First of all i would like to say sorry about the huge delay in v2 being released. However, i always say that everything happens for a reason and in this case, it has proven very true! I had RSI in my hands for about 18 months now, however, it's 99% gone and i can type again with only the odd knuckle going sore (in which i now know the correct stretch to fix it so i can resume typing 5 minutes later). Gym and a change of diet and posture has helped a lot in this recovering process.
During the past 18 months, i have built 4 complex cms sites and i am glad i didn't develop CoderProfile v2 during that time. I have learnt just how important it is to keep the focus on the problem the website is solving and just how important the "KISS" concept is (keep it simple stupid). Even adding a border and a background colour around something makes a website complex design wise, and prevents your eye from seeing what is really important. I am working on TAGBTheory.com and it is never more evident! The site has a VERY specific goal, and a specific audience, resulting in a very slick interface and easy to promote messages when it comes to marketing. I started to lose track of these things in CP until now.
The next step is to simplify it, features, design, logo, everything... This means i will be replacing this forum with a threaded based, very simplistic forum instead... removing custom emoticons... and focusing more time on features that matter.
I have also added a premium upgrade option which is currently priced at £24.95 per year (not monthly). This will then give members the ability to earn 90% (at the time of writing this) of the ad revenue on their profile meaning coders that upgrade can earn more than the cost of the upgrade back via ad revenue! It also will allow you to follow more coders, and get access to upgrade only applications (such as the ability to add photo albums, calender, etc on your profile). Having such a source of income for the site would guarantee it's survival and updates.
So what next?
I am going to create a branch of CP... remove almost everything except the essentials (register, login, session handling, etc)... then add the new simplistic design style, etc... then add each of the old features one by one but i will refactor strip out rubbish like the custom emoticons and loads of complexities in regards to the profile setups, etc. Then i will focus on adding purely on what is needed such as the source codes application!
I aim to get this finished around XMas time, but, as usual, no guarantees on that. The main point is, this project will be finished... it could be this year, it could be next year... but when v2 does get released... it will be well worth it!!! Trust me! After a month of testing i will then revive this site with investing in advertising again.
Apologies for losing track on this... sometimes your a victim of your own skills and yes, it is depressing when you realise how wrong you have been and how much time you have waisted coding things you didn't need! But, it's one big learning curve
Ha, glad to hear you're still learning (arent' we all)!
Hope V2 goes well and I'm excited to see what you have in store deisgn wise, should be in interesting.
Hopefully the forum will pick back up too, we had a nice little community here for a while. I'm sure once you start investing in advertising the cobwebs will brush off.
I think i may just start coderprofile v2 from a fresh install, and move this v1 site to a subdomain for those who want to manually restore stuff to their new profile.
It would really delay things if i have to write code to convert everything over and have restraints from this legacy code.
What'd you think? The new forum only constists of 3 pages! Overview, view topic, new topic. That's how much simpler everything is going to be.
Aye, sometimes getting a fresh start is the best way.
I always seem to do this when I leave a project for a bit, come back to it and then shudder looking through the code. You don't realise how much you've learnt until you look back at your old code.
The code itself is ok... it's the usability and interface that isn't. It takes way to long to create pages because of all the design stuff. Look at the new simpler designs:
It's important to keep things simple, but don't make them too simple. I don't think a forum with no specific boards (e.g. general, computers, java) will work for several reasons, for instance, a c++ coder would probably want to read posts about c++, not visual basic, not php, not java, not python, not about gaming, not graphics design, not planning websites, not... Of course, he or she might be interested in several of those, but you should probably not assume someone wants to read all the things (including stuff you have no interest in)
Don't get me wrong, simplification is great but things can't be too simple. Some things hou could simplify however is the post reply thing on the site, have only a few basic formatting options (bold, italic...), support for links, probably basic attachements, simple lists, and code
It is also important to consider the purpose of everything and focus on that, what are the forums good for? Mainly two things, just chilling out and getting help, make sure both are easy. Make it easy to find answers (good search) to support the second better and add some kind of system that will make people eager to help others (upvote post, upvote and downvote can generally make people improve the quality of what they post).
