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Geocaching.com site update May 4th 2011


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Geocaching.com is receiving a hotfix momentarily to correct the following issues:

 

  • Find logs and hidden caches show up on Maps Beta after 5 minutes, down from 15
  • Smiley icons have slightly modified to add contrast
  • yyyy-MM-dd and dd/mm/yyyy date format options added to profile settings
  • PMO cache icons on Maps Beta no longer appear in a different color than their typical cache type counterparts, the shape remains a circle to distinguish from regular caches
  • Added PMO caches to the Maps Beta legend
  • PMO caches are now hidden on Maps Beta for basic members when zoom is below level 13 (the point at which icons grow larger)
  • Favorites counts were added to Maps Beta cache info bubbles

 

Thanks!

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Geocaching.com is receiving a hotfix momentarily to correct the following issues:

 

  • Find logs and hidden caches show up on Maps Beta after 5 minutes, down from 15
  • Smiley icons have slightly modified to add contrast
  • yyyy-MM-dd and dd/mm/yyyy date format options added to profile settings
  • PMO cache icons on Maps Beta no longer appear in a different color than their typical cache type counterparts, the shape remains a circle to distinguish from regular caches
  • Added PMO caches to the Maps Beta legend
  • PMO caches are now hidden on Maps Beta for basic members when zoom is below level 13 (the point at which icons grow larger)
  • Favorites counts were added to Maps Beta cache info bubbles

 

Thanks!

 

Why not go back to the old smilely icons? They weren't broken, and I highly doubt that they would increase the CPU loads on the servers.

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Forcing all tables to 100% width is not a good idea as it completely destroyed the formatting which was essential in defining the type of puzzle. I had to replace the html with an image as it didn't matter what I tried the html parser just overwrote every style I applied with the pre-defined styles. Not good.

Alas, this has been true for 10 of my puzzle cache pages as well. Why are they forcing 100% table width?!? I've fixed some of mine as you have, with replacement fixed images, but many of these tables contained values that were far easier to edit as html text (when cache maintenance requires such changes).

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Forcing all tables to 100% width is not a good idea as it completely destroyed the formatting which was essential in defining the type of puzzle. I had to replace the html with an image as it didn't matter what I tried the html parser just overwrote every style I applied with the pre-defined styles. Not good.

Alas, this has been true for 10 of my puzzle cache pages as well. Why are they forcing 100% table width?!? I've fixed some of mine as you have, with replacement fixed images, but many of these tables contained values that were far easier to edit as html text (when cache maintenance requires such changes).

One of the guru's on the GSAK forum was recommending using nested DIV statements, their width parameters are being honored.

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Is it my imagination or has map personalization become the default setting? If so thank you.. big improvement!!!!!

 

Domo!!!

 

I noticed this soon after GC.com was back online this evening.

 

At first, is was a "?" with a :blink: , then soon turned to a "!" with a :lol:

 

That's Great!

 

Why wasn't it so in the first place?

Then again, some upgrading the "beta" maps was needed as well as the servers, I guess.

 

Great work Hampsters!

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Geocaching.com is receiving a hotfix momentarily to correct the following issues:

 


  •  
  • Added PMO caches to the Maps Beta legend

Thanks!

 

Perhaps, but this is what I see

Capture.jpg

Win7 Home Premium

FF 3.6.17

PMO's are still round brown spots.

 

Edit: I also noticed that on the beta maps the hidden cache icons are still clickable.

Have a map that shows found caches, note the position of a found cache.

click personalization to turn off found caches

Click the area where the found cache is located and up pops the bubble.

This might not be much of an issue with widely separated finds, but with a number of finds and unfounds clustered together it is a problem.

 

Edit: The beta maps are definitely better. So good in fact, I will probably start using them most of the time. Still miss the PQ, but I can live with out that for now. Good job on this hotfix, thanks for the work.

 

Breaking news: This morning (5/14) the PMO legend is there. Strange.

Edited by jholly
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Geocaching.com is receiving a hotfix momentarily to correct the following issues:

 

  • Find logs and hidden caches show up on Maps Beta after 5 minutes, down from 15
  • Smiley icons have slightly modified to add contrast
  • yyyy-MM-dd and dd/mm/yyyy date format options added to profile settings
  • PMO cache icons on Maps Beta no longer appear in a different color than their typical cache type counterparts, the shape remains a circle to distinguish from regular caches
  • Added PMO caches to the Maps Beta legend
  • PMO caches are now hidden on Maps Beta for basic members when zoom is below level 13 (the point at which icons grow larger)
  • Favorites counts were added to Maps Beta cache info bubbles

 

Thanks!

