New changes
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Site News, Newbies, Help and Improvements
Forum Name: Help us improve the site
Forum Description: Help us improve the forums, and the site as a whole
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=44091
Printed Date: June 01 2025 at 22:54 Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: New changes
Posted By: Ricochet
Subject: New changes
Date Posted: December 05 2007 at 01:15
I haven't seen a new thread opened to discussed the recent changes on the front page, so here goes.
I pretty much think something doesn't fit the page with these new pages. Here are my thoughts:
- the "most recent 10 reviews" should stay on top of everything. Thinking like someone who's new to the site or just visits the front page, I'd definitely want to see the reviews that are made.
- by the above point, videos should follow the reviews (like they dad) and last should be the blogs.
- about the blogs, mind that they're not made on a daily basis. things could get stuck at these three recent ones for a long time, before any new blog is created. I know showing some of the blog materials would encourage more to be written, still...
- there's an advertisment between the most popular album and the "forum new topics" section. I think it could get a better spot, in a more "swifty" place of the page.
- the top 100 albums and top 100 reviewers are back to having scrolls. I personally like the idea of showing about 50 of the 100 prolific reviews, and definitely thought showing all the 100 top albums was great. With these changes, the lists make an abrupt end, plus, at the length of the recent reviews, the right side becomes empty after the two lists are over.
Sorry if it sounds like I'm not pleased with neither of the changes (perhaps I'm not ), but I thought they were too striking. Even bit disarranged.
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Replies:
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: December 05 2007 at 13:02
Thank you Ricochet for saying what I was thinking. It's sad to see the Reviews relegated to the bottom when they are far and away the most important part of the database (in my biased opinion as a PR of course). But seriously I think most people who find the site are seaching for reviews for potential albums they want to buy. Thats how I got here.
I hope your comments are agreed with by the masses.
Thanks Rico, heading back underground now....
------------- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sQD8uhpWXCw" rel="nofollow - It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...Road Rage Edition
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 05 2007 at 14:03
Keep the feedback comeing, I'll make sure mailto:M@x - M@x sees it.
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: December 05 2007 at 14:11
Yes, more feedback is good, these changes could be good, just not in "this" arrangement.
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Posted By: The T
Date Posted: December 05 2007 at 14:43
I don't understand. This, i used to think, is NOT A BLOG. Now blogs and other stuff are the most important part while reviews are relegated to bottom of the page, with no paragraph breaks?
I hope this gets corrected. THIS, and not the addition of a band, is what could make this site look less serious.
 (I don't agree. I know there may be a reason. I just give my opinion).
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Posted By: Seyo
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 05:37
Ricochet wrote:
I haven't seen a new thread opened to discussed the recent changes on the front page, so here goes.
I pretty much think something doesn't fit the page with these new pages. Here are my thoughts:
- the "most recent 10 reviews" should stay on top of everything. Thinking like someone who's new to the site or just visits the front page, I'd definitely want to see the reviews that are made.
- by the above point, videos should follow the reviews (like they dad) and last should be the blogs.
- about the blogs, mind that they're not made on a daily basis. things could get stuck at these three recent ones for a long time, before any new blog is created. I know showing some of the blog materials would encourage more to be written, still...
- there's an advertisment between the most popular album and the "forum new topics" section. I think it could get a better spot, in a more "swifty" place of the page.
- the top 100 albums and top 100 reviewers are back to having scrolls. I personally like the idea of showing about 50 of the 100 prolific reviews, and definitely thought showing all the 100 top albums was great. With these changes, the lists make an abrupt end, plus, at the length of the recent reviews, the right side becomes empty after the two lists are over.
Sorry if it sounds like I'm not pleased with neither of the changes (perhaps I'm not ), but I thought they were too striking. Even bit disarranged.
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I agree with Rico!
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Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 06:20
This was also discussed in another thread, I remember ... Rico's thoughts are worth to consider
The content order of the left frame should be
About Progarchives.com Latest Progressive Rock Music Reviews Latest 50 Free Mp3 Download (stream) Latest 3 BLOG/Journals Posts Latest 3 Progressive Rock Videos
It's my personal view of course, but I think the reviews are most important for the visitors BTW - the Blog section is a nice new feature ... 
