Geocaching.com site update May 4th 2011

[+movieram]

How do you turn personalization on? I have to have my map smileys.

 

And I can't jump to a cache description from a map.

 

OK -- I found out how to turn the personalization on. However, it turns off every time I navigate away from the map and I still haven't seen a smiley of my found caches.

 

I can jump to cache pages on occasion -- though certainly not consistently or often, for that matter.

 

The site seems a lot slower to me.

 

I'm trying to find positive changes, but the things I use most aren't working satisfactorily.

 

Back to Maps Beta. Now I can't move directionally. The buttons are there to zoom in and out, but the round button that one uses to go north, south, east, or west has disappeared. Still no smileys, the personalization still reverts back to off if I move around the website.

 

This is downright discouraging. I feel like the website took a 5 year step backwards.

Edited May 4, 2011 by movieram

[+Mr Kaswa]

Was there always an ad underneath the attributes? Also, if a cache description is short there is a large amount of white space to be scrolled through to get to the logs.

 

 

I have to scroll my entire laptops screen to get from the end of the description to the logs.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Mr Kaswa

[benji55545]

The amount of white space on either side of the pages is unbearable. I thought maybe my browser was just messing something up and the standard green background was supposed to be there. But no, I looked at the video posted above and its supposed to be that way. Either the fixed width issue mentioned above needs to be fixed or bring back the green borders on the page.

 

It's much harder to read text when its swimming in a giant pool of white.

[+W8TTS]

Can not enter logs with Firefox or Chrome. When I go to the log page, the fields pop-up for a second and disappear.

[+andGuest]

I am going to post a few of the things I have already found that I do not care for with the upgrade:

 

On the map page the 2 features I liked the most are now gone as you can no longer hover over a cache to see the name of it. Also I go out of my way to search for old caches and now without the caches listed on the map (at all let alone in order of publication) it will have to be done laboriously through pocket queries and will be difficult to quickly find old caches in an PQ if you do not have access to your usual tools (GSAK) when not at your home computer (I do not have cell phone capability). On the map if 2 icons overlap it will not bring up the cache information on either of the caches. If you zoom all the way in and they still touch then you can not bring them up (check out GC2FQCV and GC2EP2G).

 

On a cache page the background image is now different in appearance and it has revealed part of one of my mystery caches. I have writing in the white space that is a decoy but since there is a background image that is not white it shows the hidden text (GC1XQZY). I like the location of the cache stages and the idea behind the cache so now I will have to figure out how to rehide the text. Incidentally I like that feature on one of my other caches where there is not hidden information (GC2NFZV)

That is what I have seen so far on first glance (10 minutes).

[+aB5dEglYeS5P]

making maps (old) wider:

 

@-moz-document
 url-prefix("http://www.geocaching.com/map")
{
 #Content .container {width:95% !important;}
 #ctl00_divContentMain {width:100% !important;}
}

 

may save someone a few minutes with stylish

naturally it may break something completely

 

(edit: not quite as trivial to do the same on cache pages...)

Edited May 4, 2011 by aB5dEglYeS5P

[+Ike 13]

Not again Groundspeak. There were some great ideas, but a lot of stuff seems poorly executed.

 

*I like the new front page. I usually don't go there but for new users I think it will be more welcoming and easier to use.

 

*I do not like the fixed width. It is a good idea EXCEPT for the people who have wide screen monitors. So MUCH white space.

 

*I do not like how the green border on all cache pages has disappeared, again too much white space.

 

* I HATE the opaqueness of my cache pages. Each one of mine has a background image. I do like the fixed width a little in this case because I can see more of my background BUT the opaqueness where the text is makes it VERY hard to read.

 

* The Beta maps have a lot of promise, but without PQ integration they're not valuable. It would be also nice if they would save my presets. Oh and the mid level zoom where icons aren't boxes, but they're also not really icons is just bad.

 

*Oh and most of my Greasemonkey Scripts are dead.

