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BDFL - Memuneh
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#129923 10-May-2008 19:26

manhinli:
live AJAX forum post sidebar - RSS doesn't always have the latest.
collapsable sections on the home page (possibly going to posts?) - I've got a small widescreen monitor and scrolling gets annoying... even if around 20 posts are on one page
use of a different (but not too contrasting) colour to indicate status rather than the "NEW!" image - makes it stand out, easier to track down
an updated text editor - I would like to have the newest TinyMCE image dialog. I can put styles and edit far more than the current dialog

I can update the TinyMCE at any time - might do it later this weekend.

AJAX is no good - not search engine friendly at all...

Different colours for posting is a good idea.

freitasm

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#129924 10-May-2008 19:26

lugh: Wasn't someone looking at trying to get Windows Live Writer working with the blogs?

Still looking at this. Would it make you blog more?

freitasm

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#129925 10-May-2008 19:28

coffeebaron: Looking forward to geekzone.mobi

Which I was lucky to be able to register when .mobi came out first, being the trademark owner and affiliated to a mobile industry association (the Wireless and Broadband Forum).

mushion22

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#129937 10-May-2008 20:34

2nd design looks nice!

Things I'd like to see:

- More AJAXy stuff; GMail is the best example that comes to mind - Collapse/Expand previous posts, less page reloading to compose replies, dynamic live thread updating:

- Mass-customisation of styles/themes sounds nice - might not be worth the effort though

- A GZ and related events and important dates calender, including functionality to register and receive invites via email and get new events via RSS

- A chat client to replace/compliment the PM system. Something like Facebook now has.

A system for GZ mods, subs, users to organise planned or adhoc events. Eg "Bring your PC and let's do some asterisk geeking" or "Lets stop posting and meet up outside" and easily gather some geeks. Also more organising and/or encouraging by GZ for social and technical events would be nice to see.

A dynamic knowledge classification and search system would unlock a lot of the huge range of knowledge contained in here. Something like a tree search flow eg: User enters 'Phones' and is presented with a few options with brief explanations eg 'Voip: Connect your phone to your VSP via the internet to make call savings' and then when they click that they get a few relevant options eg 'Issues and Problems' and 'VSP Reccommendations' and 'Config Guides' and then show posts in relevance order. Would need to be a pretty smart system.

EDIT: I had www.meetup.com in mind for an events system example

freitasm

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#129946 10-May-2008 21:13

AJAX is good for some stuff, but not all. For example search engines bot can't see the javascript so those things are "invisible" to them. Not very good search engine practice. That's why some "web 2.0" websites have poor performance and move into the deadpool sooner or later: they can't be found.

I do want to add some smart stuff. For example people would be able to mark a post as "QUESTION" and in the process mark one or more replies as "ANSWER" so you could just see the answer and instantly filter out the noise, unless you want to participate in the discussion - and of course you have to read the whole thing if you want to be able to mark a reply as an "ANSWER".

Another thing is the ability to rate other users - based on your own rating you would be able to distribute points. This would naturally filter out the trolls.

We have a chat client, and it goes straight to the #geekzone channel on IRC. Better still, you can use any of the hundreds of IRC clients.

As I said we have a calendar module. Just not deployed and is not customised to look like Geekzone, but the structure is there. I will look into it now...

euanandrews

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#129953 10-May-2008 21:38

freitasm: I do want to add some smart stuff. For example people would be able to mark a post as "QUESTION" and in the process mark one or more replies as "ANSWER" so you could just see the answer and instantly filter out the noise, unless you want to participate in the discussion - and of course you have to read the whole thing if you want to be able to mark a reply as an "ANSWER".

Another thing is the ability to rate other users - based on your own rating you would be able to distribute points. This would naturally filter out the trolls.

I like the sound of that...would help build a much more usable information base and like you say, filter out the noise...

Maybe the 'answers' could be marked by the community themselves, after several members mark an answer as correct...and in doing so, the person who had that correct answer, gets points/add to thier rating...

Thus the 2 features would work together. I like it.

paradoxsm

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#129956 10-May-2008 21:42

If only other companies has this interaction with customers where they listened like this!

My largest request is a "mobile" cut down version as the site is a bit "heavy" on a slow PDA. In saying that it formats rather nicely on the "column mode" which cannot be said for pretty much any other websites due to the plethora of silly "rounded corner" images. Many websites are embracing the "thin browser mobile version" concept now and those whom don't are missing out.

My other main request is do not restrict the screen x size to 600 Pixels, have it dynamically stretch as it does now. Most other websites are starting to look rather stupid slopped in the centre of my 22" monitor.

Keep it "text" and not "images.. While Geekzone is square, I really like it that way, some smoother design could come into it maybe the CSS3 curves Cheifie was mentioning but it's really a nice looking site for somthing almost totally void of images, Avoid the "8x8 " round corner gifs" that plague most sites.

