Cave Feedback

[Fuzzbucket]

On another issue entirely - gifts. (I won't use the I word...)

 

If I breed a promised egg for someone and PM them with a one-way link - and I can see they have read it and they have space and nothing has happened... I'm never sure whether they just don't want it now or something. It was a blessed relief this morning when someone I had offered an egg to took the time to let me know she didn't want it.

 

Could we have a "no thanks, not taking it" button for ONE-WAY trades, just as we have a decline offer for two-way ? So I could be SURE they weren't just waiting half an hour for the coffee to heat up, or something. Maybe I need the space - so do I PM over and over, pick up NOW or else, or do I drop it and then they will PM me later to say "HEYYYY I was just going to pick that up..." and I get to feel bad and so on.

[purplehaze]

Seems very rude to me not to respond one way or another to such a PM. I wonder if someone who cares so little would bother to use a button. Many don't use the decline on trades even when they have no intention of accepting that trade. Guess it couldn't hurt, but I wonder how much it would help.

[FiveSix]

I personally often find I'm in a position to read a PM but (given it can take a very long time for me to compose even a simple message) don't have the time/energy to reply. Stuck between taking the egg without immediately saying thank you and waiting until later* to take it and reply properly I would choose the latter as the lesser of two evils.

 

Though that wouldn't so much apply if it weren't a spontaneous gift - if I'm expecting something it's not such a nightmare to compose a reply I can bring myself to send since unelaborated 'thank you ' will often suffice and I'm probably reasonably comfortable talking to the sender already.

 

*probably talking maybe four hours at most here

 

In any case such a button might be useful for distinguishing cases like mine from disinterest.

[Fuzzbucket]

I personally often find I'm in a position to read a PM but (given it can take a very long time for me to compose even a simple message) don't have the time/energy to reply. Stuck between taking the egg without immediately saying thank you and waiting until later* to take it and reply properly I would choose the latter as the lesser of two evils.

 

Though that wouldn't so much apply if it weren't a spontaneous gift - if I'm expecting something it's not such a nightmare to compose a reply I can bring myself to send since unelaborated 'thank you ' will often suffice and I'm probably reasonably comfortable talking to the sender already.

 

*probably talking maybe four hours at most here

 

In any case such a button might be useful for distinguishing cases like mine from disinterest.

Four hours is fair enough. 12 hours is OK. But 24 or more...

 

I think sometimes we are offered an egg and don't like to say "sorry, me no like" - that feels ruder than just - saying nothing and waiting for it to go away !

Whereas hitting no thanks doesn't feel as MEAN, if that makes sense ?

[Dracaena]

SOMEONE said the page is cleaned out occasionally - it could be just that ? (I had the same thing AGES ago...)

I think the "cleaning out" you are thinking of is what happens when the cave goes down for nightly maintenence. The links become inopererable and thus removed by the system on the dcrecords page.

 

The two eggs I put up 13 hours ago and I found they had vanished from view on the Leave an egg, Take an egg page 12 hours ago are still on my scroll. I go to post them up once more...

 

I will add that this happens irregularly. Whoever is doing it can watch the page for a few days and then not be around for awhile and things happen normally.

[Fuzzbucket]

Can I ask why the new layout ? It seems to be glitchy; it has non-medieval looking cogs on it which presumably go to the same pages as they used to when they were just words, and - well what's the point ? I happen to find it very ugly, but that aside - what is the reason for it ?

 

Others feel the same way:

 

Agreed. The old layout isn't broken and doesn't really need fixing, and the wide spacing on the new layout is pretty meh to me. Also not thrilled about the glitches people are reporting. All in all, can't say I'm a huge fan. Sign me up to stay on the old layout >_>

 

for one.

 

I think the current layout for the desktop/laptop is better organized than the screenshot of the alternate layout.

 

Please don't google-ize the site. I hope this idea gets quashed, quickly.

and

Looks like the new /view/ page has also turned up in my browsing of Dragon Cave now. I'm a little disoriented by it, though, because I can barely read the 'Owner:', 'Laid on:', 'Overall views:' et cetera labels, since they're dark brown even though I'm using the Portal 2 skin (i.e. dark on dark). Forcing a proper reload does nothing in this regard. Is that just me or is it happening to anyone else? If latter, is it worth making a suggestion topic about?

 

Edit: Here's a screenshot:

 

there are others.

 

Why change it at all ?

[Obscure_Trash]

Oops. Glad you got what I meant by "forum" feedback thread!