 

I know the main goal was to fix performance and if that's not better I'll want my money back. If performance is back I can live with some of these other atrocities for a month.

[nightcaching]

Map-preview of pocket queries doesn't work anymore

[+DanPan]

Background images on cache pages used to be a subtle border. Now they dominate the page

See cache page example

If you use "Ctrl + Scroll wheel on mouse" the transparency is gone...

[+Harry Dolphin]

Looks as if I will need to re do all my cache pages.

Background images on cache pages used to be a subtle border. Now they dominate the page

See cache page example

 

I like the new look, but I think the text part could be a bit more opaque. The background is a bit strong. But I do like the effect, much better than before.

 

NO NO NO! That's ugly! They've washed out the background. And it interferes with the text. You used to be able to right click the background to see the background file. That doesn't work any more. The source file used to give only the file name. Now it gives the entire url. I don't want people seeing what else I have hidden there! That's a number of mystery caches that have been ruined. Plus it's ugly! I hope they change tis back soon, or I'll have to archive a number of mystery caches.

[+renelm]

I see a lot of good little fixes on the list, but:

 

"* Premium Only caches will display for all users on Beta Maps, with coordinates slightly obscured".

 

As a PM I am not happy - it sounds to me like the beta was published a few months too soon when it still isn't able to distinguish between who's looking at it as a PM or not.. (unless you forgot to add '.. except for PMs, who will now see them in the correct position').

 

The map is part of a very essential part of the site, but in the past month I've had to resort to using the google maps macro in GSAK for a reliable map..

 

Hence the term 'beta'.

Well.. I'm all for having a beta-map to get all the kinks out.. but it shouldn't be as a replacement for the old map (which it is now after the site is up again).

I do see though, that PMO-caches are shown in the correct spot for me (I'm a PM), so that's.. better.

 

Now it would be nice if they'd added a little 'this is what PMO-caches look like'-icon in the legend along with the other caches in the filter-section.. and made it possible to make the personalize-option remember my setting.. Oh well.. it's a huge step forward, having the PMO-caches on the "not so beta that we can't use it as the primary map"-map now

[+yawppy]

Looks as if I will need to re do all my cache pages.

Background images on cache pages used to be a subtle border. Now they dominate the page

See cache page example

 

JUST A QUICK NOTE TO THE QUOTE.. I THINK IT LOOKS GREAT, YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE BACKGROUND .JPG.. MY OPINION.

 

K now I am on firefox 4.. I just checked out the Beta Maps, Personalization..worked for me fine.. but have noticed that the mouse hover does not tell you the cache title. K that is functionality out.. upon exploring.. and knowing that the Icons got an over haul.. spotted the norm.. a traditional the green cache, mystery..blue "?", and multi the familiar yellow twin caches.. OK.. well then what are those two golden "twinkie looking" icons, that I know are traditionals?

 

Will try to attach screen snap.. but text may be the only way to describe what I seen, we will see.

 

Edited May 4, 2011 by yawppy

[+dneuwir]

Bug reports:

 

The most predominant of the issues I'm seeing is that all personalization disappears after about 5 minutes. Win 7 x64 running Firefox 4.0.1. I'll have a map on the screen, and suddenly, every cache is just its normal color, even though personalization is still enabled. Disabling and re-enabling personalization does not resolve. I need to back out of the maps, then go back into it.

 

Also, what kind of cache is represented by the circle with a golden-colored "traditional" icon? This isn't a multi--these are normal traditionals, but some have a round icon instead of square and are gold in color. They don't appear on the legend.

 

Also, disabled caches in some cases are appearing their normal color (white background). But then others are grayed. Inconsistent.

 

Some personalization isn't working at all---there are pages of caches I've found, but that aren't smiley'd, right next to other caches I've found that are.

 

You cannot fully zoom in on the satellite map. On the old maps I could zoom to about 1 inch of screen equaling about 5m. Now, I can only go into about 1 inch equaling 50m (a 10x reduction in maximum zoom). For difficult hides, I used to be able to get a good overhead visual of roughly where I should be looking, but now I can't zoom in far enough to see which tree (out of a cluster of three) the cache appears closest to, or where a cache is relative to a landmark like a fire hydrant or phone pole. Why limit the zoom?

