• Location: Boston
  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Topic: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

I was going to post in the Bugs/Suggestions topics, but I don't think anyone reads that.  Anyway, here are my suggestions and comments, about features I would like to see implemented, and general attitudes and looks of the site, which I would just like to get out there (this includes topics brought up before, but I just want to clear my plate).

  • Schlaeps obviously has been checking in, seeing as how the Welcome Home sticky went away, and he fixed the messages problems.  As Noodle26 has mentioned previously, I wish Schlaeps would just give us some proof of existence.  I trust he has a busy life, but a little reassurance would be nice.  I sent my application in for interviewer, and I would like some confirmation. mini/wink

  • As whenever I log on, I click the New Posts link, I feel that some changes could be made to that page.  I, personally, am still an advocate for subforums, but i doesn't look like that's going to happen.  And now that the release tags have been removed (which I like), I feel like the section of the forum in which the thread was posted should be on the left, as opposed to the right.  Or in MS Paint terms:
    http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/kunaiblade/Art/untitled.bmp
    This would be easier to browse the topics, I think, and automatically see what section each thread is in.  I was also thinking of something where each different kind of topic is a different color, but that would be ugly, methinks.

  • There have been multiple calls for an AJAX chat, and we need one.  Ours is dead much of the time, and any type of non-Firefox requiring chat would be good.

  • I think that the moderators, who are great people who I like, could be a bit less lenient with grammar and spelling and the like.  I think for foreigners you could be a bit more lenient, but I just hate looking at threads that look like "ok this is my story idea ... wut u think?"

  • We need to give the mods admin power.  Having the current contest as THAC 6 looks bad, and admin power would be A-OK if Schlaeps doesn't feel inclined to pop in, which he by no means has to.

  • From my own posts in Bugs/Suggestions:
    Well, on a different note, I have been doing some tests for an intro video for the site.  A lot of newcomers seem to post threads right away when there already are appropriate threads, and I thought a little video to show them what's what and answer the basic questions that they have (webcams, software, etc.) would be useful.  So this is what I whipped up (the program had a 5-minute cutoff) in my real voice (gasp) just as a test.  It has been pointed out to me that the stuff I covered was even more basic thatn would be needed, so I have decided for future tests to omit what I have talked about here.  Linky  Let me know if you think this would be useful, and if you do, tell me what else I could cover in a short vid.  Also, keep in mind this was recorded with my crappy Macbook mic, and I would use my hi-quality Blue Snowball for the future recordings.
    Seeing as how no one replied to my last post up there, I thought I'd slightly bump it and show another test of an intro vid.  I ran out of time, so I got super rushed at the end, but future intro vids would have a script and a better capture program.  Check it out here.  Hopefully it would have updated by the time you click the link, but if not, just check out my previous one.  Advice, approval, or disappoval are all welcome.
    I really think some kind of intro video would be great, and it could be implemented with Flash or something (I was just making pre-vises).

  • A spoiler feature would be great, and perfect.  I know BF has one, but you just need one.  I mean, this is a moviemaking site, right?

  • Right about here:
    http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/kunaiblade/Art/aaa.bmp
    I think there should be a place to view topics in which you have posted in.  The subscription feature doesn't quite fulfill that need to just check any replies to what you have said, so this would be a great, nifty link I think.

  • I wish I could save topics.  I tend to write long-winded topics, like this one, and what happens if I have to leave the computer, or my computer crashes?  It's a royal pain in the backside.

  • Schlaeps mentioned that the Film Directory would not have quality control.  This is unfortunate, because I think that without some of this, you will be ending up watching stuff you don't want to.  I don't think I have to give an example of this kind of movie.

  • In our profiles, why do we include Jabbers, ICQ's, YahooMessengers, and AIM ID's?  These don't seem like the kind of thing most people use.  I know people use MSN, so that should be kept.  I think perhaps, a link to a YouTube page along with a personal website would be prudent.  Also Vimeo, and Brickshelf, because those are popular places as well.  Maybe even a Flickr page.  Oh yes, and a Skype ID would be great.[*/]

  • I don't know how difficult this would be, because I know next to nothing about web stuff.  But I think for topics that just need a couple answers, some sort of wall topic feature would be neat.  An example of this would be for posting story ideas.  Instead of a regular topic, it could be a posting story idea wall.  This way, you could see each person's story idea, and reply to each individually.  This would make viewing these topics and posting feedback much simpler, and get rid of lots of "heres my story idealol" topics.  Here's a MS Paint mockup:
    http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/kunaiblade/Art/fdsfsafd.bmp

Any thoughts?  Hate me?  Feel free to tell me.

