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Beta: Minidisc.org V2

Christopher

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Christopher Grand Master

Christopher

Posted
Posted

Hi,

The webmaster and I have been talking about changing the way the front page flows. There's alot of ideas in the air, but the most attractive (to me, at least) is the portal software that comes with Invision Power Board.

We're consistantly tweaking this page, and will do so for the next day or two to see what kind of functionality we can get out of it. If it works out well, then this very well could become the front page for minidisc.org:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?act=home

The logo at this time is the same as the forum; that will change accordingly in due time.

What do you think?

p.s. If everything works out, next up is the product pages being converted to a Wikipedia-type format.

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KrazyIvan Newbie

KrazyIvan

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skmetal, he's referring to the news topics that make you scroll over within those topics - this would be countered by not posting huge pics in the threads and make more use of the attachment feature or some sort of thumbnail system..I hope that made sense.

Yeah, that's it. I can tell the screen is supposed to fit in 1024x768 because the title bar at the top fits perfectly. Other than that, it looks really nice. biggrin.gif

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zerodB Newbie

zerodB

Posted
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To be brutally honest, personally I think that looks gross...

I much prefer the layout of the current page - sure it could do with a bit of jazzing up, but I can't make head or tail of the new one. I know it's still in beta, but I just can't see it working for me... sad.gif

EDIT: Though I do think that wiki-style product pages has a LOT of potential.

Edited by zerodB
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D-EJ915 Newbie

D-EJ915

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Interesting, but kind of goes counter to the current design's 56k-friendliness, the new design loads everything in each of those posts, which is a lot of information.

I do like it, some what, but I'd like it to be more 56k-friendly.

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MZ-NH1 Newbie

MZ-NH1

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To be brutally honest, personally I think that looks gross...

I much prefer the layout of the current page - sure it could do with a bit of jazzing up, but I can't make head or tail of the new one. I know it's still in beta, but I just can't see it working for me... sad.gif

LOL SAME! tongue.gif

Sorry to say Chris, but yeh same for me...

I don't really understand the topics on the right of the page.. and the Recent topics... on the left hand side.

I much prefer the current look... but that is just my opinion, and I may just have to get use to a new look... but it doesn't attract me at all sorry! tongue.gif

Must be something to do with being Aussie tongue.gif but atrain says he likes it.. so maybe not tongue.gif

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A440 Newbie

A440

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My $.02:

People come to this site for info, far more than graphics. I'm on broadband, too, but it's a good idea to remember how many people are on 56K and how much more quickly they can get text if a bunch of images don't have to load. Given how confusing MD can be, what new visitors need is FAQ and straightforward information right up front.

What the existing minidisc.org front page needs is to have some of the ancient stuff purged and the current stuff reorganized, more than it needs to be all chopped up with scrolling necessary to read past the first line of anything.

One thing I don't like about the current setup is that while Gallery and Downloads are at the top of the page, they're so subtle they look like ad links or something--they don't look that prominent. The site should tell new visitors right up front that it has both the information they need and the software they can download to get the best MD experience.

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The Low Volta Newbie

The Low Volta

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yep... more clear textlinks and a structure that (mostly) fits one screen please!

links to excellent posts with beautifull pics are ok... but nothing is more annoying to me than seeing half of a pic or to have to scroll within a scrollable page...makes my scrollmouse go wacko.gif

and if I might add...way to busy with the pics and all, quite hard to focus on the relevant info (not to mention the load)

But! big thumbs up for k. and 'the webmaster' (sounds like some supervillain from some cartoon tongue.gif ) for attempting this revision...keep up the good work

and hurray...a minidisco link that actually takes me to minidisco and not to yahoo frontpage (even though it has a 'Y' in the adress bar...hm, wonder how long the access will last...)

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jadeclaw Newbie

jadeclaw

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Is it Olive me for everyone?

If you are logged in, it uses the Skin, you have set for the Forum.

If you are not logged in, it uses the Default Forum skin.

@kurisu:

The CreamCycle has the wrong Logo on the top left.

Generally, it leaves me with a somewhat strange feeling.

