Jump to content

Geocaching.com site update May 4th 2011


Recommended Posts

Appears some (all?) new caches are not appearing on the maps- at least when you click on "view larger map."

Examples: GC2VK3E and GC2VK24.

Yep, I made a post earlier in the thread...... caches that were archived almost 11 hrs before were still showing on the map.... looks like the map is not 'live' - which is completely useless....... and I still cannot get the 'bubble' to appear so I can click on the cache for a description...... and where have the cache listings gone from down the right hand side........ I could go on.....

Yes, that is correct. Some time ago Nate stated that the beta maps are only regened so often. What your looking at is the cached version of the last regen. That is why they are so fast and can zoom out so far. The original maps I believe are real time.

 

What is the point in that? We need to know what caches are there now, not what caches were or were not there 11 hours ago.

Link to comment

I don't mind the new smileys or the color scheme.

 

Fixed width is ridiculously horrible.

 

The squished maps are ridiculous.

 

The watermark background is just bad style. Why???

 

I had to redo alot of code. Had to re-center any text or images in a table and now alignment doesn't work.

 

What's up with the magnifying glass on images and in GSAK??

Link to comment

Everything seems fine by me. The only change i don't like has to do with the maps. I can do without the color of the PM only caches. The regular cache icon looks like a Twinkie. But the big problem is the disabled caches are no longer noted in any way. So you have to click the icon to get the thought bubble to see if its disabled or not. I liked it better when it was a grayed out icon.

Link to comment

just some thoughts before i "retire" for the night

 

i am/have been part of many online communities, during this time i have "lived" through anything from small changes to full blown migrations to other software

while the people behind the scenes rely on the users to point out any "faults" its very hard to take on the relentless flood of dissatisfaction

 

it is what it is, a new site has been implemented and instead of being negative try to point out ways to improve it in a positive way, report any bugs, yes magor bugs are acceptable too, where's the sponge when you need him?

 

seriously, its not an easy undertaking to make such a big change, give them (GC) time to solve them and don't expect it to happen over night, they are and have been under a lot of pressure to fix the site and its only a handful of people vs so many of us complaining and there is so much they can do, and i think they might need some sleep too in the meantime

 

i am one to criticism and disagree with them in many fronts but this time we need to cut them some slack

 

just put a nice spin on your complaints :)

Link to comment

Everything seems fine by me. The only change i don't like has to do with the maps. I can do without the color of the PM only caches. The regular cache icon looks like a Twinkie. But the big problem is the disabled caches are no longer noted in any way. So you have to click the icon to get the thought bubble to see if its disabled or not. I liked it better when it was a grayed out icon.

Every thing looks fine because your one cache only has plain text in the description and you don't really have anything in your profile. Spiff things up with some HTML and you might have really different out look on life. As you note the maps need a bit of work.

Link to comment

Since this new site came online I wasn't able to log on trough the browser on my iphone.

I get the page, I get de logon window. But after submitting the data it goes back saying that I'm just a visitor.

And you can't do much being a visitor ofcourse.

 

[update]

Working again, had to clear all out of the browser first

Edited by DaMSWer
Link to comment

I don't know if this is realated to the upgrade, but GSAK will not download new logs on my hides.

 

That has been addressed in the GSAK forum.

 

 

Could you copy and paste a URL for that? Cause I'm looking for it, but not finding it.

Here and the next post in the thread.

Link to comment

seriously, its not an easy undertaking to make such a big change, give them (GC) time to solve them and don't expect it to happen over night, they are and have been under a lot of pressure to fix the site and its only a handful of people vs so many of us complaining and there is so much they can do, and i think they might need some sleep too in the meantime

 

Why? I now have a white screen, 6 items on view instead of 18, small characters that are hard to read, cache displays radically altered and unreadable in some cases, and my scroll wheel is worn out. Sure there are some nice bits but they forgot to do a proper usability test. The site has been radically altered, trouble is the reason is invalid. Main gripe is fixed columns, extra data that causes descriptions to go on more lines and extra boxes, adverts on cache listings in colour that take your eye away from the description. This makes it an application where the look is determined solely by the developer rather than a web site where the browser does the rendering. In short disaster and needs to be reverted as soon as possible.

Link to comment

i am/have been part of many online communities,

 

Maybe the difference is that as geocaching is concerned the online part is somehow a prerequisite for the outdoor part.