Cheshire's Website

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

Allow me to try to address these points.

ManVan wrote:

Schlaeps obviously has been checking in, seeing as how the Welcome Home sticky went away, and he fixed the messages problems.  As Noodle26 has mentioned previously, I wish Schlaeps would just give us some proof of existence.

There should be some movement here in the near future.  It wasn't Schlaeps who removed the sticky, that was me, as I now have access to some of these controls, but he did fix the messaging problem on my request.

I sent my application in for interviewer, and I would like some confirmation. mini/wink

A panel has not been officially selected yet.  Unfortunately, the directory isn't ready to be opened yet, but once programming on the directory is completed there will be more announcements regarding this.

As whenever I log on, I click the New Posts link, I feel that some changes could be made to that page.  I, personally, am still an advocate for subforums, but i doesn't look like that's going to happen[...]

We'll look at the new posts page and see if something like that would be feasible, I don't know right now.  I would also like to look into the subforums option, that may happen yet.

There have been multiple calls for an AJAX chat, and we need one.  Ours is dead much of the time, and any type of non-Firefox requiring chat would be good.

There are other IRC clients besides Chatzilla.  I like the Ajax chat and it does have punBB compatibility, however it is rather cluttered and isn't something we could fully integrate into the site design so we're looking at other options as well.

I think that the moderators, who are great people who I like, could be a bit less lenient with grammar and spelling and the like.  I think for foreigners you could be a bit more lenient, but I just hate looking at threads that look like "ok this is my story idea ... wut u think?"

I think that moderating for grammar and spelling could backfire, forums that are that controlling aren't fun places in my experience.  But it's good to encourage people to use proper spelling and grammar if this is brought up politely.

We need to give the mods admin power.  Having the current contest as THAC 6 looks bad, and admin power would be A-OK if Schlaeps doesn't feel inclined to pop in, which he by no means has to.

As far as I can see, THAC 6 is the current contest even if it is over now; however, I did update the events page to acknowledge that the contest is over.  Again, there is going to be some movement regarding this soon.


Well, on a different note, I have been doing some tests for an intro video for the site.  [...] Advice, approval, or disappoval are all welcome.
I really think some kind of intro video would be great, and it could be implemented with Flash or something (I was just making pre-vises).

The idea is nice, though if you want honest feedback I would say that a video like that isn't going to appeal to new members because it's boring and kind of states the obvious in terms of how to navigate the site.  We're working on the resources section now, though, and a brief guide to using the site might be in order.

A spoiler feature would be great, and perfect.  I know BF has one, but you just need one.  I mean, this is a moviemaking site, right?

Yeah, that would be good.

I think there should be a place to view topics in which you have posted in.

I think the ability to view your own previous posts through your profile would fulfill this need, my understanding is that that may have been disabled for non-mods and if that is the case we can hopefully change that soon.

I wish I could save topics.  I tend to write long-winded topics, like this one, and what happens if I have to leave the computer, or my computer crashes?  It's a royal pain in the backside.

I frequently write really long posts in notepad...being able to save drafts of a post has potential to be abused and the need for it would be so rare that I think notepad would be a better alternative.

Schlaeps mentioned that the Film Directory would not have quality control.  This is unfortunate, because I think that without some of this, you will be ending up watching stuff you don't want to.  I don't think I have to give an example of this kind of movie.

I don't know specifically what you're referring to, but the concept for the directory is being reworked somewhat now, and this concern shouldn't be an issue with what we have in mind.

In our profiles, why do we include Jabbers, ICQ's, YahooMessengers, and AIM ID's?  These don't seem like the kind of thing most people use.  I know people use MSN, so that should be kept.  I think perhaps, a link to a YouTube page along with a personal website would be prudent.  Also Vimeo, and Brickshelf, because those are popular places as well.  Maybe even a Flickr page.  Oh yes, and a Skype ID would be great.

Some people do use those, I think we could probably replace a few of them but I like the idea of having a YouTube/Vimeo slot available.

I don't know how difficult this would be, because I know next to nothing about web stuff.  But I think for topics that just need a couple answers, some sort of wall topic feature would be neat.  An example of this would be for posting story ideas.  Instead of a regular topic, it could be a posting story idea wall.  [...]

