FindRetros 3.0 Feedback

[RastaLulz]

Today version 3.0 of FindRetros launched, as you've probably already noticed. I'd love to hear the community's feedback, and make it that much better.

Pre-launch feedback thread:

At the beginning of last year I started this project, and dedicated roughly two months to it. It's now time to pick it back up, and get the ball rolling. There's still work to be done, but I wanted to get the communities feedback; especially before launching it.

With that being said, please take a look at the beta site(s), and let me know if you encounter any bugs, or if there's any features/changes you'd like to see.

Sites:
-

You must be registered for see links

-

You must be registered for see links

Q&A:
- Will servers/users on FindRetros be migrated? Yes, I've already written the script.
- Will there be legacy support? Yes, old voting scripts will continue to work, and redirects will be added.

Known bugs/issues:
- It'll copy and paste the IP if you click on the rank.
- When searching for servers, if no results are found, the sidebar will be hidden.
- No option to delete a banner (only override).
- Sometimes the footer doesn't always adjust correctly when window size changes.
- There is no cross site authentication; you must authenticate on both sites.
- Responsive isn't completely fleshed out.
- Center the captcha on the voting page.
- Make it more clear as to what the maximum banner dimensions are.
- If on a game specific site, automatically select game when adding a server.
- Consider not requiring "http(s)://" for website field.
- If add a server for a game that has a different domain, you won't be redirected to the correct destination.
- Discrepancy between global server rank, and game specific server rank.
- Fix issue where global ranks are being incorrectly calculated.
- Full HTTPS support.

Planned features:
- Forgot password.
- Notify user if their server is soft deleted.

Possible features down the road:
- Suggested tags based on things like title, description, etc.
- Add the ability to report servers.
- Add ability to allow punishments to expire, as opposed to always being permanent.
- Add the ability to view the source of a servers votes for staff.

 

[Rain]

• Make it so when you click the banner, it takes you to the website. Not their page's profile thing.
• You must be registered for see links
  add an info icon here to take people to the pages statistics etc
  
• Make it so if you've already voted, it redirects you back to the website OR at least gives you an option to go back. (like this
  You must be registered for see links
  )
• Don't know how many people had this issue, but because i redirect people through findretros, they weren't being sent back to voted.php (meaning if they tried to go back on my site, it would redirect them back to a dead page). Why have the return url option in settings when we can't use it?
• Why not make the banners take up this whole area?
  You must be registered for see links
  they're very very small at the moment.
• What is "Postback URL"? seems kool

I like the new design but it definitely needs improvements and should have been testing on a second domain before being put on there. Also some warning would have been nice, could have emailed find retros users who logged in within the last week or something?

Edit:

• Add an option on server profiles to go to their website (eg:
  You must be registered for see links
  )
• If you're gonna make use of page profiles, make them customizable
• The new voting page is excellent

 

[Liam]

It'd be nice if the banner went to the hotel rather than the hotels server page but it's fine anyhow.

• What happened to average votes?
• What's Postback URL?
• It says I can vote in 14 hours from now, do the votes not reset at 6/7AM anymore?

Overall, I like the new FindRetros, good job

 

[Rain]

It'd be nice if the banner went to the hotel rather than the hotels server page but it's fine anyhow.

• What happened to average votes?
• What's Postback URL?
• It says I can vote in 14 hours from now, do the votes not reset at 6/7AM anymore?

Overall, I like the new FindRetros, good job

Says 5 hours for me.. Is it based off when you last voted? so your voting average changes real time?

 

[Forad]

It'd be nice if the banner went to the hotel rather than the hotels server page but it's fine anyhow.

I agree 100%, overall its easy to use and looks clean.
Good job!

 

[RastaLulz]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.

Make it so when you click the banner, it takes you to the website. Not their page's profile thing.

add an info icon here to take people to the pages statistics etc

It'd be nice if the banner went to the hotel rather than the hotels server page but it's fine anyhow.

I'm open to this; I think for the first week, I'll leave it as is. Something else I've considered is when you click a server, you'll get a popup dialog with a bunch of information related to the server. The goal is to provide as much information I can about the server to the end user. I think there's a lot of improvement that can be done in terms of searching, and discoverability. My end goal is to make the best possible experience that I can for both the end users, and server owners, and there will be some trial and error.

Make it so if you've already voted, it redirects you back to the website OR at least gives you an option to go back. (like this

You must be registered for see links

)

I agree, this could be better. Although, servers should be checking if a user has voted before redirecting them to FindRetros. I'll look into possible solutions, pending feedback.

Don't know how many people had this issue, but because i redirect people through findretros, they weren't being sent back to voted.php (meaning if they tried to go back on my site, it would redirect them back to a dead page). Why have the return url option in settings when we can't use it?

Mind linking to your servers profile?

Why not make the banners take up this whole area?

You must be registered for see links

they're very very small at the moment.

Personally I think they were way too large, and people will get used to the new size. Before, they took up a considerable amount of the page.

What is "Postback URL"? seems kool

This feature currently isn't done, but the idea is that when someone successfully votes, it'll send a request to a specified URL with the IP that voted.

