PKMN.NET Forums

General Category => Updates => Topic started by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 15:24

Title: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 15:24
Main page update!

Yes, if you've just gotten to the site, you might have noticed a few changes. Aside from a slight layout update (one that probably won't stand out much to most), we have also updated our main page to use a new gadget-based system.

In the past, like many other Pokemon sites, our main page mostly contained news - both Pokémon news and site updates. That's not, however, what the site does best, and doesn't focus on other parts we feel people will want to learn about when they visit us. So we changed it.

From now on, the main page will contain a number of gadgets containing basic information. Furthermore, as long as you have an account here, you can customize the gadgets - which ones show up, in which order, and to an extent, the information they will show in there. From now on, you're in control. Well, as much as we are willing to allow you, but it's more than what you get in most places!

We're adding further gadgets in the future (having only a few right now... sorry) and allow for a few more customization option. If you have any ideas, let us know... and if you want to try your own hand at some PHP coding, get in touch for the basic API and relevant technical details.

Enjoy everyone!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Matty Cahill on April 25, 2011, 15:32
Oooh, nice work here. I like it more like this; plus there's a new link to the news section now anyways I've noticed. Good job guys!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Mulholland on April 25, 2011, 15:33
Oooh, nice work here. I like it more like this; plus there's a new link to the news section now anyways I've noticed. Good job guys!

All Joeno so far. Send all your thanks his way.

He's been working on this for the last few months and I am really proud of him :)
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Shaymin on April 25, 2011, 15:34
it's cool but IE doesn't like it on my computer :U
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Matty Cahill on April 25, 2011, 15:34
Well good job Jeroen then! =]
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 15:42
it's cool but IE doesn't like it on my computer :U

Which version of IE do you use?
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Shaymin on April 25, 2011, 15:43
Which version of IE do you use?

...i don't know ;n; it's definately not one of the newest ones >n>
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Danse Macabre ( 6,6) on April 25, 2011, 15:45
...i don't know ;n; it's definately not one of the newest ones >n>

Might be the issue.

I will report that IE9 can view it in all it's glory. Absolutely fantastic work Joeno (plus love your Mii).
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 15:52
...i don't know ;n; it's definately not one of the newest ones >n>

Just look for the 'About Internet Explorer' menu item in you rmenu bar.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 15:55
Nice design. I do like the changes.

Seem to be experiencing some problems with News blocks duplicating themselves, though. It seems to keep changing - is it still being worked on?

EDIT: Also, it seems that if I add a gadget then remove it, it disappears from the list entirely (rather than staying unchecked)
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: The Librarian on April 25, 2011, 15:57
It's quite nice. Just a having a little problem however. The Edit Gadget List bit only has Caption Contest. There were others there at first, but they've disappeared. And trying to disable Caption Contest produces:

Quote
A database error has occurred (#1064): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') AND member = 22439 AND gadget NOT IN (SELECT id FROM gadget WHERE disable_clos' at line 1
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 16:07
Seems like there were some issues testing did not uncover... they should be working better now.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 16:10
Seems like there were some issues testing did not uncover... they should be working better now.
Upon reading this, I check the main page to find:

"PKMN.NET is down as we perform some security sixes"

That made me chuckle. :)
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 16:13
Yeah, whatever.

Blame it on other admins, when asked to take a look & test, only going 'oooh' for five seconds. Don't have time to fix the text. I guess we might be back in an hour or so.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 16:27
That should be everything now actually working by now. Quite possibly not, we'll see how it goes, but it's been tested in more straining conditions now for sure. Like having more than one person use it.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 16:29
Nicely done - working well now. Is there a way to save block positions once they've been moved?

As for widget ideas - would it be possible to create some sort of theme-switcher?
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Mulholland on April 25, 2011, 16:30
Nicely done - working well now. Is there a way to save block positions once they've been moved?

As for widget ideas - would it be possible to create some sort of theme-switcher?

They should automatically be stuck in position for the next time you go to the main page ^^
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Webby on April 25, 2011, 16:37
Liking this update! Was a bit shocked when it first came up because it looked a little empty/different to me, but it looks a lot nicer now that I'm used to it and I like that we can choose what to display. I particularly like the "most recent PMs" gadget. I'll probably be visiting the main page a little more often rather than loading the forums straight away. Nice work Joeno! :D
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 16:40
They should automatically be stuck in position for the next time you go to the main page ^^

For some reason the position isn't saving for myself, it just reverts when I return to the page.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: The Librarian on April 25, 2011, 16:52
It's the same for me.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 16:56
I can't do anything without knowing what browser you use. From our perspective, you're not moving them at all, or the requests to update them are blocked.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 17:00
Using Firefox 4.0.1 here, tried disabling adblock and similar addons but it's made no difference.

The position appears to register when dragged and dropped, but it doesn't save when leaving the page.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: The Librarian on April 25, 2011, 17:02
I'm using Mozilla Firefox 4.0 if that's any help. Same problems as Equinox it seems.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 17:06
That's what I'm using.