 

I tend to cache by map page. I spend virtually zero time on "list" pages. I literally pick a zip code, pull up a map, find a cluster of un-found caches visually, and set out to drive or bike it. So having a map that has the above issues makes it VERY difficult to plot where I want to go as I have no idea what I'm looking at. Unfortunately, the "old" maps (which I thought were better) no longer have personalization so it's a tough caching week.

 

Anyway, those are my bug reports for now.

Thanks!

[+Pax42]

T o o m u c h w h i t e s p a c e.

 

Please let our profiles stretch out and breathe.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Pax42

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Not a big fan of making the cache pages semi transparent so you can see background images- it makes reading the descriptions rather difficult. Other than that things look spiffy.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Corp Of Discovery

[+dragon flyer]

I find the new maps a lot harder to look at than the original ones. I can't think of any reason for having boxes around smileys, now with shadows, yet! They make the whole thing look so much more cluttered, which is especially bothersome because the map is already smaller to start out with. And it doesn't make sense to me to have smileys more highly contrasted with the new darker background than the lettering. I need to be able to see my smileys, but they don't need to be the most eye-popping thing on the map; I would rather be able to read the print! And the way the cache names jump around, totally unpredictably and showing up in different places, is going to drive me crazy! I'm so disappointed...

[benji55545]

 

I just checked out the Beta Maps, Personalization..worked for me fine.. but have noticed that the mouse hover does not tell you the cache title.

 

Hovering works fine for me. Mac OS X, Firefox 4.0.1

 

[+yawppy]

Bug reports:

 

Also, what kind of cache is represented by the circle with a golden-colored "traditional" icon? This isn't a multi--these are normal traditionals, but some have a round icon instead of square and are gold in color. They don't appear on the legend.

 

 

Wondering myself..attached a screen cap above. Anyone..a new cache type perhaps?

[+renelm]

Wow.. PQ's with long titles make the PQ-page look reaaaaally funky now. I sure hope this fixed-with-fad is just a temporary phase. There are people out there with monitors that can do more than 900px horizontally you know...

[+steben6]

Please fix the backgrounds on cache pages back to what they were - more like a border. Backgrounds are WAY too prominent on top of the text of cache pages, making them difficult to read. See GC2M394 as an example. WAY too busy!

Thanks.

[+tlfought]

Any chance of rolling these changes back? The site is quite unusable in its current state. Okay... it works. But there are too many SIGNIFICANT issues to have rolled out these changes... Do you guys have anyone doing QA?

Edited May 4, 2011 by tlfought

[+tiggy00]

Like with all change, I'm still searching and checking. So far, I'm ok with "most" of the changes. Still missing some of the map features, but that seems to be a common theme. My biggest issue is that my cache stats show me with 651 finds, but when I run my PQ showing all of my finds (and this is what prompted me to run it) it comes back with 658, which is what my stats previously said before the upgrade. Is anyone else experiencing a discrepancy in their numbers?

[+aB5dEglYeS5P]

the golden caches are PMO only - the PMO mystery looks even more odd

was the beta map Google Satellite view zoom limited to 18 before... I thought the full ?21 was prev. available but I might be wrong

[+Don_J]

Looks as if I will need to re do all my cache pages.

Background images on cache pages used to be a subtle border. Now they dominate the page

See cache page example

 

Yep, now I have to edit 125 cache listings. This is absolutely horrible.

[+dneuwir]

 

Also, what kind of cache is represented by the circle with a golden-colored "traditional" icon? This isn't a multi--these are normal traditionals, but some have a round icon instead of square and are gold in color. They don't appear on the legend.

 

 

Okay, figured out the gold icon in the circle: PMO caches. I think adding that to the legend would be appropriate.

