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Site feedback - what do you think?

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Jamie, 3 Mar 2008.

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Which of these options best reflects your opinions on bit-tech's site structure?

  1. There is nothing wrong with the current structure

    14 vote(s)
    25.9%
  2. Hardware - It's hard to find what I'm looking for in this section

    7 vote(s)
    13.0%
  3. Hardware - The name is too vague call it something else...

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Hardware - Should be able to list by sub sections, eg. Monitors, Graphics Cards, Motherboards etc.

    31 vote(s)
    57.4%
  5. Hardware - Reviews should be more prominent (over tech features and previews etc)

    8 vote(s)
    14.8%
  6. Hardware - I want to be able to sort reviews by score to find the best products.

    23 vote(s)
    42.6%
  7. Hardware - Related articles and news needs to be improved

    4 vote(s)
    7.4%
  8. Hardware - There should be more information on the latest computer hardware before a review is publi

    4 vote(s)
    7.4%
  9. Hardware - Leave this section as it is

    8 vote(s)
    14.8%
  10. Modding - It's hard to find what I'm looking for in this section

    3 vote(s)
    5.6%
  11. Modding - Should be able to list by sub sections, eg. Projects, Mod of the Month, Guides etc.

    23 vote(s)
    42.6%
  12. Modding - There needs to be a way to browse the most popular mods of all time

    12 vote(s)
    22.2%
  13. Modding - Leave this section as it is

    14 vote(s)
    25.9%
  14. Gaming - It's hard to find what I'm looking for in this section

    4 vote(s)
    7.4%
  15. Gaming - The platform should be clear on games reviews before reading the review

    17 vote(s)
    31.5%
  16. Gaming - Should be able to filter articles by platform

    19 vote(s)
    35.2%
  17. Gaming - Related games and news are hard to find when reading an article

    2 vote(s)
    3.7%
  18. Gaming - Should be more information on games releases and previews before a review is published

    9 vote(s)
    16.7%
  19. Gaming - I should be able to sort games reviews by score

    8 vote(s)
    14.8%
  20. Gaming - Leave this section as it is

    10 vote(s)
    18.5%
  21. Bits - It's hard to find what I'm looking for in this section

    1 vote(s)
    1.9%
  22. Bits - This section is pointless, categorise the articles inside it into other sections.

    2 vote(s)
    3.7%
  23. Bits - Allow filtering by features, events etc.

    7 vote(s)
    13.0%
  24. Bits - Leave this section as it is

    24 vote(s)
    44.4%
  25. News - It's hard to find what I'm looking for in this section

    1 vote(s)
    1.9%
  26. News - Should be able to filter the news by sub category

    4 vote(s)
    7.4%
  27. News - Related news should be more prominent

    4 vote(s)
    7.4%
  28. News - Comments below the story make me interested in the story

    11 vote(s)
    20.4%
  29. News - I don't like the comments below the story

    8 vote(s)
    14.8%
  30. News - Leave this section as it is

    19 vote(s)
    35.2%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. airchie

    airchie What's a Dremel?

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    Lots more guides, particularly on linux type things.
    One I personally would like would be a guide on getting a kick-ass HD HTPC set up running linux.
    I liked the eeePC modding guide.

    Maybe a section for forum members to submit their own articles to Bit and have the staff approve and post them in their own subsection of the site?
     
  2. keir

    keir S p i t F i r e

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    I think just changing the nav buttons to the style of the shopping ones, would be cool.
    Thats it. :)
     
  3. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    Personally, I never visit the main page of the site or the forums (I tell a lie, I did visit the forums years ago, but it's a rare occurrence today).

    I rely on the RSS feeds of the website, and if there is a link to the forum or comments below to further my interaction with the article, then 7 times outa 10 I'll join in!

    I like Bit-Tech for what it is this now, don't get sucked into the messyness of other tech web sites.
     
  4. cyrilthefish

    cyrilthefish What's a Dremel?

