is a bit bloated and could be revamped

skell Since forum is the actual heart of caravelgames, I'd like the news to be somehow more pronounced so people who visit the site see that it is far from dead (although this would require more frequent news posts)

RabidChild I miss being illuminated on a monthly basis.

Nuntar okay, I don't like the way the board names are one shade of blue if you've ever visited it and a very slightly different shade of blue if you haven't, but it's not a big deal


____________________________
Links to neat forum tools that I always have trouble finding:
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by Insoluble at 01-07-2015 10:04 PM : added comment]
01-07-2015 at 09:53 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
disoriented
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2379
Registered: 08-07-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
Not enough ice cream.

Ohhh, you meant Caravel.

____________________________
34th Skywatcher

Best to PM me, since I might miss your message on CaravelNet chat.
01-07-2015 at 10:19 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
NoahT
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1132
Registered: 06-17-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
Here are a few ideas I would like to see:

-More obvious links to obscure pages on the main page
-Post Icon options when previewing messages
-Preview button when editing messages
-Advanced search options (and if doable, instant search results)
-Links to the main forum page and user profiles in browser chat


____________________________
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

My stuff:
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by NoahT at 01-07-2015 11:49 PM]
01-07-2015 at 10:58 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
skell
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 3734
Registered: 12-28-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
NoahT wrote:
-Links to the main forum page and user profiles in browser chat
Now that's something we can do about. Usernames in the chat are now links and take you to user's profile.

Additionally, the /me command works as intended in the web chat!

____________________________
My website | Facebook | Twitter
01-08-2015 at 02:17 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Visit Homepage Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
karlpopper
Level: Master Delver
Avatar
Rank Points: 263
Registered: 03-28-2009
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
A [user] tag would be a nice small addition.

[user]karlpopper[/user] would render the username in bold in the message and also be a hyperlink to the user profile.

Another small improvement is to use the real estate to
the right of the edit box to list out all the available formatting
tags - that way messages might get more bling!

the [attach-ment] tag is one I forget, for example.

____________________________
76th SkyWatcher
When the only tool you have is a Really Big Sword, all problems start to look like Giant Roaches

01-08-2015 at 06:26 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Kallor
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 277
Registered: 04-02-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
I just got an idea.

There aren't that many challenges to begin with, but still it could be handy if
a) in the hold discussion page there was a link to challenges regarding the particular hold,
b) in the overall hold listing page thing there was a similar link for each row (hold),
c) in H&S concerning a room there was a link to the challenge concerning the particular room.

Not all challenge topics start with the hold name and room name so there might not be an automatic way to do this, if not then just forget it :)

____________________________
Kallor
01-13-2015 at 12:55 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
NoahT
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1132
Registered: 06-17-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
Another idea: options for adding attachments to PMs and forum emails.

____________________________
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

My stuff:
Click here to view the secret text

01-16-2015 at 02:58 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=4580&page=0#46805

Ditto for forum emails. We pay for sending emails, both number and size. If you want to send someone a file, contact them and get them to swap email addresses with you.

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi
01-16-2015 at 03:04 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores Quote Reply
Dischorran
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 3406
Registered: 09-10-2005
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
Is BinHex still a thing?

____________________________
Click here to view the secret text

01-16-2015 at 04:09 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
Tuttle
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1545
Registered: 02-22-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
Was BinHex ever a thing for people who weren't Mac people? :P

More seriously, things like Google Drive / OneDrive / Dropbox are pretty widely available these days and almost as convenient as attaching stuff in a PM would be.

[Last edited by Tuttle at 01-16-2015 04:26 AM]
01-16-2015 at 04:25 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores Quote Reply
Insoluble
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1638
Registered: 09-04-2014
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
One minor feature that I just thought of recently is link to go the the last post of a thread for a particular topic. It's a convenient way to jump to the end of a long conversation, and particularly useful if you're like me and tend to pop into the forums casually a couple of times a day sometimes.

Practically every other online forum I visit has this. It usually appears next to the links to jump to a particular page in the thread when browsing threads in the forum menu. We already have a column for latest post, but it only links to the profile of the poster, not to the actual post.

____________________________
Links to neat forum tools that I always have trouble finding:
Click here to view the secret text

01-16-2015 at 02:35 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
Moo
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 224
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
If you go here, the links go to the individual posts... So if you click on the first (nearest the bottom) "new" one for each thread, it'll go to the perfect place to start reading :)
Not so useful if you don't come every day...
01-16-2015 at 05:13 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
karlpopper
Level: Master Delver
Avatar
Rank Points: 263
Registered: 03-28-2009
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
An addition to my [user] suggestion above.

Something that works extremely well in facebook for generating traffic and engagement is the alert "someone mentioned you in this message".

My suggestion is that if you use [user]mrimer[/user]
in a post, then as well as rendering in bold with a link
to the user page, the user is sent a PM saying
"karlpopper mentioned you in this post".