 

Also, I'm finding it very difficult to click on cache icons and pull up information. Most of the time I just get the "move" hand, but not the pop-out with the information. This gets more pronounced as the zoom-out increases (higher fields of view have more difficulty opening the caches for me).

[+Crow-T-Robot]

I am going to post a few of the things I have already found that I do not care for with the upgrade:

 

On a cache page the background image is now different in appearance and it has revealed part of one of my mystery caches. I have writing in the white space that is a decoy but since there is a background image that is not white it shows the hidden text (GC1XQZY). I like the location of the cache stages and the idea behind the cache so now I will have to figure out how to rehide the text.

 

Were the numbers that visible before?

[+andGuest]

 

I just checked out the Beta Maps, Personalization..worked for me fine.. but have noticed that the mouse hover does not tell you the cache title.

 

Hovering works fine for me. Mac OS X, Firefox 4.0.1

 

 

Did that pop up when you hovered or when you clicked? On mine (PC Firefox 3.6.17) you have to click a cache to get the bubble to pop up.

[+andGuest]

I am going to post a few of the things I have already found that I do not care for with the upgrade:

 

On a cache page the background image is now different in appearance and it has revealed part of one of my mystery caches. I have writing in the white space that is a decoy but since there is a background image that is not white it shows the hidden text (GC1XQZY). I like the location of the cache stages and the idea behind the cache so now I will have to figure out how to rehide the text.

 

Were the numbers that visible before?

 

I can't say for sure they look about the same. They are sometimes hidden (not visible looking at the cache page itself) depending on the length of the page from the shown cache logs. My issue is that you can see the stuff written in the white space on the cache page.

[+Dgwphotos]

I don't like the transparency on cache pages. The background images are intrusive. The found it smiles and the like are too small, and look bad as well. The colors are unappealing, particuarly for DNF's and attended logs. The originals were fine.

[benji55545]

 

I just checked out the Beta Maps, Personalization..worked for me fine.. but have noticed that the mouse hover does not tell you the cache title.

 

Hovering works fine for me. Mac OS X, Firefox 4.0.1

 

 

Did that pop up when you hovered or when you clicked? On mine (PC Firefox 3.6.17) you have to click a cache to get the bubble to pop up.

 

The big bubble only appears if I click, but if you roll over the text a small bubble with the cache's name appears. It disappears after a few seconds, though. I would prefer it stayed on the screen until I moved my mouse.

[jholly]

What about the API's? The last promised date was January, I think, 2011.

 

Go to http://www.geocaching.com/live/default.aspx.

 

It clearly states:

Groundspeak has begun working with select third-party application developers to introduce the new Geocaching.com Public API. The closed Beta phase of API development begins in early 2011 and is expected to quickly progress into release candidate status later in the year. Check back for updates soon!

Thanks grasshopper. If you didn't notice the API's are like number three on the most requested features. The new UI did not make the like the list. Perhaps those of us the actually go and find caches would appreciate this functionality instead of a whizzy front page and all the other new bugs and problems they introduced with this update.

[sabrefan7]

Can not enter logs with Firefox or Chrome. When I go to the log page, the fields pop-up for a second and disappear.

 

Most likely because of GC TIDY wont work for me either. Works fine on Safari with no scrips added

[+ltblarg]

I can't use the search feature on the main page on my Blackberry 9630.

[sabrefan7]

There is a LOT of white space. The old maps are no longer useable , to small to much wasted space. I liked a list of caches next to the map. I do like the new maps. if you could incorporate a list on the side some how up to a fixed zoom level or set number of caches, that would be nice. So far over all I have to say I like it

Edited May 5, 2011 by sabrefan7

[+LuckyPlan]

Log pages with smileys in the description now make the line of text it's on and the line before it appear to be double spaced.

[+AtwellFamily]

Really... The new icon on the map are not good. Please put the old ones back!!!! The orange dots could be any type of Premium Member Cache.

 

 

I also thought I read the Beta maps were going to be used everywhere but that is not the case?

