need help to pretty up ipsc-matches.net

[omen]

hey all,

I'm not a graphics designer, I have no idea/"feel" for how to make things look good - I just focus on the functionality...

If someone would like to submit some ideas (page mockups) for how to make the system "look" better, that would be greatly appreciated... Maybe here, in the thread, so we can get everyone to comment on them...

Given how the system is written, there's no way anyone could actually work on it, so that's why I'm asking for mockups - I'm need to implement them myself, I just need ideas of what people would think would look good... Just html and images, no flash, ajax, etc, etc...

Thanks!

 

[euxx]

If someone would like to submit some ideas (page mockups) for how to make the system "look" better, that would be greatly appreciated... Maybe here, in the thread, so we can get everyone to comment on them...

Some time ago I've created a GreaseMonkey script that changes the current look:

* less visual noise for matches that are not open for sign up and excessive use of hr
* match signup status and color indication right on the match list page
* all club maps are replaced with links to the Google maps (it is much more convenient to plan trips and check how long is to drive to any given club)

Here is an example. It works in the Firefox web browser and require GreaseMonkey extension. If anyone interested to use this scrip, please let me know.

Given how the system is written, there's no way anyone could actually work on it, so that's why I'm asking for mockups - I'm need to implement them myself, I just need ideas of what people would think would look good... Just html and images, no flash, ajax, etc, etc...

Can you please elaborate why no one can work on it?

 

[Slavex]

Because he custom wrote it and letting others dabble in it would leave it open to getting wrecked? Plus like a lot if projects people like to keep things they've put a lot of work into, their own private place?

 

[euxx]

Because he custom wrote it and letting others dabble in it would leave it open to getting wrecked?

If there is something to be ashamed of, the others can actually help to make it better.

Plus like a lot if projects people like to keep things they've put a lot of work into, their own private place?

If that is the case, then why don't admit it and don't give us obscure comments?

I think it is rather dangerous to rely on one-man work for the whole section or region. The service like this should be really provided by a region, or even international ipsc, so we had an unified match and squadding system.

 

[Quigley]

This software belongs to Omen...not IPSC Canada or IPSC Ontario. Instead of you constant #####ing and whining...why not just say thanks and move on.

Honestly...you could make a Nun kick out a stained glass window.

If you and the rest of your crew ever trip over something you think is up to your standards...please let us know. I'll put a mark in the Calendar

...and don't waste a post telling me I'm negative...far from it...it's just something about you that really pisses me off

If there is something to be ashamed of, the others can actually help to make it better.



If that is the case, then why don't admit it and don't give us obscure comments?

I think it is rather dangerous to rely on one-man work for the whole section or region. The service like this should be really provided by a region, or even international ipsc, so we had an unified match and squadding system.

 

[euxx]

Can someone explain me what is wrong with having a centralized match management system? I said nothing about Omen's system other then offering suggestions, but it puzzle me why IPSC as an organization doesn't want to commission an official system? Even more sad that this situation is expressed as normal by our own section director.

BTW, it was you who is saying every second post "step up or shut up". I stepped up offering help and my time to work on match management system, don't really care if it is for extending an existing one or building a new. My help been rejected without offering any reason why and I just want to understand that. So, Quigley, why don't you follow your own suggestion or actually do something useful for everyone?

This software belongs to Omen...not IPSC Canada or IPSC Ontario. Instead of you constant #####ing and whining...why not just say thanks and move on.

Honestly...you could make a Nun kick out a stained glass window.

If you and the rest of your crew ever trip over something you think is up to your standards...please let us know. I'll put a mark in the Calendar

...and don't waste a post telling me I'm negative...far from it...it's just something about you that really pisses me off

 

[Quigley]

I'll compare my contributions to yours any day of the week.

Oh and by the way...no where in this thread did you actually offer to help...and no where in this thread was your imaginary offer to help refused.

Can someone explain me what is wrong with having a centralized match management system? I said nothing about Omen's system other then offering suggestions, but it puzzle me why IPSC as an organization doesn't want to commission an official system? Even more sad that this situation is expressed as normal by our own section director.

BTW, it was you who is saying every second post "step up or shut up". I stepped up offering help and my time to work on match management system, don't really care if it is for extending an existing one or building a new. My help been rejected without offering any reason why and I just want to understand that. So, Quigley, why don't you follow your own suggestion or actually do something useful for everyone?

 

[johnespos]

LEAVE IT THE WAY IT IS!
Thanks Omen, it works fine the way it is.
When are we going to see you shoot?
I hope soon!

 

[omen]

Whew... Stirring up s**t, as usual, omen...