If I do not like a certain forum, I change to another one or use no forum at all. With geocaching it is not that simple.

 

The new font on the cache search page is that small that I can hardly read it. (Of course I can increase it, but this has effects also to other pages which are designed in a much more user-friendly way.)

 

it is what it is, a new site has been implemented and instead of being negative try to point out ways to improve it in a positive way,

 

As issues like the fixed width, the small fonts etc are regarded, move back to the old or allow the user to choose between different options and include one that is well suited for normal sized monitors. The issue is not about getting used to changes.

I am annoyed by the combination of letters so small that I need a magnifying glass and exceedingly large areas of white space on the pages.

Moreover, I think that it is inacceptable that after each change one needs to look through all owned cache pages to check whether something is broken there or has changed that will cause troubles for the finders. I have better uses for my time.

 

 

Cezanne

Link to comment

Having just entered logs for 25 finds that I made yesterday, I found the need to enlarge the size of the log entry box every time to write a decent length log very annoying! I'd rather encourage cachers to write descriptive logs by giving them a decent size box to write in than encourage a spate of TFTC TNLNs from iPhoners.

 

 

Solved this now - I'd been using the GreaseMonkey LogMaximizer script to overcome this design fault before, and now it's been updated (thanks guys for a fantastic service) I'm getting a decent size text box again.

 

Chris

Link to comment

I miss the visual representation of disabled caches in the new maps. To find out if a cache is disabled or not you have to click the icon at the moment.

Will this be fixed as the old map were with the icons greyed out on disabled caches?

Link to comment

Hi there, since the site update when I try to log caches they seem to log ok but then the logs don't show, either on the cache page or the smily on the maps page.... but the margin shows the find??? see pictures

67cca222-2c96-469f-92c5-a69b2e680dcd.jpg

fe6563c1-a958-44c5-9114-b0b75e081d16.jpg

I'm using Safari on a Mac... It was fine before...

The only one that has worked was one where I dropped off a coin at the same time as logging... :blink:<_<<_<

Link to comment

As many others i find the fixed width really annoying. Most people nowadays have large screens and want to use them. I don't know any site that starts using fixed width layouts after a redesign. Only the other way round.

Link to comment

 

 

The new font on the cache search page is that small that I can hardly read it. (Of course I can increase it, but this has effects also to other pages which are designed in a much more user-friendly way.)

 

Cezanne

 

why does everyone keep saying the font is smaller, i don't see any difference its the same for me

 

Hi there, since the site update when I try to log caches they seem to log ok but then the logs don't show, either on the cache page or the smily on the maps page.... but the margin shows the find??? see pictures

 

I'm using Safari on a Mac... It was fine before...

The only one that has worked was one where I dropped off a coin at the same time as logging... :blink:<_<<_<

 

haven't seen that happen but your log shows just fine, refreshing the page will help

Edited by t4e
Link to comment

I have to agree with the masses. Not impressed. A lot of stuff not broken got fixed.

 

Looking over the list of top issues I'd love to see added, with hundreds and hundreds of votes... I don't see any of them in the change list.

 

Biggest concern...

Fixed width was a huge step back, as noted by many. This is a day when 2560x1600/2560x1440 screen resolutions are growing in popularity, and 1680x1050/1600x900 are the norm. Why use a width of 900? That would be ideal in a 1024x768 world, which we left many years ago. On good monitors today, the center column takes up the center 1/3rd of the screen. On commonplace, cheap monitors, it takes up the center 1/2. If the ultimate goal was to add a little space on the sides, a 10% gutter on both sides with 80% central column would be a better solution, if it must be 900px or greater, there's steps in both css and javascript to make sure the central column's minimum width is 900px, with a maximum of 80% screen width.

 

As per the menus, I'm not a fan of the new ones, but I'll adjust.

 

As per the maps, I'm on Firefox 4, and its annoying to be required to enable personalization when I enter them, every time, but doable. Having ignored caches displayed and disabled caches look like active caches is a pain in the rear. I haven't had many of the issues that others claim with Safari and IE, or even in Firefox 3. You DO test in multiple browsers, I hope? Virtual machines for browser testing IE7, 8, and 9 (whichever 2 aren't on the system)... Firefox 3 and 4 can reside on the same system in different folders, Chrome and Safari can be installed... and that will cover the bases for most browsers in use. Will help make sure the minimum amount of bugs reach production.

