deskthority - Suggestions and Changelog

[webwit]

Done.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Dankjewel.

[CeeSA]

I used to use the "view your posts" a lot. If I don't login in for a period there I can see if I have to reply to someone. Now it's 2 click away. But I'll live with it.

same here. I often use "Spy" and "view your posts".

Now it is as far apart as possible.

[ramnes]

Same here.

[CeeSA]

myposts.PNG (37.12 KiB) Viewed 5985 times

thank you very much ne0phyte

[Muirium]

But how will Webwit bask in the success of his sales thread so conveniently if Top Posts goes!

[CeeSA]

I would be interrested in how many clicks 'Top Topics' get every day... I never clicked it...
Is the method for toptopics public?

But ne0phyte gives me the option to replace the button or add a 'My Posts' button.

[webwit]

Hmm interesting. (Page views will be a little bit higher in real because of DoNotTrack and such, it won't count me for instance because of that, but that accounts for both pages.)



My bad, don't use that page myself. Returned it, to the top for the moment (so the bottom stays fixed whether you're logged in or not).

P.S. Top topics method is visible in the page itself. It simply orders by replies (default) or views in the selected period.

[Muirium]

As Stabilised just asked me about this:

My suggestion is to add a darkest theme or a background colour that burns less the retina

Funny you should say that. Right now, like most nights, I'm browsing like this:

Not perfect, but it does the trick. A little bookmarklet by the name of Monochrome, which I edited to give me white text on black background for any website, when I press Command+2 (to access it from my favourites).

An official DT dark theme would be better to look at. I'd definitely use it. But I do notice consistency trouble at sites which have multiple styles. Writers don't always bear the variations in mind when they're posting diagrams etc. which assume a certain background colour.

Here's the code:

Code: Select all

javascript:%7Bfunction%20setDocumentColors(node,%20bgcolor,%20color)%20%7B%20%20%20%20if%20(node.style%20!=%20undefined)%20%7B%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20node.style.backgroundColor%20=%20bgcolor;%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20node.style.color%20=%20color;%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20node.style.textShadow%20=%20'none';%20%20%20%20%7D%20%20%20%20if%20(node.hasChildNodes())%20%7B%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20var%20children%20=%20node.childNodes;%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20for%20(var%20i%20=%200,%20len%20=%20children.length;%20i%20%3C%20len;%20++i)%20%7B%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20setDocumentColors(children%5Bi%5D,%20bgcolor,%20color);%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%7D%20%20%20%20%7D%7DsetDocumentColors(window.document.body,%20'black',%20'white');%7D

Add that to your bookmarks. Then whenever you want a page anywhere zapped to night mode, hit it.

[webwit]

The difficult part about a dark theme is the icons and graphics, currently simple gifs which need a white background. The CSS is easy.

I've been playing/testing with some new icons last year, but I'm not entirely happy about them.

My tests here:
http://deskthority.net/icons.svg

This symbolizes what I have in mind: something really basic, clean and abstract (maybe a bit too abstract now), scaling (so it can later be used for higher resolutions), and usable on multiple backgrounds. I want this because I don't want different icons (except colors) in different themes, I want one visual identity.

Rows are normal topic, sticky topic and announcement. First col is monochrome (ignore that), second is Read & Not posted here, third is Read & Posted here, fourth is Unread & Not posted here, fifth is Unread & Posted here. The arrows to the right are for Jump to last post. It's just a first draft, showing some different possibilities.

That would leave the forum icons (little keyboard, newspaper, etc.) and the icons to the right below the header.

[Muirium]

Mmm, nice big retina friendly icons. You might be overthinking them, mind. I barely know the key for the buggers now. I just need more difference between the edit pencil and the quote balloon. Which sounds odd but I do mistake them every once and then!

Avatars are a mixed bag. Yours is broken on black, but most work fine. I made sure mine did right from the start, natch.

[webwit]

You might be overthinking them, mind.

Same logic as currently provided by phpBB, just new icons.

[matt3o]

thank you gods of DT for the new "view your posts" link

[Muirium]

As for how I have shortcuts set for all those regular bookmarklets of mine… this started out as a PM to Stabilised but I can't help sharing an old man's browser rant in public!

Great, thanks for that

What browser are you using? I really like the sound of having a dedicated keyboard shortcut, but I am on Chrome and that seems to be a feature that it's missing.

Safari. Everything you put in your favourites folder is assigned a shortcut in numerical order from Command+1 to Command+9. (No Command+0 as that's for resetting back to default zoom level in every browser I know.) I use that feature incessantly. Loads of good stuff up there, like site search and font substitution scripts.