But seriously...

a) I don't like the visual clutter of not-open, my original intent was that not open for signup would be used sparingly, I didn't expect people to create matches months ahead of schedule and polluting the space with them, leaving them closed... I'll try using a strikeout font for matches which aren't open.

b) I like the idea of adding signed up, or waiting list (or both, since that's a valid option too) to the main display. Plus that would eliminate one of the buttons on top...

c) re why not have other people work on it - simple. You couldn't work on it without me giving you full access to either my account or just my code, and I'm not going to do either... The system uses HTML::Template in few places, but too much of the html is still generated raw from Perl, so you couldn't do anything without having access to that Perl... (did I say I was a backend person ? )

d) re why not leave old matches in the system (that's from the other thread). There are plenty of reports available to the MDs to track anything they way, they can print/save/etc them, in html or text, and I don't want to have old matches cluttering MY screen.

e) I have found that it is very easy to suggest what someone-else(tm) or other-people(tm) should be doing, and question why they(tm) aren't doing it. I've also found doing so rarely being useful, helpful, or well received..

 

[omen]

BTW, do you really need to run the 'view all signups' report 30-60 times A DAY? I don't have Google's infrastructure here...

 

[euxx]

a) I don't like the visual clutter of not-open, my original intent was that not open for signup would be used sparingly, I didn't expect people to create matches months ahead of schedule and polluting the space with them, leaving them closed... I'll try using a strikeout font for matches which aren't open.

Please don't use striketrough font, it makes test unreadable. Better have a separate status column with combination of background color.

c) re why not have other people work on it - simple. You couldn't work on it without me giving you full access to either my account or just my code, and I'm not going to do either...

Fair enough and thanks for the explanation. Though I am still wondering what are your long term plans in regards to this system? Particularly, what is preventing you from opening up the code?

d) re why not leave old matches in the system (that's from the other thread). There are plenty of reports available to the MDs to track anything they way, they can print/save/etc them, in html or text, and I don't want to have old matches cluttering MY screen.

In regards to cluttering list you can just show the active matches by default and have separate options to show all or future-only matches. That would address the issue with visual clutter.

I just thought that leaving information in the system would allow to do something useful with it, as opposed to assume that MDs would do reports and some other stuff, for example in order to decide how to punish non-showing competitors.

e) I have found that it is very easy to suggest what someone-else(tm) or other-people(tm) should be doing, and question why they(tm) aren't doing it. I've also found doing so rarely being useful, helpful, or well received..

Not sure what exactly you are referring to here, but I've offered my help and you just declined it again. It is just natural that I am somehow disappointed.

BTW, do you really need to run the 'view all signups' report 30-60 times A DAY? I don't have Google's infrastructure here...

It is not like kitten is dying on every request, is it? Maybe I am bored and just like to hit reload once in a while because we can't rely on notification emails (I usually get them when newly opened mail is full), but I'll see what I can do about it.

PS: a Perl? Seriously?

 

[omen]

It is not like kitten is dying on every request, is it? Maybe I am bored and just like to hit reload once in a while because we can't rely on notification emails (I usually get them when newly opened mail is full), but I'll see what I can do about it.

PS: a Perl? Seriously?

I very much doubt that you are manually hitting re-load on that report, you probably have your macro setup to run that report when re-formatting the main page - please stop doing that. This is ridiculous:
...
2009-12-04 10:49:13.729267 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:50:29.71348 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:50:31.799167 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:53:16.04116 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:53:45.800226 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:55:09.911198 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:55:40.021687 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:57:41.753342 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 10:57:56.886873 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:00:12.518355 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:04:11.727432 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:04:24.472991 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:05:34.591562 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:06:13.149952 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:06:45.46441 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:08:28.608292 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:08:47.981198 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:08:57.736508 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:09:03.334153 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:09:06.698113 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:09:09.303795 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:09:48.222748 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:11:55.993186 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:12:11.740421 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:12:18.308912 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:12:35.490416 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:12:46.061143 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:14:12.28409 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:15:19.964063 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:16:10.564419 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:17:14.701279 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:18:07.563315 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:18:28.534284 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:18:44.428993 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:19:42.06003 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:20:00.52828 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:20:11.789968 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:20:25.209917 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:21:09.691693 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:21:37.212447 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:21:56.931484 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:22:29.851185 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:22:45.980215 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:22:53.158985 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:23:00.264041 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:23:12.325036 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:23:15.171288 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:38:19.343089 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:38:29.297254 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:38:33.160063 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:39:23.97887 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 11:39:39.618679 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:14:07.776001 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:18:24.496786 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:18:38.897407 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:19:12.505898 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:19:19.723343 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:19:25.16741 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:19:33.051369 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:19:37.368586 | Viewing all signups
2009-12-04 13:19:43.361515 | Viewing all signups
etc

Anyhow, I've started to make some changes, some along the lines of what euxx had in his version.

