Wanted: great ideas! (YouMagine)

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

That did it, thanks!

Man, now I have to get to work with my designs

/edit: If I click on the YM logo in my sig, it opens YM in the same window. Can this be changed to open a new window (html code should allow that definition)? I'd prefer it that way so you don't lose the UM forum when browsing...

 

@ designs: yup, an empty bar is... well... empty. More fun to have cool stuff in there. I mostly uploaded stuff I already had made before. But I should do some new projects again.

Good idea on the link opening in a new tab... I've changed that right away. Most bbcode will be cached, so the following is to do a proper check:

[ymuser=daid]

That's daid's sig. Daid made the image generator, so props to him

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi Erik,

It seems like everybody (every signature-link) is being directed to your account..

That is not necessary.. you are in the picture enough already

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

Hi Erik,

It seems like everybody (every signature-link) is being directed to your account..

That is not necessary.. you are in the picture enough already

 

Yep. I agree. So I fixed that and I'll hide under a rock for now. :mrgreen:

Technical explanation: It kept using the ImageMap that was defined the first, and since my image showed up in the HTML first, the others had the same links. Now the image maps are individual.

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

B.t.w. you might need to regenerate your signature. You can also use the shorter bbtag

 

[ymuser=yourusername]

[Daid 306]

Note that I created this signature generator in the weekend using the yet unpublished YouMagine-API.

See, same script running on my home server: http://daid.eu/~daid/youmagine/img.php/daid.png

 

[ian 32]

trying again with uploading some model files.

go to the second stage and click add Documents, then click SAVE and CONTINUE.

Then i go to the page view and the text is there, but there are no documents and no renderings from my models...

just did this 3 times with no change...

Ian

 

[ian 32]

ok so every thing is working but youmagine wont let me add any files... nothing... it just listed them, then save and continue and nothing.... eeeek

i really want to just bang on all my models onto youmagine, let people play and test them and take them off thingiverse ASAP.

Ian

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

Hi Ian,

Since it's not clear what we're doing differently and why it doesn't work for me, I've uploaded a video on YouTube that shows exactly what I'm doing. I'm uploading as follows:

 

I'm using a macbook with Chorme 28.0.1500.95

I've seen at least David use Windows with chrome on a regular basis, and probably other browsers were also used.

Can you tell me a bit more specific what you're doing when it fails to upload? Do you get to see the green bars?

 

[Daid 306]

Looks like it has issues with IE10.

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

A, usage of IE 10. That's hard to fix

I'll create an issue for the YouMagine developers and hopefully report back soon!

 

[illuminarti 18]

Ummm.... we're not really going to have a thread in the 'Current Topics' area that clutters up the 'New Content' view and just keeps getting ever longer with new YouMagine stuff are we?

I'm not really sure it's necessary... can't people check YouMagine if they want to know what's new? At the very least, move it off to a separate area of the forum so people can chose to filter it out of their updates if they want to.

And while I'm ranting... I think the YouMagine signature blocks are supremely fugly, and make it really hard to scan the content of the forums, as they overwhelm the text content.

 

[mastory 44]

And while I'm ranting... I think the YouMagine signature blocks are supremely fugly, and make it really hard to scan the content of the forums, as they overwhelm the text content.

 

Yes, it is visually distractive. Having worked in visual advertising, a simple, uncluttered message is much easier to comprehend. The concept functions largely on the sub-conscious mind and alot (most?) of people won't notice the distractions or be offended. They will be affected regardless.

If nothing else, scale it down some or consult a graphic layout artist... or have it appear when you mouse over the user icon..

 

[ian 32]

true ! i really like the idea of showing new models that users have created... thats really cool.

but my eyes keep getting pulled away from the text im reading and focused back onto the bombshell of color and detail in the youmagine banners...

about the compatability, david is right, i do have internet explorer IE10 on my office computer and that seems not to like the new site ? :-(

I cant change or install any other explorer because its a company maschine......no admin rights to install....

:-(

 

Yes, it is visually distractive. Having worked in visual advertising, a simple, uncluttered message is much easier to comprehend. The concept functions largely on the sub-conscious mind and alot (most?) of people won't notice the distractions or be offended. They will be affected regardless.

If nothing else, scale it down some or consult a graphic layout artist... or have it appear when you mouse over the user icon..

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

And I was so proud of the nice combo David and I did on the signature image. :???: </emotional sabotage mode>

I agree that especially my own signature becomes really long and cluttered, because I'm also trying to explain how to get such a signature. Updates to YouMagine aren't occuring that often as you've seen today, but the script needed to catch up and list the most recent things. I agree that a separate area would work.

We can look at the signature, it's quite colory... that's also the whole idea behind YouMagine, it should be stimulating and inspire you to be creative. But you're right that conversations on the forums and Google Group are colory and lively enough

The signature image script is free for anyone to adjust and propose a better version. I'll put it in a repository on GitHub.

