Author Topic: [WEBSITE v2] MusicBee website and forum redesign  (Read 551710 times)

hiccup

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okay forum registration should be working now.

Thnx, working now indeed.
I now could create a new account under 'hiccup'.
Contrary to what you believed, there seems to be a link between the old and the new forum, since (as phred also mentioned), you cannot use the same email address.

Two observations about registering to the forum:

1. after any error in trying to register (username already exists, wrong captcha etc.) the two password fields which you have carefully entered are cleaned again. So you have to enter it (twice) al over again. That's annoying (to me ;-)
Is that something you have control over?

2.
This captcha barrier with only 5 letters to me looks like a sitting duck for spambots.
Is there an option for a more advanced one? I believe the current forum works with photographs you have to match?

Skoop

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Quote
you cannot use the same email address.

That will be a disincentive to ever sign up on the new one, for some of us.

AvikB

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okay time for a new update, dashboard is now being worked on. it is completely redesigned and have new features for admin/mod and also most downloaded(unique, based per IP), most liked(also uqnique, based per user) statistics is now working.

here is a peak. I haven't uploaded the update yet as few major database changes are needed, which i will update when the database schema is atleast a bit more solid.


hiccup

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okay time for a new update, dashboard is now being worked on. it is completely redesigned and have new features for admin/mod and also most downloaded(unique, based per IP), most liked(also uqnique, based per user) statistics is now working.

That looks very good and very professional.
I really hope there will be lots of contributions with good and interesting addons, which will justify all the work that you are putting into this.

AvikB

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Thnx, working now indeed.
I now could create a new account under 'hiccup'.
Contrary to what you believed, there seems to be a link between the old and the new forum, since (as phred also mentioned), you cannot use the same email address.
No there is no connection between new and old forum. the only reason you won't be able to use email is because you already used it for previous registration.

Two observations about registering to the forum:

1. after any error in trying to register (username already exists, wrong captcha etc.) the two password fields which you have carefully entered are cleaned again. So you have to enter it (twice) al over again. That's annoying (to me ;-)
Is that something you have control over?
Nope, i have no control over registration behavior.

2.
This captcha barrier with only 5 letters to me looks like a sitting duck for spambots.
Is there an option for a more advanced one? I believe the current forum works with photographs you have to match?
Yes the current forum like photograph captchas were there, but it seems somehow it got broke. I will fix it in next update.
Don't worry the current captcha is not that weak. It is actually cleverly designed.

AvikB

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That looks very good and very professional.
Well everything is now getting finishing touch before it enters stable beta. :)

I really hope there will be lots of contributions with good and interesting addons, which will justify all the work that you are putting into this.
I am sure there will be. we have a lots of active skinners, plugin developers. :)

hiccup

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the only reason you won't be able to use email is because you already used it for previous registration.

Ah, dumb of me, it was indeed the same one I already used for 'hiccup2'.

Bee-liever

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@ hiccup
It looks like you and me will have to agree to disagree on what is and isn't important for average users on the forum.

And as I said before, all this was brought up before and discussed and it was decided that the shortcut buttons would stay.  So instead of sticking with that decision, it's been rehashed and now that's not going to happen.  I'm sure, that sometime in the future, it will be re-discussed and a different decision will be made.

One of the pitfalls of designing by committee to accommodate everyone's viewpoint.
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

AvikB

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@ hiccup
It looks like you and me will have to agree to disagree on what is and isn't important for average users on the forum.

And as I said before, all this was brought up before and discussed and it was decided that the shortcut buttons would stay.  So instead of sticking with that decision, it's been rehashed and now that's not going to happen.  I'm sure, that sometime in the future, it will be re-discussed and a different decision will be made.

One of the pitfalls of designing by committee to accommodate everyone's viewpoint.
The only reason i agreed to remove it because of the poor implementation. I will look into these in more depth for available solution for v2.0.
I personally don't think a user need to search for patches in forum or anywhere. MusicBee should have a check for update button which should be able to get the patch or notify the user automatically.

hiccup

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I'm sure, that sometime in the future, it will be re-discussed and a different decision will be made.