 

(Post #2 btw... the overall state was enough to make me come and post...)

Edited by Drylar
Link to comment

Hi there, since the site update when I try to log caches they seem to log ok but then the logs don't show, either on the cache page or the smily on the maps page.... but the margin shows the find??? see pictures

67cca222-2c96-469f-92c5-a69b2e680dcd.jpg

fe6563c1-a958-44c5-9114-b0b75e081d16.jpg

I'm using Safari on a Mac... It was fine before...

The only one that has worked was one where I dropped off a coin at the same time as logging... :blink:dry.gifdry.gif

 

the first screen shot shows you found in on the 5th April, then you have displayed finds in May on the second screen shot. I think you have entered the date in the wrong format. :rolleyes:

 

Go here and you can change the date format, to a more user friendly version :D

Link to comment

:(:(:(

 

Agree that the fixed width is a HORRIBLE backwards step. And, it makes the website unusable on a narrow screen like the iPhone Safari browser - scroll doesn't work on GC.com.

 

Agree that a lot of things that previously worked really well were "fixed" and are now worse than before.

 

Readability has gone DOWN - fonts are smaller, colours are less distinct, watermark background is crazily bad style.

 

There were lots of things that could have been improved - that is, things that LOTS of users had been asking for, but it appears there were not looked at. Groundspeak needs to keep (start?) listening to their customers - it's us who pay you, remember!

 

Beta maps are not up to scratch (ok, they're still beta, but they are now the default map page).

 

That's my two pennyworth - overall rather disappointed :sad: with the output from a commercial, supposedly professional, organisation.

Link to comment

How funny, we had the same discussion with most of the topics last year:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=240001

Too much white space, whrong picture alignment, small fonts etc.

 

Groundspeak doesn't learn...?!

 

There is no improvement in the readability right now. I can't see any visual advantage. So, Groundspeak, why do you repair things that aren't broken.

I thought I was the only one thinking this. Do they not remember how bad it was back when they made the last release look horrible and had to go back and fix the whitespace issues?? I wrote a post on that one also. I certainly hope they're going to fix this one as well, especially the background issue (make it *optional* to be transparent!), but also the fixed width. I'm sure you must have used Google Analytics to see how a 900px width might seem like a good idea (I'll be that 50% of your user base probably still uses 1024 width monitors), but I just cannot see how it's really any better than using an 10%/80%/10% relative width setting for internationalization. I believe that the statement "Different texts have different lengths for example; the spacing used in Arabic is different from that used in Chinese or English. To prevent spacing issues, use liquid or dynamic width as opposed to a fixed width." I just think that it's just a shame that you have to default to the lowest common denominator.

Link to comment

Is there a way to bring back the "home location" as the default in the search on the new main page? It now sorts differently if I put in my zip code instead of my home coords. Not major, but an annoyance none the less.

Link to comment

Not sure if my problem is related to this. I can (obviously) log into forums successfully. However, all three accounts in my household (myself and two daughters) can't log onto main geocaching.com site.

 

I had this problem too and finally resolved it last night. I had the problem in IE8 and IE9 on one computer, but no issue in FF4 on the same computer, or IE8 on another.

 

The symptoms I had were that I would properly type in my user name and password, but I would be redirected back to the login page (if there), or the main page with the box at the top would continue to show me as a visitor.

 

I finally found out that I had added GC.com to my list of trusted websites (must have been long ago for another reason) in IE. Once I removed it from the list of trusted sites, I was able to log in and stay logged in. :-) Seems like something in the "Trusted sites" zone of the security tab in IE tools->Internet options was preventing the logging in from sticking.

 

YMMV

 

--DCMG

Link to comment

Wonder how much processing power the recent activity feature takes up.....

 

Do I really need to know that 'ghjuier' has found the cache 'plisndjfht' in the Czech Republic 14 minutes ago??????

 

Processing time could be better put to use.... like giving me a PQ result quickly for those 'spur-of-the-moment' caching trips, instead of making me wait sometimes 2hrs to make the PQ available for download......

 

The way I see it is that that page (the "front" page) is purely marketing. It is a way of introducing geocaching to new users. As a business that wants to grow, that is very important, and to them, worth every bit of processing power. For me, I open directly to my profile, so I almost never see that page.