@Ian: I think we should definitely support IE10. It's no fun, but we don't want to shut out people that care to visit our website. And especially we don't want to shut out the Ians of this world

 

[Daid 306]

I think the YM might be the distracting part. Removing that could help in the clutterness. Maybe making the icons a bit smaller also helps. Just something I threw together.

But as always, people will complain about it =)

 

[ian 32]

not complain !! just try and help :-)

 

[ian 32]

but when i look at the banner

(1) maybe the rainbow line ontop a little thinner ?

(2) dont need the big YM logo. use the space for one more design from the user.

(3) The youimagine logo on the bottom right side is enough and looks nice.

(4) maybe the model pics a little... tiny bit smaller...

then its much easier on the eye i think... :-)

 

[ian 32]

here you go... :smile:

 

 

[ian 32]

also a really interesting point.

you should be burning into peoples minds the words.... YOU MAGINE....

because i think 10 times yesterday i accidentaly typed into internet explorer... youimagine.... :-(

so the short two letters are cool... but maybe better burning the real name into peoples minds first !

just an idea ?

Ian :-)

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

I've improve the layout in the signature generator quite a bit as per Ian's instructions. You'll need to force reloading the images, since your browser caches them.

 

[ian 32]

cool Erik ! :-)

looks a lot better ! :-)

Ian

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

Good point about promoting YouMagine in-full to ensure people don't try to include an i.

 

[mastory 44]

Thanks for listening. I hope my comments weren't personally offensive to anyone. And yes, I get that putting the banner together must have been a fair technical hurdle - and deserves appreciation. As Ian said, I don't mean to complain, but to be constructive.

Having an open public forum based around a business is certainly a double edge sword. I applaud your restraint against censorship.

One thing I really appreciate about UM and this community, is that people on the inside care, and that I can be heard.

Matt

 

[ErikDeBruijn 15]

@mastory: to the contrary: your comments are constructive and very helpful. If you don't say a thing and we keep an inferior/annoying situation, the whole experience only becomes less pleasant. And I want to maximize how pleasant and capable this platform (including but not limited to printer, forum and YouMagine) is for this awesome community.

I appreciate this community so much because it's become so much more than I could have wished for! People are making friends, being taught, becoming teachers and experts and world-changers all at the same time!

That's why I want to expand from just 'vanilla' open discussion forums into creating, sharing ideas and design. Imagine what we will be making... :lol:

 

[illuminarti 18]

Thanks, David, Erik... everyone.

The changes have already helped a lot :smile: I spend a lot of time on here every day, so even subtle changes make a big difference :smile: I was a bit overwhelmed yesterday, but fortunately y'all were able to articulate the issues better than 'Aaaaargh' which was all i could, unhelpfully, manage at the time... :smile:

Regarding the posting of updates from YouMagine, I do have some further ideas. :smile:

I feel like the weakest part of this forum system is the handling of multipage posts, especially when those get over 3 pages, and the page navigation buttons become a bit cumbersome. So I think it's better to avoid those where possible. I also like to try and keep the clutter in 'New Content' view to an absolute minimum. I try to make sure that I read everything that I might be able to contribute to, so I'm always aiming to have nothing unread in the New Content page.

While having a separate YouMagine forum is a help, it still doesn't go quite far enough, because this post is also in that section - so now I miss this discussion, from my 'new content' list, if I try to filter out the thread about new posts (which, yes, is low traffic at the moment, but hopefully will get busier).

So what I'd suggest, is having a separate 'forum' (as each of these topic areas seem to be called) just for the automated postings. That way I can ignore them all at once, and still get everything else :grin: Lock it down so that no one can start new topics in it, if possible. You could even then switch to one posting per item... that would solve the multipage problem, and actually showcase stuff better (while still allowing the whole thing to be filtered out). I don't mind browsing it sometimes... i just don't want it to overwhelm the discussion/help threads.

If you really wanted to get adventurous - I wonder if it's possible to write/buy/enable a layout plugin for that forum, so you could display the posts as thumbnails? More of a Pinterest look, so that people can browse the posts visually, and then click into, and comment on, whatever is of interest to them?

That would also be a great way to display the 'What have you MADE?' section. And again, while I'm on that subject... what do folks think about locking down the now 548 post-long 'Post Your Latest Print' thread, and encouraging people to start new threads. While it was a great conversation starter... now that it's gotten so long, I don't think that having to click through multiple pages to get to something that is better browsed visually is a particularly good way to showcase what our community is doing.

 

I think the YM might be the distracting part. Removing that could help in the clutterness. Maybe making the icons a bit smaller also helps. Just something I threw together.

But as always, people will complain about it =)