[+AtwellFamily]

What about the width of the pages, is it me or is it narrower? No way to will a larger screen, pretty much fits on half of mine now?

 

Forums are full screen

Blog is wider than the main site

Feedback is narrower...

 

Anyone know how to make this consistent in HQ?

Edited May 5, 2011 by Atwell Family

[+yawppy]

 

I just checked out the Beta Maps, Personalization..worked for me fine.. but have noticed that the mouse hover does not tell you the cache title.

 

Hovering works fine for me. Mac OS X, Firefox 4.0.1

 

 

That is a mouse click, Used to be if you just hovered on the cache, a small box wit cache title only would appear, I can click the cache and get the depicted result, but the hover, nothing appears, click and you get the title and all basic info.

[knowschad]

I certainly appreciate the database fixes. The UI leaves me, well, a bit disappointed.

 

The feedback site has the top desired enhancements. Of the top 60, none have been implemented. None asked for a new UI. The past two release fixed some minor bugs and added some internationalization. This is good.

 

But, when are the Beta maps going to be done? I would hope that pm's get to see the PMO caches in the correct position. How about paying attention to the ignore list? How about the ability to generate a PQ?

 

I hope the original maps will return to the former usability.

 

What about the API's? The last promised date was January, I think, 2011.

 

What about bookmark fixes? The ability to copy bookmarks would really be cool and niffty. I could have used that feature several times in the past month.

 

There is not much in the top requests about PQ's but you keep rumoring about the PQ redesign. Can you give us a hint and maybe a time frame. Things like maps and PQ's are far more interesting to me than a new UI.

 

I guess my real request is can we stop with the fluff and get down to addressing some of the top 20 or so requests?

 

Oh, I miss the photos from the old UI, to bad they took a dive.

 

Oh yes, one last thing. You increased the stored PQ count. Can we bump up the bookmark count? is is just a list, right?

 

+1 for each line of the above!

[knowschad]

I see a lot of good little fixes on the list, but:

 

"* Premium Only caches will display for all users on Beta Maps, with coordinates slightly obscured".

 

As a PM I am not happy - it sounds to me like the beta was published a few months too soon when it still isn't able to distinguish between who's looking at it as a PM or not.. (unless you forgot to add '.. except for PMs, who will now see them in the correct position').

 

The map is part of a very essential part of the site, but in the past month I've had to resort to using the google maps macro in GSAK for a reliable map..

 

Hence the term 'beta'.

 

Its a race to see who gets rid of the 'beta' term first... this site for their maps, or the "other site" for their site!

[+wigoweb]

Why would you produce a map without a key?

With the beta map I see more territory and more caches. But, I can not find a way to identify those icons? How am I supposed to know which cache goes with which icon?

The old maps had a numbered key which corresponded to numbers next to the cache icons. The 'beta' maps aren't really far enough along in development to be called 'beta'. They need lots of work.

Also, I hope someone is doing some testing with functionality of the site on the iPad. The geocaching app is pretty good. The geocaching site should be iPad friendly, too.

[+niraD]

Overall, I like the new design, but there are a few issues.

 

I didn't notice the fixed width, but that's just because you happened to pick a width that nearly matches my default browser windows on this system. If you make the fixed width any wider, then you'll cause horizontal scrolling in my browsers. There are probably some who are stuck with horizontal scrolling already. Go ahead and optimize for certain widths of browser windows, but any fixed width is going to be too wide for some and too narrow for others. The best approach is to optimize for common browser window widths, but to use a fluid design that adapts to other browser window widths as necessary.

 

I didn't notice the microfonts, but my browsers' minimum font size overrides the font size you've specified. I can imagine that it's even harder to read cache info against a background image when the font size is small like that. Leave the font size alone for body text. See also:

http://www.dev-archive.net/articles/font-analogy.html

 

On the Guide to the Game page, there is no way to view the content if JavaScript is disabled/unavailable and CSS is supported. If you're going to toggle the visibility of content with JavaScript, then hide it with JavaScript in the first place.

