Open Designs

Open Designs Forum » Site Specific

1. LobsterMan
   Key Master

   Hi,
   I wanted to update the community on the plans for feature implementation. Currently I am working hard on backend data structure issues that will enable comments on designs and a better advanced search and filtering.

   • Design comments - by dec. 30 2009
   • Advanced design search - by jan. 5 2010
   • Link to contributors in homepage
   • Rethink homepage (community input would be appreciated)
   • Design ratings
   • Design categories (blog, business, gallery, store etc.)

   Any other suggestions and feedback would be appreciated.

   Posted 1 year ago #

2. arboroia
   Member

   The homepage should be less centred on showing a huge amount of designs as it makes it very busy and hard to view - taking away from both the designs and the advertisements - The layout is fine for browse designs. On the homepage the clicking on designs for details should not scroll back for more info (This is annoying for those who quickly want to view a new design), but should be kept on the browse designs.

   I believe the homepage should show a maximum of 8 of the latest designs and one horizontal banner ad - putting more on the homepage really takes away from the site and will make users leave much faster. It should show the mission and push the forum (As the community element must be preserved / pushed in the site - not just a braindead download site). But put ads on all the other pages i.e. the bottom of the forum should be used (It currently just has 3 small banners with the text "Ad Space").

   There should also be a "most downloaded" category for designs.

   Just my input.

   Arboroia

   Posted 1 year ago #

3. pseudoxiah
   Member

   Hi,
   I wanted to update the community

   What community?

   Posted 1 year ago #

4. LobsterMan
   Key Master

   You just bothered to post here, didn't you? ;)
   Seriously, OD is what it is, and I think it's pretty damn good compared to the others, and it will be even better. That's it, take it or leave it. You're here? welcome aboard, your not? goodbye!

   Posted 1 year ago #

5. Macadamiam
   Member

   I'm visiting this site as of day 1 and to be honest, I think Pseudoxiah has a point.

   Nevertheless, it's time to make changes and bring this site up to the maximum level. I'm a retired businessman and I strongly suggest to clean up the forum and remove all the negative comments. Both Lobsterman's and Member's and former Moderator's.

   Make a new fresh start, try to promote the site, be there for the community.

   Lobsterman: lead by example and you will be successful.

   Posted 1 year ago #

6. LobsterMan
   Key Master

   Welcome to OpenDesigns Macadamiam!
   You are 100% right, It's time to leave all the negativity behind and move forward. Thanks for your wise words.

   Posted 1 year ago #

7. Ganesh
   Member

   Its great to see OD moving in the right direction. I would suggest that we allow skins for some popular CMS/blogging systems to be uploaded. Most of the sites run on wordpress, php nuke etc and they would appreciate these designs.
   Another feature could be to appreciate the good work of designers by giving the best designer of the month some incentives...like free ad space etc.

   Posted 1 year ago #

8. LobsterMan
   Key Master

   Ganesh: Not a bad idea, yet they're hundreds of specialized theme sites. I actually have a cool, revolutionary idea in that direction, but I want to finalize the details before discussing it publicly.
   As for incentives, we will be giving links to top designers soon, and ad space is not a bad idea.

   Posted 1 year ago #

9. Dean
   Member

   Will be interesting to see.

   Posted 1 year ago #

10. Reality Software
    Member

    I would start by fixing the current bugs... Have you seen "My Designs" page for example? It's a total mess!

    Posted 1 year ago #

11. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    Good point. We are considering redesign options now, so I'm focusing on back end improvements for now. Now that comments are enabled for designs, the next step is an awesome design filtering feature.

    Posted 1 year ago #

12. Reality Software
    Member

    Actually, I wasn't talking about some fancy redesign... I was talking about layout bugs.

    Posted 1 year ago #

13. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    But those will get solved during the redesign, so it might just be a waste of time now

    Posted 1 year ago #

14. papab30
    Member

    Trash the theme stuff for now. Get the layout bugs worked out and then move on from there. There have been too many application bugs to work with that I personally don't feel will be solved in a 'redesign'. Fix the bugs and the site will be better.

    Posted 1 year ago #

15. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    papab30: I guess you're right.

    Does anyone have suggestions for the homepage? Here's what I want it to have:
    - Latest Designs
    - Featured Designs (highest rating or something)
    - Advanced design search
    - Top designers
    - Latest news
    - Latest forum topics

    I guess it can get a bit overwhelming with all that info, so i need a way to simplify it. been scratching m head about this for a while.

    Posted 1 year ago #

16. papab30
    Member

    Thank you for fixing the update profile screen!

    Posted 1 year ago #

17. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    Some new and exciting features are coming to Open Designs. More details this weekend.

    Posted 1 year ago #

18. suzeabelle
    Member

    Can anyone clue me in on the search feature. I search for red for example and get some designs with red and others that are totally off base. I checked the tags on the page and they are dark, scary, - It would be great if the search worked better- or maybe it is me. I did try it with quotes.

    Posted 1 year ago #

19. rincerofwinds
    Member

    Well, the search feature doesnt work properly - you can type in pretty much anything you like and it will come back with results and there is no advanced search feature to narrow down what you see. You are probably better off going to http://www.getfreewebdesigns.com as the search function there actually works properly !

    Posted 1 year ago #

20. Macadamiam
    Member

    "Some new and exciting features are coming to Open Designs. More details this weekend. "

    This year or next year?

    Posted 1 year ago #

21. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    rincerofwinds: the search function at gfwd is identical to the search function which was here up to about 2 months ago. It's quite useless, and slower then a snail crawling over sandpaper. We have a better system in the making, the details will be announced really soon, there were some unexpected technical difficulties that took some extra time to sort. I hope that answers your question, Macadamiam :)

    Posted 1 year ago #

22. rincerofwinds
    Member

    i know it is identical to the search function that was on here - but that one actually works , the one here doesnt. Also the template search function stopped working here abt 12 months ago so even though it was here, it STILL DIDNT WORK.
    You would know that if you had actually bothered to look at site and payed attention to what the community was telling you wasnt working, but you didnt.

    and im sure it doesnt actually answer Macadamians question as and I quote 'I’d like to announce a few exciting site updates. More amazing changes will be announced in the next few days.' this was said by yourself on 12th January 2009, and it took you nearly 12 months to post anything, and nearly 3 months after you posted what was going to happen, 84% of it still hasnt happened. So if "next few days" = 12months, it implies that "very soon" is going to be a lot longer.

    Posted 1 year ago #

23. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    "All we need is just a little patience"

    Posted 1 year ago #

24. zanzibar
    Member

    And die of boredom while we are being extremely patient....

    Posted 1 year ago #

25. 1websitebuilder
    Member

    I second that. @Ganesh: "I would suggest that we allow skins for some popular CMS/blogging systems to be uploaded."

    That would life a lot easier. At least for me.

    Amy Cameron
    BuildMySiteforFree.com

    Posted 1 year ago #

26. SeanPollock
    Member

    Give the dude a break, he's running a site that provides free things, lets you upload your designs and get free traffic and he's probably doing the best he can. There are some organization problems right now and they take time to sort out, but they will be figured out soon enough.

    Posted 1 year ago #

27. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    SeanPollock: Thank you for understanding.

    Posted 1 year ago #

28. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    Designs now hav categories. Read More

    Posted 1 year ago #

29. Gnome
    Moderator

    The comments and categories are a nice addition.

    Posted 1 year ago #

30. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    Here is the latest round of improvements:
    /2010/05/11/welcome-to-the-new-opendesigns/

    Posted 1 year ago #

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