Small preview of the new look site

[knowschad]

To be fair they did post a link to the video here in that announcement topic.

http://forums.Ground...howtopic=273130

 

That's better, but still... the vast majority of my geocaching friends never visit the forums. They do check their email.

[+Mr Kaswa]

To be fair they did post a link to the video here in that announcement topic.

http://forums.Ground...howtopic=273130

 

That's better, but still... the vast majority of my geocaching friends never visit the forums. They do check their email.

 

I understand and agree whole heartedly.

[+BuckeyeClan]

Dakboy... you need to realize that a very high percentage of geocachers are not computer savvy. Many of my caching friends contact me when they want to incorporate an image on their cache page, OK? Get it? Facebook, to them, is something that Martians do. Twitter? They've never heard of it. They just want to geocache. They're not itnerested in keeping up with the latest internet fads.

Then you need to describe exactly what means you think Groundspeak should be using to get through to people.

 

Look, if you're going to engage in an internet-dependent activity, you have two choices: you can learn get with the times and actually pay attention to the changes that are happening in how communication works, you can accept that fact that you aren't going to get every piece of news that comes along.

 

These same people also wouldn't recognize if this news came to them via email. So how do you propose Groundspeak get the message out? Smoke signals? Telegraph?

I already did. Email. I will add to that: this web site. Not simply a notification that something is going to change, but if they have better information, like that video, then put that information out in the lowest common denominator.

 

Why are you trying so hard to defend bad communication, anyway?

 

My best guess is that the video didn't exist last Friday. And since the newsletter comes out on Friday, the site will be updated before the next one comes out. I would also guess that they didn't want to announce plans for the update until they had a hard and fast date to announce.

[+MikeAndHike]

As a newbie and a guy who had to teach his less than techy parents how to use the geocaching website, I really like the look of the new look.? I think that they went for a more newbie friendly look and feel as geocaching appears to me to be growing.

[+Mark+Karen]

What a massive difference. I kinda like the current version better.

 

Really? My first thought was - bummer, it looks almost identical!

[+A & J Tooling]

...the look of the new look....

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Anyone happen to notice where benchmarks ended up on the new geocaching preview? I couldn't see the link anywhere.

they are in the same place they are now. there is a link for their test site floating around on another forum...

 

There IS? Well, that's a first. Post a link, please!!

 

Yes, please. It would have been great to have a link posted to the forums to a test site at least a week ago. That

way "real users" could pound on it for a few days and provide feedback *before* the new version is released.

 

There was a feedback issue on this awhile back but I haven't seen a status update on it.

[+Too Tall John]

...the look of the new look....

What is the point of your post other than to point another finger at that little piece of, we'll call it creative, grammar? Does it make you feel better?

 

Yes, I said "another finger." If you hadn't chopped their post up to show only the bit you were targeting, you'd have shown the question mark and the emoticon indicating that they knew it was "creative" grammar.

As a newbie and a guy who had to teach his less than techy parents how to use the geocaching website, I really like the look of the new look.? I think that they went for a more newbie friendly look and feel as geocaching appears to me to be growing.

Not that this has anything to do with the actual topic. The real question is:

 

OK, so where's the link to this alleged Test Site for the new website?

 

Frankly, I find it hard to believe that there's been such a thing "floating around on another forum" and it's failed to float it's way over to this forum until now, and only as a unsubstantiated claim. I won't believe it 'til I see it.

 

Make me a believer.

[+t4e]

 

My best guess is that the video didn't exist last Friday. And since the newsletter comes out on Friday, the site will be updated before the next one comes out. I would also guess that they didn't want to announce plans for the update until they had a hard and fast date to announce.

 

used to come out on friday, for a while i got it on Thursday and for the longest time now i get it on Wednesday

[+Spraginator]

My question is, why shut down at 9am est? Why not 1am est( 10pm pst) to minimize the effect of the shutdown?

[knowschad]

Dakboy... you need to realize that a very high percentage of geocachers are not computer savvy. Many of my caching friends contact me when they want to incorporate an image on their cache page, OK? Get it? Facebook, to them, is something that Martians do. Twitter? They've never heard of it. They just want to geocache. They're not itnerested in keeping up with the latest internet fads.

Then you need to describe exactly what means you think Groundspeak should be using to get through to people.

