Post your thoughts in here guys! Questions too. don't worry, we'll iron-out kinks and bugs.

 

It'll take some getting used to...

Is the new layout to help differentiate it from the main board?

 

no. Its to promote browsing. people are always guilty of passing up a customs topic just because they judge it by its title. then later they see the thread is huge with a lot of replies and invariably say something along the lines of "oh wow, I thought this would be xxxx, I had no idea!" so now, you can see a summary AND an image from the first post of every thread from the listing. that'll get more people to check out stuff they'd have originally skipped and missed out on.

When you make a new thread, you attach your images and then you can pick which one is the one highlighted in the listing.

 

This will take some adjusting, but all & all I think it will work out for the better.
Nice job to all involved.


I posted this in the Tech support section as well.
How come Pics & Sigs don't seem to work here.
Do we as members have to update our threads ???

 

Whoa! This is a major overhaul everything on this site including the Kitbashing/Custom section is completely different. I realize there is alot of adapting to this new format and its going to be tough for awhile, but in a weird way I like to old format, I guess I'm "old school". Anyways its nice, but need to get use to it thats all.

 

I dont like it. I liked having all the customs in one area, now people wont get as much feedback because everything is sectioned off, requiring users to put in extra effort for finding stuff, and people are lazy.

Maybe its just because i havnt got used to it yet so im not sure how everything works but so far i dont like it.

Why arent the sigs showing too? Or pics in threads?

 

How come most of the 'new' thread links only have posts up through Oct/Nov?

i.e. http://www.tfw2005.com/radicons-customs/heavy-mods-5/118th-scale-bumblebee-project-155624/ last post 10/30
versus
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=155624&page=12 last post 1/8

 

Also, the ignore function is no longer working either. People who were on my ignore list i can now see, i go to re-add them to my list but it already says they are on the list.

 

To a degree, yeah. It's not as dissected as Transtopia was though. It had another forum for every possible division, and it definitely made me skip over the forums that I had no interest in. I missed out on a lot of neat stuff that way.

This fourm isn't partitioned as much though. I think, more likely than anything else, traffic might be affected because the thread titles won't show up in the main forum index anymore. But it won't be because of the sub-forums in here: TFW has a sufficiently large kitbashing community to keep a sub-site going.

 

I've got the same problem.

Ok, I figured out why we just have link in threads. I totally understand why you want images uploaded to the boards. I think it's a great idea.
But how do we get our Sigs to show up ???

Again great job all around.  

 

I posted this in Radicon's Blog, but it doesn't seem like the right place (another concern...how did I post something 2 hours ago, and there's no replies...)


Embedding Pics
I personally think the 5% chance of a pic being deleted 3 months from now is less of a hindering on the community, than having to click 6+ times to get from the forum base, to an actual picture. even so, if the pic is deleted...wouldn't the link become pointless. embeding a URL into a thread is the same thing as putting a link there. There is a slim to none chance of me uploading to TFW2005 every image I want to show. it's convenient for me to use the old method.

if a custom is worthy and so good we want to see it in 1 year, then perhaps we should devise a system so that those 'elite' customs get put into a permanent 'showcase' gallery.

Too many sub-forums = too much clicking
we used to be able to see all the current kitbashes/fan-arts on one page, then click a topic and instantly see pictures. that's 2 clicks...
when i now click "repaints" I see the first post of the most recently updated 10 or so (only can see about 4 on my screen at 1600x1200 resolution)

I don't think it's necessary to show the first paragraph of that first post for that particular thread. What i do want to see, is a way to just to the very last comment about that thread.

with the new layout, you click 'radicon section' then you select the type of custom, then you look and find a new topic, click that link, then click to the most current page, then click the link to an external hosting of the pic...that's 5 clicks versus 2.

Too many sub-forums = will collect dust
Having a specific cat. for every type of art is not necessary imo. I'm not a fan of digibashes for instance, but I like seeing them. I won't go out of my way to visit the digibash section of radicons. That section will collect spiderwebs, because digibashes are rare. IMO, digibashes inspire kitbashes or repaints, hense it should be in the same category/sub-forum

I want to be honest, because I am part of this community, and i love this site, and have a lot of experience in web developement. You say 'we will get used to this" which might be true, but for a new member, he will see this new system and say WTF and not come back. most people aren't web savvy or want to learn new tricks how to navigate in a forum. TBH, there's about 5 new posts I can find since last night - which is nothing compared to the normal amount of new posts / traffic we normally receive in the A.M.

