WW Home Page
I really like the "Click here for What's New" feature! With the bright orange sun splash at the top and the colourful W2 Poll Widget down the left hand side it really brightens things up!
And even though we all "know" it, I think it's a good idea to spell out to first time visitors that "Registration is absolutely free and allows you to post to the forum. Thank you for visiting and welcome to www.wonderfulwaterloo.com"
Nice Spring Cleaning UrbanWaterloo!
A couple of comments re the "What's New" button.
1. The graphic's URL is http://www.uraniumcafe.com/images/whatsnew.gif which means it's served up by uraniumcafe.com, i.e. uses their server bandwidth. That's not good form on the web. Moreover they can easily tell who's using their bandwidth via the Referrer browser tag. I suggest you download the graphic and serve it off this site's hardware. (I'll leave the ethical issues of grabbing other people's stuff alone.)
2. Every time I click on the button it opens a new browser tab/window. I'd much prefer that it refreshes that tab/window if it's still open. That way regular users who like to have a tab/window open on the forum can click the button every time they want to refresh their forum view.
Could the button for the Forum be moved over next to home? It gets a bit lost up there.
Im going to ask users three questions and they're pretty vague/open ended so feel free to answer any/all that apply in relation to the home page
1) What works?
2) What doesnt work?
3) What do you want to see?
Thanks, although it's just the start of a revamped homepage.Originally Posted by Shawn
Agreed, although it was supposed to be just a quick temporary solution. I switched it to a basic image for now until we create something better.
Fixed. All [URL] code opens in a new window, so I've added a new [LINK] code which opens in the same window. For now they both use the same icon image (again just a quick temporary solution), but it's the icon to the far right beside the scribd button.
Done.
Thanks. What I had in mind is a bit different. I'd like to have two tabs open in my browser, one for WW Home page and the other on the What's New in the forum. I'd like that a click on What's New on the Home page refreshes the second tab, rather than open a new tab as it did. Admittedly that sort of feature may only interest a relatively small number of people who monitor the forum regularly (or in my case, way too much) Still, what you've done works fine for me so I'm happy.
My general impression of the Home page is that it's too "busy," especially for newcomers who may be overwhelmed by all the stuff in front of them. Should we perhaps have a much simpler Welcome page at http://www.wonderfulwaterloo.com/ perhaps with icons or thumbnails to each of the sections now on the Home page, along with a few one-line news items? Then perhaps a prominent link on the Welcome page that goes to the Home page. I'm just brainstorming here and trying to put myself in the place of a new visitor.
Another page that would be cool is portal that shows related blogs like http://www.tritag.ca/blog/ and http://psystenance.com/ along with an RSS-fed list of their newest 5 topics. Something along the lines of what iGoogle provides but without all the customization.
Perhaps this can be made a little less confusing. Note the text for the post about "The42 Newsletter..." shows what looks like a URL to the SCRIBD page. Is it feasible to change that to something more meaningful, e.g. "Imbedded PDF document" or some such?
From time-to-time, when I return to the WW home page from viewing new posts via "Click here for What's New," I get the following error. Clicking OK and refreshing the home page clears the pop-up, so to users it's more of an annoyance than a real problem. However it may also indicate an underlying software issue that should be addressed.
Just so everyone knows, the weather frame on the right had side of the FORUM page can be shrunken just by clicking the two little arrows, it'll slide off to the side then.
This shows weather for K-W (weatheroffice.gc.ca/forecast/city_e.html?ON-82&unit=m) but when I add the gadget to my iGoogle portal it shows Toronto (weatheroffice.gc.ca/forecast/city_e.html?ON-143&unit=m).
I see that there's an iGoogle setting for Location. It shows Toronto. However, when I try to override it with my postal code or with "Waterloo, ON" it reverts back to Toronto. Anyone know how I can get iGoogle to locate me in K-W? (Sorry if this is off- topic.)
The space beside the forums seems a bit crowded at the moment with the weather, latest threads, development map, and tag cloud. Do we really need the weather and development maps displayed on the main forum index? I realize that we can hide the boxes with the arrow, but it looks a little cluttered for a newcomer getting their first impressions.
Also, I'm not sure I fully understand how the "Tag Cloud" works. Does it scan the forums and list the most common words (with more common ones being in larger font)? If so, it only seems to be scanning one section of the forums (ex. I have a hard time believing that "gpm investments" is one of the most used phrases on the forum).
Last edited by Urbanomicon; 05-27-2010 at 12:20 PM.
"Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane."
+1
In addition I'm noticing that the home page takes a significantly longer time to load, now that this involves increasing amounts of gratuitous eye candy™ on the right side of the screen.