 

Look, if you're going to engage in an internet-dependent activity, you have two choices: you can learn get with the times and actually pay attention to the changes that are happening in how communication works, you can accept that fact that you aren't going to get every piece of news that comes along.

 

These same people also wouldn't recognize if this news came to them via email. So how do you propose Groundspeak get the message out? Smoke signals? Telegraph?

I already did. Email. I will add to that: this web site. Not simply a notification that something is going to change, but if they have better information, like that video, then put that information out in the lowest common denominator.

 

Why are you trying so hard to defend bad communication, anyway?

 

My best guess is that the video didn't exist last Friday. And since the newsletter comes out on Friday, the site will be updated before the next one comes out. I would also guess that they didn't want to announce plans for the update until they had a hard and fast date to announce.

 

Could be, but I would sure like to think, at least, that they plan their projects better than that.

[knowschad]

Anyone happen to notice where benchmarks ended up on the new geocaching preview? I couldn't see the link anywhere.

they are in the same place they are now. there is a link for their test site floating around on another forum...

 

There IS? Well, that's a first. Post a link, please!!

 

Yes, please. It would have been great to have a link posted to the forums to a test site at least a week ago. That

way "real users" could pound on it for a few days and provide feedback *before* the new version is released.

 

There was a feedback issue on this awhile back but I haven't seen a status update on it.

 

Somebody posted the link on a local geocaching site (not another Groundspeak forum). According to the post, a friend of his "stumbled" across it. I will post it here, at the risk of having a mod delete it. I make no claims that the site is what we will actually be getting.

 

[link edited by a Lackey]

 

Edit to add: While at least some of the links and menu options worked for me earlier, they do not work now. Basically, all you are going to see is what you saw in the video anyway.

Edited May 3, 2011 by MissJenn
link edited by a Lackey

[+A & J Tooling]

It works for me. Let the testing begin....

[knowschad]

It works for me. Let the testing begin....

 

Yup, working for me again, too.

 

I just LOVE the single search box. The old standard is still there if you want it, but try pasting N 44° 55.559 W 092° 53.757 into the single search box.

 

(oh, wait! That works with the old search, as well! I don't know why I never thought to try it. Paste coords into the address text box... it works!)

[+Team GPSaxophone]

My question is, why shut down at 9am est? Why not 1am est( 10pm pst) to minimize the effect of the shutdown?

Because that's the time the IT Dept will be playing Mass Effect or some other MMORPG

Edited May 3, 2011 by Team GPSaxophone

[+Ike 13]

Interesting, very interesting. Looks like some of the data is from 2/2/11 or around then.

 

I like:

The top navigation

The new Event calendar looks really cool.

I wonder how the Local Organizations page will look

The guide to the game should cut down on redundant questions here, and will hopefully integrate more and more from the knowledgebooks

 

I'm afraud of one thing so far. The background image on the cache page does some weird stuff.

 

I hope the Greasemonkey writers were given early access (or GS adopts all the ones I love), I depend on those scripts too much.

[knowschad]

My question is, why shut down at 9am est? Why not 1am est( 10pm pst) to minimize the effect of the shutdown?

Minimize the effect on what timezone? Remember, this is a game played around the world.

[+Ike 13]

My question is, why shut down at 9am est? Why not 1am est( 10pm pst) to minimize the effect of the shutdown?

Minimize the effect on what timezone? Remember, this is a game played around the world.

Actually they're shutting down at 9am PDT. That's because the company is located in Seattle, and it gives them the full work day to work out any kinks.

[+sTeamTraen]

My question is, why shut down at 9am est? Why not 1am est( 10pm pst) to minimize the effect of the shutdown?

Mostly because, believe it or not, the fine people at Groundspeak have homes, families, and lives.

[+dfx]

My question is, why shut down at 9am est? Why not 1am est( 10pm pst) to minimize the effect of the shutdown?

Minimize the effect on what timezone? Remember, this is a game played around the world.

Actually they're shutting down at 9am PDT. That's because the company is located in Seattle, and it gives them the full work day to work out any kinks.

 

Actually actually, any respectable service provider will perform all major maintenance tasks that come with downtime at night. But knowschad is right, since this is a global service, it doesn't matter when they do it, somebody will always be affected.

[+Ecylram]

I'd like to also point out that 9am on Wednesday is probably the best time that allows for easy access to vendor tech support AND during a point of low usage by members. Beats taking the website down on a Saturday.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

I ran the PQ I'll need for this weekend today, just in case.