Please note that I emptied the table a few times while fixing things, so if you haven't tried in a while, try again. I'll give it another go too...
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 17:14
Still nothing, I'm afraid. Using Windows 7, if that helps at all.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: The Librarian on April 25, 2011, 17:16
As above, still nothing. If knowing the OS helps, then I'm using XP.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Liam on April 25, 2011, 17:19
Wow, this is actually really cool. Well done and thank you Joeno. :]
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Specstile on April 25, 2011, 17:31
Looking nice, like the namerater thing
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Ledyba on April 25, 2011, 17:47
I say its bloody brilliant.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: f3raligatr on April 25, 2011, 19:01
As above, still nothing. If knowing the OS helps, then I'm using XP.

Using Firefox 4.0.1 here, tried disabling adblock and similar addons but it's made no difference.

The position appears to register when dragged and dropped, but it doesn't save when leaving the page.


Try a Hard Refresh. Control and F5.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: The Librarian on April 25, 2011, 19:09
Tried that a few times before. And just now anyway. No change. They don't seem to want to stay where I put them.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Kona on April 25, 2011, 19:13
My god this is awesome. If Java chat ever comes back, could that be an optional gadget?

Edit: Also, could you allow us to choose how many name ratings, PMs and Posts we want to see. I'm wanting to be able to keep news, pms, new posts and site news but have now scrolling. Thanks.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 19:31

Try a Hard Refresh. Control and F5.
Been doing that to no avail.

Have tried the same operation in Chrome too - still doesn't work.

Perhaps just implementing an extra 'save changes' button might help?
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 19:34
Not really, seems like it's specific requests getting blocked. You might be better off checking for firewall security settings or otherwise - either your browser isn't sending us the required data, or it's being stripped out somewhere else.

Forced refreshes won't change anything, nor will adding a 'save changes' button, the architecture doesn't allow it and it wouldn't make a difference here.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 19:42
Tried both browsers with the firewall off. Still nothing. I suspect this may be a problem with data not being sent, rather than it getting blocked.

EDIT: Also tried with IE8 - still not working. IE8's displaying a rather glitchy version of the boxes. Glad I don't use it.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 20:18
I only see you sending the data once (and that is a limited one). Are you sure you're giving it a bit of time after you move them? It may take some time to set up the connection before it is saved, it's not done straight away.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 20:31
I've just given it a good 5 minutes and have had no results. I'm seeing no active connection to the site evident on this end.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 20:34
That was frustratingly obscure. The order should be saved for everyone now.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: The Librarian on April 25, 2011, 20:38
It's working perfectly. Thank you Joeno!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Trainer Dave on April 25, 2011, 20:42
Nicely done - that makes a bug-free site homepage. Thanks!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Mulholland on April 25, 2011, 20:44
Yea for all the work and stress he's had this afternoon he's earnt the glass of wine he'll be getting in half an hour ^^
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 25, 2011, 20:45
Great! And aside from that, I'll now get back to Poketransferring. Got two Pokedexes to complete!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Lord Raven on April 25, 2011, 20:56
puk moving to widescreen support, this is good
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Latias Tamer on April 25, 2011, 21:19
I'm really liking the new layout. Just makes it much clearer for visitors as to what the site provides, and generally makes the site look more appealing. Brilliant work Jeroen!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: blake. on April 26, 2011, 00:45
good job on the update, looks very snazzy

just a suggestion for the customisation page: have a global save button, rather than one for each single option. if, for example, i change all the options at once, and then save one, the other options will be reset, so i have to go through them again. it doesn't really change to much, but would make the customisation more fluid.

also, an option not to display the news gadgets, as specifying 0 returns the default amount? i'm really not interested at all in pokemon news, so there isn't really a reason for me to have it. although, at the moment, there isn't a reason that i'd need the space or anything, because there are only so many gadgets

perhaps also a user-friendliness thing, show the maximum range for news items (1-10). i'm not sure many people would want anymore than that, but when you save it, it comes back blank and the default amount are shown. just a suggestion that could make the design flow more.

as i said, you've done a great job, and the site definitely feels more up-to-date. these are just some things that i noticed when i had a look at it.
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Ryan - The Pokeio on April 26, 2011, 02:38
I love it. It is amazing!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Dragonpika on April 26, 2011, 09:18
It looks great! =] really good work Jeroen~
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Danse Macabre ( 6,6) on April 26, 2011, 20:36
I can confirm that my smartphone's browser is able to view & use the main page perfectly well... the proof of great, solid design. Good job peeps!
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: blake. on April 30, 2011, 14:24
just thought of something that could be improved/added

the recent posts widget(?), would that be able to use the settings from the forum? for example, i have hidden all RP forum posts from showing up in recent posts at the bottom of the forum, could the same thing be applied to the front page?
Title: Re: NEW MAIN PAGE!
Post by: Joeno on April 30, 2011, 14:40
the recent posts widget(?), would that be able to use the settings from the forum? for example, i have hidden all RP forum posts from showing up in recent posts at the bottom of the forum, could the same thing be applied to the front page?

We can't modify that any more than what's visible now - it's some hefty database tables and the original version (which included just the forum and poster name) brought down our server in a few seconds. Joining in such settings would only make it make it worse.