posted 04-24-06 02:59 AM CT (US)
I want to praise AoKH for being a very good site, and those who have worked to make it one. I don't mean to sound too polemic when delivering these suggestions, so if I do don't take anything personally.
Files are currently submitted as a single zip package. What if a 56k downloader doesn't want to watch that brief 5MB AVI? What if we want to include a lot of music, but can't host it ourselves, yet don't want to create a file size that will make our works inaccessable to those without a good broadband connection? We could also break the music up into floppy disk size portions like Ulio, without external hosting. What if we want to make a campaign in two different languages, while essentially being the same download in every other respect? What if we wanted to make a high-spec version of the campaign for fast PC's? Some of the problems with multiple file versions include distortion of the profiles and top rated system and difficulty reviewing. At AoKH specifically most submissions are a single file. This can be a good thing, but if people want to attach extra material they'll pretty much have their previous stuff deleted. I also think the dredded 'demo' should be allowed as part of a file, so people can try it out and see if they like the campaign. For example, Oliver's excellent 'Lightning and Thunder' teaser could be a part of the download, which people could try out before they play. The demo would not contribute to the final review of the file, but providing the file size was small could be quite a useful feature for people considering downloading a very large file. Though this would take a bit of work to implement, it would be a great enhancement to the site, and may even save a lot of bandwidth for HG if people decide not to download a music package. For games with expansion a simple visual indication of whether the expansion is needed or not is an absolute must. Since the update AoK has lost it's AoC flags, and other sites like EE (with the dredded AoC expansion I would never install on my PC) need them back too. I want to know if I can download something before I click on it. Like the top rated section for campaigns, a top reviewers section to praise people for doing reviews would be a great addition to all heavens. Anything that gets more people to review has got to be good for the site, and competing with others, and getting some recognition for your work would surely help increase the number of reviews. I've mentioned this on the other topic, so I won't digress further here A message before you submit your scenario where you have to click 'yes, this isn't an update' would help fix the problem. We still get tons of double submissions, and in some heavens they don’t even get picked up on. It's sad, but this may not actually fix the problem even. I believe the people who do this may even be simply incapable of even noticing a full page screen message, which asks them to answer a simple question. Still, given the amount of time it takes a designer to make a campaign, I hardly think this page is something to complain about, and even if it only reduces the number of double submissions by half, it makes for a lot less work for the moderators and reviewers (who have to chase up these new submissions or their work is lost). And if they don't follow the warnings, we have the right to shoot them This section's addition was a great breakthrough. Let's simply expand it to include a global version of itself, i.e. 'all new files', 'all new reviews', 'all new comments' and 'all top rated'. This can be enhanced by the existing 'go back X days' (which itself can be enhanced by setting a range of dates, so it need not start at the present) and a filter e.g. 'All new campaigns and scenarios'. An additional or alternative feature would be to detect whether the browser was looking in 'home' (default), 'new reviews', 'top rated' etc and keep them in that relevant section when switching between areas. I also think that navigating between the ‘new’, ‘top rated’ etc sections should be done with tabs along the top of the screen, and not down the side, it would make browsing more comfortable, as you don't have to scroll down. I think new submissions should go up straight away, and a program could check e.g. for profanity and to see if they are a WinZip file. I can’t see what could be checked that can’t be automated. It could save the delay and the frustration. You could argue that download's checking prevents double submissions for example, but I’ve seen corrupted files, double submissions etc get through at heavens where the moderators aren't able to do as good a job as they do here. And for double submissions, the case is often that people are submitting again because the file didn’t go up in the first place, due to the checking delay. As long as the staff of each heaven keep an eye on the downloads area there won’t be any problems with this, they can simply remove any files they miss when they have a look at the downloads area. And if they don’t keep an eye on it, realistically the chances are the submissions will get through in the first place, as they won't realize the submission is just an update etc. Automated file checking can also scan old files much better than the memory of a download's administrator, though I admit it wouldn't get everything. A system where it checked for similar file names, the word 'update' for a new submission (which shouldn't really be in there) and similar file sizes to previous submissions should be fairly effective. I don't know how much work it would involve to set up a 'bot' like this to scan new files though. How about we have a link 'report this as a bad review' etc for logged in users, so people can report things like that to the downloads admin? Again, at AoKH there aren't many problems there, but at many other heavens there is years of poorly policed reviewing etc that is too much to ask a moderator to sort through by themselves. Being able to report abusive comments, poor reviews, duplicate/corrupted submissions quickly and easily etc would be a great feature. Again, at AoKH pretty much all of these things are policed very well, but there may still be the odd occurance, and as a global downloads feature it would aid some heaven's greatly. Of course, abuse of the feature could be tied down to a login if it became a problem, then the person responsible