Out of the designed sites, I quite like the first and ~~utterly hate~~ dislike the second as it REALLY looks like Trademe but in saying that Geekzone does not want to look like a "phpBB template" either.

I especially like the metallic theme, Change the tabs at the top to some other sleek design and I think that design will modernise it quite substantially.

Allow users to have a choice between portals maybe? a classic style with no images and a "fancy" one for fast connections, or user specified CSS themes as in our blogs, now what would be awesome! (And i'm the lamer who has never designed mine past the default)

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Nightwyrm

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#129967 10-May-2008 22:32

freitasm:
lugh: Wasn't someone looking at trying to get Windows Live Writer working with the blogs?

Still looking at this. Would it make you blog more?

I think the added convenience would certainly encourage more contribution. Personally, I've got some ideas I'm kicking about in my head - unfortunately, I don't have a lot of spare time between work, study, and my little girl (who's just started walking). However, I see you're developing quite the shopping list and I reckon this is a "nice to have" so should be further down the list

Post-geek, opinionated mediaphile, and natural born cynic. Jack of all genres, master of none.

euanandrews

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#129981 11-May-2008 01:44

I may be way off base in suggesting this as an example, but other than some pics shown in the news articles, it seems to be mostly a text based site, with some mouse-over effects...and is brilliantly executed...

I have seen many 'home pages' or 'portals' over the years, and while I am not suggesting Geekzone be a 'portal', a similar layout/design could be used for Geekzone...

The BBC website

It includes collapsible tables/modules, that can be dragged by the user to their preferred location, and user chosen content/modules...

I could easily picture this site as Geekzone, with user selectable modules such as news, blogs, forums, bluetooth, chat, reviews, user profile, articles, software, store...and maybe 1 or 2 unmovable and/or unremovable advertising module.

Brilliant! but is it possible?...would Geekzone members like such features/user configurable modules?

What do you think MF, what do others think?

paradoxsm

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#129982 11-May-2008 01:51

That little BBC clock is just cool. the real one that used to air many years ago complete with the simulated interia on the hands!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/object/clock/tiny.swf

The bbc site has always been nice even in times gone past.

bradstewart

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#129983 11-May-2008 01:55

TheBartender: I may be way off base in suggesting this as an example, but other than some pics shown in the news articles, it seems to be mostly a text based site, with some mouse-over effects...and is brilliantly executed...

I have seen many 'home pages' or 'portals' over the years, and while I am not suggesting Geekzone be a 'portal', a similar layout/design could be used for Geekzone...

The BBC website

It includes collapsible tables/modules, that can be dragged by the user to their preferred location, and user chosen content/modules...

I could easily picture this site as Geekzone, with user selectable modules such as news, blogs, forums, bluetooth, chat, reviews, user profile, articles, software, store...and maybe 1 or 2 unmovable and/or unremovable advertising module.

Brilliant! but is it possible?...would Geekzone members like such features/user configurable modules?

What do you think MF, what do others think?

That looks like it would some AJAX which has previously been ruled out.

xcubed

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#129992 11-May-2008 09:47

freitasm: AJAX is no good - not search engine friendly at all...

AJAX is perfectly fine, it's just down to how you implement it. My suggestion is to continue to make the home page available in static form, but when it loads, register a timer to fire off an AJAX request in another 30 seconds (or minute, whatever time seems appropriate) to update the content on the page by repopulating DIVs with new content. People with Javascript disabled, or on an older mobile device, or search engine bots will continue to see the static content on the home page. People who have Javascript enabled have the added benefit that the page will update itself automatically as new content is posted.

It's a win-win situation.

sleemanj

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#130009 11-May-2008 12:28

freitasm: AJAX is good for some stuff, but not all.

Just note, that when many people say "AJAX" they don't necessarily mean AJAX, they mean dynamic html, javascript dom manipulation type stuff, which if done correctly, is perfectly search engine friendly.

Designers are especially bad at this.

---
James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

allstarnz

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#130012 11-May-2008 13:35

freitasm: I do want to add some smart stuff. For example people would be able to mark a post as "QUESTION" and in the process mark one or more replies as "ANSWER" so you could just see the answer and instantly filter out the noise, unless you want to participate in the discussion - and of course you have to read the whole thing if you want to be able to mark a reply as an "ANSWER".

Yeah, I like this idea.

Experts Exchange and Yahoo Answers deploy this in slightly different ways. Both of which seem to work quite well.

With Experts Exchange it has the accepted answer at the top, then with any other posts below, sorted into things such as "assisted solution"

Yahoo Answers has the "Best Answer" section.

Both work quite well, and I think would be a real enhancement for things which are problems/questions rather than discussions.

freitasm

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#130187 12-May-2008 11:14

What about the ability to "pin" (bookmark) your favourite threads so they are listed on top of all discussions on each forum or on a separate section just for them?

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