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 09:37
Ugh...maybe the changes are too dramatic for me, but I just saw the add of the reviewer's avatar along his review. It still doesn't look good. May I also suggest that we don't use avatars, but try to encourage a personal picture (think of "real" magazine, newspapers or review published notes, where the reviewer usually appears, in a little picture frame)? If not, remove the idea at all, the first lines of the review get squeezed anyway between the picture and the album's cover.
BTW, if M@X added this change, how come he didn't noticed the problem with the paragraphs and the gaps...and fix it? 
-------------
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Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 09:46
I think the content is good, but the order is not.
Reviews
Blog (which I agree isn't really a blog, so calling it a journal would be better I think)
Videos (which are often deleted from YouTube while still having links in PA. See the Savatage page)
------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want!
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Posted By: ZowieZiggy
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 10:40
I FULLY agree with Ricochet on ALL his remarks. I won't repeat them here, only want to reinforce his opinion which is mine as well.
Hope this will get re-arranged soon.
Regards,
Daniel.
------------- ZowieZiggy
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 10:52
mailto:M@x - M@x is reviewing things..
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Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 11:34
Seyo wrote:
Ricochet wrote:
I haven't seen a new thread opened to discussed the recent changes on the front page, so here goes.
I pretty much think something doesn't fit the page with these new pages. Here are my thoughts:
- the "most recent 10 reviews" should stay on top of everything. Thinking like someone who's new to the site or just visits the front page, I'd definitely want to see the reviews that are made.
- by the above point, videos should follow the reviews (like they dad) and last should be the blogs.
- about the blogs, mind that they're not made on a daily basis. things could get stuck at these three recent ones for a long time, before any new blog is created. I know showing some of the blog materials would encourage more to be written, still...
- there's an advertisment between the most popular album and the "forum new topics" section. I think it could get a better spot, in a more "swifty" place of the page.
- the top 100 albums and top 100 reviewers are back to having scrolls. I personally like the idea of showing about 50 of the 100 prolific reviews, and definitely thought showing all the 100 top albums was great. With these changes, the lists make an abrupt end, plus, at the length of the recent reviews, the right side becomes empty after the two lists are over.
Sorry if it sounds like I'm not pleased with neither of the changes (perhaps I'm not ), but I thought they were too striking. Even bit disarranged.
|
I agree with Rico! |
me three, and especially on the first two points 
------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword
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Posted By: Seyo
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 12:54
Another one here... the reviews at the home page are not nicely displayed, the paragraphs in text are missing, so it is not nice for reading. The text on the individual review page and on the band page are good though...!
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Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 13:04
I have enjoyed all the changes made on this site except for the latest changes to the home page. I don't think blogs should be given so much attention, even if they are very intelligent and well written.
I really miss seeing the album reviews up front with the nice album pictures.
One of the things that attracted me to this site was the neatness and nice presentation of the album pictures.
There are other progressive sites that are probably closer to my definition of progressive rock, but I have stuck with this site because of the professional lay-out.
I still plan to stay with PA, but please bring back that nice professional look and put the album reviews on top again.
Thanks
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Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 14:08
I've got nothing to add. Rico hit just about everything, and Seyo brought up the paragraph problem. I'll just voice my agreement that something needs to be done.
------------- a.k.a. H.T.
http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com
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Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 16:15
I just noticed the album pics on the album pages are stretched now to 300 pixel. Not a good idea because most of the pics have only 200x 200px and therefore lose quality if they are displayed in this way ... 
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

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Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 16:41
Great - you did it 
The order on the start page has changed ...
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 17:12
Looks like the bolds etc are back too, but the paragraphs are yet to be fixed.
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Posted By: Atkingani
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 17:56
The front page shows now a fine order with the streaming and reviews in the top... just the way I like (and probably a high percentage of members here).
------------- Guigo
~~~~~~
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Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 18:05
Yes Guigo - looks good - typography also changed because of the use of another font for the headlines - much better 
But once more - the pics on the album pages are not displayed well stretched to 300px
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

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Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 18:09
I agree with most of what Rico and others have brought up here - and most of it seems to be fixed by now. However, may I suggest removing the avatars in front of the Blog entries as well ?
