Luminous Landscape Forum

Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: tom b on December 02, 2015, 03:47:47 am

Title: Help button
Post by: tom b on December 02, 2015, 03:47:47 am
I'm not a fan of the new Help button, it is so distracting.

Cheers,
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: stamper on December 02, 2015, 03:51:00 am
What do you suggest should be done about it? ::) :-[
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: tom b on December 02, 2015, 04:28:57 am
It belongs in the header… photographers have not got a decent idea of instructional design from my experience.

Cheers,
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: stamper on December 02, 2015, 04:39:46 am
It belongs in the header… photographers have not got a decent idea of instructional design from my experience.

Cheers,

Is that ALL photographers, or only some?
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Zorki5 on December 02, 2015, 05:49:30 am
Is that ALL photographers, or only some?

I'd say "most".

Just visited http://www.russellrutherfordphoto.com/... Beautiful, stunning images, and horrible usability of the site. I mean, it is far beyond just "bad"; it deserves to be used as a case study of how not to design/build a web site.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: stamper on December 02, 2015, 05:59:57 am
I'd say "most".

Just visited http://www.russellrutherfordphoto.com/... Beautiful, stunning images, and horrible usability of the site. I mean, it is far beyond just "bad"; it deserves to be used as a case study of how not to design/build a web site.


I have seen worse. Subjectivism is on display?
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: B-Ark on December 02, 2015, 06:11:50 am
Well, there is that black bar near the top of the page that has lots of available space.
Speaking of black bars - that's a real black hole that attracts the eye. Maybe it could be toned down to 18% grey.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Zorki5 on December 02, 2015, 06:23:50 am
I have seen worse.

Me too, me too.

Subjectivism is on display?

Well, first off, there is no such thing as "objective opinion", so let's not start that debate...

As to the site in question:

1. I as a user feel completely out of control: bg images change, I can't pause on one I like.

2. Most images have dark background, and menu item on which I hover also gets dark; that's the way it is highlighted; besides, I feel like I have to be pixel-perfect when select menu item; a classic "form over function". Adding (same size?) background to menu items would have fixed that, but I guess Russel felt it wouldn't be as pretty as he wanted.

3. The image matrix -- wow, that's a biggie. One has to position cursor like within tiny strip of pixels as the bottom to start automatic (bad by itself!) scrolling down; few pixels below, and once cursor over footer, the matrix jumps back. It took a while before I figured how it all "works".

4. I can go on and on.

P.S. It's my third post, and third time I have to get through one of the worst CAPTCHAs I ever seen, and answer same 5 dumb questions... So I'm surprised not that the Help button is misplaced, but that it's not neon pink, occupies half of the screen, and jumps with cursor movement...

Then again, maybe that's part of a subtle plan to scare away the weak, so that only toughest of the toughest remain? What do I know?...
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Kevin Raber on December 02, 2015, 06:45:01 am
The captchas we use actual uses sow down and do a good job of weeding out the foreign spammers and trolls.  It makes someone have to find out answers.  It's there in the end for your protection.  You should only have to sign in once with that.  Log back in and before going away say remember me. 

The help button is getting used a lot and is part of the initial sign in for membership in due time it will be move to a more subtle place. 
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Zorki5 on December 02, 2015, 07:06:06 am
The captchas we use actual uses sow down and do a good job of weeding out the foreign spammers and trolls.

My point is not that CAPTCHAs are bad, but that your CAPTCHA is bad. I'd highly recommend replacing it with something less alienating.

Edit: have to try again, because "The letters you typed don't match the letters that were shown in the picture." Good grief.

Kevin, if you haven't used your CAPTCHA in a while, you just may not remember how bad it is...

EDIT 2: THIRD TIME! One has to be freaking cryptographer to always pass it, I guess.

You should only have to sign in once with that.  Log back in and before going away say remember me. 

OK, logged out, logged back in automatically. I mean, just pressed "log in", and voila, I'm in... So I am apparently "remembered". Still seeing CAPTCHA in all its beauty.

Suggestions?

The help button is getting used a lot and is part of the initial sign in for membership in due time it will be move to a more subtle place.

That's good to know, thanks.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Kevin Raber on December 02, 2015, 07:14:29 am
If you are logged back in the captcha should not be seen again.   I trust you are not seeing it.  If you are use the help button and our guys can check it out for you.  The sign in process is only a first time thing.   Trust me it main be  a pain but it is better than getting a casual sign up and it prevents a lot of spammers.  Once you are in though it shouldn't show anymore.   If you login to another computer log in there with your sign in name and password.  No captcha should appear.  Use the help button if you have a problem.

Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Zorki5 on December 02, 2015, 07:29:51 am
Kevin, if you haven't used your CAPTCHA in a while, you just may not remember how bad it is...
Here are few samples, attached to the message.

Was going to insert it as an inline image, but could not find a way to do so... Not available to new users?