The Home Page is simply a work in progress. There's no way to test out features and gadgets unless I turn-on settings, which I've been doing to try things out. Some will stay, some will go, some will have their settings adjusted, some will be moved to other locations; it's a bit of trial and error. There's another setting in the forums themselves which I'd like to try out today or tomorrow before the meet-up so that way it can be discussed in person if it's a better format or not.
I agree the weather gadget doesn't need to be in two locations, this is just part of a test of the sidebar feature. Overall though I like this gadget as it gives a quick glance to know whether a day will be friendly for photography.
Stocks: The local stocks are something I like to track and feel it does relate strongly to city issues and development (ie. Open Text's strong financial performance is what's driving them to build phase two of their head office). I like the look and feel of the Yahoo Finance version, however it's downfall (at this time) is it only takes data from American Exchanges, so the prices quoted are in U.S. dollars and we can't follow most of our companies like Brick Beer (BRB: Toronto Stock Exchange). As such it's still a work in progress to find a more suitable gadget. Eventually I plan to have a Waterloo Composite Index. Now related to the sidebars, this is a gadget which eventually might only show up in the Economy Section.
Sports: same with like stocks, eventually I'd like to develop a gadget for local teams like the Kitchener Rangers, where they show up in the Sports section during the year, but perhaps during the playoffs then show up on the Home Page.
Formatting - Yes this is a known issue, two issues cause it: 1) I use a 22" monitor, which I do try to shrink the browser down to give an idea what the page would look like on a smaller screen but it's just not perfect ; 2) Photos/Videos are hosted on other sites at the moment, which doesn't allow the software to adjust their sizes based on the screen size.
iGoogle Weather Location: perhaps refresh your settings because I seem to find Kitchener-Waterloo and it works with no issues.
Tag Cloud Settings
Which is also why we're giving you feedback
Re the gadgets on the right side, the decision of which ones to include is highly subjective so I doubt you're going to get a consensus. Moreover sites like iGoogle are designed to let every user create and customize a portal to this sort of information to suit their needs. And now that every browser supports tabs it's even more convenient for those who want to, to dedicate a tab (or more) to this sort of stuff.
Perhaps if you want to create a page of "Waterloo Region at a Glance" it should be accessible using a dedicated tab right up there with Home, Forum, What's New?,...
Yes, in my opinion, less is more. Crisp and clean is best. No need for tons of bells and whistles
I don't see how the encyclopedia frames really fit in. Ya their topics are relevant, but is it really necessary? Im definitely one that doesn't like duplicates (recent forum posts - whats new and google calendar - WW calendar)
I think I'm maybe too much of a minimalist.
Last edited by Spokes; 05-28-2010 at 04:43 PM.
I think that's a great idea. I'm split because I like the idea of seeing the local weather, a stock ticker for local businesses and even local sports schedules and scores, but maybe having it on the landing page is not the best, especially if it seems to negatively impact the speed at which the home page loads.
If if exists, you could also add in a gadget that displays the daily flight schedule and status for the Region of Waterloo International Airport. Anything that's Local Waterloo Region and is "automatically" updated to reduce administration, would work great for the "Waterloo Region at a Glance" section.
I agree with Shawn's ideas - especially the airport idea, and I have to second IEFBR14's suggestion of a dedicated tab for Waterloo Region at a glance. The only downfall to this is that if these items are pushed to a tab, it might get neglected and not receive that much traffic - again it's not the primary reason people visit Wonderful Waterloo. It would be handy though if we were showing someone a quick qualitative snapshot of our Region.I think that's a great idea. I'm split because I like the idea of seeing the local weather, a stock ticker for local businesses and even local sports schedules and scores, but maybe having it on the landing page is not the best, especially if it seems to negatively impact the speed at which the home page loads.
If if exists, you could also add in a gadget that displays the daily flight schedule and status for the Region of Waterloo International Airport. Anything that's Local Waterloo Region and is "automatically" updated to reduce administration, would work great for the "Waterloo Region at a Glance" section.
As for monitor size, I, along with many others check WW at many different computers with different monitor sizes (desktops, laptops, public computer labs, iPadsetc). It would be great if we could find an optimal size, or have a recommended resolution on the homepage.
Recommended resolutions are so 1990s. Websites today should be designed to look decent at anything above 800X600. After all people aren't going to be adjusting their resolution to view a website, especially with LCD monitors that only look decent at their native resolutions.As for monitor size, I, along with many others check WW at many different computers with different monitor sizes (desktops, laptops, public computer labs, iPads
"Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane."
The home page includes a Polls section that displays two polls.
1. How many tower cranes will there be in Waterloo Region during the summer 2010 construction season?
2. Do you plan to attend WW Meet 2?
Why is the second poll still on the list? (Or perhaps it needs to be updated to show actual turnout numbers.)
Those are just the two most recent polls, and the 2nd one hasn't been taken off yet. It (or both) need to be replaced with new polls. Any ideas?
Advertise Here
Reply
