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Den of Writers – Forum Feedback

About Forums Den of Writers Admin and Technical Den of Writers – Forum Feedback

Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 42 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #88
    admin
    Keymaster

    Welcome to the new Den of Writers forum. As your humble admin has previously mentioned, this is not yet a baked cake. There will be tweaks and modifications going forward to ensure a comfortable and (hopefully) easily accessible user experience. Nor is the appearance – colour, text, copy, images etc definitely fixed as yet. We’re certainly not suggesting there’s no room for improvement! Since we’re now at the stage of needing people to use the forum and test out various applications, this topic has been opened for feedback purposes.

    Those of you who have come from another forum will no doubt find your way around without too much difficulty, although having been used to a different set of software it’s going to be an adjustment process for all of us. There will be different user areas and FAQ pages set up eventually to make using the site as easy as possible. (These things are in the works now and will hopefully be available soon.) In the meantime if you notice anyone lost or forlorn, please point them in the right direction. Similarly, please don’t hesitate to ask for help. We’re a friendly bunch and someone will no doubt be able to set you on the right track.

    As far as feedback on this site goes, post your thoughts below. Admin will try and answer fairly promptly and items that need addressing will be added to the ‘to do’ list. We’re also happy to take requests so if you want a media plugin for a new group for example, please let us know.
    Thank you for your patience as we move into the beta phase of building this site. Happy writing!

    #89
    JaneShuff
    Participant

    Nothing much to say so far. Just posting so I can see what happens! And trying to work out what all the initals at the top of this box mean!!!

    #108
    RichardB
    Participant

    Might I suggest a little tweak on the registering page? Which is to suggest that the legend under the ‘Your Name’ box be amended to something like ‘This is the name by which you will be known on the forum.’

    I assumed that I would be known by my User Name, and judging by the fact that some other people’s real names are also appearing I wasn’t the only one to make that mistake. It doesn’t bother me all that much, but some people are more sensitive about their on’line privacy, and might take exception.

    #110
    admin
    Keymaster

    Good point, Richard. Will look into it. Thanks.

    #111
    admin
    Keymaster

    For anyone who has had the same issue as Richard, you can amend the name by which you are known (and who can see what part of your profile) by amending your profile page. Go up to the top right hand corner of the screen where is says ‘howdy whatever your user name is’. Hover the cursor over it and a drop down menu appears. Select Profile from that menu. Select Edit. Your profile page will appear and you can amend your user name to whatever you wish. There are various other things you can amend on your profile too – eg photo, cover image etc.

    This drop down menu also contains options to check your messages, view your friends, groups, forums, notifications etc.

    #112
    Knicks
    Participant

    The notification system is on point, JB ^.^

    Um my most majorest feedback is the cover image for the site. Love the concept of the writerly quill, ink pot and tomes but the resolution is so low it looks faded and cloudy and slightly pixelated on my pc. I looked for the exact image in higher resolution but couldn’t find it. I did however find several quite similar images at a far higher resolutions that look sharp and crisp like autumn air. I can save them on my comp, post them here and/or send them to you via email. Below is a link that leads to some of the best of them as well. It doesn’t matter what you go far as my issue isn’t with the content of the current image itself, just with its fuzziness.

    Den of Writers cover image options

    Option 1

    Option 2

    Option 3

    Option 4

    Option 5

    and

    Option 6

    Hope this is helpful! Tell me what you think ^.^

    #113
    Knicks
    Participant

    YOU CAN EDIT FORUM POSTS!!! \ :V / *runs wild*

    Lookit. I just edit dis ^___________^

    Edit 2: *goes on a hunt for emojis*

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Knicks.
    #115
    admin
    Keymaster

    Thanks, Knicky. That’s very helpful. I agree with what you said and it is somewhat intrusive. Just a place saver pic atm in any case but good to see a consensus. And well done for being the first person to post pictures to a thread 🙂

    #137
    JaneShuff
    Participant

    I don’t know what everyone else thinks, but I would like to be able to see a bit more on ‘the wall’ – so maybe some smaller fonts and less white space. If possible? If everyone else agrees?

    #138
    Barny
    Participant

    I agree

    #139
    Knicks
    Participant

    Do you mean the main site wall or the group’s wall, or perhaps both? Because the group wall shows more and has less white space (to me) even though the font size is the same, simply because more has been said in terms of updates and comments. I agree the font size could be just a bit smaller overall, but I also think it could be a matter of less has been said on the main site wall, its really been just us connecting so far, and not much chatter to fill it up, compared to the group wall.

    #140
    Knicks
    Participant

    Conversely, I think the font size here in the forums is a bit on the ant-size, lols. So overall a streamlined font size between both the forums and activity walls – which could be just a happy medium between the two current font sizes of both right now – would be ideal (to me).

