Yupp, you heard that right. How about some 914world feature requests ...

I plan on putting in some quality time over the holidays to add some new stuff to the site that i have been thinking about for a while.


So, if there's something you want to see added to the site, now is the time to speak up ...
Andy

PS: Oh, and please keep this PG-13 ...

I'll start:


- Add custom code to retrieve off-site images so they can be permanently added to the server.

- Upgrade the VIN pages to let people upload and add more images etc.

- Play with the search code and try to come up with a better search page.

- Look into making our own custom "Members Map" pages.


Andy

multiple attachment upload... similar to photobucket or one of those sites that allow you to select multiple pictures and upload in one step

Thread 'tagging' so threads will gain 'off topic', 'classic', 'technical', 'funny', etc tags which could be used to customize which threads get seen on each user's computer.

Also, making the skins work throughout the site.

I suppose I should be helping with this stuff....

- Easier to use admin option to highlight (event) threads in different colors.

- More skins based on actual 914 colors.

- Update the news page format and find a way to be able to add/remove/manage news easier.

- Find a way to better promote the events calendar.

- Find a way to let members contribute to tech articles.

- Add more threads to the "past events" forum.

- Revive the "914 Cup" and revisit/improve the code.

- Find a easy way to link to blog pictures.

How about a 914 safehouse area. That way if a teener is on a roadtrip, we have a place to tow to with repair facilities or just a safe driveway so our cars don't end up in a oakland tow yard and being sold !

I'm not sure i can do that on my computer.

I wasn't planning on getting my hands dirty ...
Andy

Like you said- search feature improvements
-including all of site in a search, not just forums
-add searching off-site (google and the 914 custom search engine thats out there somewhere I think)
-add option to search text in first post only so some of the extra results are reduced if not part of original topic


Andy, you can't own a 914 nad not get your hands dirty...

Drag and drop photos onto posts being edited.

Auto scaling photo size as they are added to a post.

I like the tags idea. It would be cool to filter on "build threads" or "tech tips".

John

Already done!

Images larger than 800x600 are thumb-nailed to 800x600 where clicking on the thumbnail will show the original sized image.

We do have a size limit per post/image, which will not be removed...
I'd rather have someone complain about not being able to upload images than having to deal with 100MB sized images just because someone didn't understand how to prepare an image for a web-upload.

Andy

Last time i checked, web-browsers were not drag-n-drop compatible ...
Andy

That would require a 3rd-party plugin, such as Java ...

Andy

http://the-stickman.com/web-development/ja...e-file-element/


it can also be done with flash if you like

2 and 3 char search strings.

Abbreviated view of a post when you mouse over the title link. I've seen this on other forums.

Still a 3-rd party plugin ...

Thumbnails on Members VIN's?
More brown squares under my avatar?
A section dedicated to event photos?

I like the thumbnailing, I was thinking just resize the picture and store the resized picture, not the full picture. Maybe an option. Then people can drag their 6 MP photos onto a post and know they will get downsized automagically.

I like the total size restriction per post.

John

I think it would be cool if members' avatars could be automatically-generated thumbnails of larger images, and clicking the avatar would launch the full-sized image.

I'd love for all the old event threads to disappear from the quick drop-down navigation so I don't have to scroll past a bunch of stuff to jump between the more popular pages.

Can we bump it up? Not looking for unlimited, but my 800 x 600 jpegs are usually limited to 2 per post.

some built in converters for the metric system ...

miles <=> km
mpg <=> Liter/100 km
feet + inches <=> meter + cm
°F <=> °C

maybe some others ...?

Gustl

That could be as easy as reorganizing the order of forums. If we move the past events forums below the sandbox, the first part of the quick jump should be a bit less cluttered ...
Andy

That would require some pretty fancy logic to do that automatically. How about a easy to access conversion calculator on the site?

Andy

Spell check ..so people don`t make fun of me anymore...LMAO

How about adding the functionality to the existing search engine
- When returning a mutliple page thread, it links you to the particular page and post of your search criteria (obviously it would be the first post in the thread that matches your search criteria).

Multiple file uploads could be handled with AJAX. Not exactly drag-n-drop, but you could choose more files while the upload is happening.

I've been doing a lot of Ajax work lately as well. My only concern would be timeouts as Ajax is asynchronous and there's really no easy way of managing individual streams if you don't have an open bidirectional pipe ...
Andy

Good one! There's gottabe aPHP speelchecker oud dhere ...

if you have google toolbar, it does spell check for you... but will never tell you the difference between "there" and "they're" or "their"

or "brakes" (what a car HAS) and "breaks" (what a car DOES)

What stuff do you want to see when you click a user's profile to learn more about them? Maybe...

Add a couple new photos... Instead of just "personal photo" have your car, your mugshot. (In addition to profile/avatar pic.)

Under the "communicate" section, add social: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter.

Hey, i'm not gonna show you the girlfriends twitter !

Good thing about all profile items, they are optional. Only show you want.

- Get better Banner software.

- Tie events into the "Region" flag.

- Clean up the database.

- Try to restore some of the lost old content and pictures.

- Add live feeds from ebay and craigslist to the classifieds.

- Drink more beer.

- Make the "Video" section more user friendly. Allow for member uploaded videos.

What's wrong with our banner software?

I hate the way it clutters up the database. It creates a gazillion temp tables for each ad campaign but it never cleans up after itself. There's tons of junk data and tables.


There has to be something out there that's a bit more refined.
Andy

a link to the garage in the upper right hand corner. =o)

Ya with instructions a 4 grader could understand.

Here's a couple I would like to see...
1) All forum links across the top of all pages so you don't have to go back to the home page to get to other forums.
2) The garage is real good for collective info but how about a few more specialized forums. For example; a /6 forum or even different engine conversion forums (/6, V8, subi, ?).
3) Clean up member vendor forums of old vendors no longer active.

Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, how about a Spell check button. Unless it's already there and I don't see it.

I must say Andy, you do a heck of a job.

Now that I went back and read the thread it has ben already been mentioned.

How about a repeat reply checker button

I'd like to be able to save parts of a thread. Like when someone answers a question that Iknow I'll need to find when I get to that point in my restoration. