8 Months Later - The Evaluation
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I know a little about how this site is build up, and i think a lot could be improved.
A few staff members allready had some discussions about this issue, we all agreed to change a lot on the entry page.
We also looked at different systems as Joomla and SMF and its redicules bridge is totaly out of context.I agree that the front page should be re-disigned, to much space for some simple news items, and the news items are just too large with pictures and complete change logs from verson 0.001 BETA RC1 till now.
Simple overview with highlights is enough, the latest forum posts is the feature i use most here on this site, and once i finished those i look at the rest of the unread posts.
Joomla’s WYSIWYG editor is also a bitch, and should be changed into something more simple.
We also have a lot of “leechers” who only come here to read the most important topics and download mods / tools / pictures, I would like to see that downloading can only be done by regged users, especialy for the tools who are released here.
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I disagree with you Worfeh, Purely because a lot of people come to these sites to download mods, look at screenies etc Having them only available for something in exchange will not only turn a lot of players and visitors away, if someone needs a file urgently for a mod or something, then they have to wait for more “points” or more “cash” etc.
As for Joomla + SMF, it suits the site. It’s something different which is good, it’s not a motive to copy anyone etc, I think a custom theme for Joomla is needed, but I’m sure throughout the communities there would be some excellent graphical talent available, we’d just need to compose a design team etc.
As for copying the Lancers Reactor layout, i think it’s just common sense, because you’re promoting a freelancer mod/server/community, and it’s getting word out there being straight on the front page, especially if they have an eye catching headline or image.
But Thats just my two cents.
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The site is really good. In the short time, you all set it up, it’s very good.
Improvements you always can make, but don’t forget one thing:
There is no chef the cuisine, who can satisfy the whole world. -
I disagree with you Worfeh, Purely because a lot of people come to these sites to download mods, look at screenies etc Having them only available for something in exchange will not only turn a lot of players and visitors away, if someone needs a file urgently for a mod or something, then they have to wait for more “points” or more “cash” etc.
If you only knew how many times scripts etc came to this site to copy the arvive download section you would know what i mean.
Im not pointing out that people should only download with a certain amount of points or with restrictions. Its just a simple barier to prevent scripts from downloading massive amounts from the site, and for the statistics its good as well for mod/tool dev’s. -
I wasn’t disputing that it does not happen, perhaps a quick .htaccess is in order?
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good got improvements are possible (they are always possible)
good:
content
structure
peoplenot so good:
the news (there have been problems in the past with the visibility)
slow loading of the site and its pages
-> running code validators might help (i got tons of errors last time i checked the site)
-> or its the server (dunno)
dunno about the need of the forge site… visited it 2 times only and didnt find something that was interesting or not covered by the SP main siteafter all SP meanwhile is the no1 source for FLmodding… so congratz on this
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I like the site.
I’ll tell you what I do. I click “Starport” on my favorites, i look at the recent topics and pick and choose which ones I want to view based on the titles, and open them in new tabs then work back from the last one I opened closing tabs after I’ve read them.
For that it’s great, although I’d rather it show the last 7 un-viewed topics, than the last 7 in general, and possibly more if a scroll function wouldn’t look overly crap.
I also notice that when quoting everything f’s up on me and the theme just disappears and I just get the forums with what appears to be a lack of CSS.
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I agree with putting something different on the homepage rather than just news. Perhaps split it into a few nicely tabbed sections - recent threads (a whole page of 'em instead of just the top-right box), recent posted news (like what is currently displayed), and a few other tabs of various things that I can’t think of right now.
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The website integrates pretty seamlessly with the forum as far as transitions go. From my perspective, things are easy to find throughout. Clean interface with very little clutter overall. I like the collapsible section format for the boards. Personally, I’ve had no problems with the editing interface here. And of course a great base of modders on-hand.
Page loads / refreshes are a tad slow -as I’m not a web dev, I am unfamiliar with alternatives and such.
Image navigation might merit further work, as it stands, it’s hard to find any specific one you may be looking for (perhaps user tag functions would be useful). Updates / submissions of pictures and files takes a bit of time -perhaps the submitter could have more control over their files after initial approval, to relieve your workload a bit and streamline the process.Perhaps the forge section is underutilized, but that may be a result of unfamiliarity with the usefulness of such an item.
One thing that may add nicely to the site is a Wiki. Compiling all the knowledge here into a searchable, easy to access interface like that would benefit everyone I think. Submitted by the community, updated and crosschecked by each other.
Either way, I have enjoyed time spent here thus far, and learned a lot as well -which is always good. We may not have 2000+ members, but what we have is a very solid base, and a lot less “spam” to sift through. Perhaps more tailored to modders than purely players, but that’s ok as it becomes a trademark of the site.
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Page loads / refreshes are a tad slow -as I’m not a web dev, I am unfamiliar with alternatives and such.
I was thinking this, but didn’t mention it as after the initial load and everything is cached the page loads as quick as any other
Perhaps the forge section is underutilized, but that may be a result of unfamiliarity with the usefulness of such an item.
+1
One thing that may add nicely to the site is a Wiki. Compiling all the knowledge here into a searchable, easy to access interface like that would benefit everyone I think. Submitted by the community, updated and crosschecked by each other.
I was actually thinking this whilst sat in uni earlier (we had a quick discussion on wikis… boredom) - didnt we have one at some point? Or am I remembering things that never happened?
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Page loads / refreshes are a tad slow -as I’m not a web dev, I am unfamiliar with alternatives and such.
I was thinking this, but didn’t mention it as after the initial load and everything is cached the page loads as quick as any other
Somehow this CMS/FORUM waits on loading untill external link images are loaded.
Might be solved with a cache setting in the webserver, i’ll have to look at that. -
Yeah page loads to slow sometimes
One thing that may add nicely to the site is a Wiki. Compiling all the knowledge here into a searchable, easy to access interface like that would benefit everyone I think. Submitted by the community, updated and crosschecked by each other.
I like the idea also because I also thought over setting up a wiki bout freelancer - but I dropped because of lazyness and not existing knowledge about wikis.
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Anyway,
The page loads sould be a lot shorter from now on. Cept the page loads on the forums with people who have signatures with external links who can be somewhat slower.
Overall im pretty happy with this new box, loads a lot quicker and we have some more resources free to get some other stuff running, cept dunno what yet
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bump
9 months now.
We are still looking at improvements. We did some changes allready but we want more.
We are also tempted to get this CMS on a higher level soon.Please give us input so we can improve our lil site.
Is there need for more stats than the standard ones who come with this forum?
We log all hits made by the community bar, and i have to say thats its impressive, thank you all for that . -
This may sound silly, but I usually end up checking the Starport more than 88 Flak’s own forums when I feel like checking up on Freelancer stuff. I realized that the links on the top navbar are basically what I was asking for with “tabs” (duh, of course). It really is a pretty cool site, and I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that could improve it.
Also, Worfeh, yeah, I think the Community Bar is one of the best things to happen to a Freelancer community - nice and standard, so it is easily integrated to - and, most importantly, kept up to date on - all sites that choose to participate.
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Did the Wiki ever happen?