------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected]
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Posted By: erik neuteboom
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 18:10
The Doors on the top of the Prog Archives homepage, what else do you want  ?!
So thanks 
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Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 18:45
Easy Livin wrote:
Looks like the bolds etc are back too, but the paragraphs are yet to be fixed. |
Indeed - my nicely formatted review looks quite corrupted at the top of the main page right now.... 
------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected]
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Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: December 06 2007 at 18:59
Many thanks to Admin for the response on this, and for their efforts in general.
 
------------- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sQD8uhpWXCw" rel="nofollow - It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...Road Rage Edition
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 07 2007 at 03:29
Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: December 07 2007 at 06:12
Rivertree wrote:
I just noticed the album pics on the album pages are stretched now to 300 pixel. Not a good idea because most of the pics have only 200x 200px and therefore lose quality if they are displayed in this way ... 
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This is still existing and not a good solution ...
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

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Posted By: Seyo
Date Posted: December 07 2007 at 07:54
Rivertree wrote:
Rivertree wrote:
I just noticed the album pics on the album pages are stretched now to 300 pixel. Not a good idea because most of the pics have only 200x 200px and therefore lose quality if they are displayed in this way ... 
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This is still existing and not a good solution ...
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I agree that album pics should be all the same, if resolution is not high for every one, then better go for lower resolution so the pic would look nicer.
Bot the home page is now much better...
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Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: December 07 2007 at 10:31
Album covers are now automatically resized to 300 x 300. It doesn't look good when the original picture had smaller size, like http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3508 - here , though.
------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent."
Charles Bukowski
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Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: December 07 2007 at 10:34
Easy Livin wrote:
All OK again now? |
Everything seems fine now  Paragraphs back again and reviews on top
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Posted By: The T
Date Posted: December 07 2007 at 22:24
Everything is back where it belongs!
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Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: December 10 2007 at 11:50
A suggestion made by -r-y-i-n-c- on Progressive Ears (in a thread about PA):
I had that happen to me as well, but fortunately I closed the window immediately, and nothing bad has happened. I
agree that PA is an invaluable tool for research into prog. The rating
system is very valuable for choosing a particular album to get started
with for a given artist, or which album to go to next. Recently,
the layout has changed slightly, and while I think the integration of
eBay listings and streaming songs is great, I find in annoying to have
to scroll through all of that to get to the ratings and reviews. The
eBay listings should be after the reviews, and the streaming songs
window could be shrunk to a tenth of its current size. These are minor quibbles tho, and PA will continue to be a much-used site for me.
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He asked me to post it here, so I did.
------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected]
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Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: December 10 2007 at 11:55
Angelo wrote:
A suggestion made by -r-y-i-n-c- on Progressive Ears (in a thread about PA):
I had that happen to me as well, but fortunately I closed the window immediately, and nothing bad has happened.
I agree that PA is an invaluable tool for research into prog. The rating system is very valuable for choosing a particular album to get started with for a given artist, or which album to go to next.
Recently, the layout has changed slightly, and while I think the integration of eBay listings and streaming songs is great, I find in annoying to have to scroll through all of that to get to the ratings and reviews. The eBay listings should be after the reviews, and the streaming songs window could be shrunk to a tenth of its current size.
These are minor quibbles tho, and PA will continue to be a much-used site for me.
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He asked me to post it here, so I did.
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I agree with this!
------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on!
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Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: December 10 2007 at 12:01
^ agreed! Shrinking both songs window and the Ebay window would be beneficial
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Posted By: Rivertree
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 13:43
Hey - nice changes to the reviews section of the album pages 
Album pics are still stretched to 300x300 
------------- https://awesomeprog.com/users/Rivertree" rel="nofollow">

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Posted By: Queen By-Tor
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 15:54
I may be out of line here (hopefully not), but what happened to the non-reviewer reviews on the album pages? Sure, you can click to see the rest, but I really don't like the way they're displayed (having the reviewer's avatar in there is nice, though.), not to mention that FireFox seems to bug out and not display everything.