That would not be a problem for me at all.
Apart from my arguments (which of course I believe are very strong and irrefutable  ;-) , my main reason for arguing this matter is that all this deliberating on those big buttons is cumbersome and dragging on for too long.
Yesterday the most important person here (Steven) mentioned he would be fine getting rid of those big buttons.
So for now just let's do that and try to finally get the show on the road.

After the basic layout and structure is settled, and proved to work well, we can always see if there are improvements to be made.

hiccup

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The only reason i agreed to remove it because of the poor implementation. I will look into these in more depth for available solution for v2.0.
I personally don't think a user need to search for patches in forum or anywhere. MusicBee should have a check for update button which should be able to get the patch or notify the user automatically.

To be clear, I fully support the idea that finding updates/patches etc. can, should, must be improved.
The only part I don't support is bringing extra (duplicate) attention to posting 'bugs'.
Explanation on when or how to post them, yes, probably. Extra links/buttons etc. No.

Bee-liever

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All this arguing is just going round in circles and is not moving this topic forward at all, and as I seem to be a lone voice, I'll refrain from any further input into this topic at all.

@ hiccup
Just in parting, I would remind you to remember what you have posted before.  Seems those links were not so useful after all (http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=16894.msg99769#msg99769)

Yesterday the most important person here (Steven) mentioned he would be fine getting rid of those big buttons.
And please supply all the facts.  Steven was happy to get rid of the big buttons if AvikB was going to go to the trouble of hiding them.

I do agree with you, i am thinking of providing a way for allowing users to collapse them.
if you are going to do that then why not just get rid of them?
The only reason i suggested them was to serve as a hint for new users who seem to continually struggle to find the topic with the latest updates but i only see that as mildly useful

And please don't forget this re-hashing of the big buttons was down to one users post about not liking the new forum at all (http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=16894.msg107459#msg107459).
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

hiccup

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If you imply that I am inconsistent in this matter, i don't believe I am.
(not that I would be ashamed to adjust any of my opinions over time at all)

Button 1; report bugs
- not useful, and even counter-productive in my opinion. I have given a few valid arguments for that, which you have not addressed at all.

Button 2: updates and patches
- would be useful, I never argued against that, but I have expressed doubts about the mechanics, concept and terminologies behind it. Avikb also explained more than once that he believes the mechanics behind it are not in place right now, so he would not be satisfied to implement it well at this moment.

Button 3: link to f.a.q's and howto's
- could be useful, I never said otherwise

So we can objectively establish that at this moment, two out of three of these buttons are still under discussion, c.q. not implementable at a satisfactory level.
Now, after more than three months, the only thing I am saying, is just forget about these buttons for now, let's do our best to get the new forum live, and when the time and circumstances are better, let's look at getting such buttons and/or shortcuts right.

Let's not get grumpy on this issue?
Last Edit: March 21, 2016, 12:28:24 PM by hiccup

phred

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Thnx, working now indeed.
I now could create a new account under 'hiccup'.
Contrary to what you believed, there seems to be a link between the old and the new forum, since (as phred also mentioned), you cannot use the same email address.
I might be wrong, but the initial email address I provided when trying to register 'phred' was the same one being used by 'phred_phred'. Registration was (probably) denied since the new forum wouldn't (and shouldn't) allow two accounts with the same email address.  Coincidentally, it's the same address I'm using on the -original- forum.  So I -think- a user would be able to use their current (original forum) on the new forum.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

AvikB

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I might be wrong, but the initial email address I provided when trying to register 'phred' was the same one being used by 'phred_phred'. Registration was (probably) denied since the new forum wouldn't (and shouldn't) allow two accounts with the same email address.  Coincidentally, it's the same address I'm using on the -original- forum.  So I -think- a user would be able to use their current (original forum) on the new forum.
Unfortunately it is out of my hand, it is the foundation SMF is built in. you can use one email address only ONCE.
If you want to use the email address you used for the current forum, i suggest you delete your forum account in the new forum and create a new one there.

BTW, this registration for new account is only needed for test website. When the new forum will be ready all your current forum data, registration, post history will be there with the same username and email you are using on current forum.