All of the new site features

[Immortal-D]

First, huge props to DJive and drpepper for upgrading everything. We look shinier than ever :) Anyways, for those of you who just browse a little, here's a brief list of the really cool new stuff.

At the top menu bar, you can check the Google map of your fellow mappers, and add your own. Contest information and name reseveration is up there as well. On a more personal note, you can leave visitor messages to any user. Think of it like a shoutbox when you're too lazy to send a private message. Photo albums are available, and from what I understand, we'll soon be able to create blogs here to track development of new maps and projects. And of course, you can search members by various statistics and such. So please give those two a big thanks for all their hard work. Our site just keeps getting better!

[drpepper]

Thanks for outlining the cool features.
One small correction.

The album gallery is yet not available to registered members yet. That will be simultaneously available with the developer blogs.

[ryodoan]

This sounds pretty awesome, cant wait to see the developer blogs in action.

[kimangroo]

Well done guys, you've got a very nice and easy to use site going here. I'm impressed you're still looking to improve it.

The google maps function is fun, but the first thing I thought is: is it really a good idea to pinpoint the exact location of your home address... you may not mind anyone on this site knowing exactly where you live, but it's easy to forget what other info you have posted elsewhere on the net, and one day after a particularly scathing review of someone's map on fpsbanana, who knows who may come knocking at your door... :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

EDIT: I notice you've warned exactly against doing that already!

Otherwise on the subject of site improvement a couple of very small things I've noticed in the few weeks I've been here is:

1) the most recent posts that have been updated since you last read them feature occasionally seems buggy. A few times there have been threads that I have never looked at that come up under the "already read" section.

EDIT 2: Actually maybe I misunderstood this feature. Does it only highlight threads that have been updated since you visited the forum, rather than since you checked the specific thread? In that case it does seem to be working, but is maybe a little less useful.

2) the other thing which bugged me slightly was the maximum number of posts that you can read without registering feature. TBH when I first came across the site via google, that feature really turned me off the site. Not very welcoming. It was only after tf2maps.net kept on coming up in my google searches for mapping questions and I realised that it was actually a very friendly site that I decided to register. The feature doesn't really stop people browsing the site without registering as they can use google's cached pages or delete their cookies like I did. Also, I'm sure people will register as soon as they have a question they can't find answered or have something to say anyway so I'm not sure it's necessary.

Anyway that's just a very small gripe on an otherwise excellent site, so well done again! :thumbup:

[DJive]

2) the other thing which bugged me slightly was the maximum number of posts that you can read without registering feature.

Ya. That was already shut off. Did that for a little bit but did not see a real benefit. However, to download maps and such from the site, you still need to register.

[FernFerret]

Excellent medium DJive, is it like that for all of the downloads? Because it should be.

FernFerret

[DJive]

Its for the whole download section.

There are a lot of small changes and a lot of bigger things being added.

Pepper and I have been a busy two =p

[kimangroo]

Ya. That was already shut off. Did that for a little bit but did not see a real benefit. However, to download maps and such from the site, you still need to register.

Sweet, well no complaints then... good job! :thumbup1:

[Trypto]

Those dev blogs sound cool. In fact, it's probably the best idea I've heard in a while.

[VelvetFistIronGlove]

Great stuff, both of you!

[Youme]

Indeed the new blog system seems excelent :D