I liked the way it was set up before and didn't see any problem with it. I put a lot of thought and time into my reviews, I'm sure other non-collaborators feel the same. Why then exclude us from the album's page? I can see where someone likely is not going to read any of the guest reviews on CTTE or Selling England, they have enough already. But what about the albums that only have one or two written reviews to them, and those are done by guests? Any album that has less than 100 reviews is one that I'll likely check out everyone's opinions on.
In short, please reconsider this change, or at least make it better for those of us who are not collaborators. This was kind of a kick in the balls.
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 16:03
If there are only a few reviews of an album, they do all still appear. The objective is to find a balance between showing the reviews in the best way we can, while addressing people's complains about being presented with 300+ reviews on one page.
mailto:M@x - M@x will take account of the feedback here of course so keep the comments coming. On the plus side for non collaborators, their reviews are now given equal precedence on the all reviews pages.
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Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 21:26
I don't like the new layout in the albums' pages concerning reviews... Although it's nice to see the collabs reviews on the left hand side, the reviews of members have been shrunk on the right side, and someone needs to follow the permanent link in order to read them in full. Also, IMO it is easier to read something horizontally rather than vertically, thus, I don't feel this layout is convenient for the reader. I definitely prefer the old way, as you were able to read every review scrolling down, and the line was already there between collabs and members.

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Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 21:57
I'm going to second the above opinion, things just look a bit messy now. Anyway, I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into this and the willingness to hear out all the various opinions.
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Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:24
aapatsos wrote:
I don't like the new layout in the albums' pages concerning reviews... Although it's nice to see the collabs reviews on the left hand side, the reviews of members have been shrunk on the right side, and someone needs to follow the permanent link in order to read them in full. Also, IMO it is easier to read something horizontally rather than vertically, thus, I don't feel this layout is convenient for the reader. I definitely prefer the old way, as you were able to read every review scrolling down, and the line was already there between collabs and members.

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I agree with every point here.
I'm particularly offended by the fact that only colab reviews appear on the main album page; it's as though the archives are saying "here's the legitimate reviews. If you REALLY wanna read the OTHER reviews, you can, but they're not worthy of the album's page." If you're trying to get people to submit reviews, you should be respectful to the reviews of those who haven't already submitted dozens and dozens of reviews.
-------------

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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:32
rileydog22 wrote:
aapatsos wrote:
I don't like the new layout in the albums' pages concerning reviews... Although
it's nice to see the collabs reviews on the left hand side, the reviews
of members have been shrunk on the right side, and someone needs to
follow the permanent link in order to read them in full. Also, IMO it
is easier to read something horizontally rather than vertically, thus, I don't feel this layout is convenient for the reader. I definitely prefer the old way, as you were able to read every review scrolling down, and the line was already there between collabs and members.

|
I agree with every point here.
I'm
particularly offended by the fact that only colab reviews appear on the
main album page; it's as though the archives are saying "here's the
legitimate reviews. If you REALLY wanna read the OTHER reviews,
you can, but they're not worthy of the album's page." If you're
trying to get people to submit reviews, you should be respectful to the
reviews of those who haven't already submitted dozens and dozens of
reviews.
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ehhhh....I think you can look at it from the flip side as
well..... Prog Reviewer's are chosen for their ability to review
albums.. and for excellence in that. Would it not stand to reason
to spotight them. Hell... .I've asked that they be the only ones'
displayed on the main page. Anyone who isn't happy... should work
to see that they DO make it to Prog Reviewer.. They make anyone a
Prog Reviewer here.. you just have to want it.. and simply write good
insightful reviews. Call it ...incentive. The other reviews
are still there.... you can see them as an slight or
insult... but recognize that the site isn't in the business of
putting people down.. but raising people up. Difference in
perception I guess.
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:35
The site already recognized PR's and collaborators reviews by listing them first. These people were already raised above the rest. All the archives did by moving other reviews off of the album page was put those reviews down, not raise anybody up.