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    One thing id like to see is having a slightly more mobile friendly front page, or a separate lightweight version, maybe http://www.bit-tech.net/mobile/ or something.

    I often check Bit-Tech on my PDA (HTC kaizer) and the front page makes the browser cry :lol:
     
  5. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

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    That's actually quite difficult, because most of the time Joe only gets one version of a game.

    Not only that, but 9 times out of 10, you could guarantee that the Xbox & PS3 versions will be virtually identical, the Wii version (if it exists) will have poorer graphics and a different control method, and the PC version (if and when it turns up) will look similar to the Xbox/PS3 versions but play like a dumbed-down PC game.

    Having said that, watch this space, there should be a comparison review coming soon :D
     
  6. Firehed

    Firehed Why not? I own a domain to match.

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    I'm generally the same way, though I've become partial to the tagging. Well, I'm not sure partial is the right word, but close enough.

    However - between general thoughts and tips I've learned working for a CMS comapny...

    Search is kind of iffy. I'm able to turn up the build your own server article, but a lot of mods and such can be tricky to find. Maybe filtering and sorting search results? I don't use it that often, but like so many sites, I'll often end up just doing my classic "go search term site:bit-tech.net" (I've got 'go' bound as a google quicksearch :D)

    The subscriptions in the forums where you sign up when you post still doesn't work, last I checked. Only if you go back and manually subscribe - and it selects no subscription by default in the dropdown list. Huh? I've pointed this out a couple times, but it seems to slip by.

    What Veles was saying about finding articles... (one of our big selling points we've been pushing) taxonomy. Build out your taxonomy structure behind the scenes, then tag articles into it with a one-to-many relationship. So your root level of it would be the same few categories you have now, and then within each of those you can drill down into something more specific (Hardware > Motherboards > Brand > ASUS, HW>MB>For>Intel CPU, HW>MB>Chipset>865P etc). I doubt my boss would really appreciate me posting screenshots straight into the forum (not because it's a trade secret or anything, but given that I'm in sales, I think they'd rather you buy our software...) but PM me if you want more ideas on how its used, implementation, or whatever.

    The good news is that it's actually a relatively simple change as far as site structure goes (two tables in the DB: taxonomy [id, name, parent] and articles_to_taxonomy[article_id, taxonomy_id]). The worst part is cataloging all of your existing articles.


    Perhaps integrating in the monthly contests a bit better. Mod of the Month always felt rather awkwardly done, and POTM is of course done offsite courtesy of Nath.

    I'll post more as I think of it :)

    ninjaedit - iPhone-friendlier version, especially in the forums. You'll get mixed reactions on that of course, but while navigation of the main site is okay, it can get a bit slow over EDGE. vBulletin has too many tiny navigation-related things which is fine on a big screen but even fully zoomed in sucks on the iPhone. Like the page selector, etc. TONS of useless javascript is in there to address features that probably nobody uses. I only found out by accident yesterday that there's a "jump to page" hidden under that arrow on the page navigion thing, and I've been on vB forums for the best part of a decade at this point. And the calendar link... has anyone ever used that? It could use a bit of trimming :/
     
  7. Jamie

    Jamie ex-Bit-Tech code junkie

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    We already have the taxonomy working in the CMS, we've just not put it through to the site yet.

    Mobile versions is something I want to do but it needs some thought in to how best to implement it.

    I'm not going to enable subscribe by default on posting, the option to subscribe when posting should work now.
     
  8. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

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    :thumb::thumb::thumb:

    That's the main thing that annoys me about the other site, even though I turned it off I still get an inbox full of emails every now and again.
     
  9. Bluephoenix

    Bluephoenix Spoon? What spoon?

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    I agree wholeheartedly.

    if you have the opportunity, maybe you could make a lynx-freindly version for those of us who love our CLI. :D
     
  10. lewchenko

    lewchenko Minimodder

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    Things to change / improve on :

    1. More interviews with people inside the industry - especially development leads of key games. Hell I would love to read an interview with Gabe or Mark Rein or Chris Taylor with questions submitted by readers. Dont know if you could make that happen, but it would be a visitor magnet.

