|
Socoder -> On Topic -> For the Visitors |
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 10:02 | |
Jayenkai
|
With all the Retro Remake stuff going on, it got me thinking about a Less-Geeky Socoder.. Something for the visitors, rather than the coders. So, I'm currently playing about with a smaller, less "techy" edition, and we'll see what comes of it, soon.. Meanwhile, I'd also like to enable some kind of anonymous things.. But.. I'd rather not have the spam. So, fling your "anti-spam" suggestions here, and anything else you can think of... -=-=- ''Load, Next List!'' 
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 12:40 | |
Phoenix
|
Less techy, less geeky; how can it be that? Isn't that sort of the shoulders of SoCoder? What do you have in mind? Oh, and as far as anti-spam goes I'm very much against captchas. I hate them. Especially when you try the 8th time to see what the image is trying to tell you, and you still don't get it right. How about a simple randomized question, such as: "What color is a banana? How many sides are there on a regular dice?" |
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 13:25 | |
blanko1324
|
Woah, what? In my opinion, if they're not techy or geeky, they're on the wrong website. Aren't we a coding community? Details of what you have in mind? -=-=- My Twitter
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 13:28 | |
shroom_monk
|
Yeah... a less technical SoCoder doesn't seem right... that's like... say... Google, without the search. Or something.
-=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom! |
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 13:38 | |
HoboBen
|
Really? I didn't think we talked about coding *enough*! Something for non-geeks though might just be more stuff in the showcase to download... You seem to be the best at finishing stuff though, Jay! Maybe integrate agameaweek.com into the site a bit? -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 13:54 | |
spinal
|
I like the random question idea, I hate them stupid images, there's times I've got the things absolutely 100% correct and I'm still denied access to whatever part of the site I'm trying to access |ARGH!!|
-=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 14:32 | |
|
Nolan |
I've been thinking about what would make Socoder more appealing and popular. If we had more participants in the Wednesday Workshops, they could be a ton of fun and would in turn attract more visitors (with the correct "advertising"). Of course, we'd need more visitors to get more participants, and more participants to attract more visitors, so it's a bit of a cyclical problem. Really though, imagine the WWs with at least a dozen (or even half-dozen) entries. Awesome. -=-=- nolandc.com
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 14:40 | |
|
Phoenix
|
Yup, awesome. And I don't think any WW has ever been made by more than one person, which could also be interesting. The thing is (I suspect), that everyone's busy with their own projects, and they'd rather not throw a week away and get distracted.
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 15:19 | |
|
Nolan |
Yes, but if you have enough people, there will always be those who aren't busy. Now that college searching is over for me, I plan to enter a few. Obviously I don't want this to be like GameDev, but imagine how many people would enter a weeklong, organized competition over there. -=-=- nolandc.com
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 15:20 | |
|
Jayenkai
|
Indeed, the WW would probably be more popular, if it were more popular. You need only look at the occasional 50-or-so-a-day visitors to AGameAWeek to realise that if a bunch of folk were doing it, then it'd be that much more impressive. 'tis a shame that more of you aren't lazy no-work bums like I am  Anyhoo, what I meant was.. Instead of  Visitors, who aren't logged in, and are visiting a Showcase (or ..? whatever else would be included) would instead see..  So as to hopefully not scare them off, as quickly! It wouldn't take too long to do, but settling on a nice theme would probably be the difficult bit. I tend to suck at that! And, yeah.. Captcha can piss off... -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 15:41 | |
|
blanko1324
|
Ah, that's cool then. It's like a Socoder menu.
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 15:42 | |
Cower
|
Long as you don't go with colors like that, I think it'd be fine for the plebs.
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 15:44 | |
Afr0
|
Well... erm... I don't really have anything very constructive to say in this regard, except - YouTube. My brother has been running videos on how to set up your own private WoW server on YouTube for quite a while now. I believe the last one he made before WOTLK had something like 100, 000 views. About a week ago now, after I had gotten settled in with my new serverhost and domain, he decided to set up a phpBB board at my server. A week later, and there's now about 1,500 members, over 500 topics and more being posted every day! Go to Afr0Games.com in my sig and click on 'WoW JohVed' in the menu if you wanna check out the action... Now, as for what exactly we should show at YouTube, that's a different matter entirely. Perhaps a small infomercial for Socoder wouldn't hurt? Instinct should have been here now, he was always good with videos. -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 15:45 | |
|
Jayenkai
|
Hehe! Don't worry, that was a quicky-whipped-up in PSP doodle to demonstrate.. I'm sure even I can come up with better!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 18:06 | |
Stealth
|
Running ads on YouTube is a good way to look desperate. The interface is cluttered, it's needs simplified like Jay said. And mostly, it's just the "mood" of the community. We all seem bored. -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 18:27 | |
|
blanko1324
|
Stealth makes a good point. I think we're all bored; maybe even exhausted/worn-out. Not with each other exactly, but maybe just with what we do. We've been together for five-ish years, across three different websites; we're bound to have some collective low points. -=-=- My Twitter
|
| Wed, 28 Jan 2009, 21:05 | |
|
Stealth
|
We just need something to stir interested and get us all excited again (in a non sexual way).