[+dfx]

I ran the PQ I'll need for this weekend today, just in case.

 

Good thinking batman!

[+Too Tall John]

I'm afraud of one thing so far. The background image on the cache page does some weird stuff.

Wow. Why would they do that? Enough people have background images on their cache pages that might become distracting, if not make a cache page unreadable. Why do something like that and cause eye strain and/or force people to change their listings?

 

Not to mention, I know of at least a couple puzzles that hide the solution in the background.

[+roziecakes]

edit: changed my response below.

Edited May 3, 2011 by nymphnsatyr

[+roziecakes]

[

I swear, some of you people won't be happy unless Jeremy personally shows up at your door with the information engraved on a stone tablet, with the message customized just for you, and a cake and balloons. It's not that hard to keep up with announcements from Groundspeak - just about every browser now has an RSS reader built in, subscribe to the blog so you get a notification when new things are posted. Subscribe to the newsletter. Check the other methods they have for disseminating information once a week or so. It's not. that. hard.

 

Jeez... I don't think an email is that. hard. either.

[+Ike 13]

Wow. Why would they do that? Enough people have background images on their cache pages that might become distracting, if not make a cache page unreadable. Why do something like that and cause eye strain and/or force people to change their listings?

 

Not to mention, I know of at least a couple puzzles that hide the solution in the background.

I'm hoping/thinking it's just a glitch because my actual image for that cache page is as you can see they've made it more transparent. Luckily tomorrow is a very busy day at work for myself as well and I'm hoping everything will be ready by the evening.

[GOF and Bacall]

The cache pages are messed up. The page space in narrower with more boarder area on the sides. I don't know if that is gonna be the final layout but it sure masses up a couple of my pages.

 

[+BuckeyeClan]

 

My best guess is that the video didn't exist last Friday. And since the newsletter comes out on Friday, the site will be updated before the next one comes out. I would also guess that they didn't want to announce plans for the update until they had a hard and fast date to announce.

 

used to come out on friday, for a while i got it on Thursday and for the longest time now i get it on Wednesday

 

Interesting...I just checked, mine came on Thursday last week. Maybe they stagger sending it out?

[+BuckeyeClan]

[

I swear, some of you people won't be happy unless Jeremy personally shows up at your door with the information engraved on a stone tablet, with the message customized just for you, and a cake and balloons. It's not that hard to keep up with announcements from Groundspeak - just about every browser now has an RSS reader built in, subscribe to the blog so you get a notification when new things are posted. Subscribe to the newsletter. Check the other methods they have for disseminating information once a week or so. It's not. that. hard.

 

Jeez... I don't think an email is that. hard. either.

 

They did send an e-mail...it was in the last newsletter. I would imagine that they want to avoid sending a mass e-mail to every account because of all the inactive accounts and wrong e-mail addresses that are probably littering the database. People who want to stay generally informed are likely to subscribe to the weekly newsletter. And people who want up-to-the-minute details are likely to read to blog or follow them on twitter/facebook.

[+WRASTRO]

My best guess is that the video didn't exist last Friday. And since the newsletter comes out on Friday, the site will be updated before the next one comes out. I would also guess that they didn't want to announce plans for the update until they had a hard and fast date to announce.

 

used to come out on friday, for a while i got it on Thursday and for the longest time now i get it on Wednesday

 

Interesting...I just checked, mine came on Thursday last week. Maybe they stagger sending it out?

Mine has always arrived on Thursday. Last week it was 10:11 pm but it was on Thursday.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I like:

The top navigation

 

As I mentioned previously, that's because you have not had cataract surgery, and require reading glasses set to focus at mid-eye level and below at exactly 24".

Side navigation works well for us visually impaired. Top navigation is usually terrible for me to use. I'll wait and see how this works out. TPTB don't seem to realize that not all cachers are young kids with no vision problems.

[+Crow-T-Robot]

The cache pages are messed up. The page space in narrower with more boarder area on the sides. I don't know if that is gonna be the final layout but it sure masses up a couple of my pages.

 

 

I don't mind the narrow page but it is also translucent enough to let the background image bleed through, which might make reading the text on the page tricky. This is my Aliens Day at the Park cache. It's not horrible to read, but I'm trying to imagine some of the puzzle caches I've looked at that require you to examine the text for clues. Having a background image show through could cause issues.