-------------

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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:37
rileydog22 wrote:
The site already recognized PR's and collaborators
reviews by listing them first. These people were already raised
above the rest. All the archives did by moving other reviews off
of the album page was put those reviews down, not raise anybody
up.
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gotta have room for all the f**king ads I guess.... you all should have spoke up when we were discussing it I suppose 
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Posted By: Chris H
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:42
I like it...
Thats about it I guess.
------------- Beauty will save the world.
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Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:48
Of course you like it; your reviews are actually visible!
-------------

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Posted By: Chris H
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:49
True.
------------- Beauty will save the world.
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Posted By: Fight Club
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:50
rileydog22 wrote:
Of course you like it; your reviews are actually visible!
|
Now for us non-prog reviewers, people actually have to go out of there way to see our reviews now 
-------------
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:54
Fight Club wrote:
rileydog22 wrote:
Of course you like it; your reviews are actually visible!
|
Now for us non-prog reviewers, people actually have to go out of there way to see our reviews now 
|
let M@X know you don't think it is right or fair ... he'll listen
I"m sure and either fix it.. or anwer your concerns directly...
he can afford to piss us collabs off because he has us by the balls and
are completely whipped... but you all... hmmm
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
|
Posted By: Fight Club
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:58
micky wrote:
Fight Club wrote:
rileydog22 wrote:
Of course you like it; your reviews are actually visible!
|
Now for us non-prog reviewers, people actually have to go out of there way to see our reviews now 
|
let M@X know you don't think it is right or fair ... he'll listen
I"m sure and either fix it.. or anwer your concerns directly...
he can afford to piss us collabs off because he has us by the balls and
are completely whipped... but you all... hmmm |
Eh, honestly I don't really care. I'll let the people who actually do care duke it out.
-------------
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Posted By: Chris H
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 22:59
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:02
Fight Club wrote:
micky wrote:
Fight Club wrote:
rileydog22 wrote:
Of course you like it; your reviews are actually visible!
|
Now for us non-prog reviewers, people actually have to go out of there way to see our reviews now 
|
let M@X know you don't think it is right or fair ... he'll listen
I"m sure and either fix it.. or anwer your concerns directly...
he can afford to piss us collabs off because he has us by the balls and
are completely whipped... but you all... hmmm |
Eh, honestly I don't really care. I'll let the people who actually do care duke it out.
|
either do I.. I personally like it..... then again... like most... I'm
smart enough to read ALL the reviews if I'm curious about an album...
and that means one more mouse click to access them all... then man
alive.. I think I can do that 
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
|
Posted By: Fight Club
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:03
micky wrote:
Fight Club wrote:
micky wrote:
Fight Club wrote:
rileydog22 wrote:
Of course you like it; your reviews are actually visible!
|
Now for us non-prog reviewers, people actually have to go out of there way to see our reviews now 
|
let M@X know you don't think it is right or fair ... he'll listen
I"m sure and either fix it.. or anwer your concerns directly...
he can afford to piss us collabs off because he has us by the balls and
are completely whipped... but you all... hmmm |
Eh, honestly I don't really care. I'll let the people who actually do care duke it out.
|
either do I.. I personally like it..... then again... like most... I'm
smart enough to read ALL the reviews if I'm curious about an album...
and that means one more mouse click to access them all... then man
alive.. I think I can do that 
|
Same for me.
-------------
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Posted By: moreitsythanyou
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:14
This doesn't seem right. The old model was much better. It was less cramped and more importantly it didn't obscure all non-reviews. Not a good update at all.
-------------
<font color=white>butts, lol[/COLOR]
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Posted By: Chris H
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:15
I feel like it takes fanboy and hate reviews out of the question though, that's what like about it.
------------- Beauty will save the world.
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:19
Zappa88 wrote:
I feel like it takes fanboy and hate reviews out of the question though, that's what like about it. |
I wouldn't go that far.... collabs are no better in their prejudices in
being fans or hating the sh*t out of something... .they just (in
general) do a better job expressing it. 
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
|
Posted By: moreitsythanyou
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:20
Micky's right. And it still looks really cluttered. It needs spacing out. The old model was perfect.