 

It seems that I don't get smileys anymore for my found caches on the beta maps. The normal icons are shown instead-> seem to be back now. The personalisation of the beta maps doesn't remember the personalisation when I leave the page. On the original maps, the problem that the personalisation doesn't even get remembered when zooming in/out and moving the map is still not fixed.

I'm using FF 4.X

Edited by searchjaunt
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Geocaching.com is receiving a hotfix momentarily to correct the following issues:

 

  • Find logs and hidden caches show up on Maps Beta after 5 minutes, down from 15
  • Smiley icons have slightly modified to add contrast
  • yyyy-MM-dd and dd/mm/yyyy date format options added to profile settings
  • PMO cache icons on Maps Beta no longer appear in a different color than their typical cache type counterparts, the shape remains a circle to distinguish from regular caches
  • Added PMO caches to the Maps Beta legend
  • PMO caches are now hidden on Maps Beta for basic members when zoom is below level 13 (the point at which icons grow larger)
  • Favorites counts were added to Maps Beta cache info bubbles

 

Thanks!

And what about http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75863-report-a-problem/suggestions/1786013-html-misinterpretation ???

Edited by Rhialto
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Geocaching.com is receiving a hotfix momentarily to correct the following issues:

 

  • <snip>

 

Thanks!

 

Some good improvements.

I find that when found caches are hidden I still get the mouseover tooltip.

In crowded areas this makes it difficult to mouseover the desired unfound cache.

 

(Are the fixed width survey results going to be published?)

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I love the new look and the ease of use, great job! The only thing I have an issue with is the "Feedback" tab sticking way out there... kinda annoying!

 

I took care of that with two clicks! (hint Firefox w/ adblock plus and adblock plus element hider)

 

Shouldn't have to. Very few geocachers are tech savvy enough to even know what you are talking about, much less, to do it.

 

Really - I think they are!

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I love the new look and the ease of use, great job! The only thing I have an issue with is the "Feedback" tab sticking way out there... kinda annoying!

 

I took care of that with two clicks! (hint Firefox w/ adblock plus and adblock plus element hider)

 

Shouldn't have to. Very few geocachers are tech savvy enough to even know what you are talking about, much less, to do it.

 

I have to agree... I have used adblock plus to get rid of the word "Feedback" but am still left with an empty green box sticking out over the first characters in the line! How do I get rid of the box as well please??

 

Chris

 

Ahh... solved by installing the element hider extension to AdBolck Plus and reading the user notes.

 

Thanks Frank,

 

Chris

Edited by Matthew 7:7 Too
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The personalisation of the beta maps doesn't remember the personalisation when I leave the page. On the original maps, the problem that the personalisation doesn't even get remembered when zooming in/out and moving the map is still not fixed.

I'm using FF 4.X

 

i can't replicate that, the personalization is there whatever i do, navigate away from the page, zoom in and out

 

not sure what you're referring to

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I love the new look and the ease of use, great job! The only thing I have an issue with is the "Feedback" tab sticking way out there... kinda annoying!

 

I took care of that with two clicks! (hint Firefox w/ adblock plus and adblock plus element hider)

 

Shouldn't have to. Very few geocachers are tech savvy enough to even know what you are talking about, much less, to do it.

 

Really - I think they are!

Frank, there are a lot of us around here that have never had anything to do with what makes a computer tick. We just use what we have and feel that it should work as advertised and not get screwed up in the name of "progress". I never "upgrade" anything on my computer as long as it's still working for me, mainly because I don't understand how to fix it if it screws up. And I've never before heard of adblock - I can only guess what it is by the context of your sentence. My latest cache (GC2R4D5), which I realize that you would classify it as basic and quite simple to do, took me 6 hr. of trial and error, etc., to get it looking like it does. And that was before Geocaching.com screwed things up!!!.

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I’m not going to get into the argument about fixed layout. I accept that that is Groundspeak’s choice. The problem is that we cache owners have been allowed to play a part in the web page design for our caches and this fixed layout change has had a negative impact on our designs; specifically the background image. It would be nice if Groundspeak would incorporate our backgrounds into their fixed layout design (i.e. provide a border around the fixed layout that resembles the appearance that used to exist rather than having the background spread from wall to wall on the screen). I think that would take care of most of the objections.

