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This topic has moved here: Subject: Some website suggestions
  • Subject: Some website suggestions
Subject: Some website suggestions
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This is clearly a seriously professionally made website, the graphics are amazing, and its a true testament to bungies commitment to their community.

There are a few things that could be better though, that I'd like to point out, I'm sure they've been suggested before, but here we go again.

1) Even on 1024x768 resolution with the taskbar on the side of the screen, the forums dont fill up the width of the page - it might be nicer if they stretched to fill screen resolutions.

2) Recording post numbers beside peoples avatars would allow people who have been around for longer, and in theory know more, to be more easily recognised, and give an added incentive for people to become board regulars.

3) The website loads up very fast - but thats about the only thing about it that is fast. On my college machines, and even on my 2ghz machine the website scrolls slowly in the browser for some reason.

4) Theres a lot of clutter with that bar at the bottom aswell as the one at the top - perhaps it could be removed when browsing the forums.

5) Custom avatars would be a nice addition, even if it just allows you to link to ones hosted elsewhere, and if the resolutions are strictly limited. Also letting you link to a flash app that displays your stats in your sig might be a cool addition.

5) Smileys

Essentially this website is technically more advanced than virtually any on the internet with its game viewer and amazing linking to XBL gamertags, and stat recording, but the forums lack many of the basic features that boards such as those made by vBulletin have.

Increasing the incentive to stay, and personalise your account will make it easier for people to be able to get to know eachother, and build the community in that respect. At present its hard to remember if you have ever seen anyone post before, even when you use your game icon as your avatar.

[Edited on 2/23/2005 9:23:34 AM]

  • 02.23.2005 9:22 AM PDT

Many of your suggestions are warranted, but not all are necessary.

I do believe that Bungie.net does not take full advantage of the screen, but it has yet to bother me (you can "minimize" the bar at the bottom, but it doesn't do much).

As for "post count", that would just lead to more spam.

What browser are you using? Apparently, some don't work as well as others (IE works well for me).

Custom avatars are not allowed because of what people would put on them. The maturity level would have to be increased 10 fold to be able to do that.

As for smileys, just use :) and all of the other variants, they work well.

But everyone has a right to their own opinion, these are just mine. :)

  • 02.23.2005 9:28 AM PDT
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you are perhaps right on the post counts, but in my experience the forum is probably moderated well enough to avoid spam.

On the avatars, having read what you have written, I admit that I'm totally wrong - we could never have them, good point.

The smileys arnt neccessary, I use the symbols aswell, I guess its just a nicety.

I am on firefox, but on slower machines it runs on IE like it does on firefox on my machine :P.

I guess my problem is that theres not really any sense of remembering people on this forum at all, apart from the mods and overlords, which is a shame. Its not quite down to my short memory either - so many people post that its hard to remember who the people who post more often are.

Go here: http://www.idealscience.com/site/information/screenshots/ibb4 .lg.j pg and you can see that the new version of this forums software actually has post counts added to it. I got the link to the website from the search feature comming post'

I really hope that bungie upgrades to the new version - its just been released on beta

[Edited on 2/23/2005 9:49:55 AM]

  • 02.23.2005 9:36 AM PDT
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1) Even on 1024x768 resolution with the taskbar on the side of the screen, the forums dont fill up the width of the page - it might be nicer if they stretched to fill screen resolutions.
I agree it would be nice. But I believe they designed it fixed width so layout would act predictably and not mess up the pretty graphics.

2) Recording post numbers beside peoples avatars would allow people who have been around for longer, and in theory know more, to be more easily recognised, and give an added incentive for people to become board regulars.
or incentive to spam

3) The website loads up very fast - but thats about the only thing about it that is fast. On my college machines, and even on my 2ghz machine the website scrolls slowly in the browser for some reason.
Are you using firefox perhaps? There is a bug in firefox that wouldn't let the scrolling work with this particular div layout. Bungie being the clever chaps they are figured out a way around it but at the cost of a slow and jerky scroll.

4) Theres a lot of clutter with that bar at the bottom aswell as the one at the top - perhaps it could be removed when browsing the forums.
You can minimize the bar at the bottom to help out somewhat by clicking the little arrow to the left.

5) Custom avatars would be a nice addition, even if it just allows you to link to ones hosted elsewhere, and if the resolutions are strictly limited. Also letting you link to a flash app that displays your stats in your sig might be a cool addition.
They chose not to allow because the very first avatar would probably be some sort of phallic symbol. You can however use your Halo 2 emblem as an avatar if you have Xbox Live. The same logic goes for flash app sigs.

5) Smileys



[Edited on 2/23/2005 9:47:42 AM]

  • 02.23.2005 9:40 AM PDT

Posted by: focused7
5) Smileys


I was going to "mention" that one, but it is too hard to see. ☻

  • 02.23.2005 9:48 AM PDT
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1) Bungie.net is based around images. Everything about it requires very careful measurements. All the site content fits into a carefully measured area, the darker area to the right is just a graphic for higher resolutions to feast on. So the site cannot stretch to fit other resolutions.