 

Anyway, though I'd post my positivity here because I really like the new format.

 

The name/code in big text above the egg? Awesome! So easy to check if a dragon is named now! So easy to find the code.

 

The action and code links? Also very easy to immediately find and make use of! They're also out of the way and separated from egg information, which is a nice separation.

 

I think the setup is very nice and much more intuitive to find the information I may actually be looking for (parents/owner/stats/etc.).

 

As well, I don't think everything needs to look Medieval, especially considering:

-Not all the skins fit the general time setting of DC

-This is an online game, we can make concessions for a very small gear

 

^^

[Fuzzbucket]

I am terribly TERRIBLY intelligent !

 

But OK not everything has to look mediaeval - I can kind of live with that. (I shall probably block the gears anyway, so I don't have to look at them - as I have with the lurid check marks.)

 

But the new layout is messy by comparison - everything is lined up nicely in the existing one - it's neat and attractive. I don't mind the size of the text and the code - it's the way the gears skew everything else out of line.

 

And you have to agree something needs doing about the colour scheme in some layouts ? IF this rolls out to us all - why not make like the clock thing - and do it only on the default skin - then those of us who can't use that anyway (and it's not just me !) can stick with the old layout ? Saves him updating them all - which he has said, when adding the clock to them all was requested, is a terrible lot of work !

[Ruby Eyes]

You would be surprised about how wooden cogs and other seemingly industrial things have already been in use by the ancient Romans.

[Fuzzbucket]

You would be surprised about how wooden cogs and other seemingly industrial things have already been in use by the ancient Romans.

I wouldn't actually. But then they did kind of fall into disuse again. The Romans were smarter than we are !

 

I don't like the LOOK of the cogs (I pulled the mediaeval card in the hopes that it might help my case, to be honest) but it is more the way they distort the rest of the page that bugs me.

 

as opposed to the much neater way:

 

It's the actual LAYOUT I dislike, not text size etc - and I can block the cogs anyway. But the untidiness.

Edited February 4, 2016 by fuzzbucket

[Ruby Eyes]

I think you should rather compare that to a dragon with parents and a similar amount of children. Then the old layout also looks kind of toppled to the right side, and full of stuff.

 

New:

 

Current:

 

The two links at the top for your own dragons is really the only difference, plus the "Viewing Dragon: Name" apparently, which I think should rather be centered, too.

Could it be that you also don't like the 4 column look instead of the 2 columns?

Edited February 4, 2016 by Ruby Eyes

[Cinnamin Draconna]

I'm currently using the St. Patrick's layout, and the changes don't apply to that skin.

 

But I LOVE that new 4 column layout. In my opinion it's much LESS messy than the 2 column look. I agree that the 'cogs' are out of place theme-wise.. AND they are totally unnecessary too. If you have to have a graphic, why not a simple Celtic cross?

 

The one thing I really don't like is the HUGE "Viewing Dragon: Tamoen" at the top of the page. It's ugly, unnecessary and totally distracting from the appearance of the rest of the page. Using the 4 column layout makes the name stand out already, so the big 'banner' thingy is just UGLY!!

 

So lose the 'banner' and change the graphics.. then the new look will be perfect.

 

-------------

 

However... until the 'scrolling/moving' background image is removed/fixed, I won't be going back to the Parchment/default skin.

[purplehaze]

I'm pretty much agreed with Cinnamin on this. I like the layout, except for the link graphics, which to me are distracting and unnecessary.

 

I wouldn't mind the banner with the name at the top if it were just a wee bit smaller.

[Ruby Eyes]

I'm currently using the St. Patrick's layout, and the changes don't apply to that skin.

Sure? Because pinkgothic got the changes on the Portal skin, too. That would imply that *if* you have the new layout, you have it on all the skins - or maybe not on the retired ones?

[HeatherMarie]

I don't like the huge "viewing dragon" text. It's huge! Why does it have to be so hit-you-in-the-face large?? It takes the entire page out of focus, to me. And it's rather redundant since the "Name:" is right below it. I don't see why it's needed at all, and right now I'm REALLY glad I don't have the new layout. I'm really, really not looking forward to that huge-butt text.

[skwerl56767]

Excuse me from being detached from the discussion, but what is this "new layout" people are talking about? I browsed every page I could find on the site and found nothing that looked like that. O.o Is it a skin, or a preview of an upcoming update or something...? If it's actually part of the site, then I can't find it and I have no clue on what's going on.

