New GarageGames.com Feedback

#61 My Thoughts:

- Showing the original post at the top of each page in a thread is really annoying and breaks the flow of reading. When i click next page I expect to the see the next post, this is pretty normal forum behavior, not something I think should be changed. If anything you should show the thread title, and include the original post collapsed with a toggle to expand it - but personally i don't think you need to show the original post on each page at all.

- Also on the main forum page where you choose a forum, it's quite annoying having to click on a forum to open the sub sections, I really don't see the need.

When you do web design, the less clicks required for an action, the better.

Other than that it's not too bad, your search feature still needs ALOT of work, you are probably still working on it but:
- In the advanced search the options need to be much more compact
- You really, really need sorting options for the search, such as search by date, relevance etc.

The search feature is extremely important to a site like this, you guys need to put extra effort into that area.

Lastly... I really hate that the you have private sections that can't even be viewed, I'm not sure what the benefit of this is? It means a lot of your content is not available to the public when they are making decisions on an engine.

What is the point of hiding it? You can make it so it's read only to non-licenses, you can make it so non-licensees can't download attachments to the posts (though I'm not sure the forum supports attachments).

I've been having ALOT of trouble finding information about TGEA 1.8 and what issues there are etc.

Anyhow I know its only just been put up so I'm sure there are plenty of changes on the way! Looking good so far!

#62 Well, now that I've poked around some more here goes. I know some of this may or may not be bugs.

Aesthetic changes:
- Everything on the What's New, Blogs, and Resources tabs really run together. They need to be more distinguishable from one another on the page.

- Doc pages should be centered so they match the flow of the site better.

Functional changes:
- Need to be able to view all unread threads/posts again
- Also need visual indication that a thread has at least been visited before. Links currently don't change color.
- Preview post button would be nice.

#63 Can we have the sub-forums for the Private Sections back please. It's a bit of a melee at the moment with all the private threads piled into a single forum.

#64 Here's another one:

After posting a comment in a the page should go to either the page where your comment appears or the page you were viewing when you posted, not back to the first page.

Oh, and user definable posts per page would be nice.

#65 The following downloads in my product page are boned:
- TGE 1.4.2 Warzone Demo
- Oddictive - Full version, demo seems to be working
- TSTP Windows/Mac - the demos have the .dmg extension, is that right?
- TXB

#66 please make an option to use old designs, that new is unusable... if it comes so, i will leave GG and will go to any other indie engine (unity 3d, for example)... realy disapointed by a such step

#67 i don't download TorqueShowTool in MyAccount page.

i try download then show this message.

[b]The requested download url cannot be found[/b]
Please visit your MyAccount page and follow the download link to be issued a new url.

and Where is TGE 1.5.x??

#68 @Maxim
Ridiculous threat is ridiculous. An upgrade to the site has been needed for some time now. There were obviously going to be some growing pains, but you would be better served by providing actual feedback about the site.

@Mquaker
1.5.x is now listed in your account page as Torque Game Engine. 1.4.2 is listed specifically as Torque Game Engine 1.4.2, it threw me off a bit at first as well.

#69 I agree with most of the comments around here, I like the new design, but functionality wise I think this is a big step backwards. Forums are harder to navigate, snapshots are gone, etc etc.

There's one additional thing though, if I go to my Torque for Wii forums, I see posts from other forums like T3D, it's all messed up in there!

#70 Another suggestion:
Put a second set of thread pages links just above the comments, a link to go to the newest post in a thread from the index would be nice as well.

And I'm not sure it was noted yet or not, but seems pretty much all my bookmarks from the old site are boned.

#71 I was here when GG changed to the last website design, you got it right that time, not this time. Please release this site as a beta and listen to your community, we are not just customers to GG, we are a small little industry.

There is no better community in the world of games developers, small & large. Change is needed in small steps with such a large community as we are not the mass market like social sites, however social sites have to be very careful over a simple new lick of paint (i.e. Fackbook last year) but this is nothing near the change everyone has experienced today with the site losing so much functions.

#72 @Scott Burns
dear sir, i know i am "ridiculous", but one thing - why dont make an option to acces old site ? so most of the ppl dont confused and no pain to anyone. sorry again, but in the middle of development I have such "present" rom GG and must find additional time to search for the resources, build new links database and much more things..
it seems my dev snapshot gone and instead of buying TGEA i will buy another engine, cause cannont collect money for TGEA lic now :P
cause no dev.snapshot-ppl dont know about my product-no info - no purchases- no purchases - no TGEA lic... thats it, simple

#73 The navigation layout is horrible and this blank and white wash of text is just blurring particular with the forum searches and such. as well as my support question.

www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/82497

#74 It feels like someone died. I'm starting to feel all Emo from the blandness. I want rainbows and sparkles!!!

All this grey and white, I thought for a while I had a black and white television for a monitor, til I saw the blue usernames.

Seems like it coulda been done in smaller steps instead of one big A-Bomb being dropped.

This doesn't work, that doesn't work the same, this has been moved and will work later, that is now mixed in with 10,000 other random things...*cry*

#75
Okay, major security issues here.
If you have a direct link to a forum post you can view it even if you don't have access to that forum!!

Reason I noticed this was apparently we associates no longer have access to the associates forum, but it still exists and I can read the posts if I enter the correct IDs.

#76 Anyone figured out how to mangle old resource download links to get them to work since they now don't show up?

I feel like the new site should have been released as a beta to Associates, power users, or volunteers first. There are too many things that just don't make sense for a total switch :(

#77 Oh wow.. I can read the TGB forums! I don't have TGB... That probably means that anyone can access licensing threads.. Terrific, I'll need to take the CCK update down... This shift was not really thought over. :(

I applaud GG's success at everything. I hope they just don't forget we came here together - GG and the community. Now I feel I'm treated like a rug... I'm finding more and more very disappointing things.

#78 I'll add one to the mix:

--forum posts need a date and a time stamp. It doesn't have to be more accurate than a minute or so, but very often rapid fire conversations happen in hot threads, and it is very difficult to keep track of what was said when, and what you've posted in response to if you can't see what time various posts were made.

#79 Ok this is really annoying.
I posted a thread earlier in the Torque_Game_Engine_Advanced_Private_Forums->Engine forum and while I can get back to it under the new heading of
Torque Game Engine Advanced

I kinda liked the sub-forum distinction and I am wondering is that gone now?
Have all the sub-forums simple been dumped into this new generic classification?

I finally figured out how to get to the public and private forums.
One problem I see is it doesn't matter which one , public or private, the forums header say the same thing .

Example The Torque Game Engine Advanced public forum says
Torque Game Engine Advanced
And the private one says
Torque Game Engine Advanced

This could get a little confusing if you are following threads in both.

I also don't like the 20 reply's per page addition.
This is problematic on some rather long threads that contain a small piece of code you where looking for.

I have gotten used to loading a thread and hitting F3 and searching for a keyword or something similar. I understand it is probably a bandwidth saving issue or something like that. An option to change the number of replys to display would be nice.

I am sure we will eventually learn to like the new site.

#80 Well nutbunnies. TDN gets added to the boned list.