2) There are total idiots who have been around since the beginning. Do they know more? No. A post count will increase spam and make idiots appear better. People will post just to get their post count up and look better. There are lots of very smart people out there who rarely post. Quality, not quantity.

3) Use IE for optimal performance.

4) The navbars are really useful. Without them, you can't just skip through the site easily.

5) I think not. Bungie disallows custom avatars (except for moderators, employees and those who create themes) because the average user is so immature. We've had extremely explicit links posted before, allowing custom avatars would not only slow the site down but also cause havoc.

5) Not really necessary, and will slow the site down some more. Just use things such as =) and =P.

Believe it or not, these Forums are the most powerful you'll find. They lack in some features because the users just cannot be trusted not to abuse them. A search function is coming, but for now, that's it.

  • 02.23.2005 9:53 AM PDT
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I believe that for people that Bungie or the Mods define as mature enough should be allowed to have custom avatars. It would be a nice incentive to make good posts.

[Edited on 2/23/2005 10:08:03 AM]

  • 02.23.2005 10:07 AM PDT
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Posted by: EPhillips
This is clearly a seriously professionally made website, the graphics are amazing, and its a true testament to bungies commitment to their community.

There are a few things that could be better though, that I'd like to point out, I'm sure they've been suggested before, but here we go again.

1) Even on 1024x768 resolution with the taskbar on the side of the screen, the forums dont fill up the width of the page - it might be nicer if they stretched to fill screen resolutions.


True, I agree.


2) Recording post numbers beside peoples avatars would allow people who have been around for longer, and in theory know more, to be more easily recognised, and give an added incentive for people to become board regulars.


They did it once and they won't do it again. Instead of posting meaningful stuff to gain a higher post count people end up posting spam.


3) The website loads up very fast - but thats about the only thing about it that is fast. On my college machines, and even on my 2ghz machine the website scrolls slowly in the browser for some reason.


Use Internet Explorer. Other browsers don't work so well.


4) Theres a lot of clutter with that bar at the bottom aswell as the one at the top - perhaps it could be removed when browsing the forums.


I don't notice any troubles.


5) Custom avatars would be a nice addition, even if it just allows you to link to ones hosted elsewhere, and if the resolutions are strictly limited. Also letting you link to a flash app that displays your stats in your sig might be a cool addition.


I agree. Custom avatars would be very good. Lots of other high-traffic areas use custom avatars with half the moderator support this place has. Why Bungie won't let us do it, I don't know.


5) Smileys


I happen to be a self-described professional spammer. I know, from experiance, that smileys are a very lethal spam mechanism.


Essentially this website is technically more advanced than virtually any on the internet with its game viewer and amazing linking to XBL gamertags, and stat recording, but the forums lack many of the basic features that boards such as those made by vBulletin have.

Increasing the incentive to stay, and personalise your account will make it easier for people to be able to get to know eachother, and build the community in that respect. At present its hard to remember if you have ever seen anyone post before, even when you use your game icon as your avatar.


I agree completely. Custom avatars are a must.

  • 02.23.2005 10:51 AM PDT

Tom Achronos
Bungie.net Overlord
twitter: http://twitter.com/Achronos

"I have no words that would do justice to the atrocities you commit to the English language, as well as your continued assaults on the concepts of basic literacy and logical reasoning."

1. That's because the site was originally spec'd for a lower resolution. It will probably eventually get widened, but well, not for a long time.
2. Never, EVER, going to happen. Post counts are just used as a status symbol by idiots who don't know better. Being new to the forums doesn't mean that you don't know what you're talking about.
3. Firefox has scrolling issues in it due to a internal bug in Firefox. IE6 or Safari for the Mac is the recommended browser for the optimum experience. These two browsers will probably remain our target.
4. The bottom bar can't go away, it is the only means of navigation. Use the little arrow on the left to minimize it.
5. No.

The forums lack some basic features because this forum is essentially beta software. Our forum vendor, IdealScience, has not yet finished the version 1.0 of this forum. They're almost done though.

  • 02.23.2005 11:21 AM PDT

bah

Posted by: Achronos
The forums lack some basic features because this forum is essentially beta software. Our forum vendor, IdealScience, has not yet finished the version 1.0 of this forum. They're almost done though.
You all heard him! The forums are getting a big upgrade soon!

  • 02.23.2005 11:49 AM PDT

- Mike

Posted by: The Rip Saw
Posted by: Achronos
The forums lack some basic features because this forum is essentially beta software. Our forum vendor, IdealScience, has not yet finished the version 1.0 of this forum. They're almost done though.
You all heard him! The forums are getting a big upgrade soon!

I didnt hear Anything, but oh well maybe your correct.

  • 02.23.2005 12:04 PM PDT
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Good because we do need an upgrade soon.

  • 02.23.2005 12:46 PM PDT