    2. How about analysis about online gaming popularity (eg. stats discussions, new trends, historical compare etc)

    3. Comparative analysis. Reviewing one product is good, but getting 2 similar products for a shoot out is better. We all like competition afer all.

    4. Every now and again, review a great MOD for a game. Think outside the box and maybe review a PS3 mod for UT3 for example.

    5. Review a console game (hey ARSTechnica do all the time), but compare the 360 vs PS3 vs Wii versions directly with screen shots as well. We all love a good fisticuff fight.

    6. Have a readers vote - best game in each genre. Run it twice a year or something, with some well written analysis.

    7. Love the columns... more of them, with more 'out of the box' thinking.

    Otherwise... keep up the good work. :)
     
  11. Hiren

    Hiren mind control Moderator

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    The content feedback is great and all, but the focus of this thread is for site developement and the way things are structured.
     
  12. Krikkit

    Krikkit All glory to the hypnotoad! Super Moderator

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    Something came to me earlier, and although it's undoubtedly been aired in this thread already, but an article search would be tremendous. :D

    Nothing too fancy, just an article title keyword search would be perfect.
     
  13. JThrockmorton206

    JThrockmorton206 Owl Exterminator

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    I 100% agree about browsing older articles, I have a number of articles bookmarked in case I want to reference them in the future just because I know how much of a pain it is to find previous articles.

    Also more modding and hardware. While I am much more of a gamer than modder, it seems to me that ever since the games section has been given more attention, it has taken over much of the other sections. I really enjoy the tutorials when they show up Its always nice to see a watercooling 101 or a how to Linux article.
     
  14. TGImages

    TGImages Grandpa

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    This is the only short coming of the site that I too have experienced. Many times I want to send someone to an article here as I remember reading it a year ago... but finding it usually is quite frustrating. Really, just any easy method to access older content would be much appreciated.
     
  15. airchie

    airchie What's a Dremel?

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    One thing that might make the tagging more useful would be the ability to do multiple tags.

    Iie, I just posted a question about laptop gfx cards.
    Should it be tagged, "laptop", "graphics", "Question" or all of the above? :)
     
  16. Thacrudd

    Thacrudd Where's the any key?!?

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    So very true about the database of articles and reviews of hardware. How many times in the forums do you see "which is better?" or which one should I get?" (which I, too, am very guilty of)

    Otherwise, I'd like to see some more reviews on the front page about software. I mean applications and utilities because I feel it is something that isn't touched on all too much. What's good for music? pictures/art? organization?

    I know there is a spot in the forums for a case gallery, but what about a straight up, no comment, case gallery. Either users can submit to you or you pickj them out yourself. There is some great work on this site and I feel that they don't get the recognition they deserve by finding them in the forums alone.

    I rely on you guys mostly for my reviews and opinions of thing because, quite frankly, you guys know what you are talking about and you make a real effort to please and help the members out, and it shows 110%.
     
  17. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

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    Although not really about the main site I do think this is a really good idea
     
  18. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

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    This would be quite difficult - mainly because once you get below first tier software (such as Photoshop, Office, AutoCAD etc) there's such a huge selection to choose from, especially once you include all the freeware offerings too.

    There are also problems of testing methodology - there are fairly standard ways to test hardware, there's even a fairly standard way to test a game (even if it is just "is this fun to play?"), but you'd have to come up with a standard test for each type of software. And that's just a pain to do.

    Someone from bit might correct me on this, but that's my initial thoughts. Not to say that it couldn't happen, just that it's difficult to keep the results standardised in some way.
     
  19. BioSniper

    BioSniper Minimodder

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    annnnd.. done :)

    Also, can I be cheeky and suggest that we maybe get a few more apple related reviews too (I know there are loads of places that already cover this kinda stuff but I prefer to just go to bit tbh, its been my home page since 2002 :p)? I know it moves away from the spirit of bit but its something to put out there at any rate.
     
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