Like the thought of having sex with a Rhinoceros.

Seriously, it needs to be cleaned up a bit.

The Who is Online-Box could be dumped, giving more space to the navigation.

The number of Articles on the right side can be reduced,

maybe down to five, giving each one more space,

while reducing the traffic generated.

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Christopher Grand Master

Christopher

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Wow, quite a few replies already!

Well, as I've said, this is just one of the current propositions for a new bridge between the site and the forums. I honestly would prefer this new site, of course, with heavy alterations to put focus towards the large archives of information we have here and not so much emphasis on the news.

Another great thing about this hypothetical portal style is that it allows really tight integration with the forums and the main site, as the main site is mostly controlled through the forums. You can see all of the news postings in the site are merely grabbed from the news forum. Additionally, it really unionizes all aspects of what minidisc.org has to offer - site, forums, gallery, downloads.

To be honest however, I'm not so sure if this will become the next minidisc.org but I do believe that things will change progressively this year. There's alot of dead links at minidisc.org, and the site was designed back in 95-97 which is really ancient in terms of web standards. So something will be in place eventually.

If anyone posts any further comments of this proposed portal system, please give constructive feedback. What can be done to make it more agreeable?

I'm glad some of you can step up to tell me how you honestly feel about this, but I need to know what I can do to make it better! duh! Thank you to those of you who have - espesically the skinning issue, doh! sad.gif

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toxigenicpoem Newbie

toxigenicpoem

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Posted

I agree with most others, I absolutly dislike the portal system. My reasons for disliking to portal system, is I honestly dont like the way the portal feels. Yes it intergrates the forums into the site, but they are distinctivly 2 things. I guess I also don't see what the big advantage of the Portal System, vs. a basic CSM(content managment system). Intergrating forums into any CSM wouldn't be a difficult task. But over all I don't like the new feel or look.

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The Low Volta Newbie

The Low Volta

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For me, most important on minidisc.org as a portal site are clear understandable FAQ's on different topics:

- equipment browser

- everything you wanted to know about mics

- other recording material

- discs, discs and even more discs(ussions)

- sotware: the ten biggest reasons why it won't work and some sollutions

- ...

you get the picture I guess. All the info is available on MDCF, but you have to look through a lot of posts with not always relevant topic-names... so the biggest role MD.org could play was to bring this very important info together again. Referring to posts or topics is way to chaotic for me, I would like to see (we can all dream, no?) edited, structured info (mostly textual but selected pics are ok) in a consistant style, presented by clear links with a short description of what to expect...

perhaps some of the wise men here on MDCF would like to contribute by writing all their knowledge they have already shared in so many topics, down in a coherent text, by topic. And first of all to help with selecting the different topics that have to be present...

to be honest, I was convinced by how much info A440 and me (in a little small, unimportant role) have brought together in just two responses in this topic, that it can be possible to concentrate a lot of the knowledge back on one site, and that the MDCF-members can play a (wiki-like) role in this...

anyone can disagree with me, but that's what I think should be the main purpose of MD.org...

greetings, Volta

ps: don't turn it into a second forum...we're already members of a great one and I don't think we'll switch tongue.gif

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MZ-NH1 Newbie

MZ-NH1

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I find it is just far too clustered.

The windows the threads are in, I find too small, I much prefer the present thread layout.

The Recent articles.. And all those on the LHS.. Don’t like it how it cuts off the longer thread titles...

Can I just ask, because I don't think I have understood 100% the reason why Chris you might do this...?

Is it to improve the finding of threads, better site navigation...? Because for me, I am just confused by the layout... maybe too much info on the front page?

When I come to MDCF, I straight away click on 'View New Posts' and then I scroll down the page(s) looking for topics which might interest me.

I hardly ever go to the Main Page, and click on say... Live Recording, to see all those threads, unless I want to create a new topic.

I must say, there are lots of Forums.. i.e. Hi-MD, non MD related, News, Live recording.. and so on.. if there was any way to create less of these.. That might help some people.