 

Anyway, I have removed all custom backgrounds from all of our caches because they look so awful with the new fixed layout design. I have been replacing the backgrounds with a simple Groundspeak green background that I think improves the overall look of the page.

 

Here is a example: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=71eb5dc7-4da4-479b-bff0-0b88f670c84a

 

If you would like to use our green background it is:

http://img.geocaching.com/cache/d30f1159-698a-4431-892f-b5b4ca44f860.jpg

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I’m not going to get into the argument about fixed layout. I accept that that is Groundspeak’s choice. The problem is that we cache owners have been allowed to play a part in the web page design for our caches and this fixed layout change has had a negative impact on our designs; specifically the background image. It would be nice if Groundspeak would incorporate our backgrounds into their fixed layout design (i.e. provide a border around the fixed layout that resembles the appearance that used to exist rather than having the background spread from wall to wall on the screen). I think that would take care of most of the objections.

 

Anyway, I have removed all custom backgrounds from all of our caches because they look so awful with the new fixed layout design. I have been replacing the backgrounds with a simple Groundspeak green background that I think improves the overall look of the page.

 

Here is a example: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=71eb5dc7-4da4-479b-bff0-0b88f670c84a

 

If you would like to use our green background it is:

http://img.geocaching.com/cache/d30f1159-698a-4431-892f-b5b4ca44f860.jpg

 

Nice. Thanks for sharing the link for the color. It looks way better than all the white.

I just wish they would get rid of fixed width.

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Fixed width is one thing, but why should that require us losing the ability to choose the width of an element?

 

I had some partial-width DIVs

<div style="float:right; width:45%">...</div>

which are now full-width for no reason I can fathom. They worked perfectly fine at any width!

 

That nested-DIVs trick somebody mentioned above didn't work for me, so I have to resort to complaining. You think I like that?

Edited by Viajero Perdido
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The personalisation of the beta maps doesn't remember the personalisation when I leave the page. On the original maps, the problem that the personalisation doesn't even get remembered when zooming in/out and moving the map is still not fixed.

I'm using FF 4.X

 

i can't replicate that, the personalization is there whatever i do, navigate away from the page, zoom in and out

 

not sure what you're referring to

 

I'm referring to the standard maps, not the beta maps

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Today, one of my old broken puzzle caches got fixed by some update and one of my new puzzle caches gets broken. Both of them are using tables.

 

For me, the fixed width is not a problem. Actually some of my old cache pages were already using fixed width before this change. The problem, which remains, is adjusting the width of columns. Relative width attributes like width:25%; should be allowed. Now I have to position images by using transparent images as padding.

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The personalisation of the beta maps doesn't remember the personalisation when I leave the page. On the original maps, the problem that the personalisation doesn't even get remembered when zooming in/out and moving the map is still not fixed.

I'm using FF 4.X

 

i can't replicate that, the personalization is there whatever i do, navigate away from the page, zoom in and out

 

not sure what you're referring to

 

I'm referring to the standard maps, not the beta maps

 

your post above states you have a problem with both however, they both work fine for me

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Fix the %*&()% background "tiled" issue already. You screwed this up, which in turn is making some of my caches not possible due to the way I incorporated the background. Enough people have complained, I personally know of 7 people who have contacted GS directly, and they have all been told that WE need to change our HTML. Well sorry, but that's not possible the way you have your table format set up. Fix what is broke before making all these changes. Seriously.

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Fix the %*&()% background "tiled" issue already.
As has been mentioned before in this thread, background images have always been tiled on cache pages. The change is that some people see more of the tiled background because of the fixed-width layout.
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Fix the %*&()% background "tiled" issue already. You screwed this up, which in turn is making some of my caches not possible due to the way I incorporated the background. Enough people have complained, I personally know of 7 people who have contacted GS directly, and they have all been told that WE need to change our HTML. Well sorry, but that's not possible the way you have your table format set up. Fix what is broke before making all these changes. Seriously.

 

I guess when you pay the big $30 fee you are entitled to express your opinion in whatever manner you choose. I know how quickly I would react to someone who told me what to do in the tone you use here. One source I saw referenced more than 2,000,000 geocaching accounts. So I guess the seven you reference will carry a lot of weight with the programmers.