Simplify source codes, simplify the rating system, let people omit technical information if such is not needed etc. but please don't go too far here.
Just my 0.02...
EDIT: just saw your screenshots, looks good, I misinterpreted you about the forums...
It's important to keep things simple, but don't make them too simple. I don't think a forum with no specific boards (e.g. general, computers, java) will work for several reasons, for instance, a c++ coder would probably want to read posts about c++, not visual basic, not php, not java, not python, not about gaming, not graphics design, not planning websites, not... Of course, he or she might be interested in several of those, but you should probably not assume someone wants to read all the things (including stuff you have no interest in)
I agree, but instead of having board like categories that require loads of scrolling... and instead of having to go to a seperate page for the recent topics / recently posted in.... instead merge the two! See the screenshots in my previous post. The categorise are done like "tags".
Don't get me wrong, simplification is great but things can't be too simple. Some things hou could simplify however is the post reply thing on the site, have only a few basic formatting options (bold, italic...), support for links, probably basic attachements, simple lists, and code
Have done... removed images (sorry, but there are loads of internal problems with them), font size, font colour and background colour. basic tags like url, bold, italic, heading, underline, code, quote and strike through are allowed. Since articles and forum posts require them. For example, adding background colour and font colour makes it difficult with the regex in the tinymce editor because the editor merges them into a single span tag. Even when i set options that tell it not to it just ignores it!
It is also important to consider the purpose of everything and focus on that, what are the forums good for? Mainly two things, just chilling out and getting help, make sure both are easy. Make it easy to find answers (good search) to support the second better and add some kind of system that will make people eager to help others (upvote post, upvote and downvote can generally make people improve the quality of what they post).
That's where i wen't wrong... what are forums for is not the correct question to ask... the correct question to ask is what is the purpose of the site! While i believe the forum is a good choice here in order to get coders helping each other and getting to know other coders, something like a chat room seems good to start with, however, to many social things take the main focus off the profiles themselves and the chat room adds nothing to the growth of the site. The chat room would produce useless log files, use loads of resources, and need to be moderated constantly. Forums however, are perfect for search engines and are structured. Plus, chat rooms are better suited towards IRC not coderprofile.com. I never built coderprofile to be a chat room. I actually built a quick chat room at codersocial.com ;)
See the trade offs? Getting the purpose of the section correct (chat app, forum, etc) is one thing... but then deciding if a site really needs it is much harder and often overlooked (i believe feature creep is what the software devs call it).
Simplify source codes, simplify the rating system, let people omit technical information if such is not needed etc. but please don't go too far here.
This has been a main focus on v2... there is a whole section on skills alone... you can add a description, make up your own skills, nest skills, set how long you have done it for, etc...
All ratings are set using stars now with one click.
I've solved other problems such as where do you respond to a comment on your profile? since there is no "reply" feature. Fixed using nested comments in v2, plus loads of other tweaks.
Just read your reply to my post, sounds very good, I wrote something but my session expired in the middle, but I had my post saved in the clipboard. Good job and (still after all this time) looking forward to it!
My original post:
"Some thoughts about a few specific screenshots:
1.png: The 3 lines of info (that with title, description, author...) is a bit too much, simplify it. At the place where you have stars, add the possibility to up and downvote threads to bury boring stuff and let the good stuff rise. Add postcounts near the users. I like linear forums, e.g. not replies to others etc. (quotes can be used, of course). A linear system works better for forums IMO, the system you use is great for comments however. I like th possibilityto up and downvote posts and would love to see it implemented. Simplify the formatting options in the posting system (fewer). Finally, include the forum category in the beadcrumbs near the top and maybe support tags in the forum.
2.png: Instead of having the pagination for active and recent topics, have a view more button. Also have a post topic button...? (I think you have just forgotten it ;))
3.png: I don't think I like the way you have "real" text at the top of the profile, there could be some basic facts and maybe an about me text where one can write such text if they want. awards could take up less space, and you should have some of the content the user has added to the site available at his page. Maybe the user should be able to add their own boxes of content?
