Seeking input about site upgrades...

[Bonsai Nut]

Some time in 2015 I plan on implementing a major site overhaul. Here are the pros and cons:

REQUIREMENTS
(1) No loss of forum posts, history, accounts, etc.
(2) No loss of photos in the photo gallery.

PROS
(1) Much better forum functionality (particularly for things like photo uploads).
(2) Much more support for mobile platforms - tablets and cell phones.
(3) Hopeful addition of chat.
(4) Hopeful addition of blogging and article support.

CONS
(1) May not be able to save "thanks" history for your user account (though I am still working on this).
(2) May not be able to save our "links directory" - may either have to scrap it entirely, or replace it with a different product that does the same thing but looks completely different.

What does everyone think about losing the links directory (in combination with these other changes?)

 

[Smoke]

The links can be reloaded

The thanks while cute seems to make people lazy and not interact with people about trees. It seems no one here asks questions or how something is developed or how did you do that, or why do you do that.

click thanks and move to the next post. I guess everyone knows how to do all this stuff...

 

[crust]

Sounds good.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I like the ability to "reward" people who go the extra mile to post something that took time and effort. One solution I am looking at creates categories of awards that you can give to people - and we can make the categories anything we like. For example, if we want to give awards for "great tutorial" or "great followup" etc, we can create new categories that mean more than just "thanks". Then if you choose to make your personal profile public, when people click on your name they will see you got "xxx" awards for "great tutorial". I hope to make it a type of "bonsai reputation" system based on helpfulness and contributing to the community.

 

[Vance Wood]

I like the ability to "reward" people who go the extra mile to post something that took time and effort. One solution I am looking at creates categories of awards that you can give to people - and we can make the categories anything we like. For example, if we want to give awards for "great tutorial" or "great followup" etc, we can create new categories that mean more than just "thanks". Then if you choose to make your personal profile public, when people click on your name they will see you got "xxx" awards for "great tutorial". I hope to make it a type of "bonsai reputation" system based on helpfulness and contributing to the community.

That idea is as good as anything I have heard.

 

[jk_lewis]

Will that include a "most obnoxious" category?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Will that include a "most obnoxious" category?

Joking aside, I will avoid any "vote" with a negative connotation. It is too easy to get into a flame war with votes - where people vote that they don't like your thread, so then you go and vote down their threads, etc.

I would rather people seek out POSITIVE feedback that becomes part of their community reputation.

 

[symbiotic1]

I appreciate the "thanks" feature as sometimes you learn something valuable from a post but it would just make clutter to have 10 people comment to thank them afterwards. It's analogous to "like" on facebook. I would caution against making a new acknowledgement system too complicated as it may just end up being underused.

 

[0soyoung]

Just to be clear, a key item of photo/mobile support is the

• ability to rotate uploaded photos by 90 degrees (repeated application as well)

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Just to be clear, a key item of photo/mobile support is the

• ability to rotate uploaded photos by 90 degrees (repeated application as well)

All over it

One of my pet peeves with the current site is that you can't drag and drop photos from your desktop into posts. I'm all over that one too

 

[Vance Wood]

All over it

One of my pet peeves with the current site is that you can't drag and drop photos from your desktop into posts. I'm all over that one too

Though I have not tried it lately I can no longer post my pictures from an off site source like I have been doing. I take that back I still can't do it now and haven't been able to since the last redo.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

That is strange Vance. I just posted an image from my computer (the first one) and linked it to an offsite source (the second one). I'm not having problems. Are you getting any error message?

These last two images are from an offsite source. The first is a direct link to the image. The second one I linked to the image, and downloaded and saved it on bonsainut as an attachment. All of these options are working for me.

 

[edprocoat]

All over it

One of my pet peeves with the current site is that you can't drag and drop photos from your desktop into posts. I'm all over that one too

I never mentioned this as I thought it was just not possible. Even on Faceboob you have to choose a picture then wait till its uploaded. Its still a lot quicker than uploading it to Flickr and then copying a BBC code and posting it here. It would be great if you could just drag and drop a pic.

ed

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I actually like the thanks button but I wouldn't stop coming here if it went away.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Just to be clear, a key item of photo/mobile support is the

• ability to rotate uploaded photos by 90 degrees (repeated application as well)

I am currently checking a program that auto-rotates images based on the orientation of the phone when picture was taken - ie if phone was horizontal, the image is shown horizontally.

I have uploaded pictures taken from my phone in all orientations - and in all cases the photo is oriented correctly on the forum.

This is what you are requesting, correct?

 

[garywood]

Speed, Speed, Speed

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Speed, Speed, Speed

Trust me.... this new server is 100% SSD's

 

[0soyoung]

I am currently checking a program that auto-rotates images based on the orientation of the phone when picture was taken - ie if phone was horizontal, the image is shown horizontally.

I have uploaded pictures taken from my phone in all orientations - and in all cases the photo is oriented correctly on the forum.

This is what you are requesting, correct?

Yes, it is. But I still think it wise to still have a manual option, unless you know this program rests on some new standard for phones and tablets. Everyone will be overjoyed if the photos always upload with the correct orientation, except the person for whom it doesn't automatically happen (and if there is one, there's a dozen, etc.).

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Any "portrait"-oriented photos I take; by phone and two cameras (downloaded to iPad), are rotated to landscape when I upload them here. They appear normal in the dropdown selector screen, and when they are uploaded and appear in the bottom tray of the uploaded screen, they are rotated to landscape.

I uploaded this pine photo once, and you can see it was rotated to landscape, and then took a screenshot of uploading it again to show it was portrait in the drop down.

Its weird, because if I edit the photo on my iPad, by rotating it 90* to landscape, save it, then edit it again by rotating it 270* back to portrait and save it, the uploader will load it without rotating it again. That's a lot of work to keep Jim from fussing.

 

[JudyB]

Dragging from a desktop sounds good, I'm just glad that on the uploader you can pick multiple files now.
BNut is that your tree??!!! That's amazing!