-------------
<font color=white>butts, lol[/COLOR]
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Posted By: Chris H
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:21
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:24
Posted By: Chris H
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:27
Oh phillipe, you crack me up.
------------- Beauty will save the world.
|
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 11 2007 at 23:30
Zappa88 wrote:
Oh phillipe, you crack me up. |

*micky genuflects*
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
|
Posted By: ShW1
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 03:42
King By-Tor wrote:
In short, please reconsider this change, or at least make it better for those of us who are not collaborators. This was kind of a kick in the balls.
|
I have to agree with you just 99% because I've got no balls. If i had, it would be 100%.
 . and as i wrote in the other thread, its insulting.
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Posted By: ShW1
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 04:05
As i wrote in another thread:
This new design is INSULTING, and it makes unjustify segregation between 'Collaborators\Experts', to 'Members' (i use the terms in the headers). Am i the only person who feel that way?
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 04:15
My only grumble about the album review page layout is that it's a bit thin and doesn't use the full width of the screen. The content area is now very thin (760px?) - which when split into two makes the members reviews column extremely narrow. Also there is niow a redundant grey side panel on the right-hand edge (do I sense the return of the discography side-bar? )
------------- What?
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Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 04:23
As a longtime collaborator to this site, I believe the complaints of non-collab reviewers are very much justified. Not everyone has the time or energy to produce the number of reviews to become a PR, but they have the right to have some recognition for their work. Taking those non-collab reviews away from the album page was not very nice at all, in my humble opinion.
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Posted By: Seyo
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 04:23
Tuzvihar wrote:
Album covers are now automatically resized to 300 x 300. It doesn't look good when the original picture had smaller size, like http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3508 - here , though.
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True! Cover image is still too stretched and looks awful!
Image resolution should be adjusted to fit all album covers (and band photos too) in the same way and 200x200 worked just fine...
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 04:55
I saw the new scheme of reviews, it does indeed have a deep downside..
The difference, or the cut, between Collaborator Reviewers and "Normal" Reviewers could be less emphasized; after all, we did made already a difference when, in the algorithms, SC/PR reviews are counted as 10 points to the rate, NR as 3 and rates as 1. I think that the normal arrangement from before, not this two columns new one, is fine as it is. There's enough space for reviews, plus the grouping of those reviews made by SC/PR and those made by "NR" doesn't damage.
One more thing I noticed is that those reviews made by senior members or guest members are shortened to a few lines, after which a (read more) button comprises the rest of the review. Not cool!
In conclusion, seems like this new change also doesn't really please. I know M@X is doing a good hard work into this maintainance/changes, but perhaps he could open up a thread of suggestions. 
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 10:13
There is a current new suggestions thread Rico. This is the right place for comments on the new layout. Keep them coming.
When commenting on the restricted initial view of non-collab reviews, please consider the complaint we get a lot that there are too many reviews shown for popular albums all at once. Is there a better way to address that then?
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Posted By: Ricochet
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 10:29
Easy Livin wrote:
There is a current new suggestions thread Rico. This is the right place for comments on the new layout. Keep them coming.
When commenting on the restricted initial view of non-collab reviews, please consider the complaint we get a lot that there are too many reviews shown for popular albums all at once. Is there a better way to address that then? |
Well, the complaint doesn't influence the whole picture of non-collab reviews, in my opinion. Whether too many reviews for popular albums are made or two many reviews for popular albums are shown, not a significant difference. The old layout for those popular albums went pretty normal, in my opinion, all the collab reviews were nested first, then the (usually much longer) list of reviews and the "gruesome" list of rates ( ) followed. Right now, those albums still have an endless list of reviews, only put in two columns (and the one of non-collab reviews will still be longer, pushing down the page, than those of collaborators).
Anyhow, this issue doesn't address the problem of cutting non-collab reviews to a mere five lines, while the collab reviews are fully posted (and those of long paragraphs, like mine, really look squeezed). What happens to an "unpopular album", that's been reviewed only by a non-collab member, and it looks, exagerrately put, like that:
"This album is a great achievement and a great discovery. (read more)"
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Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 13:53
^ as I have stated before, I disagree with the new layout and agree with Rico on many things. The paragraphs indeed look squeezed, and the non-collab reviews seem like a ''joke'' (excuse the hard word). The line in the middle also looks bad aesthetically, not only in terms of separating collabs with members.