We have a 'tell your story idea' thread, so I think that theoretically would take care of 'this is my idealol' threads if the people posting those (rare) threads were attentive enough to observe the thread; if they aren't, which they aren't, then I don't think they're going to use something like what you're proposing.  I've never seen anything like it, which doesn't mean it's a bad idea, but I don't think there is really a need to cut down on the number of threads posted - forum discussion should be encouraged.  I see a great potential for clutter/spam in a bulletin like this and I don't see where it would have any great benefits over a forum/chat.  (The chat is good for asking quick questions as well.)

edit: and yeah, now a lot of this thread has become irrelevant.  But I'll leave it open in case people want to comment on the ideas.

http://i.imgur.com/wcmcdmf.png

Sméagol's Website

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

There have been multiple calls for an AJAX chat, and we need one.  Ours is dead much of the time, and any type of non-Firefox requiring chat would be good.

Why not taking the brickfilms chat code and customizing it a bit?
Maybe...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en" dir="ltr">

<head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="application/xhtml+xml; charset=UTF-8" />
    <title>AJAX Chat</title>
    <style type="text/css">
        body {
            padding:0;
            margin:0;
        }
    </style>
    <link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/beige.css" title="beige"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/black.css" title="black"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/grey.css" title="grey"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Oxygen.css" title="Oxygen"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Lithium.css" title="Lithium"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Sulfur.css" title="Sulfur"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Cobalt.css" title="Cobalt"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Mercury.css" title="Mercury"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Radium.css" title="Radium"/><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/prosilver.css" title="prosilver"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/subsilver2.css" title="subsilver2"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/subblack2.css" title="subblack2"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/subSilver.css" title="subSilver"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/Core.css" title="Core"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/MyBB.css" title="MyBB"/><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/vBulletin.css" title="vBulletin"/>
    <!--[if lt IE 7]>
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/ie5-6.css"/>
    <![endif]-->
    <script src="js/chat.js" type="text/javascript" charset="UTF-8"></script>
    <script src="js/lang/en.js" type="text/javascript" charset="UTF-8"></script>
    <script src="js/config.js" type="text/javascript" charset="UTF-8"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        // <![CDATA[
            function handleLogin() {
                var loginForm = document.getElementById('loginForm');
                var userNameField = document.getElementById('userNameField');
                var passwordField = document.getElementById('passwordField');
                var channelField = document.getElementById('channelField');
                var redirectField = document.getElementById('redirectField');
                if(passwordField.value.length == 0) {
                    loginForm.setAttribute('action', './');
                    userNameField.setAttribute('name', 'userName');
                } else {
                    var channelRequest = 'channelName=' + encodeURIComponent(channelField.value);
                    var regExp = /\?/;
                    if(regExp.test(redirectField.value)) {
                        redirectField.value += '&';
                    } else {
                        redirectField.value += '?';
                    }
                    redirectField.value += channelRequest;
                }
                return true;
            }

            function initializeLoginPage() {
                document.getElementById('userNameField').focus();
                if(!ajaxChat.isCookieEnabled()) {
                    var node = document.createElement('div');
                    var text = document.createTextNode(ajaxChatLang['errorCookiesRequired']);
                    node.appendChild(text);
                    document.getElementById('errorContainer').appendChild(node);
                }
            }
            
            ajaxChatConfig.sessionName = 'ajax_chat';
            ajaxChatConfig.cookieExpiration = parseInt('365');
            ajaxChatConfig.cookiePath = '/';
            ajaxChatConfig.cookieDomain = '';
            ajaxChatConfig.cookieSecure = '';

            ajaxChat.init(ajaxChatConfig, ajaxChatLang, true, true, false);
        // ]]>
    </script>
</head>