Hope this helps you out Chris! tongue.gif

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Bananatree Newbie

Bananatree

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Posted

My ideas for a better main page.

-Take out/revise the avatars

-Slim down the graphics, I like the idea of making the page look nice, but it is a bit too busy.

-Try and adjust each post to best fit the news it contains. Posts with images could just contain text and have a "read more & see images" link that goes to the archived page of that post.

-More cowbell

I'd like the portal to look more like this:

http://www.lifebystereo.com/pics/portal.png

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atrain Newbie

atrain

Posted
Posted

I think you guys may not understand..this wouldn't be for the forum, this would be for minidisc.org.

i get that. i like the plain text style format as stated above. the new one looks neat in the way flash sites are neat. nice looking but not great to use.

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MZ-NH1 Newbie

MZ-NH1

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I think you guys may not understand..this wouldn't be for the forum, this would be for minidisc.org.

OH! So these plans for a new page etc.. arn't for us... they are for the other Minidisc Forum.. yeh?

I must say, their layout isn't anywhere near as good as this 1 is...

Info everywhere... wacko.gif

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The Low Volta Newbie

The Low Volta

Posted
Posted (edited)

OH!  So these plans for a new page etc.. arn't for us... they are for the other Minidisc Forum.. yeh?

no, MZ-NH1, it is meant as an update of the www.minidisc.org site, which isn't any kind of forum, but a quick and dirty guide to all that the MD-experience is made of... a very usefull site for newb's and for people interested in but not really accustomed with the format...

as such the link with the forums is usefull to guide newcomers and interested people to the vast knowledge of MDCF (and should be more clear than on MD.org now) but straightforeward and easily accessible info (!not as chaotic/confusing as in the beta now!) for people who are intrigued and interested in MD and not necessarily in a forum, and who wouldn't want to sift through a lot of (not always helpfully named) threads to find the info they need...

If the MD.org site was more up to date and offered a number of clear and relevant FAQ's, you would see the number of "hi, I'm new here @ MDCF, haven't looked around at all and because of that I'm going to ask (for the umthousenth time) a question that actually is answered in the pinned threads, which I haven't seen at all, 'cause I'm also posting this in the wrong subforum"-posts deminish significantly I guess...

so have a look at my previous post (a couple of posts up) which elaborates a bit on how I see minidisc.org

Edited by The Low Volta
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MusicBringer Newbie

MusicBringer

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I find it is just far too clustered.

When I come to MDCF, I straight away click on 'View New Posts' and then I scroll down the page(s) looking for topics which might interest me. I hardly ever go to the Main Page...

My habits are exactly the same as yours MZ-NH1 smile.gif

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Rumz Newbie

Rumz

Posted
Posted (edited)

-More cowbell

Agreed. I have a fever, and the only perscription is more cowbell!

On a more serious note, maybe it's just me but I'm partial to having the navigation / links that you've got on the left side on the right side, or possibly even have a 3 column layout to help further chunk the data into different categories.

The way you've got it right now it somewhat resembles a blog. White space, need some white space-- it does feel like all of the elements on the page are really crowded together. Chris how much does the software you're wanting to use (the same software the forum uses, I take it) allow you to manipulate the objects on your page? I'm assuming it uses cascading style sheets to oraginze data, and if so you should be able to do really anything in the world you want with the layout.

You probably weren't planning to have avatars, but yeah they clutter the news space.

I'd love to see MD.org's design updated. What I'm still trying to figure out (and maybe you and the webmaster are still hammering this out) is how much emphasis you want placed on different items (news, etc.... it sounds like you don't want the news to be the primary focus as much as just one of the main features among others-- am I off base?)

I'm really interested in this from a design standpoint. We'll be in touch Chris, I'm sure wink.gif

Edited by Rumz
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Christopher Grand Master

Christopher

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Thank you for your comments. We have decided to keep the original page layout for now and go with some tight scripts that integrated the news forums with the news portion of minidisc.org for greater posting ability.

Anyway, the Wiki part I mentioned is something I'm working on now. It should be a reality sometime this summer. I will make threads about it when I feel it's semi-mature to present.

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