could be dealt with. I'm not talking a huge, unmissable link here, but just something that can be found on the page somewhere that sets out all the details and protocols of the reasons a file can be removed, and things that should be discouraged. I don't know what they are myself, and they aren't published anywhere on the site, to my knowledge. A website needs to be designed to be as easy to navigate and learn the layout of as possible. I have some ideas on improving the layout of AoKH and other sites, which I'll describe below. The forums are very effective for what they are made for - discussions. Without being unecessarily fancy, they do the job well. The only issue here, but a big one, is navigation. There is a useful tool on the top right to 'hop to' different forums, and different heavens. But what about a direct link to downloads central and the university? I think these two features would complete it nicely. Having said that, I don't think people in the forums need quite as much help with basic navigation as people in the downloads area. This is a big one. Every time there is a major change at HG the forumers need to be shown more respect by the staff when it comes to changing the site. This means both telling them, with ample warning, of future changes that affect them. Let us know when a new feature at the downloads section is coming up. Tell us if there is going to be a major change with the site. And more importantly, explain the details of the more important changes and allow us to have some say in it. I've recently spoken to Anastasia about the future of scenario designing articles/information. I believe it's vital an official HG site provides a 'university' type database of SD information. In the past this was done at the university, but now most of it resides on scenario design team sites. This means that the university should track down and link to all of these sites, so we have a clear way of finding all SD information available easily, without having to search it out ourselves. The university should also ask permission of the authors to host this information itself so it can be kept together for convenience. Now as we move into a new era, we need to do an overhaul of the now seldom frequented university, to make it the best source of SD information possible. I believe a wiki is by far the best form this can take. Yet I was greatly surprised to hear that this was not the case. I can't critisize the weaknesses of a lesser format though, becuase the details of this are confidential. I don't know if the future of the university was planned to be discussed with the community or not, but it's something we absolutely have to talk about and work out as a community. I don't mean to be hasty or critical of the staff, as I neither know what form the new university would take, or whether or not there was any plan to openly discuss it with the community before any decisions were made. I don't however feel that the staff have been open enough about this issue so far with the community, and we absolutely must have the details of this explained on the scenario design forum, and allow the community to make a decision on the matter. As I've said, I'm overwhelmingly in favour of a wiki, and I want to speak about this in depth with anyone who opposes it. We need a format that is as conducive as possible to getting people to write articles. It doesn't have to be a wiki, but it does have to be the best possible format available, and one we all agree on. I can't see the old article format working, so I hope it is at least something much different to that. Just as important as it is to get the optimal format, it's also vital to get people to visit this place. That's why we need the links to this area from everywhere possible, especially the homepage, forums and downloads central. We also need the staff to keep the forumers fully up to date with issues that concern them, even if it means making topics in multiple forums for more important issues. There is now also the issue of That is all I have to say. I'm not particularly skilled at being diplomatic, it's something I'm trying to learn. I've written a lot, and if it is all put in place it will be a huge amount of work. I realise there will be flaws with many of my ideas, but I hope they have all been heard by the people that can make them happen if they are viable, and that they won't be forgotten. I ask our forumers to provide feedback on my ideas and to suggest their own, to help make the site an even better place. My thanks to all the people who have made AoKH and HG what it is today, and please don't be offended by anything I have said or the way I have said it; I've been less than tactful in the past and it is definitely not my intention to belittle the effort and hours that have gone into the collective being that is AoKH. -Richard
Excellent. Easy to navigate, stylish and functional. Links to all important areas, and the news has been handled superbly by Anastasia, with all important events reported on, with links and pictures. The only improvement I can suggest is to make the link to the University a bit clearer - it has no subsections, so is a little easy to miss. Besides, how is a newbie to know what the university is? I didn't when I first came here.
A comprehensive variety of forums, from general to SD, outside links etc. We won't mention Splash Splash
I've covered most of my ideas for this section already. Again though, the main thing I want to touch on is navigation - there is only a small link to the forums, which most new people evidently seem to miss. Perhaps a 'request a review' button on each person's own submission (which takes them to the review thread) would be helpful for those people who post 'PLZ REVIEW!' on the comments. Secondly, learning how to design is just as important as the forums or the downloads themselves. Bettering ourselves as designers is vital to improve the quality of our campaigns. We need a link to the university here! As for making the links more clear, I think some tabs or large words across the top of the downloads home and category subsections adding 'forums' and 'university' to the downloads section tab itself would be immensely useful for navigation. It would be nice if those tabs could remain a part of the rest of the site so it all looks continuous would be nice, though I don't know that this would work so well.