The screenshot's actually from OmniWeb, back on my (startlingly recent) PowerPC days. It had the feature before Safari existed. That was a great browser: a kind of power user's Safari. Gruber raved about it but, alas, it was still version 5 when I was using it quite recently! OmniWeb started out in 1995 as the best browser on NeXT! But over the years, the Omni Group couldn't make any money out of a paid browser any more and only patched it with security updates. Those ended a while ago too.

The fact that Google never made a PowerPC version of Chrome, even when it first came out and PowerPC Macs were still supported by Apple, really turned me off their browser from the get go. They'd burned me with Google Browser Sync already. And when they shitcanned Google Reader it didn't surprise me. They used to be cool, but they've become significantly evil over the years. Fuck those guys.

Anyway, you can add your own keyboard shortcuts wherever you like in OS X. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts and click Add to see the options. So long as something is in a menu in its app, you can target it with the keyboard. (Well, except for the occasional doozies from Adobe and Microsoft. Hopefully Google's not joined that club.)

Screen Shot 2015-03-19 at 12.13.11 pm.png (114.74 KiB) Viewed 5906 times

You just need to match the command's name in the menubar precisely. Capitalisation and all. That can get interesting when there's rating stars and such! These sync between Macs with your iCloud account these days, too, which is nice if you customise as much as I do.

[chzel]

Is the members tab really needed in such a prominent place? Maybe moved under the username (between UCP and Logout)?

[Muirium]

Good idea. I'd back that. Seldom use it, and that is right where I'd look.

[Muirium]

It's necro season again.

I want a new forum feature: an icon for necromancy!


Something like this chap, anyway.

Posts that wildly disrupt timelines like these should be given a special bonus. And it'll make these threads easier to read as well.

Pop a ghost in on the left for any post that's >1.0 years after the previous one? With a hover attribute "Necromancer" and a link to an information thread that explains what this is about and why going necro can be good thing but usually isn't!

It'd also make a nice ominous little sign for our occasional forum spammer. Anyone seen him lately?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Isn't that the bloke the one who kills people? You want the one that re-animates the dead :-)

[Muirium]

True. But try finding an icon for that. The reaper's got a nice visual identity, the smart bugger.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

His Divine Shadow.jpg (18.31 KiB) Viewed 5804 times

[matt3o]

I would suggest to add "dejavu sans" in the font stack since other open fonts doesn't seem to work very well with DT layout. I usually prefer "liberation" font family (and it's my fallback in case of "sans-serif"), but it seems too small especially in the header.

liberation sans


dejavu sans

[shreebles]

Suggestion: Restrict the marketplace already

I hope I'm in the correct thread, I didn't find anything similar in the marketplace section itself so I'm suggesting it here.

In my opinion, the marketplace is starting to take a turn for the worse. Maybe it needs to be regulated in some way?

1. Great finds thread :
This topic keeps coming up in the thread (most recently here). More people from outside read the thread than forum members, since it is open to the public.
Someone posts a great find and someone from outside the community snags it. Most people don't even post their finds anymore, it's either "look what I found and bought" or "you can have this because I don't want it." I've exchanged PMs with friendly forum members about good deals because we didn't want to post it in the thread either.
People like kbdfr spend hours on eBay searching for stuff, some of it is really hard to find, and share it with the community. The result isn't that someone from DT gets a good deal, but rather inflated prices for stuff that used to be cheap, like regular Cherry DS, standard Model Ms, etc...
kbdfr said he wishes for people to reflect about their actions, but I think that's too much to ask of the part of the population called "random people of the internet".
Summary

- If you do not care about the community, and have no interest in helping or improving it, or even partake in it, I don't think you deserve to be handed great deals by people who dig them out in their spare time.

- To give the thread its meaning back, we need to restrict it to community members only. People sharing and helping other DT members to get good and interesting keyboard deals. If everyone on the net knows there's a great keyboard with the wrong description on eBay at the moment, or someone is selling used SSKs for cheap (thank you Cindy), there goes your chance of ever getting one.

2. Milking the Cash Cow :
Random (new) members posting in the marketplace with the sole intention of getting more out of their sale. No introduction, they only post in the marketplace. Just look at this shit.
more
again

This isn't helping the community and I believe we could impose either one or both of the following:
-Limit the marketplace to members who have a few posts in other forums (at least they could say hello and introduce themselves)
-Limit the marketplace to members who have been part of DT for a certain time, so people don't sign up just to post their shit and or scour the marketplace for whatever they need at that moment.

-I wouldn't mind having a deals/trades section for club members. I like the friendliness of DT and if I could choose who to sell my stuff to I would always sell to people who care about the community.

Summary
If you want to make more money, put it on eBay, with a correct description and enjoy the fact that there is currently a mechanical keyboard hype. Remember to pay those fees (and please advertise it somewhere else).
If you want to give back to the community, sell it here for the price you really think it's worth.