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Knicks.
    #142
    JaneShuff
    Participant

    yes, I think you are right knicky. Alhough I saw your post above on the wall first, which confused me.

    #143
    Knicks
    Participant

    Yup. Now your above post is on the main wall, and so will this comment be once I post it. All site activity is featured on the main wall for easy access it seems, so we need not go through the requisite clicks to get to a specific topic in the forums, we can just see it all on the main 😀

    #146
    Athelstone
    Moderator

    How does everybody feel about the default text editor? On the one hand it allows some HTML stuff to be done easily but on the other hand many users will be familiar with a WYSIWYG alternative. I think TinyMCE is available (and it is a very good editor).

    #147
    Jules
    Participant

    I think it’s definitely worth looking into, Ath 🙂

    #148
    Athelstone
    Moderator

    I’m being a bit thick today (yes, today!). This IS a very basic version of TinyMCE isn’t it? I think it’s the TinyMCE advanced plugin I’m thinking of. I foolishly got rid of my test site so I can’t check.

    #149
    Athelstone
    Moderator

    Also, Jules, do you know a lot about SSL? I can see that the current Nethosted setup allows HTTP as well and that looks like the default if you don’t expressly request HTTPS. I know I could force my browser to choose secure only, or by preference, but that has broken some site access for me in the past. If you don’t (know) I’ll have a dig about.

    PS (Edit) there may be a CPanel option to redirect HTTP to HTTPS?

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Athelstone.
    #151
    Jules
    Participant

    I think it’s that I basically haven’t set it as a default. Thought I had but obvioudly haven’t. Will take a look tomorrow. But yes it occurred to me somewhat belatedly that that must be the case.

    #153
    Squidge
    Participant

    First impressions – brill! Having issues with the text size on this forum (haven’t gone far enough into site yet to compare others) as I’m having to strain to read it on my main PC (bigger screen than the laptop) but if I try to magnify will I lose the ‘edges’.

    Agree with Richard about the ‘username’ thing. And the picture as it stands at the mo probably needs to be much larger on the home page. It looks a bit lost in all that space – and I’m assuming the photos used are copyright free? I know you have to be careful other peeps’s images.

    Colours are good on the eye. Still working my way round the forums so might have more later.

    #154
    Squidge
    Participant

    OK – next issue. Realised I have my user and @name thing mixed up. I think. Have changed to Squidge as my tag on here, but how do I alter anything else on my profile? Only seem to get a user name option. Finding navigation difficult, but I’ll get there. I suppose it’s just a familiarity thing.

    #155
    Daedalus
    Participant

    Hi Squidge. If you click on your name anywhere it comes up in a forum, or in the little status box to the right of the page title (for you it should read ‘Squidge’ with your profile pic and ‘log out’ beneath) it will take you to your personal menu. One of the options is ‘profile’ and if you click on that, there’s an option to edit it. It’s pretty similar to the Cloud really, but just things are in a slightly different place, or there’s an extra click required here and there

    #156
    Daedalus
    Participant

    Btw if we can’t make ‘Activity’ the home page, could we add a line on the home page welcome to the effect of ‘click on “Activity” to see the latest posts and updates’ or something like that?

    #157
    Jules
    Participant

    Yes, I was wondering about setting the main wall as the home page, Daed. Will have a look and if it can’t be done, I’ll add a few navigation instructions under About. Might add some anyway tbh.

    #158
    Squidge
    Participant

    @Daeds – That’s what I’m doing (I think) I click edit but all I get is the username box… nothing else.

    One other thing…might’ve already been mentioned? Any way of reducing the banner at the top of the page? Quite disconcerting to only see the dow info and my name in the green box when I go into any new topic. Though that might just be a ‘me’ thing re lots of space on the page!

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Squidge.
    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Squidge.
    #166
    Daedalus
    Participant

    Hmmm, yes, I see what you mean. I’d used it to change my profile pic and background pic but not any of the actual details

    #168
    Jules
    Participant

    I’m looking in to whether there are extra permissions that can be set for user profiles for both altering or adding. Will get back to you. Don’t think you’re the only one who had that issue with the user name though so some clarification would definitely help.

    #170
    Barny
    Participant

    TinyMCE would be a better option, IMO. It allows switching to HTML mode if you want to but defaults to WYSIWIG.

    #171
    Barny
    Participant

    I think there’s a plugin to control access to profile, I think.

    #175
    Barny
    Participant

    If it isn’t a cpanel option then it’s definitely a webserver option to automatically redirect http to https – definitely worth doing

Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 42 total)
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