And yes, I still see CAPTCHA, so will have to follow your advice and use some Help...

Title: Re: Help button
Post by: tom b on December 02, 2015, 07:37:13 am
The Help button belongs on the header, I'm not sure where. It doesn't belong in its current position. More thought is needed to resolve this, good luck.

Cheers,

Title: Re: Help button
Post by: stamper on December 02, 2015, 07:46:23 am
The Help button belongs on the header, I'm not sure where. It doesn't belong in its current position. More thought is needed to resolve this, good luck.

Cheers,



Reply#8

The help button is getting used a lot and is part of the initial sign in for membership in due time it will be move to a more subtle place. 

unquote

Did you miss it?
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Kevin Raber on December 02, 2015, 07:47:01 am
zorki5 - that's not what you should be seeing....so use the help button to report it.   Our guys will also go through the forun topoics to and will see it.

Tom B it will eventually be moved to the header area.   It wills tay where it is for a while long while we sort through problems some readers are having.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: tom b on December 02, 2015, 08:41:11 am
I hope that you work with some competent graphic artists, not coders. Ugly is ugly!

Cheers,
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: pegelli on December 02, 2015, 09:35:25 am
I think the help button is fine where it is, header or bottom right corner doesn't make a lot of difference to me.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Zorki5 on December 02, 2015, 04:35:46 pm
zorki5 - that's not what you should be seeing....so use the help button to report it.   Our guys will also go through the forun topoics to and will see it.

So... I used that Help button several hours ago, and was then contacted by your support. They said they did implement some fix, and I can now confirm I do not see CAPTCHA anymore.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: PeterAit on December 03, 2015, 10:36:43 am
I'm not a fan of the new Help button, it is so distracting.


I agree. It's also misnamed, it should be a Contact Us button. In every program I have ever used, Help brings up explanatory or instructional text.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on December 03, 2015, 12:27:24 pm
I agree. It's also misnamed, it should be a Contact Us button. In every program I have ever used, Help brings up explanatory or instructional text.
I agree.
How about having the button take you to the FAQ, with a send-a-message-to-the-techies box just below it.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Kevin Raber on December 03, 2015, 03:02:09 pm
Good ideas folks...it's on our long list.  we need a fe more days to finalize the move to the new system.  Then next week we can have a meeting on refining things.

Title: Re: Help button
Post by: OldRoy on December 08, 2015, 06:10:26 am
I find this button really, really obtrusive. One might ask why such a huge button, inappropriately located, is a functional design element unlike any found on any other website I can recall, ever? Probably because it's so obviously too big and in the wrong place.

I tried inputting the question "what's this for?" but received no "help". What's it supposed to accomplish that couldn't be readily achieved previously using the conventional (and conventionally located) "search" function?

I'd describe this wart as the archetypal solution in search of a problem.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on December 08, 2015, 09:46:29 am
Apparently it's not obtrusive enough, judging from the number of requests for fixes that STILL come as posts to the forum instead of as requests to the techies (which is what the HELP button is for.)

As Kevin and Chris have said now many times in many different threads:

1.   The fastest way to get help about login problems, payment problems, or any other strictly web-technical problems is to send a message to the techies directly by using the HELP button; and

2.   Once things settle down and most of the glitches with the new web have been fixed, the HELP button will likely be made smaller and put in a less conspicuous place, such as in the black border at the top of the screen.

I would be tempted to suggest (via the HELP button, of course) that the techies add some code to the forum software that will detect any forum post that asks for a technical fix or change, and, for that poster only, double the size of the HELP button for each such post, and make it flash continuously.   ;)

But I won't try to waste Kevin's or Chris's or Michael's or the techies' time with such a request.
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Kevin Raber on December 08, 2015, 11:44:34 am
The Help button doesn't interfere with any content on the site.  It is located in a spot that many people don't normally see see on a page.  On most pages when scrolled to the bottom of a page it blends in with the footer and is so far to the right and bottom it goes away.  This Help Button has been a big help to many who have had sign on problems and is a good way to go right to our web guys who have been working very hard to love and address many readers problems. 
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: stamper on December 09, 2015, 03:55:28 am
The Help button doesn't interfere with any content on the site.  It is located in a spot that many people don't normally see see on a page.  On most pages when scrolled to the bottom of a page it blends in with the footer and is so far to the right and bottom it goes away.  This Help Button has been a big help to many who have had sign on problems and is a good way to go right to our web guys who have been working very hard to love and address many readers problems. 

I think a little common sense  - instead of nitpicking - from some of the posters would be helpful and of course reading all of the posts in a thread?
Title: Re: Help button
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on December 09, 2015, 06:34:02 pm
Help!!!

As of some time today, the loved and despised HELP Button has disappeared!

I don't need it right now, but, as they say, "I've grown accustomed to her face!"

Is it somewhere else now? Or are the Techies tired of listening to posters whining?

Just curious.