How to make this site even better - suggestions please :)

Giaguara

Giaguara

Chmod 760
Staff member
Mod
Tell us how to make this an even better site... ANY suggestions - minus pr0n, warez, serialz, p2p and following the board rulz. ;) ::alien:: ::love:: ::angel:: :)
 
  • Make the text in the Home, Gallery, User CP, Rules, Search, Register, Post Topic, and Post Reply buttons larger and less squarish.
  • Add a checkbox to thread listings to allow functions like subscribing, unsubscribing, opening in new window, etc. with a drop-down menu.
  • Enable auto-subscription with the quick reply box.
  • Allow storage of up to 3 avatars, including the currently active one, to make changing between them easier.
  • Add a "Remember New Threads" link so when my browser crashes, I can click this link and go back and read all the new threads that supposedly aren't new anymore. It's very annoying when I have 50 or so new threads, most of which I haven't read yet, and the browser crashes or the computer freezes, and when I click "View New Threads" only 2 or 3 appear.
  • Fix the broken img tags that still appear.
  • Fix the gallery.
  • Increase the maximum size of private messages. Posts can be 4 screens or more, why can't PM's?
  • Under the name of the person who started a new thread, put the date of the first post.
  • Rework the (currently useless-seeming) gray buttons at the bottom of every page.
  • Add an option to disable vB code in a post so one can give an example of vB code.
  • Make me (and dlloyd, if you're feeling generous) a moderator. :D
Hopefully some or all of these (especially the last one! ::ha::) are easy enough to change.
 
I would make the site up with less tables and more css... A table might be ok for the listing of current threads, but marking the form posts up with tables doesn't seem semantically correct. And even on my cable connection loading all these tables is slow - if you get a real dedicated coder into the site I bet he could clean it up a little.
 
I agree. Anytime I load a page that's more than 30 or 40 K (which is often with larger posts, usually 10+ per page), the browser always hangs for a while. Sometimes, when I'm loading multiple pages simultaneously, it hangs for several minutes, probably while Explorer parses the PHP code. Div's would be really easy to put into place instead of table cells.
 
More pro-active stuff. Reviews and suggestions, links. The site can be very helpful when fixing a problem or discussing the merits of something vs something else, but to find out what's out there, you almost have to check out other sites.
If there was a greater emphasis made on getting people to share their Mac experiences. If someone's tried a shareware app, what their impressions are. If they've had problems, how they solved it. Maybe answer questions. Maybe someone has a great desk setup and someone else would like to emulate it. There's a little bit of that here and there, but not enough.

Also, there should be more cross-platform talk. Working with Windows is almost a necessary evil these days and there's plenty to learn about that. But also, how Macs work (and can work better) with other media such as PDAs and Smart Phones.
 
I think weekly articles published by different members of the board would be cool, they could really generate press for the board and would draw people in through google and word of mouth.
 
Nice ideas! More, more! The mods will be not interfering with your creativity on this but for sure, some of the ideas will be tried. I like especially the reviews and problem resolve and article ideas ... but more more more. ..
 
And actually works!

What about a template for making themes that we can submit for consideration? Just because Apple only gives us the choice of Blue and Graphite does not mean this site can't have more than 2 schemes.
 
Put in window.status messages for buttons and links within-site. For example, you could make the status bar say the name of the next and previous threads for those links.
 
A lot of your suggestions are actually within the vBulletin code themselves, I believe. Not easy to change. :(
Keep 'em coming, though. :) It's always nice to have fresh, new ideas.
 
Well, if the vB code needs to be tweaked to make this site better, then what's a little difficulty on the programmer's part to improve the customer's experience? I'd be willing to do it if I knew PHP.
 
How about adding a "Post Reply"-style input box for writing our signatures? That way, we can add colors and styles easily without having to guess at colors, and we can preview our signatures before finalizing them.

Also, what about a link in the thread listings to be able to reply directly to a thread without having to read it? This would help if, for example, you're the last one to reply to a thread and you want to add something (exactly like I'm doing now).
 
I believe the forums are too spread out - there are too many forums, and too many overlapping. Especially when looking for help, it's less useful to post to one of the smaller (but probably more appropriate) forums since they're much less frequented than the others.

For example, I think it's silly to have "The Net: Coding" when there's "Mac OS X Software Programming". There's not enough seperation there, and not a large enough audience to split off "Network-related coding", particularly with ALL the other "Net" gorups.

It's silly to have "Apple General" AND "The Cafe" AND "Opinions, Reviews and Open Letters" AND "The Conference Room" AND "???". I understand that they each have their own functions, but they overlap far too much without enough distinction (or audience) to really be useful. Instead, it hurts because after failing to build a decent thread, get replies, etc. I'm much less likely to frequent ANY of the forums, and eventually wander off-site.

I don't want the forums to be congested, but I don't think this would be a problem on this site.

Also,

I've been noticing that when mods move threads, in a lot of cases they fail to leave behind a "moved" message, which is very confusing, especially given the very large number of forums and the occasional "forum-cleaning-happy" mod (not picking on anyone). Please leave "Moved" messages?
 
Hmmm, what the hell is the oval with the arrow next to Profile supposed to be?

Auto subscriptions would be nice.

How about some type of Macintosh identifiable imagery so we are a Mac community. I could do that, get me some images to work with and I'll spice them up.

Member desktops, I like to see desktops and i like to show off my creative desktops.

A store to buy mac products would be cool, maybe you can get us a discount, a group discount, VERY COOL.

New logo, my logos take time, but I would consider helping with one, notice i said consider on this one.
 
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