Like I mentioned last night, I think all kitbashing should be consolidated back into 1 sub-forum. If a thread poster wants to categorize his thread, he can add an icon or tag that depicts what type of custom it is.

breaking our forum into subforums and adding complexity to it, isn't going to make anything better. We typically had the same +/- 30 people posting daily, and rarely would the forum get so complicated you lose track of where something went.

This is just my opinion, but try to take it into consideration, because I don't want to see the best TF kitbash community fall apart because no one knows where to post or find new threads. Follow the model of top ten sites like apple or facebook, they are layed out in a more simple format.

 

The radicons section is going to take a while to get used to. I like how it has a lot of valuable info, but it feels crunched.

Perhaps the latest galleries images could be reduced a little in a horizontal layout above the forum?

I'm also a little concerned about the sections. Personally I don't care if a kitbash is heavy, or minor. I like seeing them all together. Most of us can recognize the work put into it.

I think it is a step in the right direction, but the layout could be improved upon.

I do now know where I can get a replica of Robert Redford's Head! Thanks TFW!

 

we've addressed some of the issues, but naturally, its a brand new system so we have to work out the kinks.

we're keeping the categories. this is a sub--site now, not a single forum. however, you do have options for the people worried about their fingers falling off. if you click either of the two main sections (customs projects, or customs discussion) then all the sub-forums under those sections will display as one. Also, you can click the newly-added link at the top of the listing, and it will display EVERYTHING as one, like the old style. I must tell you though, you'll end up overlooking and missing out on stuff this way, it will happen. That's why we have the different forums.

If you click on the "what's new" drop-down up top of your screen, you can tell the board to display for you only NEW threads or NEW posts since your last visit. You can also scroll to the bottom of a forum page and choose a different method of sorting of them.

Images must be attached. Attached images will show up at the end of your posts. image tags only display as links, to make you use the "manage attachments" button in the submit thread form. You can upload up to 15 images this way, via normal direct browsing, ftp, or url. if its in your photobucket, just copy/paste the addy into a url box in the attachments window. If its on your computer, you can upload up to 5 at a time, but you can go back and add more, to bring your total up to 15.

When you attach your images, make sure you pick one and click the "set as highlight" button to make one of them show up as a thumbnail on the forum listing!!

The tutorials section still requires a lot of work. I plan to get them so that all the useful information is condensed into only the first post, so it reads like an article, but this is going to take a lot of time.


Whenever you submit a new entry, make sure you include keywords in the tags box to help the search engine to find your thread!

 

I was thrown off at first, but I'm really starting to like it. Its going to take some getting used to.

I really like the ability to have all the pictures attached to the first page of a project, especially for WIPS, it gives easy access instead of digging through pages of replies.

I also like being able to find projects based on the creator and the tags are neat too.

It looks like you all put a lot of work into it and I know it can be a thankless job, so let me just say thanks for putting this all together.

Oh, can we get Radicon T-shirts?

 

Theres also no email notification going on...whats up with that?

 

I somewhat agree I also did like all of the customs in one area but it will take some getting used to as it is now..

 

I'm liking it more now. The option to view everything as one forum helps (especially with the thumbnails).

It's getting there.

That's what the uploaded galleries are for.

 

yeah viewing all the posts, as well as the condensed by titles only makes it so much easier to navigate. With the way it was the other day, the truncated/preview text, it just took up way too much real estate on my screen for effective browsing, coupled with the non-bumping of threads. I understand it was to try and give every thread a shot at being seen, but I don't think sorta forcing that upon readers would have been good anyways, and it seemed to be sorta anti- the notion of intuitive browsing on the internet anyways, you know?

It is getting there indeed.

 

After using the new site for a couple of days, I've noticed that it lacks the log out function. I have to go back to the main TFW forum menu to log out.

Minor, but worth noting.

 

It's taking a little while to get the hang of, but I think I'm pretty much used to it now, and for the most part, I like it. I like the sub-forums, especially since the option to forego them and just view everything means that those with lazy fingers can still browse pretty much as they did before.

The picture hosting throws me off a little, though. Are we basically saying that the only pictures in any given thread will be those uploaded by the thread starter, in the first post?
Presumably the thread starter can add upload more pics to the thread as the work progresses..? Just wanting to clear that up, because I remember reading something about starting a new thread for each update, which I'm sure would get confusing and frustrating for anybody wanting to see the entire progress of the project.