I'm not going to depend on color alone anywhere, because being slightly color blind myself, it always annoys the #### out of me when some idiot decides for me what colors I should be able to "easily" tell apart, at a glance..

I put the strike-though because it's just a visual indicator - I don't care if the name of a match that's not opened for signup is slightly harder to read, it's still readable, and if you absolutely want to see the name, you can always go into the squash signup list.

That's it... Gotta go to sleep...

P.s. yes, Perl...

 

[euxx]

I very much doubt that you are manually hitting re-load on that report, you probably have your macro setup to run that report when re-formatting the main page - please stop doing that. This is ridiculous:

It doesn't seem a big deal to me, but I already said that I will look into it.

Anyhow, I've started to make some changes, some along the lines of what euxx had in his version.

I'm not going to depend on color alone anywhere, because being slightly color blind myself, it always annoys the f**k out of me when some idiot decides for me what colors I should be able to "easily" tell apart, at a glance..

I wasn't suggesting to have only the color-based indication. The new status column could reflect the match status, e.g. closed, open, signed up, waiting list, complete. Having color indication for those statuses will help majority of people who can see the colors.

I put the strike-though because it's just a visual indicator - I don't care if the name of a match that's not opened for signup is slightly harder to read, it's still readable, and if you absolutely want to see the name, you can always go into the squash signup list.

I should have mentioned that striketrough is also one of those ugly things is better to avoid.

 

[euxx]

Apparently you already made the changes (very neat, by the way), so I don't need to fetch separate page.

I think it would be a good idea to move status in a separate column in the match list: closed, signed up, waiting list

Also, I would like to suggest some modifications for the main menu. Currently it takes quite a bit of space and is probably too verbose:

----
Hello, [user name], you have the following options available to you

To check/update your profile: [Click here]
To signup for email match updates: [Click here]
To see all of your signups and waiting lists: [Click here]
To send yourself a test email: [Click here]
To leave the system: [Click here]
To refresh (with a region filter) : [region drop down] [Refresh]
----

Here is an alternative and more compact version:

----
[User name] | Region [region drop down] [Refresh] | Signups and Waiting List | Update Profile | Configure Match Updates | Log Off
----

The "send yourself a test email" function can go under "update profile" and I also wonder if update profile can be combined with match notification page.

Hope that helps.

 

[Slavex]

edited to add. the strikethrough text does kinda suck. it also (even though there is an explanation) makes one instantly think the match is cancelled. super bolding the text might be a better option.

 

[omen]

it would be nice to have a "my portal" type page when you login so you can see a list/summary of matches signed up for. and quick links for changing squads, removing registration etc...

how about also getting notices when matches open up for signups.. eg if it's listed but not open, be able to be put on a list to notify when it opens.

re (a), there is a report which tells you exactly what squads you are signed up for and what squads you are on waiting lists for, available right from the main page. Plus a recent change has added visual indicated right on the match list which matches you are signed up for and/or are on waiting lists for squad(s) for.
Personally I think that going beyond that (i.e. coming up with some way to not require people to go into a match's page to change squads or drop out, etc, is too much for the effort, I don't think it's unreasonable to have to visit a match's page to make changes to your registration for that match. If you're dropping out of a number of matches all at once it might be annoying having to visit 5 pages to drop out of 5 matches, but the effort required (by me) to implement some kind of shortcut isn't worth the reward - it doesn't affect functionality, there are plenty of things on the to-do which deal with added functionality

re (b) - that's been in the system for a long while now.. See "To signup for email match updates" on the main page.

re strikethough - ok, I"ll play around with other options... bold won't work because you don't want the eye to be attacked to those are NOT open, but maybe italics, or some faded look... I'm trying to reduce the visual clutter, to move away from the old NOT OPEN FOR SIGNUP which just filled up the page...

 

[Quigley]

.....

 

[omen]

Yeah, I'm going to let everyone decide how they want to display the matches on the main screen: do they want to see them all, or only open, what background colors to use, etc.... I know I hate it when system designers choose those things for me, so I'm going to make that part of each user's profile... Give me a couple of days...

 

[euxx]

Cool! Are you going to move the match status into a separate column?

 

[omen]

My GF's birthday is tomorrow, so I won't get a chance to do anything for another few days... My initial thought is I don't want to add the width of another column in there (given the average age and computer awarness of ipsc shooters in Ontario, I don't want to assume high/16:9 resolutions on the users' monitors... I'll see what it'll look like...