New GarageGames.com Feedback

#121 Some more things:

1) Breadcrumbs (Under the Title of the Thread) in the Forums
eg. Forums -> Torque Game Engine -> Engine

2) All my Watched threads are missing :(

#122 The look is fine, I like it. The new structure is well organized too. Just a few links broken for the documentation (very impostant: TDN login is still broken.) Kudos and the best for this new year!

#123 Shouldn't the website devs be the ones to test out a new forum before switching? Right now there are too many glitches on this website to switch. I say we should have the old website until all the glitches are fixed.

#124 I think search is messed up on the forums. I was trying to do a simple search on maxdamage and on the old site it came up with results and on the new site I got nothing.

So then I tried to do a search based on the author of the post(remembering it from the old site) and still nothing came back.

Some things I would back if possible would be the ability to see all unread posts. My whole routine has been thrown off with the changes.

I would normally check the site in the morning and goto Whats New and see new blogs. Then I would click on Unread Forum Posts to catch up.

Now there is nothing there. I feel lost.

#125 im missing private acess to tgb forums. also i cant check my forum post updates from my profile

#126 All was ok till I was unable to log in.
The webmaster needs to fix logins This should be a priority as there are those of us who have invested a lot into GG.

#127 Sorry to post this but... my God! Really! The new site, as actually it is... is a total mess! Und pretty unusable! Also the technical design seems really poor... never heard about AJAX?????????

Really, sorry to post in this way, it's not my style but this is a big big big enormous mistake (the switch to the new website) for how it has been planned, handled and deployed...

Like many others I'm really a bit scary because in the last months GG is really disappointing me...

#128 JoZ: AJAX is a scritpting technology that is fairly new.
Personally I think its not as good as the ones that have been around.
I do not understand why they switched so quickly and not tested first.
I have set up stuff similar on a smaller scale and I usually test before going live. That way I do not get angry customers.

To the GG web team:
You have a lot of work ahead of you. I hope this all gets fixed soon.
I would like to be able to log in again so I can at least work with the tools I had purchased. (I can't install without the ignition keys in my account)

I am one of those old techies that likes a functional site over a cool looking one...

#129 Better Deffiniton of AJAX:
Ajax, or AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), is a group of interrelated web development techniques used to create interactive web applications or rich Internet applications

#130 i just thought if gg work like they do on there forum like they do on there engine..... there talk about fixing it for months and months then impliment somthing else and forget all about it aka constructor hahaha

#131 I think the biggest things that I have noticed that bother me are:

Changing pages in forums, blogs, etc. need to tack on the #comments named anchor to the links so that the first post is omitted from view.

Profile avatars are really fundamental to a community. They are how many of us figure out who's who. I forgot a lot of the people because I didn't have their avatars. It would be great to have them in the forums as well. Post counts would help as well.

Create a couple of different CSS classes for the different types of users on this site. Then, when they post in forums, blogs, etc. they can be distinguished from the rest. An example might be to apply a light purple background for all GarageGames Employees. Another color or shade could be designated for associates and so on.

I mentioned this somewhere else, but I will suggest it again: Create a redirection in either apache configs or in a script to convert old links over. It would be as simple as stripping the old php variables with slashes in the addresses.

Once you get all the other features that were on the other site, it would be great if we could have some more advanced features, such as an iframed editor for posts, allowing people to correctly insert tags. Another thing that would help if the further customization of profiles. People want this place to be not only for development, but for networking. Being able to present our profiles to our liking would greatly help.

Other mentions might be to add our name and details to the top of the page next to the cart and logout stuff.


If you need any help with the website, be sure to ask, and I'd be glad to come up with a solution or any help that's needed.

#132 Dear GG web staff.

It is obvious a lot of work has gone into the new site,
and I can see what you were trying to do, but I think,
once you can look at it objectively (we all hate to fail)
that you will all agree you have failed in the implementation
of this new site.

It takes a big man (or woman) to admit to failure, and an even
bigger one to apologise.

PLEASE revert back to the old site, until you fix all issues.

I am sure, if you ask, you will get lots of volunteers to test any
beta site before going live.

