Seeking input about site upgrades...

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
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

Ignore-Amus
Messages
11,668
Reaction score
20,724
Location
Fresno, CA
USDA Zone
9
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

Omono
Messages
1,317
Reaction score
1,838
Location
MN
USDA Zone
3A
Sounds good.
 

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
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

Lord Mugo
Messages
14,002
Reaction score
16,911
Location
Michigan
USDA Zone
5-6
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

Masterpiece
Messages
3,817
Reaction score
1,160
Location
Western NC
USDA Zone
7-8
Will that include a "most obnoxious" category? :cool:
 

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
Will that include a "most obnoxious" category? :cool:

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

Mame
Messages
122
Reaction score
19
Location
Los Angeles (Northridge), CA
USDA Zone
9b
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

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
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

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
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

Lord Mugo
Messages
14,002
Reaction score
16,911
Location
Michigan
USDA Zone
5-6
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

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
nuticon.jpg

nuticon.jpg


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?

01-Juniper-bonsai-reyes.jpg


01-Juniper-bonsai-reyes.jpg

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

Masterpiece
Messages
3,423
Reaction score
378
Location
Ohio/Florida
USDA Zone
6
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
 
Last edited:

amcoffeegirl

Masterpiece
Messages
2,770
Reaction score
4,794
Location
IOWA
USDA Zone
5b
I actually like the thanks button but I wouldn't stop coming here if it went away.
 

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
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?
 

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
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

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
Messages
13,961
Reaction score
45,900
Location
B’ham, AL
USDA Zone
8A
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.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    197.8 KB · Views: 6
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    176.7 KB · Views: 11

JudyB

Queen of the Nuts
Messages
13,751
Reaction score
23,250
Location
South East of Cols. OH
USDA Zone
6a
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!
 
Top Bottom