 

Civility is often lacking in computer forums for some reason that eludes me.

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Fix the %*&()% background "tiled" issue already. You screwed this up, which in turn is making some of my caches not possible due to the way I incorporated the background. Enough people have complained, I personally know of 7 people who have contacted GS directly, and they have all been told that WE need to change our HTML. Well sorry, but that's not possible the way you have your table format set up. Fix what is broke before making all these changes. Seriously.

 

I guess when you pay the big $30 fee you are entitled to express your opinion in whatever manner you choose. I know how quickly I would react to someone who told me what to do in the tone you use here. One source I saw referenced more than 2,000,000 geocaching accounts. So I guess the seven you reference will carry a lot of weight with the programmers.

 

Civility is often lacking in computer forums for some reason that eludes me.

 

I'm agreeing with kelinore. It worked fine before. Now it is broken. It shows a lack of considration for those who have been playing this game for a few years. Far more than 7 caches have been affected. I checked on a Mac, and the background does not work there either. I've just removed most of my backgrounds, and archived the cache that was affected.

Now. Other problems. It takes at least a minute (frequently more) to view My Profile.

Signing in takes me to another site, which brings up the 'trying to access one of your favorite sites. Do you want to?' Another few added steps. :( Guess that's because I'm using Windows XP. But it's annoying to be brought to a different site to sign in.

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Fix the %*&()% background "tiled" issue already. You screwed this up, which in turn is making some of my caches not possible due to the way I incorporated the background. Enough people have complained, I personally know of 7 people who have contacted GS directly, and they have all been told that WE need to change our HTML. Well sorry, but that's not possible the way you have your table format set up. Fix what is broke before making all these changes. Seriously.

 

I guess when you pay the big $30 fee you are entitled to express your opinion in whatever manner you choose. I know how quickly I would react to someone who told me what to do in the tone you use here. One source I saw referenced more than 2,000,000 geocaching accounts. So I guess the seven you reference will carry a lot of weight with the programmers.

 

Civility is often lacking in computer forums for some reason that eludes me.

 

I'm agreeing with kelinore. It worked fine before. Now it is broken. It shows a lack of considration for those who have been playing this game for a few years. Far more than 7 caches have been affected. I checked on a Mac, and the background does not work there either. I've just removed most of my backgrounds, and archived the cache that was affected.

Now. Other problems. It takes at least a minute (frequently more) to view My Profile.

Signing in takes me to another site, which brings up the 'trying to access one of your favorite sites. Do you want to?' Another few added steps. :( Guess that's because I'm using Windows XP. But it's annoying to be brought to a different site to sign in.

+1

Not only did they force a fixed width that broke lots of cache pages, but they also screwed over the HTML on a lot of profile pages. I had some tables that took less than the full width. Now the tables go from wall to wall and anything I do is stripped out. We won't even start to mention the maps. A lot of work was done on the maps this past week and they are mostly useable. But a lot was broken and a lot of people certainly got upset. A lot still needs to be fixed, or some really good explanations other than "This is what is needed to make IE work."

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I'm not going to get into the argument about fixed layout. I accept that that is Groundspeak's choice. The problem is that we cache owners have been allowed to play a part in the web page design for our caches and this fixed layout change has had a negative impact on our designs; specifically the background image. It would be nice if Groundspeak would incorporate our backgrounds into their fixed layout design (i.e. provide a border around the fixed layout that resembles the appearance that used to exist rather than having the background spread from wall to wall on the screen). I think that would take care of most of the objections.

 

Anyway, I have removed all custom backgrounds from all of our caches because they look so awful with the new fixed layout design. I have been replacing the backgrounds with a simple Groundspeak green background that I think improves the overall look of the page.

 

Here is a example: http://www.geocachin...f0-0b88f670c84a

 

If you would like to use our green background it is:

http://img.geocachin...5b4ca44f860.jpg

 

I like - thanks! I will be using it. Looks much better with that background.

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Is it possible to use Ad-Block Plus or a Greasemonkey Script to fix the fixed-width issue?

No, I don't think so. I'm sure if it was we would have at least a half dozen scripts or rules to choose from by now. That is something driven by the site wide CSS.

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Is it possible to use Ad-Block Plus or a Greasemonkey Script to fix the fixed-width issue?

