Guest Markwell Posted October 8, 2001 Share Posted October 8, 2001 I'm just about ready to release my Travel Bug in the Chicago area. But before I did, I wanted to get an idea of what it would be like for the person who has never heard of Travel Bugs and had no idea what they were supposed to do. I find a little do-dad in a Geocache with a little dog tag. quote:I go from place to place, picking up stories along the way. Visit www.Groundspeak.com to learn more about me and add your own! (stamped with 123456)OK - I've got the bug and I go to Groundspeak.com and take a peek. No directions, just this: Not very descriptive about what I'm supposed to do. I e-mailed Jeremy asking him to put a little phrase like "Enter Travel Bug's 6 digit code here" or something like that next to the field. I teach software for a living and I've learned never to leave anyone's experience or intuition level up to chance. Am I being too cynical in the expected intelligence of the Travel Bug's finders? I just want to make sure they know what to do with this thing once they've got it. Quote Link to comment
Guest arffer Posted October 8, 2001 Share Posted October 8, 2001 Okay, I went to the site you listed, www.Groundspeak.com, and saw that creepy crawler thing you mentioned. Since you said in your above post to enter the 6 digit code '123456', that's exactly what I did, then clicked on the arrow symbol. It didn't work, the screen just flashed and came back to the same page. Am I doing something wrong? ################################## Okay, I'm just jesting (but don't leave my intuition level up to chance ), but my real point is that if the 6 digit code is entered incorrectly, there isn't an error message, the page just flashes and repeats itself. An error message asking the user to verify the number they entered and try again might also be helpful. The more user friendly the better. BTW, thanks Jeremy for adding the ability to delete logs on the travel bugs! [This message has been edited by arffer (edited 08 October 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest arffer Posted October 8, 2001 Share Posted October 8, 2001 Okay, I went to the site you listed, www.Groundspeak.com, and saw that creepy crawler thing you mentioned. Since you said in your above post to enter the 6 digit code '123456', that's exactly what I did, then clicked on the arrow symbol. It didn't work, the screen just flashed and came back to the same page. Am I doing something wrong? ################################## Okay, I'm just jesting (but don't leave my intuition level up to chance ), but my real point is that if the 6 digit code is entered incorrectly, there isn't an error message, the page just flashes and repeats itself. An error message asking the user to verify the number they entered and try again might also be helpful. The more user friendly the better. BTW, thanks Jeremy for adding the ability to delete logs on the travel bugs! [This message has been edited by arffer (edited 08 October 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest glenn95630 Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 I agree completely with Markwell and arffer. Quote Link to comment
Guest jeremy Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 Yeah. I'm trying to get up to date with all of this. I'll add some error messages and whatnot to the page. Jeremy Quote Link to comment
Guest bunkerdave Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 All the above concerns are very valid. That said, I have watched Jeremy "do his thing" long enough to know that if there is a problem with the website, he will get it fixed. That is why I didn't hesitate to order 5 bugs the second they hit the shelf. All released, by the way. Last one hit the trail tonight, in a brand new cache. Quote Link to comment
Guest bunkerdave Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 All the above concerns are very valid. That said, I have watched Jeremy "do his thing" long enough to know that if there is a problem with the website, he will get it fixed. That is why I didn't hesitate to order 5 bugs the second they hit the shelf. All released, by the way. Last one hit the trail tonight, in a brand new cache. Quote Link to comment
Guest Markwell Posted October 11, 2001 Share Posted October 11, 2001 Ah, but Dave, I'm also sure you read our comments (and at least temporary solution) to the ambiguous nature of the Travel Bugs here. At least we can still get people to know what to do when they FIND the website for the particular T.B. I did get an e-mail from Jeremy indicating that he is a little behind in implementing the cool parts of the T.B. site. Quote Link to comment
Guest Markwell Posted October 11, 2001 Share Posted October 11, 2001 Ah, but Dave, I'm also sure you read our comments (and at least temporary solution) to the ambiguous nature of the Travel Bugs here. At least we can still get people to know what to do when they FIND the website for the particular T.B. I did get an e-mail from Jeremy indicating that he is a little behind in implementing the cool parts of the T.B. site. Quote Link to comment
Guest badbitbucket Posted October 12, 2001 Share Posted October 12, 2001 I've been testing software for over five years and documenting software for about 7 years., I've also done a couple usability studies. You're absoutely right, never leave the users' intuition to chance. All that said, I had the same trouble when I went to release my bug into the wild today. I went to Groundspeak.com as instructed, and even as a career 'puter junkie, I was confused. I was certain at first that the URL was missing either a third level domain or a directory. I think something as simple as a "Click here if you found a Travel Bug" would create sufficient curiousity in the finder. -BBB Quote Link to comment
Guest jeremy Posted October 12, 2001 Share Posted October 12, 2001 Read my earlier post. I'll be adding info to the web page shortly. Please give me some slack. Jeremy Quote Link to comment
Guest arffer Posted October 12, 2001 Share Posted October 12, 2001 quote:Please give me some slack. Jeremy[/b] No sweat Jeremy. We appreciate all that you donate to this game. Individually some may not read all the posts and know what your intentions are, but collectivly we are thankful for all you do, and no pressure is intended. Quote Link to comment
Guest Markwell Posted October 12, 2001 Share Posted October 12, 2001 What?!? You don't live, breathe, eat and drink this stuff like we do? You have a life? Shame on you! Of course, we are all grateful for the immense work you did undercover before this was released. Now that it is, the anal retentive geeks want it to work absolutely perfectly! When you get all your work in, I'm sure all will be great. We're just making little suggestions that you can completely ignore or take and then take the credit yourself. Whatever. Being just a database geek, I don't get much into the web development, so I don't have ANY concept of how difficult things are to get done! When I need to add a "creeping feature" I just add it to the database on the LAN. No sweat. Keep us aprised as to the enhancements. Quote Link to comment
Guest Markwell Posted October 12, 2001 Share Posted October 12, 2001 What?!? You don't live, breathe, eat and drink this stuff like we do? You have a life? Shame on you! Of course, we are all grateful for the immense work you did undercover before this was released. Now that it is, the anal retentive geeks want it to work absolutely perfectly! When you get all your work in, I'm sure all will be great. We're just making little suggestions that you can completely ignore or take and then take the credit yourself. Whatever. Being just a database geek, I don't get much into the web development, so I don't have ANY concept of how difficult things are to get done! When I need to add a "creeping feature" I just add it to the database on the LAN. No sweat. Keep us aprised as to the enhancements. Quote Link to comment
Guest jeremy Posted October 12, 2001 Share Posted October 12, 2001 I added a hasty instruction deal on the site for you guys. I'll try and make it better shortly. In addition I'll be updating the geocaching site so you can go to the track page without having to type it in. I'll basically be consolidating the hide and seek pages into a hide and seek page, and using the other space for "track bugs". Hide really doesn't really need its own page. Yeah. I know how horrible the instructions are on the Groundspeak page. It's a bad case of "I'll get around to it" syndrome. I have many of those going around, and a priority list yay long. Jeremy Quote Link to comment
Guest badbitbucket Posted October 13, 2001 Share Posted October 13, 2001 t adding my two cents to the discussion. We're behind ya Jeremy. You do a fine job and we know you're human like the rest of us. -BBB Quote Link to comment
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