 

Also, there is no way to give someone a link to a specific Q&A entry on the Guide to the Game page. If I refer someone to that page, I probably won't be referring them to everything on the page; I'll be referring them to a particular question and its answer.

[knowschad]

IE8 Windows XP:

 

Beta Maps, when I click on personlisation that is fine I get smilies and stars until I click to either hide: my finds or my hides, as both hides and finds disappear no matter which button is pressed (the other is not pressed,)

 

Agreed that it is broken. The workaround is to uncheck personalization, refresh the map, then check personalization again. Simply refreshing doesn't seem to help unless the personalization checkbox is unchecked.

[+TinSparrow]

 

Thanks, the pq full of all ready found caches. useless.

 

 

I must disagree with this opinion. The PQ of found caches is enormoulsy useful, and fun. You just have to know what to do with it.

[knowschad]

Looks as if I will need to re do all my cache pages.

Background images on cache pages used to be a subtle border. Now they dominate the page

See cache page example

 

I like the new look, but I think the text part could be a bit more opaque. The background is a bit strong. But I do like the effect, much better than before.

 

I think that translucency should be a cache page option. Fortunately I only used background images on a few of my current caches, but when I did, I used them because it suited the design. It no longer does that. Instead, it interferes with the design. A simple checkbox next to the input background textbox on the cache creation page could have made it a user option.

[+dfx]

Here's the new ABP rule to hide the annoying "so close, only 3 more to go" box:

 

geocaching.com#div(class=span-10 FavoritesStatusWidget)

 

And to remove the disclaimer box:

 

geocaching.com#fieldset(class=DisclaimerWidget)

Edited May 5, 2011 by dfx

[+t4e]

IE8 Windows XP:

 

Beta Maps, when I click on personlisation that is fine I get smilies and stars until I click to either hide: my finds or my hides, as both hides and finds disappear no matter which button is pressed (the other is not pressed,)

 

Agreed that it is broken. The workaround is to uncheck personalization, refresh the map, then check personalization again. Simply refreshing doesn't seem to help unless the personalization checkbox is unchecked.

 

i don't need to do all that, it works perfect here

[OpinioNate]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone, including the critical comments regarding maps and the new look. We will be reviewing each carefully and making updates to the site in response. I'll make sure the changes are communicated to you as they happen.

 

The fixed page width has come up several times, so I'd like to attempt an explanation into our thought process here. The choice between a liquid (expanding) layout and fixed width is one of appearance and usability. The main disadvantage to having a liquid layout is that Internet Explorer does not support the min-width and max-width CSS properties. The lack of this control is the reason you will sometimes find the right-hand log navigation "missing" on cache pages (in fact it is just pushed far to the right of the page, usually by a large image). Without the control of fixed width layouts, lines of text in cache descriptions may also become too long, making it harder to read. To maintain a consistent experience on the site, without sacrificing the ability of users to control the content of their cache descriptions, we felt it was important to move the site in this direction. Finally, with 13 languages (and more on the way) it will become nearly impossible to control the appearance of the site without a fixed layout.

 

I hope that helps to explain where we're coming from. We're watching and reading your feedback and will do everything possible to satisfy your concerns asap. Thanks everyone.

[+JeremyR]

Premium Only caches will display for all users on Beta Maps, with coordinates slightly obscured

How slightly is "slightly"?

The PMO caches I'm looking at on the beta map appear to be showing at their *exact* listed coords when I look at it with both a PM and a non-PM account. (FF4, Win7, hard-refresh done, etc, etc).

It's fairly trivial of course to extract the coords of the map markers with Greasemonkey or something so there's nothing at this point to stop non-PM members finding the precise coords of PMO caches.

[+ArizonaSmith]

I really DON'T like the changes. As said by many people before me, the main issues are:

- you have two maps, the old one without the personalization, the Beta one without the cache list. Therefore, both are unusable.

- size of the old maps (and size of the whole page) has shrunk too much

- transparency and background image issue - bad.