[knowschad]

The cache pages are messed up. The page space in narrower with more boarder area on the sides. I don't know if that is gonna be the final layout but it sure masses up a couple of my pages.

 

 

I don't mind the narrow page but it is also translucent enough to let the background image bleed through, which might make reading the text on the page tricky. This is my Aliens Day at the Park cache. It's not horrible to read, but I'm trying to imagine some of the puzzle caches I've looked at that require you to examine the text for clues. Having a background image show through could cause issues.

 

Yeah, I think they were trying to do a Good Thing, but I'm not so sure it was thought through completely. I don't want my backgrounds showing through, not for any reason other than the fact that I designed my page one way, and now it no longer looks like what I designed. I'll probably be removing backgrounds where it interferes with the rest of the page, but when I did use background images, there was a reason for it, design-wise.

[+lamoracke]

have not tried to print any puzzles with background issues, but do not think its a bad thing to see the background image. Course, the background image has been almost hidden for so long, folks will notice it more if folks have part of the puzzle answers inside it.

 

Still exploring the new site.

 

Maps seem confusing as usual. Looks like they did not get any update yet unfortunately. However, some of the icons are now gold, but have yet to figure out the rhyme or reason to it. Personalization is not working at all on the maps either. Curious what gold means. Have seen the traditionals and puzzles gold. Its not about "found" status, or needs maintenance, or trackables yes/no...hrm, I wonder.

Edited May 4, 2011 by lamoracke

[+Crow-T-Robot]

The cache pages are messed up. The page space in narrower with more boarder area on the sides. I don't know if that is gonna be the final layout but it sure masses up a couple of my pages.

 

 

I don't mind the narrow page but it is also translucent enough to let the background image bleed through, which might make reading the text on the page tricky. This is my Aliens Day at the Park cache. It's not horrible to read, but I'm trying to imagine some of the puzzle caches I've looked at that require you to examine the text for clues. Having a background image show through could cause issues.

 

Yeah, I think they were trying to do a Good Thing, but I'm not so sure it was thought through completely. I don't want my backgrounds showing through, not for any reason other than the fact that I designed my page one way, and now it no longer looks like what I designed. I'll probably be removing backgrounds where it interferes with the rest of the page, but when I did use background images, there was a reason for it, design-wise.

 

I like the narrow page look in regards to backgrounds. I've removed backgrounds on most of my pages just because it was pointless before. All you'd see is some sliver of the background, so whatever was placed there had no tie-in to the page created. Now they just need to make the text portion of the page opaque so the background doesn't show through.

[+TomToad]

 

Maps seem confusing as usual. Looks like they did not get any update yet unfortunately. However, some of the icons are now gold, but have yet to figure out the rhyme or reason to it. Personalization is not working at all on the maps either. Curious what gold means. Have seen the traditionals and puzzles gold. Its not about "found" status, or needs maintenance, or trackables yes/no...hrm, I wonder.

 

PMO caches

[Moun10Bike]

The gold/orange icons on circular backgrounds on the beta map are PMO caches.

[fishiam]

I have some 80+ active caches. I estimate that more than 50 of them now look horrendous due to the new fixed width format. In cases where I had a fairly wide graphic as part of the cache description, it is either truncated (like here) or the right side of the image is overwritten with Inventory and Bookmark Lists (like here). For many caches, the background image now overwhelms the cache page due to broad sidebars and the new translucent effect (such as here). This is a truly awful change and I don't anticipate going and making cosmetic corrections to all my cache pages.

 

I'm all for change. But I'm not for all changes.

- fish

[+Eye Cache]

I have some 80+ active caches. I estimate that more than 50 of them now look horrendous due to the new fixed width format. In cases where I had a fairly wide graphic as part of the cache description, it is either truncated (like here) or the right side of the image is overwritten with Inventory and Bookmark Lists (like here). For many caches, the background image now overwhelms the cache page due to broad sidebars and the new translucent effect (such as here). This is a truly awful change and I don't anticipate going and making cosmetic corrections to all my cache pages.

 

I'm all for change. But I'm not for all changes.

- fish

 

I feel for you fish. There should be selection on the "edit listing" page to make the background image visible through the main text, but not make it automatic. This way the feature could be used for new pages, or not used for existing pages where the background image overwhelms the main page. I expect that I will have to remove the background image from some of my pages, also.

[+Mister_Hyde]

I'm in total agreement, fishiam.