Link to comment

 

The new font on the cache search page is that small that I can hardly read it. (Of course I can increase it, but this has effects also to other pages which are designed in a much more user-friendly way.)

 

Cezanne

 

why does everyone keep saying the font is smaller, i don't see any difference its the same for me

 

 

I do not know which system and which browser you are using and whether or not you use some Greasemonkey scripts that change the layout. I do not use any scripts and I am viewing the site with

Firefox under Linux. The information who has hidden a cache and the location of a cache, and when it has been last found on pages like this one

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=47.065&lon=15.451667&f=1

are smaller than they have been before and almost impossible for me to read. The agressivity of the white in the background makes it even harder.

It is quite ironic that the text size got reduced while the white space got increased.

 

It might well be that the site looks nice using IE at the computers in the Groundspeak central. I am only interested into how the page looks like to me.

To give you a feeling how it looks for me, see this screenshot

http://img.geocaching.com/cache/cf3baa65-4e55-4c3c-aba7-4f1c552ff7aa.jpg

(I temporarily uploaded it to one of my cache pages).

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
Link to comment

I am wondering whether to start going through all of my cache pages and redesign those with problems, such as this -- where the image no longer displays as it used to because html image tags for vspace and hspace no longer seem to work. Firefox jams everything together, IE drops the text down the page, In the feedback section Groundspeak has stated that issues with html display and the fixed width are being reviewed, so perhaps I will wait.

 

But this thread did start with the promise that:

 

During our testing phase we paid particular attention to how the changes would affect cache pages that utilize extensive user-generated code and tables/images to ensure they would handle the transition gracefully. With more than a million geocaches listed, there is always the chance we missed one or two
:anibad:
. If you see any pages that need extra attention please let us know here or on the feedback engine, and we will fix them asap.

Edited by mulvaney
Link to comment
The way I see it is that that page (the "front" page) is purely marketing. It is a way of introducing geocaching to new users. As a business that wants to grow, that is very important, and to them, worth every bit of processing power. For me, I open directly to my profile, so I almost never see that page.

This is basically my experience. I sometimes go weeks without stumbling across the front page.

Link to comment

Caches missing on Beta map show on Original map

 

A series of 6 caches were published recently in my area.

 

Akron Park and Grab #1: http://coord.info/GC2VJ08

... (4 more)

Akron Park and Grab #6: http://coord.info/GC2VMKP

 

Of these, only #1 and #2 show on the beta maps. All 6 show up on the old map. None are PM caches, none are disabled. I can't see what might be unique about those 4 missing caches that might cause them to be hidden.

Link to comment

Another item:

 

On the BETA maps, if you click on a cache icon that is close tot eh top of the map, the map does not scroll down far enough to show the entire pop-up detail balloon. You can not see the name or GC number of the cache, or click on the name link.

Link to comment

Still Missing some basic features.

 

1. Can we have the ability to upload more than one photo at a time?

2. Better: Have a feature to embed photos from other hosting sites. ie Flikr, Photobucket. This saves you space.

3. Upload or embed video would be nice too.

Link to comment

Same here for the Akron Park and Grab series. I am also unable to detect a difference in 1&2 vs. 3-6.

 

Moun10Bike just moved the feedback request because apparently the same issue has been reported in a different posting: http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75775-geocaching-com/suggestions/1780055-beta-maps-delay-in-showing-new-caches-and-finds?page=2

 

The delay in finds and new caches showing up on the beta map is due to the way the tiles are built for it to help with server load. Nonetheless, I've added the ideas to our internal queue for review to see if our devs can come up with a solution. (27764)
Link to comment
why does everyone keep saying the font is smaller, i don't see any difference its the same for me
Do you have a minimum font size set in your browser?

 

And, it makes the website unusable on a narrow screen like the iPhone Safari browser - scroll doesn't work on GC.com.
Really? The Android browser handles the new site just fine. I thought both browsers were based on WebKit.
Link to comment
And, it makes the website unusable on a narrow screen like the iPhone Safari browser - scroll doesn't work on GC.com.
Really? The Android browser handles the new site just fine. I thought both browsers were based on WebKit.

 

I don't have a problem with the new web pages on my iphone under Safari (I can zoom and scroll the web pages), but the Beta maps are basically unusable. They don't scroll/zoom in Safari, and all you can see is the top left edge of the control box for customization (the part that allows you to change the type of map shown). I can't see the cache type filters. I can minimize the control box, and then move and zoom around in the map, but I cannot select any cache icon to see what cache it is.