Using the facebook syntax of @mrimer would be another simple
way of indicating.

____________________________
76th SkyWatcher
When the only tool you have is a Really Big Sword, all problems start to look like Giant Roaches

01-16-2015 at 09:46 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
rman
Level: Smiter
Avatar
Rank Points: 371
Registered: 09-24-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
A nice way of spamming someone with PMs! :fun

That being said, it does sound like a neat idea (even if I dontt quite like the sound of itthats just me), if something is done to prevent abuse (while hopefully still allowing the user to receive legitimate notifications about being mentioned, if the user so desires).

____________________________
Click here to view the secret text

Best quote ever (TSS ending spoiler):
Click here to view the secret text

01-17-2015 at 11:22 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
disoriented
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2379
Registered: 08-07-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
Moo wrote:
If you go here, the links go to the individual posts... So if you click on the first (nearest the bottom) "new" one for each thread, it'll go to the perfect place to start reading :)
Not so useful if you don't come every day...

It would be great if there were a similar page showing all posts since your last visit.

____________________________
34th Skywatcher

Best to PM me, since I might miss your message on CaravelNet chat.
01-17-2015 at 04:26 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
karlpopper
Level: Master Delver
Avatar
Rank Points: 263
Registered: 03-28-2009
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
rman I agree with you about the spam potential: but that is there already via the "send this user a PM" button.

There are already controls in place so that users can choose
how to respond to PMs, switching them off in extremis, and this
alert facility would honor that.

____________________________
76th SkyWatcher
When the only tool you have is a Really Big Sword, all problems start to look like Giant Roaches

01-17-2015 at 08:45 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Insoluble
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1638
Registered: 09-04-2014
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
Okay, so one thing I think would be a nice change to the forum would be to have quick links to some of the neat forum tools that exist. I never knew about these until recently since they are not prominently displayed anywhere. I'm talking about things like...

this: http://forum.caravelgames.com/map.php
This lets you view large scale maps of levels. It's very cool, go check it out.

and this: http://forum.caravelgames.com/challenges.php
There's a place you can go to track challenges much the same way you can high scores? Who knew? I'll bet many newcomers don't.

and this: http://calamarain.net/drod/ideas.html
Architecture Idea Generators. I would love for this to be linked to the architecture forum the same way the "Get Help for a Room" thing is linked to the H&S forum so that I don't have to go searching for the link in forum threads every time I want to use it.

Yes, part of the problem is that I'm to lazy to bookmark these things. But the real issue is that it's very easy for a new user to not know about these tools at all. I'm sure there are other great forum tools out there that I'm not aware of simply because I haven't discovered them and they aren't prominently displayed anywhere. I would love to have these in the forum menu somewhere so that it is more likely for new users to find them.

____________________________
Links to neat forum tools that I always have trouble finding:
Click here to view the secret text

02-04-2015 at 04:36 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
map.php was just a quick 'n dirty test I used when I created the large maps for use in H&S searching. I never put it anywhere because it doesn't look like a finished thing, despite it giving access to some neat data.

The challenges page should definitely be somewhere.

The idea generator.... is a tool made 8 years ago, not updated to current DROD versions, and is hosted elsewhere. Probably not going to add any official link to it from architecture.

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi
02-04-2015 at 07:20 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores Quote Reply
Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 4576
Registered: 02-20-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
Schik wrote: The idea generator.... is a tool made 8 years ago, not updated to current DROD versions
Not sure about that. It just threw up the idea "Manipulate Evil Eyes, without being seen by an evil eye", which I'm pretty sure is only possible in 5.0 :D

____________________________
50th Skywatcher
02-04-2015 at 09:03 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
disoriented
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2379
Registered: 08-07-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
(Due to the pushing weapons)

____________________________
34th Skywatcher

Best to PM me, since I might miss your message on CaravelNet chat.
02-04-2015 at 09:05 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (+1)  
Then I correct my statement: It's not updated to current DROD versions and it's buggy. :)


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi
02-04-2015 at 09:06 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores Quote Reply
disoriented
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2379
Registered: 08-07-2007
IP: Logged
icon Re: Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum (0)  
A nice addition would be partial transparency on the numbered circles that can be added to room images. That way you could see what's underneath the number.

Click here to view the secret text


____________________________
34th Skywatcher

Best to PM me, since I might miss your message on CaravelNet chat.
02-07-2015 at 07:56 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
New Topic New Poll Post Reply
Caravel Forum : Caravel Boards : The Site : Suggestions for improving the Carvel Webpage/Forum
Surf To:


Forum Rules:
Can I post a new topic? No
Can I reply? No
Can I read? Yes
HTML Enabled? No
UBBC Enabled? Yes
Words Filter Enable? No

Contact Us | CaravelGames.com

Powered by: tForum tForumHacks Edition b0.98.8
Originally created by Toan Huynh (Copyright © 2000)
Enhanced by the tForumHacks team and the Caravel team.