<body onload="initializeLoginPage();">
    <div id="loginContent">
        <div id="loginHeadlineContainer">
            <h1>AJAX Chat</h1>
        </div>
        <form id="loginForm" action="http://www.bricksinmotion.com/forums/login" method="post" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" onsubmit="return handleLogin();">
            <div id="loginFormContainer">
                <input type="hidden" name="login" id="loginField" value="login"/>
                <input type="hidden" name="redirect" id="redirectField" value="http://www.brickfilms.com/community/chat/"/>
                <div><label for="userNameField">Username:</label><br />
                <input type="text" name="username" id="userNameField" maxlength="16"/></div>
                <div><label for="passwordField">Password*:</label><br />
                <input type="password" name="password" id="passwordField"/></div>
                <div><label for="channelField">Channel:</label><br />
                <select name="channelName" id="channelField"><option value="Public" selected="selected">Public</option><option value="Announcements_&_Contests">Announcements_&_Contests</option><option value="Hardware_and_Software">Hardware_and_Software</option><option value="Releases">Releases</option><option value="Tests">Tests</option><option value="PreProduction">PreProduction</option><option value="Technique">Technique</option><option value="Software_And_Hardware">Software_And_Hardware</option><option value="Audio">Audio</option><option value="Bricks">Bricks</option><option value="General_Filming">General_Filming</option><option value="Other_Films">Other_Films</option><option value="Community">Community</option><option value="Site_Feedback">Site_Feedback</option></select></div>
                <div><label for="languageSelection">Language:</label><br />
                <select id="languageSelection" name="lang" onchange="ajaxChat.switchLanguage(this.value);"><option value="ar">عربي</option><option value="bg">Български</option><option value="bp">Português (Brasil)</option><option value="de">Deutsch</option><option value="el">Ελληνικα</option><option value="en" selected="selected">English</option><option value="es">Español</option><option value="fi">Suomi</option><option value="fr">Français</option><option value="he">עברית</option><option value="it">Italiano</option><option value="nl">Nederlands</option><option value="no">Norsk</option><option value="pl">Polski</option><option value="ro">România</option><option value="ru">Русский</option><option value="sk">Slovenčina</option><option value="sr">Srpski</option><option value="sv">Svenska</option><option value="tr">Türkçe</option><option value="uk">Українська</option><option value="zh">中文 (简体)</option></select></div>
                <div><input type="submit" name="submit" id="loginButton" value="Login"/></div>
                <div id="loginRegisteredUsers">* Registered Users</div>
            </div>
        </form>
        <div id="errorContainer"><noscript><div>JavaScript is required for this Chat.</div></noscript></div>
        <!--
            Please retain the full copyright notice below including the link to blueimp.net.
            This not only gives respect to the amount of time given freely by the developer
            but also helps build interest, traffic and use of AJAX Chat.
            
            Thanks,
            Sebastian Tschan
        //-->
        <div id="copyright"><a href="https://blueimp.net/ajax/">AJAX Chat</a> &copy; <a href="https://blueimp.net">blueimp.net</a></div>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

I'm not sure if that'll work, but I'm sure it'll work for the login part.

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

Brickfilms uses a phpBB forum, ours is punBB based.  Rest assured we are in the process of getting a new chat (probably Ajax) installed.

http://i.imgur.com/wcmcdmf.png

Sméagol's Website

  • Joined: December 27, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

Sméagol wrote:

Brickfilms uses a phpBB forum, ours is punBB based.  Rest assured we are in the process of getting a new chat (probably Ajax) installed.

The original chat on BF was created by Stefan. Is there a chance we can use his? Or even Schlaeps's revised version?
Either way, this is great news. And a much needed area to update.

"Tell stories that matter to you, not stories that'll sell." - Stephen Tobolowsky

YouTube/Twitter/SG

dewfilms's Website

  • Location: Boston
  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

Also, I just had another idea.  In a user's profile, in addition to a Vimeo and Youtube link, I was thinking some information about software and hardware could be answered.  It is probably apparent that when new users come on the site, one of the first questions they ask is "What program/camera do you use?"  If there could be slots for Camera/Webcam, Editing Software, Capture Program, etc., I think, with the proper notification to newer members, that many of these questions could be avoided, and it would also be useful to everybody rather than hunting down a user's YouTube page or a non-updated thread to find the answer.

Cheshire's Website

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

Yeah, I have seen that on some tech forums and it might not be a bad idea.  Though we might integrate it somewhere other than the main profile...

Regarding Stefan's chat - it is simple and nice, but based on a discussion at COA I get the impression it might be rather complicated to port to our software, not to mention Stefan wasn't sure if he still had all the files for it or not.

http://i.imgur.com/wcmcdmf.png

Sméagol's Website

  • Location: On Your Shift Key
  • Joined: December 27, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

phpBB has some nice stuff that you guys mentioned.
Edit: Its also got icons that show you how popular the thread is.

Last edited by fib12345 (March 1, 2009 (12:36pm))

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/fib12345/Lolz/lulz.png
"actuallly this involves spiderman too, not batman. but im also taking a new approach, more comedy, less action. i dont see to many movies like that with more comedy than action" --SteveStarfyTV on an Indiana Jones meets Star Wars idea.

fib12345's Website

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Multiple Suggestions and Comments

Yep, although there is no way we can change forum software at this point.  I prefer punBB in some ways as it's very minimal and easy to work with / edit.  As for icons showing how popular a thread is, that seems a little frivolous given you can see the number of posts in the thread anyway...

http://i.imgur.com/wcmcdmf.png

Sméagol's Website