4.png: Why is the sidebar on the right now? I like it more on the right but it is important that you stay consistent with it. Shorten (as in simplify) some labels, e.g. Profile Tweaks > Tweaks and Premium Account > Premium. "Storage units" aren't very clear to me, are they somehow limiting the amount of content you can have in your profile? Isn't that bad, people are contributing to the site after all by adding content. Also add a link (such as "what is this?") to explain it for those who have no idea.
5.png: The stars on the right doesn't seem right to me, they should be closer to the username if you want them there. Under each section there should be a link to that part of the site (e.g. under active forum threads a link to the forums)
Generally I think the design could use some more polish but conceptually very good (and I believe that is the phase it is at right now, so no worries)!
Also I think the navigation might be a bit unclear, it should stand out. It was also not visible on my 800px wide mobilephone without scrolling to the right. This might confuse first time visitors on low resolution screens. I also think reaching source codes, user groups, articles etc. might be inconvenient if you need to use the browse button (one extra click), but I also like it for its simplicity. Maybe make it show a submenu on hover containing the various parts of the site?
Simplify notifications, don't have any numbers, just a link, and if there is a new notification or pm have something that tell the user that they have it, but there is no need to tell them what they do not have. Also, there is probably no need to have your account name within parenthesis after "My Account". Remove "view" from "view my profile". Be clear and quickly get to the point, no "pretty" in "it's pretty easy to get started" in 4.png etc.
I think you should not have both profile activity and quality, remember KISS. Maybe have a reputation system that keeps more things than the profile in mind and don't use just stars, use some kind of point system because that is easier for making top lists and has no limit (you don't want to have several "best" users) and the stat whores (a huge portion of the users are that deeply inside) will like it.
Didn't want to sound negative so sorry if I did. It really does seem great but it lacks polish (which probably mostly is because the draft status)"
1.png: The 3 lines of info (that with title, description, author...) is a bit too much, simplify it. At the place where you have stars, add the possibility to up and downvote threads to bury boring stuff and let the good stuff rise. Add postcounts near the users. I like linear forums, e.g. not replies to others etc. (quotes can be used, of course). A linear system works better for forums IMO, the system you use is great for comments however. I like th possibilityto up and downvote posts and would love to see it implemented. Simplify the formatting options in the posting system (fewer). Finally, include the forum category in the beadcrumbs near the top and maybe support tags in the forum.
The description is actually a snippet from the topic itself, since descriptions on this forum never get used. Downvite etc is nice, but i don't think i have to integrate the forum with the profiles a little more. The idea for the forums are to have people helping each other... but at the same time your trying to recruit followers on your profile so showing profile quality etc i feel is a good thing. If someone needs help it should not be down to the community to bury it, plus, it is open to abuse like digg.com are having with their "power users". Also, it's something else they need to learn I always view forums myself by either viewing all topics in a category or viewing the last ones posted in. From the stats of this site, thats also what a lot of people do
2.png: Instead of having the pagination for active and recent topics, have a view more button. Also have a post topic button...? (I think you have just forgotten it ;))
yeah, will consider that... i thought ajax would be nice to start with but then i would need another page for search engines to find all the topics in.
3.png: I don't think I like the way you have "real" text at the top of the profile, there could be some basic facts and maybe an about me text where one can write such text if they want. awards could take up less space, and you should have some of the content the user has added to the site available at his page. Maybe the user should be able to add their own boxes of content?
Adding own boxes would be like the feature that failed on here... with adding own pages to your profiles. People didn't bother and those who did made terrible pages! It's always a risky move doing that. The top part of the profile is supposed to just give you a quick intro into the kind of person who is running the profile, but that may change to some basic stats since that would be easier for me no need to make my job harder! . I also agree about the awards might just show the ltest award or something... not sure yet. Might make the feed longer since that will include everything new and updated on the profile so would be of much more interest i think.
4.png: Why is the sidebar on the right now? I like it more on the right but it is important that you stay consistent with it. Shorten (as in simplify) some labels, e.g. Profile Tweaks > Tweaks and Premium Account > Premium.
