AltArc

[EdoI]

I'm not following any news about AltArc and I don't know if you mentioned this before, but pleeeaaase don't make 'Comment Title' field. It's a comment, damn it, it doesn't need a title! It's the thing that's irritating me seriously.

[Fraxtil]

I'm not following any news about AltArc and I don't know if you mentioned this before, but pleeeaaase don't make 'Comment Title' field. It's a comment, damn it, it doesn't need a title! It's the thing that's irritating me seriously.

I will consider that. Right now it has a title field, but it could easily be taken away.

[Nexx]

I'm not following any news about AltArc and I don't know if you mentioned this before, but pleeeaaase don't make 'Comment Title' field. It's a comment, damn it, it doesn't need a title! It's the thing that's irritating me seriously.

I remember that you also bothered making a topic for this on Uservoice. In any case, my thoughts on this depend solely on whether demos can be labeled. As I said on Uservoice, it's quite useful to title a NUMA comment "AGD"/"completion"/"MGD"/"NGD"/etc for clarity's sake. If that will be possible on AltArc through other means, then I agree that the title field is unnecessary, but certainly it's not useless. Some people like giving a few words as a summary or lead-in to their comment, and some don't. You're clearly part of the latter group.

[a happy song]

And by the way, adding that it's seriously irritating you doesn't make your argument any more convincing.

Why point that out? He's just voicing his opinion.

If you're going to use a title field don't make it mandatory and you've solved the problem.

[Nexx]

And by the way, adding that it's seriously irritating you doesn't make your argument any more convincing.

Why point that out? He's just voicing his opinion.

Well, I had my reasons, but you make a fair point. I'll edit it out.

If you're going to use a title field don't make it mandatory and you've solved the problem.

A good point! :)

[Leaff]

I just finished reading through all of this, and it seems to be doing well. My opinions on some stuff:
Rating should definately be anonymous to the public, but maybe not to mods. It would be helpful to find multi-accounting snipers and the like.
This may have already been thrown out, but I'll say it anyway: In some of the pics, there was a different field for userlevels data and map data. That's pointless, 'cause Ned automatically removes the stuff at the beginning, like the title, etc. Just use the userlevels data.
You should be able to search stuff by more than tags, most specifically by title.
And I think Hot Maps should be implemented, just not as the only way to see maps.

This looks like it could really be helpful. Keep up the awesome work, and I'm looking forward to the site being launched. Good luck!

[Fraxtil]

As I said on Uservoice, it's quite useful to title a NUMA comment "AGD"/"completion"/"MGD"/"NGD"/etc for clarity's sake.

If you put [AGD] before the demo data, the demo box is styled gold (as opposed to gray) along with some other cosmetic changes. I could easily add other attributes.

I just finished reading through all of this, and it seems to be doing well. My opinions on some stuff:
Rating should definately be anonymous to the public, but maybe not to mods. It would be helpful to find multi-accounting snipers and the like.
This may have already been thrown out, but I'll say it anyway: In some of the pics, there was a different field for userlevels data and map data. That's pointless, 'cause Ned automatically removes the stuff at the beginning, like the title, etc. Just use the userlevels data.
You should be able to search stuff by more than tags, most specifically by title.
And I think Hot Maps should be implemented, just not as the only way to see maps.

This looks like it could really be helpful. Keep up the awesome work, and I'm looking forward to the site being launched. Good luck!

• Ratings are invisible to everyone but me.
• You have a good point about the userlevels data. I don't really see any reason to keep it either.
• Title search is already implemented.
• Hot Maps has generally been regarded as obstructive and useless already- combinations of other sorting methods can accomplish more.

[Nexx]

• Hot Maps has generally been regarded as obstructive and useless already- combinations of other sorting methods can accomplish more.

This reminded me of something I've been meaning to say. I know you've said that you have made it so that dates can be included in searching criteria, and that's awesome, but it seems to me that a big effort should be undertaken to make sure that advanced search methods are more user-friendly. That means either:

1. Having the commands readily available for people to see and use, or
2. Having some presets that people can use to start off, and then they can be more specific if they want.

I know little of UI design, but I imagine option 1 would show the commands on the screen, you click the one you want to use and then type in the numerical value (or something like that). For option 2, the best example I can think of is to take a DeviantArt-like system (DeviantArt lets you view most popular within the past 8 hrs, 24 hrs, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, or all time), and then let the user be able to further modify the values if they wish in order to set lower and higher bounds just so. I imagine that such a system would be showing you the preset options (just like DA does) and encouraging you to play with the query string values if you want to get more specific. In that way, the most basic settings, which are useful for most searching purposes, are very quickly and easily accessed, though fewer members will be using "advanced" methods (query string editing) than in option 1.

That's my $0.02, anyway.

[EdoI]

Oh yeah - about the title search, it could be easily implemented with auto-tag that would have the name of the map. And make the tags (when submitting a map) separated by spaces or commas instead of fields for every tag.

[Fraxtil]

Oh yeah - about the title search, it could be easily implemented with auto-tag that would have the name of the map. And make the tags (when submitting a map) separated by spaces or commas instead of fields for every tag.

I originally did that, but then I decided against it. Now, when loading a map's info, a pseudo-attribute is created with the title, author, and tags, and any search queries are checked against that new attribute, rather than automatically putting author:foo and title:blah in the tags attribute.

This reminded me of something I've been meaning to say. I know you've said that you have made it so that dates can be included in searching criteria, and that's awesome, but it seems to me that a big effort should be undertaken to make sure that advanced search methods are more user-friendly. That means either:
1. Having the commands readily available for people to see and use, or
2. Having some presets that people can use to start off, and then they can be more specific if they want.