I like the new design but it definitely needs improvements and should have been testing on a second domain before being put on there.

The site has been publicly accessible since January, and has been open to feedback.

Also some warning would have been nice, could have emailed find retros users who logged in within the last week or something?

I agree, but I figured it was better to get out, then to put it off. With the new software, it'll hopefully allow for much more rapid and active development.

What happened to average votes?

Where in the UI would you like this displayed? The data's there, it just finding a good place to put it.

It says I can vote in 14 hours from now, do the votes not reset at 6/7AM anymore?

As it stands, votes currently do not reset, and it depends on when the specific user last voted. As long as you're checking if the user voted before redirecting them, there shouldn't be any issue. All stats are calculated dynamically*, as opposed to being generated at a specific point in time, and stored on in the database.

 

[Rain]

I agree, this could be better. Although, servers should be checking if a user has voted before redirecting them to FindRetros. I'll look into possible solutions, pending feedback.

You must be registered for see links

- it is not sending anybody to vote atm, I tested hablush's for @li4m and that wasn't working either.

Mind linking to your servers profile?

habsaynet (

You must be registered for see links

)

 

[Liam]

Where in the UI would you like this displayed? The data's there, it just finding a good place to put it.

Not sure, maybe under the statistics chart?

 

[Benden]

The footer has a link to

You must be registered for see links

which doesn't exist

 

[Rain]

Not sure, maybe under the statistics chart?

Could get rid of the rank number and put average & todays votes

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[Jeffrey]

Could get rid of the rank number and put average & todays votes

You must be registered for see links

Maybe, he could add numbers next to it or just put a huge nice average graph on top of the current one to display average.

 

[RastaLulz]

You must be registered for see links

- it is not sending anybody to vote atm, I tested hablush's for @li4m and that wasn't working either.

I've gone ahead and made the old URL accessible:

You must be registered for see links

This should help applications that are still using that URL, and don't have it setup to follow redirects. As for your particular situation, I'm not sure. It appears to be returning the correct numbers.

habsaynet (

You must be registered for see links

)

As long as you have a redirect URL set for your server, that is where it will redirect to when a user successfully votes.

The footer has a link to

You must be registered for see links

which doesn't exist

Yup, still gotta format them into markdown.

 

[Rain]

As long as you have a redirect URL set for your server, that is where it will redirect to when a user successfully votes.

Can you make it do the same, if they have already voted?

 

[RastaLulz]

Can you make it do the same, if they have already voted?

I've added a "return" option. If that query arg is set, it'll redirect any user that has successfully voted to the server's "return_url". If no "return_url" is set, it'll redirect back to the server's profile.

Example:

You must be registered for see links

I think this also a good time to mention that there is a new minimal mode that you can enable by doing:

You must be registered for see links

 

[Jeffrey]

I've added a "return" option. If that query arg is set, it'll redirect any user that has successfully voted to the server's "return_url". If no "return_url" is set, it'll redirect back to the server's profile.

Example:

You must be registered for see links

I think this also a good time to mention that there is a new minimal mode that you can enable by doing:

You must be registered for see links

I don't know, but i think for minimal you should remove the background banner.

You must be registered for see links

//just my 2cents

 

[Rain]

I've added a "return" option. If that query arg is set, it'll redirect any user that has successfully voted to the server's "return_url". If no "return_url" is set, it'll redirect back to the server's profile.

Example:

You must be registered for see links

I think this also a good time to mention that there is a new minimal mode that you can enable by doing:

You must be registered for see links

That is bloody brilliant!
 

You must be registered for see links

works perfectly.
 
Why do votes go up so slowly?

 

[Logic]

Here's my feedback.

• The panel headers should be on top, not the bottom. It confused me when I first visited the new updated site.
• The footer is a bit obnoxious and doesn't really go with the rest of the template.
• Add a "Scroll to Top" button once you reach the bottom of the website.

Other than that, it's nice and simple.

 

[Haid]

As long as the banner is linking to the servers info page the link on that page should be made way more obvious.
Maybe even a "Visit Site" button near the top, right now you'd miss it.

Personally I think they were way too large

This doesn't make much sense because the size of the faded background behind the new size banners are similar to the previous size? The space taken up is practically the same but the banners are now less focused because of the background. Add to the fact that the description seems to be larger and now we have tags on by default, less retros are now displayed per page scroll.

 

[Wickd]

so what the heck is new?

 

[cain]

Here's my feedback;

Cons

• The page headers i.e. (habboon.pw) could be at the top and not the bottom as when scrolling and browsing it causes a little confusion
• Banner size could be extended in height maybe just a little (back to 100px?) would possibly mean having to remove the blurred banner
• I'd agree with the rest make it so when clicking the banner it takes you to the servers website not the profile, and instead of the servers link on the pages header that lead to the profile instead

Pros

• The statistics on servers pages is a good addition giving everyone an insight on "page visitors"
• The new search system including tags is a good new addition to the old one, it's more specific and refined gives the wider community easier browsing options
• Happy to see the live feed page has been removed as an index since it wasn't used in 3 years

Overall I think the new site is great, it's different and much more modern than the old. Good job pal.