The old layout was perfect, you could even see the list of ratings and short reviews...
Easy Livin wrote:
Is there a better way to address that then? |
I believe that with the new layout the problem is not solved, if this was the purpose of the change.
What could be done is to keep the old layout, and after a representative number of reviews (i.e. 30, you decide for that) for this popular album, put a 'read more reviews' tag.
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 15:31
... which 30 would you propose, the latest, the first 30, the longest 30, etc.?
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Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 15:41
I had no problem whatsoever with the old layout. I don't see any problem in listing 10 collab reviews and 90 non-collab reviews on the same page. Even if you believe that there should not be that many reviews on one page, it's absolutely silly to move the 90 non-collab reviews onto their own page and say that the problem is solved.
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 13 2007 at 20:35
either do I. I like the way it was before.. we have an old saying in the south...
if it ain't broke Bubba... don't fix 'er
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 21:02
1. Displaying only the first 300 characters of member reviews is not going to encourage anyone to write long reviews. The only reward for writing a review is to have it 'published' on the album page - now we are effectively saying "don't bother writing more than 50 words because no one will see them."
2. Where there are no Collab/Expert reviews and only member reviews - the page looks really bad: http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=16727 - http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=16727 .
3. In the cases like above where there are only member reviews for an album the rating calculation for that album ought be treated as if they were Collab reviews, otherwise we are unfairly penalising an album just because a Collab hasn't reviewed it.
------------- What?
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 21:06
one thing... I think would be nice.. .and I do miss it.... is the ability to search by poster... some people are sharp as tacks.. and smarter than hell. Would be nice to know what they have to say during the day.. or even to know when someone has something to say to you. Can't recall how many times I've seen answers or posts to me ...weeks later since I had moved on from a thread. I know it was removed for performance resason... but still.... would be nice.
------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 14 2007 at 21:20
^ erm, that feature isn't disabled - it still works.
However, I am a little curious as to why the search of the text BODY was removed. I wouldn't have thought that even with 100 members online at any one time no more than two or three of us would be searching simultaneously. The main PA Search function that searches all bios, reviews and forum posts doesn't appear to be sluggish ... it managed to find the post I made about The Dream Academy in the "Intelligent New Wave" thread in 0.23 seconds..
------------- What?
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 05:01
The forum body body had to be removed because of the volume of text the forum now contains. That search runs on our own server. Such searches were constantly timing out.
The main search function is powered by Google, who have far more sophisticated ways of supporting searching.
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Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: December 15 2007 at 21:14
Easy Livin wrote:
... which 30 would you propose, the latest, the first 30, the longest 30, etc.? | Sorry for taking such time to reply, but I was actually put in thoughts by your response; a logical question. I would suggest putting the latest 30 reviews on, i.e. 20 latest collab reviews and 10 latest member reviews. Usually the collabs write more 'comprehensive' reviews, thus, this would be a fair sorting out. This could be implemented for albums having too many reviews.
However, despite the vast number of reviews of some albums, I would not mind scrolling down the page to see all 300 reviews of SEBTP (anyway, the number of reviews actually read are significantly less).
Hope this helps, at least I tried... 
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Posted By: ghost_of_morphy
Date Posted: December 18 2007 at 13:37
After thinking about this a while, I have to agree that the change to the reviews is just an awful, awful decision. If the goal here is to get people interested in participating and reviewing albums, the new design is a BIG step backwards. As the design also hides a lot of information in the interest of looking pretty, it also a big step backwards for those looking to use the page as a resource.
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Posted By: ghost_of_morphy
Date Posted: December 18 2007 at 13:38
Easy Livin wrote:
... which 30 would you propose, the latest, the first 30, the longest 30, etc.? | Any such limit would be detrimental to getting more people to contribute.
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: December 18 2007 at 14:41
I've reported the feedback on the layout changes to mailto:M@x - M@x .
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