3. WTB
These days, I see more WTB than anything else in the marketplace. Instead of making it a category, maybe it should get its own subsection because it is making the trades and sales harder to find. I know I can filter by individual categories. But what if I want to see all trades, vendors, great deals and regular sales, but no WTB?
So many people are looking for the same things, HHKBs, SSKs, Realforce etc. If all of these people could just remain calm and form an orderly line in some separate subforum, and stop clogging up the marketplace...

Please let me know what you think, also tell me if this belongs in some other thread or subforum.

[ramnes]

I wouldn't restrict the Market Place, thought it could be interesting to have an alternative one for club members only.

[bhtooefr]

How about this as an idea (I'm not sure about it though):

Great Finds only visible to forum members
Ability to post new classifieds threads (whether they're FS or WTB) restricted to club members. Want to make money off of Deskthority or save money with Deskthority? Pay Deskthority.
Don't post your own items in Great Finds - the intent here is to point to things that aren't being sold by Deskthority members

I've got no problem with pointing people to an auction that exists elsewhere, though.

[shreebles]

it could be interesting to have an alternative one for club members only.

I agree fully! I hope more people could chime in on this?

How about this as an idea (I'm not sure about it though):

Great Finds only visible to forum members

Yes!

Ability to post new classifieds threads (whether they're FS or WTB) restricted to club members. Want to make money off of Deskthority or save money with Deskthority? Pay Deskthority.

This could actually be really interesting. I'm sure DT could get server costs taken care of for a while
OTOH, it could lead to the marketplace really dying out, and people selling their stuff elsewhere. But it's a very interesting idea.

Don't post your own items in Great Finds - the intent here is to point to things that aren't being sold by Deskthority members

This is already forbidden in the thread, though it doesn't stop people from doing it anyway.

I've got no problem with pointing people to an auction that exists elsewhere, though.

As long as it doesn't clog up the marketplace... How about a separate thread/subforum to post your own auctions?

Would love for moderators and other members to post their opinions on this... So far responses have been sparse.

[002]

Some good ideas here, thanks for sharing.
I am a bit concerned about restricting the 'Great Finds' thread. It would mean that we'd need to monitor and put a stop to any other similar threads popping up which seems a bit against the whole free speech (within reason) thing that DT has and a lot of people probably enjoy.

More club members only areas would be really cool. I feel like there should be a few more perks to being a club member and this is a sensible suggestion. Could always put it to a vote and see what the others think.

Personally I don't like the idea of restricting new members from making whatever post they like, be it sales or whatever. As long as it is on the topic of keyboards and stuff and not just some bullshit spam. I much prefer watching these guys get a scolding from one of the DT ancients It just doesn't seem to happen often enough to be serious problem. Maybe I'm wrong -- another vote?

[shreebles]

I much prefer watching these guys get a scolding from one of the DT ancients

That is really fun I admit

[Nuum]

I think restricting the 'Great Finds'-Thread is a good idea, you should be a member of the community to profit from these finds. Many people who have been watching this thread without being a member will make new accounts, so we might even gain members which might eventually contribute to the community.
Restricting the market place in any way is not a good idea, I think. Every member here is sensible enough to decide for themselves what to buy, from whom and at which price and we still can express our opinion if we don't like a particular offer. With a restriction, e.g. post count, we would have never gotten Cindy's awesome offers.

[Muirium]

So true. Sometimes people's first posts are absolutely fantastic. Discriminating based on seniority is a bad idea, as it stifles newcomers and sends the message we don't care what they think; or what they're selling. Much better to make things depend on one simple attribute: are you a forum member? Good. Welcome aboard!

I'm in favour, then, of making Great Finds visible only to forum members. I wouldn't restrict it, or posting sales threads, to the club however. So far, we're doing pretty good at getting new members regularly and easily covering DT's current expenses. Also, the way that sellers are starting to give incentives to buyers to join the club for discounts is excellent and 100% in alignment with the spirit of DT. The club's a bonus, not a locked gate.

[Madhias]

I like the idea of the Great Finds thread only accessible for long time? club? members. It is the same in some photography discussion boards, where 'hot' locations are only shared of members of the board which are allowed to see these threads. How this is managed is also a hot topic Voting members to get in for example, on a weekly or monthly basis for example...

I don't think that the marketplace should be restricted! It is nice as it is. And it is a feature of DT to have a marketplace like that, in comparison to GH, Ebay, etc. It is free! It is open for everyone! It is like using a bicycle! Your examples, shreebles, are only three, and one of them is almost a year old, and the other one got no replies or interest at all. It is not like we are flooded with crap.

That sums it up perfect:

With a restriction, e.g. post count, we would have never gotten Cindy's awesome offers.