Once again, I respect your efforts, but am appalled by the
implementation.

Kindest regards,

Hewster.

#133 2 days and TDN is still broken... I have to say it's a little bit disappointing. Even though I'm sure you're doing whatever you can to fix the bugs, I would think this would be a top one to fix...

#134 I for one hope I've been constructive (and not a "hypocriticizer") and wish to encourage all of you to bear with the pains of change with a little patience. I think too many assumptions are flying and emotions are heated -- just don't let our and your frustrations get the best of you.

I'm sure you're all well aware of the "issues" and are trying to get things sorted out. For my own personal bias I spent a little time in Stylish for Firefox and the unrelieved white no longer alarms my eyes :)

#135 Still struggling to navigate everything, so I'm just gonna post here:
- Search should start in Basic mode, not advanced.
- Downloads have the "expire" column next to the Trial. At first I thought it was the Trial or Demo that expired - Not the Download Link

#136 Still struggling to navigate everything, so I'm just gonna post here:
- Search should start in Basic mode, not advanced.
- Downloads have the "expire" column next to the Trial. At first I thought it was the Trial or Demo that expired - Not the Download Link. Honestly I believe that should be removed.
- Dates Next to the "Recent Threads" Section of forums/blogs.

Anyone not working on fixes/issues should by steering the beer trolly to keep morale up!

#137 Stephen, AJAX can be fairly new compared to other technologies but nowadays it's well tested and we can see it pretty everywhere... Asking for AJAX techniques in a new site implementation seems to me as a minimum...

For better definition of what I'm asking... AJAX mainly is about the capability to load update part of the current page invoking the get or post method to a static or dynamic page that will load inside that part of the current page, without the need to reload all the rest of the page... why when I want to read comments in a blog I have to navigate through comments' pages and see everytime the original blog post and have to scroll it? Put the comments section inside a DIV tag and reload only the content of that DIV seems a cooler way, not?

Sincerely I prefer when all the comments where on the same page... so I can perform a browser FIND to search for a term or a member name occurrences inside the page...

But if you want at all costs paginate the comments put the section in a "ajax powered" DIV and let us have the possibility to filter comments by memeber, date or search inside it for terms... so the content of the section is updated requesting a php page that load inside that part of the page...

#138 And noted just now... in threads, everytime you post it bring you to the first page of the thread... that is tedious

#139 Hello, I've not been "active" in the community for some time, I hope in the future I'll get more time to participate. I do however care about GG and the community that I've been a part of since the beginning.

There are things I like and dislike about this "new direction", but I'll try to keep on point.

Most of the issues that I've noticed have been brought up by other members.

I feel like this new design takes up much more space and creates extra scrolling and clicking to get the same information. Extra clicking and scrolling can be good at times depending on what function you are trying to achieve.

For example, I don't mind an extra click to get to a sub forum. This helps me find what I want faster. But, clicking pages in each forum just slows me down. This is a time where scrolling is faster then clicking. I'd like an option to display it all.

On the other hand, scrolling past the first post that is formatted like a blog on every single page that I am forced to click on, gets tedious for me. I'd like it if the first post was condensed to closer to the format of the rest of the posts. The title doesn't need to be almost as big as the text on the GG logo. (this is how it looks on my monitor).

In my opinion keep the about the author in the forum post to the sidebar
like the rest of the posts. If I want to know more about the author let me click on his/her name and find out.

I also feel the whole previous thread, next thread, notify me, etc section should be moved to the bottom.

Only combine and remove inactive sub categories of the forums.
Having all your food put in a pile on one plate doesn't make the meal more enjoyable. Don't throw out organization in favor of minimalistic ideas. Again this helps me find what I want faster.

I'm glad GG is trying to improve the site and I have faith that things will improve, but the site feels like it just got started all over again and I think that creates fear of where we are headed.

Keep at it, show us where we are going and don't make too many of us walk the plank.

Thanks GG for your hard work, and thanks to the community for making this a place that I still spend what time I can seeing what everyone is up to and working toward.

#140 @Sebastien Thueler - restoring TDN = definitely one of the top priorities.