Idea 1 is currently implemented. I think people would rather make their own "presets" from the given options, though.

[Nexx]

Idea 1 is currently implemented. I think people would rather make their own "presets" from the given options, though.

Even better! Good show.

[chume14]

You have maybe already said but I couldn't see are you going to upload the maps that are already on numa or just start from scratch if so whats the rules about posting past maps from numa and how are you going to manage the potentially ridicules surge of maps when it first launches ?

[Fraxtil]

As of this moment, I am not planning on importing Numa's database into AltArc. It would be an inconceivably large task to format Numa's database according to AltArc's format.

Also, the ability to edit maps is now implemented, and it works beautifully.

[squibbles]

As of this moment, I am not planning on importing Numa's database into AltArc. It would be an inconceivably large task to format Numa's database according to AltArc's format.

Also, the ability to edit maps is now implemented, and it works beautifully.

Just how inconceivably large?

[Fraxtil]

As of this moment, I am not planning on importing Numa's database into AltArc. It would be an inconceivably large task to format Numa's database according to AltArc's format.

Also, the ability to edit maps is now implemented, and it works beautifully.

Just how inconceivably large?

Try creating 150,000 directories. (No, that isn't how maps are stored, but each map has its own directory because Apache doesn't know how to make pseudo-files like the Google App Engine.)

[LittleViking]

Try creating 150,000 directories. (No, that isn't how maps are stored, but each map has its own directory because Apache doesn't know how to make pseudo-files like the Google App Engine.)

Yes it does! Look up mod_rewrite and .htaccess

[squibbles]

Dude, if you do that, AltArc could feasibly replace numa, as we won't have to worry about the result truncation.

[Fraxtil]

Try creating 150,000 directories. (No, that isn't how maps are stored, but each map has its own directory because Apache doesn't know how to make pseudo-files like the Google App Engine.)

Yes it does! Look up mod_rewrite and .htaccess

Woooooah. That is cool. I think this might change the entire structure of AltArc.

[Leaff]

This is just a quick question: If Hot Maps is gone, what page does a newly-submitted map land on?

[Fraxtil]

This is just a quick question: If Hot Maps is gone, what page does a newly-submitted map land on?

The newest maps page, which is the default when a user is browsing.

[EdoI]

What do you think about this newest-maps concept:

Newest maps page has 5 subsections: 'Index 1' Index 2' etc. Now, when someone submits a map, it completely randomly goes to one of the subsections.

I think that way the maps would stay on the front page for much longer so the maps would get more comments and ratings, and I think that players would check all the index pages. It's more likely than listing next 10 maps.

[chume14]

So heres what I really want a recently viewed section. At the moment I just have to favorite maps. I don't like that much so I can find them again to see what an author responded or to submit a score or whatever. Its really annoying cause I'd like a section with my actual favorites so please could that be one of the links from your user page.

Edit ............. full-stops added weird how I never saw that key before but there was no need to have a period.

[Fraxtil]

What do you think about this newest-maps concept:

Newest maps page has 5 subsections: 'Index 1' Index 2' etc. Now, when someone submits a map, it completely randomly goes to one of the subsections.

I think that way the maps would stay on the front page for much longer so the maps would get more comments and ratings, and I think that players would check all the index pages. It's more likely than listing next 10 maps.

That's a cool idea, but since "Index 1" would be the most frequently viewed, it might become a competition to get submissions on the first index, and nobody would want to submit while the other listings are next in line. If attention and obscurity are such major concerns, I might as well increase the number of maps per page.

So heres what I really want a recently viewed section cause at the moment I just have to favorite maps I don't like that much so I can find them again to see what an author responded or to submit a score or whatever and its really annoying cause I'd like a section with my actual favorites so could that be one of the links from your user page please

First of all: You see that key with a little dot on it? That dot is called a 'period', and it goes at the end of each sentence. Try using it once in awhile. ;)
Secondly: That's a very good idea, and I'm definitely going to use it. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Nexx]

What do you think about this newest-maps concept:

Newest maps page has 5 subsections: 'Index 1' Index 2' etc. Now, when someone submits a map, it completely randomly goes to one of the subsections.

I think that way the maps would stay on the front page for much longer so the maps would get more comments and ratings, and I think that players would check all the index pages. It's more likely than listing next 10 maps.

Umm, clicking "Index 2" is just as "difficult" as clicking "Next 10 maps", so I don't see how that's going to make a difference. You seem to be suggesting that most people would be willing to scroll through the first 2-3 pages of the newest maps, playing everything that looks interesting. I don't think that's true. I think it's more likely that people only play 2 or 3 maps at a time, so they just don't typically get beyond the first page. Also, a lot of people don't check the new maps page with any regularity.

Btw, was this idea an attempt at addressing the fact that a lot of maps on the newest page get ignored? Because that's sadly going to exist at long as NUMA exists. :(

[Fraxtil]

I made a lot of progress yesterday, most of which involved security:

• Users can now delist maps.
• The aforementioned "user ID" function has been changed behaviorally so that keys do not expire upon loading another map page. Thanks to Arachnid for helping me with this idea.
• Users can no longer add any special tags (such as author:foo, title:bar, type:blah) in the normal tag section. These tags are automatically added by the system.
• Duplicate registration entries are now forbidden.

More progress (2 March):

• Sorting by number of favorites is now supported (probably the easiest addition I've ever made to AltArc).
• The user listing page is styled according to incluye's theme concept.