[annageckos]

I still have the old layout. But seeing those comparison shots I like the new layout overall. It's less crowded and easier for me to read. I'm not fond of the action or link symbols or the HUGE viewing XXXX on the top. Maybe if it was smaller, it's too close to the dragon sprite and distracts IMO.

[purplehaze]

Excuse me from being detached from the discussion, but what is this "new layout" people are talking about? I browsed every page I could find on the site and found nothing that looked like that. O.o Is it a skin, or a preview of an upcoming update or something...? If it's actually part of the site, then I can't find it and I have no clue on what's going on.

It is a revision of the view page that is being rolled out slowly, or tested on a small portion of the site. Not everyone has it, yet. I still have the old version myself.

[Pokemonfan13]

It was pointed out that lineaged dragons with many children but not enough to just switch to a "children" link can be lop-sided on the new view. Just to make sure the comparison is fair, here's the same dragon with a decent number of children in the two views:

 

 

Even though there's an extra row of children, it is actually less lopsided in the new view.

 

 

The lopsidedness problem is actually with CB dragons with no children.

 

 

 

 

 

Right now I think I don't really like the new view mainly because I'm not used to it. At least for the new spacing. It's more readable and I think I'd be fine with it in time. But I agree that the "viewing XXXX" thing big at the top is kinda strange and off putting and unnecessary, and I'm not sure I'd ever like the images next to actions and links. The only way little icons like that make sense to me is if they're replacing text, and in that case it has to be really really obvious what the image means.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Pokemonfan13

[skwerl56767]

Ah, I see! So it's like a pending feature. Hm, I agree that making the title text near the dragon sprite a bit smaller would help. I haven't witnessed it myself though so I can't say for sure about anything else.

[Fuzzbucket]

Whatever else (and I realise that I am going to have to live with it, and I SHALL block the ugly cogs) the colours need addressing. There's a screenie in another thread that shows how it is on portal dark - unreadable, basically. Much of the text cannot be seen against the background.

 

I still can't see any need for this. What is actually the point ? There are so many things that need addressing - like Mr Flappy on the fertility page, and the fact that many of us still actually CANNOT play using the new default skin. And the very real need to be able to hide (NOT FOG) growing things in the same way that we can hide all our adults - so that we can show our scrolls without any risk..

[Ruby Eyes]

Indeed, the colours should match the currently chosen skin, too.

[Riverwillows]

I'm fine with the old view. It's what I'm used to. I hope I can keep it, not be forced to switch.

[AGYK]

Right now I think I don't really like the new view mainly because I'm not used to it.  At least for the new spacing.  It's more readable and I think I'd be fine with it in time.  But I agree that the "viewing XXXX" thing big at the top is kinda strange and off putting and unnecessary, and I'm not sure I'd ever like the images next to actions and links.  The only way little icons like that make sense to me is if they're replacing text, and in that case it has to be really really obvious what the image means.

I think I agree with this. I really don't like the new layout, but after studying your side-by-side screenshots and a few others, I'm not actually sure why I don't like the new layout. The new vertical alignment on everything mostly looks nice if I study it closely, but Iunno, I'm just not feeling the layout as a whole.

 

As far as tangible critique, I don't like the font at all. It's too... fancy?, I think it got quite a bit smaller, and I don't like the color much. I'm simple when it comes to font, I like something simple and readable and black. (I can probably "fix" this myself with NoScript's font-blocking. I expect the new font to stay anyway, it looks more medieval and I suspect this is what TJ wants since it fits with the site's setting. But eh, I'll toss out my 2c for the heck of it.)

 

I also don't like where the Actions link is, and this is a huge problem for me. If I'm viewing a dragon on my scroll, 99% of the time I want its Actions link. Actions is not vertically aligned with anything, it's pulled off way into the middle of the page, and the link itself is tiny (see: grievances about font). It's also positioned right next to another link (Show HTML/BBCode Links) which is quite a bit bigger and which I literally never use. I'd highly prefer to see Actions resynced with the left column and Show Links resynced with the right column, where I can never accidentally click one when I mean the other.

 

Also agree with you about the icons, drop them entirely imo. They're unnecessary.

 

Last but most important - people are reporting a number of ugly glitches with the new layout, and I just don't wanna deal with any of that.

[Obscure_Trash]

Last but most important - people are reporting a number of ugly glitches with the new layout, and I just don't wanna deal with any of that.

That's why we test and fix problems before releasing. =p