-=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
|
| Thu, 29 Jan 2009, 00:09 | |
JL235
|
In regards to the 'less geeky' you could try turning this into more of a 'an in-depth technology forum with strong programming themes' rather then a 'programming forum oriented primarily around home made games'. The first is more generic. In regards to the site change, you could componetise the different menu sections on screen so they can individually be turned on or off according to the users profile. You could also offer multiple versions, 'none', 'simple' and 'full'. For default users (new users and those not logged in) they could just have the most popular sections turned on as simple. They can then experiment with customizing what viewable sections they want. For example there is both 'latest items' and 'latest comments'. It's easier for new users if one was dumbed down and the other was turned off. Another example, the menu selection on the left in simple mode would only have the popular selections such as: forum, your profile, your blog, mud chat, showcases, wednesday workshop and more. More is a new option to view the remaining options, perhaps on a new page or through some flashy popup javascript. All options would be shown as little pictures rather then as text. Having everything on as 'full' would be the current SoCoder theme. Some sections would only offer a straight 'none' or 'full' selection, like the list of online member at the top. |
| Thu, 29 Jan 2009, 04:26 | |
|
Jayenkai
|
I wasn't really thinking along the lines of 3 or 4 different versions.. I was in the "Simple" or "Texty!Crazy!Coder!" mindset. With there being two very distinct styles between the two. Not just "There's less boxes", but a wildly different layout, and way of viewing things. Scroll to the top of the page, imagine the left menu has 5 items on it, the Latest Items isn't there, the Latest Posts and Comments are merged into one, and the Memberlist's hidden. Does that look "less scary" to you? Because to me, that just looks like a very empty barren area, with nothing much to see or do. I'd rather that a whole different style was built around that, than just have a site with two empty bars either side. As for YouTube, anything goes.. that's the YouTube way. The problem is, though.. Once you've made your YouTube vid, where do you show it off? Which is exactly the same problem as "Once you've made your game, what do you do with it?" So, it's not really much use at all. Sure, a couple of my game vids have had views, but that's mostly because those game vids are on the very same download pages! *shrugs* -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
|
| Thu, 29 Jan 2009, 04:46 | |
|
spinal
|
I think we need kitteh's... View on YouTube That'll bring in the non-coders! And maybe a silly picture or two? 
-=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
|
| Thu, 29 Jan 2009, 08:49 | |
Scherererer
|
I think another problem is that most of us are very comfortable with programming now (err, maybe this isn't a problem really), but we've all stopped at about the same level. We need new challenges. If there's any interest in the board, I would consider making new articles on some of the coding theory/discrete number theory that I'm learning in my classes right now. Perhaps a more advanced push will diversify and expand interest. Jay: I think you have a great idea in enhancing accessibility for our visiting user base; I've been keeping track of your agameaweek updates on twitter, and so I think it's a good formula. Afr0: thanks for the vote of confidence on the videos Everyone: Let's put SoCoder on the map! -=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
|
| Thu, 29 Jan 2009, 09:01 | |
|
Jayenkai
|
"If there's any interest in the board" <-- that kinda thing gets to me, a lot more than it oughta.. Of COURSE there's interest! This is a coder's forum! Just because nobody's posted anything like it before, doesn't mean it won't be, at the very least, an interesting read. Post new things, try out interesting ideas on the forum, and see if they take. I started Wednesday Workshop on CW, by making a single post, and then sticking with it. I wasn't a moderator, I was just some guy! All it takes is a good idea, and a single post.. View on YouTube DO IT!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
|
| Thu, 29 Jan 2009, 09:11 | |
|
Scherererer
|
Alright! I'll do it!  It will probably be broken up into a series of articles, I'll start out with the basics (and please bare with them, at first you'll be like "why would I ever need to prove a number is even? I know when numbers are even or not...")
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
|
|
|
| |||
|
| ||||