No, I don't think so. I'm sure if it was we would have at least a half dozen scripts or rules to choose from by now. That is something driven by the site wide CSS.

 

See #56 http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=273473&view=findpost&p=4700780

Using: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/

 

(Does what I want... you may need to play to get what you want...)

Edited by aB5dEglYeS5P
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I hope the decision makers are monitoring this thread and might deign to provide a response, in one venue or another. It's been almost two weeks since the May 4th geocaching.com website sea change. Since then, we've seen some of the changes reversed, others fixed, and many complimented. A few days after the big change, I got a request to participate in a survey and presumably so did a fairly large number of other (randomly selected?) geocachers. The survey specifically sought our opinion about the "fixed-width" changes. The survey asked if we did/didn't like the fixed-width layout in A) our profile page; B ) our cache listings; C) other people's cache listings or D)uniformly disliked the fixed-width look. (Option D might have been the opposite: Don't mind the change ... I don't remember which way it was worded. But my response was that I really DIS-liked the change). As far as I've been able to tell, no changes have come about as a result of the survey thus far. I also haven't seen any reporting of the survey results. So, it becomes natural to ask: is the fixed-width layout here to stay? Will we be given an answer one way or the other? Is an internal debate raging and we'll be told when HQ is good and ready?

 

As an unimportant, but personal, aside - I have no intention of "fixing" my cache pages to look better with this (awful) fixed-width layout. I'm also not going to leave the awful-looking cache pages active for much longer so that's my personal reason for wondering if we'll get official word about the permanency of this change. And if the answer's already been given, would someone please point that out to me? And I'll save some trouble for those would respond in one predictable manner: yes, I know that GC.com doesn't "owe" me or anyone an explanation or ruling ... I'm just asking if there will be one.

 

thanks

- fish

Edited by fishiam
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As far as I've been able to tell, no changes have come about as a result of the survey thus far. I also haven't seen any reporting of the survey results. So, it becomes natural to ask: is the fixed-width layout here to stay? Will we be given an answer one way or the other? Is an internal debate raging and we'll be told when HQ is good and ready?
I don't know the inside story at Groundspeak, but based on my experience with other corporate sites:

 

The fixed-width layout isn't something that can be changed quickly and easily with a simple hotfix. Once they decided to assume a fixed width, that assumption was baked into other aspects of the new site design. They can't just turn off the fixed width without breaking other parts of the site design that depend on the fixed width.

 

Also, the new site layout was just part of a bigger update. Rolling back to the old layout isn't an option, unless they roll back everything. And from what I've read, there are a lot of important infrastructure changes and bugfixes in the update. They aren't going to roll back those changes just to roll back the layout.

 

So if they switch to a liquid layout, they're going to do it by moving forward with a new design, not by going backwards to the old design. Given the number of votes and supporters on the feedback site, I'm sure they're aware of the issue, and of the interest many of their users have in the issue:

http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75775-geocaching-com/suggestions/1786865-narrow-layout-kills-listing-and-profile-layout

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There still seems to be an issue with the "Last Found" column on certain cache listings. When looking at a list of nearby caches or of my own finds, the column seems to be displayed and sorts as expected.

 

However, when I look at a list of caches found by another cacher, the date the other cacher found the cache isn't shown; only the date that I found it (if I found it) and the last date that ANY cacher found the cache. There is no way to see when the other cacher found the cache without going to the cache page and searching for their log. This was not the case previously and I can only assume that this recent "update" has caused this.

 

Are there any plans to correct this situation? Or did anybody else even know it existed?

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I just noticed today that the "View the Image Gallery" on cache pages no longer shows the number of images in the gallery. I'm not sure if this change was introduced in this update, but it must be fairly recent. I often use the image gallery when selecting potential caches, using the image count as a possible indicator of a better than average cache. Now I have to view the gallery to see the number of images. Before, I would normally only click the link if there were more than a couple images. Is there a reason why this was removed and is it possible to get it restored?

Edited by rtyrie
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I just noticed today that the "View the Image Gallery" on cache pages no longer shows the number of images in the gallery.

Looking at one of my cache pages, the link says "View the Image Gallery of 3 images"

 

Yes, this is a change because it used to say something like "View the Image Gallery (3 images)"

 

Edit to add link.

Edited by Lil Devil
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