 

--dcmg

Link to comment

Wonder how much processing power the recent activity feature takes up.....

 

Do I really need to know that 'ghjuier' has found the cache 'plisndjfht' in the Czech Republic 14 minutes ago??????

 

Processing time could be better put to use.... like giving me a PQ result quickly for those 'spur-of-the-moment' caching trips, instead of making me wait sometimes 2hrs to make the PQ available for download......

 

The way I see it is that that page (the "front" page) is purely marketing. It is a way of introducing geocaching to new users. As a business that wants to grow, that is very important, and to them, worth every bit of processing power. For me, I open directly to my profile, so I almost never see that page.

 

It's not marketing, its eating away at that extra processing power they just installed....

I dont see any speed difference with the new site at all to be honest....

 

Marketing is reading whats further up the page & watching the video....

 

I'd like my queries to run in a few mins max and not take 2hrs to generate, for my spur of the moment trips - thats what I pay for afterall.....

 

Lets hope that the new geocacher is multilingual ....... the first I just clicked on said this....

 

May 6 by xxxxx (340 found) Username removed

Deze vanmorgen snel kunnen vinden (zie log bij PT1)

 

Do you know what that means without putting it through Google Translate?......

Edited by janandsteve
Link to comment

On this site the links to the new brochures in the A4 paperformat dosen't work:

 

26324: Create A4 version of English brochure

Added A4 version of Geocaching brochure to resources for at-home printing

 

English A4 brochure "For At Home Printing (Color)"

http://www.geocaching.com/articles/Brochures/EN/EN_Geocaching_BROCHURE_online_color_A4.pdf

 

English A4 brochure "For At Home Printing (Black & White)"

http://www.geocaching.com/articles/Brochures/EN/EN_Geocaching_BROCHURE_online_b&w_A4.pdf

 

-Fly

Edited by Fly
Link to comment

PUBLIC APOLOGY:

 

When I first observed the changes made on Wednesday to the site that messed up the HTML on my cache listings I was perturbed. It was not the first time I had to make changes to the HTML code I was using. I posted a rather harsh response earlier in this thread that was out of line. I am sorry for doing this. After looking all around the new site today I have to say - it is growing on me fast and I like it. I do not even mind the fixed width on the listings.

 

So DEV team - I am sorry for my poorly worded and misguided accusations earlier in this thread. Keep up the good work, it must be difficult to try to please us all.

Link to comment
Of these, only #1 and #2 show on the beta maps. All 6 show up on the old map.

I've noticed a lag before new info reaches the maps. For example, I've logged caches as found, then refreshed the map - to see if I've missed any - and they haven't yet turned into smileys. The map did show smileys for caches I'd logged a little while earlier in the session.

 

Sounds like a database replication issue.

Link to comment

Hotfix incoming!

 

We have released a hotfix to address the following issues. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of changes to be made. We will be reviewing all of your feedback over the next several weeks and making further adjustments as soon as possible. Thank you!

 

- Removed cache page transparency

- Added "Find My Location" to the home page below the search box

- Disabled caches now display on Beta Maps with a grayed-out icon

- Added Send to GPS, Log it, and Bookmark links to cache bubble on Beta Maps (must be logged in)

- Ignored caches no longer display on the Beta Maps

- Fixed IE8 issue displaying personalization options on original maps

- Fixed home page search to allow address searches

- Fixed public profile formatting bug which affected stats bar charts

- Fixed sorting issue (by last found date) when viewing list of finds

- Increased the size of text entry fields on E-Mail a User, Log, and Edit Cache pages

- Returned larger cache type icons to search results

- Searching by coordinates from the home page now correctly finds that exact location

Link to comment

I must say - I'm all for change.

 

But

 

The transparency on the cache page should be an option.

 

The fixed width has got to go, along with the resizing of images.

 

Non of my tables work any more on any cache page.

Not to mention a lot of hard work that I had done on my profile.

Everyone I speak to that uses tables are also not happy because their tables aren't working either.

 

I understand the maps issues, and thats OK.

After all they are still in beta and I'm sure will be fixed.

 

Lastly, thank you guys for all that you do, you guys are the best :)

Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...