The bar is on the right for the my account stuff... left side for viewing the profile. I had them on the same side but it confuses you believe it or not The premium heading will have more stuff under if for premium users only such as ad revenue sharing but only when you upgrade.
"Storage units" aren't very clear to me, are they somehow limiting the amount of content you can have in your profile? Isn't that bad, people are contributing to the site after all by adding content. Also add a link (such as "what is this?") to explain it for those who have no idea.
If you click "storage units" a box appears underneath it explaining it, just couldn't show that in the image Also, storage units become much clearer when you post say a source code. Basically one storage unit is used up for 1 source code, 1 article, 1 tutorial, etc... You will get loads... i mean like 500 or something... Basically it's to help stop crap profiles and forces people to tidy their profiles (to increase their quality score). Source codes for example is good usefull content so only uses 1 storage unit... if you add a photo album of you trip out to paris... then each picture you add costs 1 storage unit because it's not related to programming. It's also a way i can control people who abuse the system (by removing their units and it's a way i can reward people with something of value (hence if you want more, you need to upgrade). I've thought about this whole thing for about 2 years :P . If i can get this site earning even a small amount of money from upgrades, then it means i can hire people to work on developing this full time But please, feel free to disagree etc with any of it.
Also I think the navigation might be a bit unclear, it should stand out. It was also not visible on my 800px wide mobilephone without scrolling to the right. This might confuse first time visitors on low resolution screens. I also think reaching source codes, user groups, articles etc. might be inconvenient if you need to use the browse button (one extra click), but I also like it for its simplicity. Maybe make it show a submenu on hover containing the various parts of the site?
That's a very good point mate ;-D i might use the tabs from the previous design of v2 in this new design... i will try something anyway oh ignore browse, that's going! For now anyway. You will get notified of articles etc when you follow coders... which you should find in the forum and on coders blogs etc on blogger.com and so on... around the net basically.
Simplify notifications, don't have any numbers, just a link, and if there is a new notification or pm have something that tell the user that they have it, but there is no need to tell them what they do not have. Also, there is probably no need to have your account name within parenthesis after "My Account". Remove "view" from "view my profile". Be clear and quickly get to the point, no "pretty" in "it's pretty easy to get started" in 4.png etc.
Haha, just trying to give it some personality! Joking aside tho, it's only a mockup of the text. It will most likely change in the release. The notification system is pretty much the same as on here now. The account name in paranthesis is handy if you have multiple accounts. Having view in view my profile makes sense... having just my profile is misleading... would it mean "hide my profile", "edit my profile", "my profile settings"... what's "my profile"...
I think you should not have both profile activity and quality, remember KISS. Maybe have a reputation system that keeps more things than the profile in mind and don't use just stars, use some kind of point system because that is easier for making top lists and has no limit (you don't want to have several "best" users) and the stat whores (a huge portion of the users are that deeply inside) will like it.
Tried that with coder charts... sucks.. points you can't show nicely like a bunch of stars and who cares if someone is 1726th or 1678th? Stars easily and visually lets you judge and compair people. Quality score is based on the user reviews you get for you source codes etc. Profile health is based on things like when you last signed in, when you last got a new follower, when you last posted on your profile feed, etc... it basically indicates if the profile has been abandoned.
Didn't want to sound negative so sorry if I did. It really does seem great but it lacks polish (which probably mostly is because the draft status)"
True, very true. Though i've started to realise that the successfull sites have designs that suck! . Facebook for example, so as long as a design is "nice" and acceptable then it's the features that matter after than and how easy it is to use. Though i will tweak a few design things as your correct, it is in draft like the suggestion you made about your 800px display and the nav links.
Kind regards,
Scott
P.S. Also using lists of members is hard to do without looking like your site has no members, and actually making the list usefull and different each time. At first you think the list is all those... until a week later and you no longer bother to look at it! .
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Not enough time to do something productive I run out of ideas Too hard to show people my creations Everything i do has too many errors, and it's too hard I don't get bored!!!
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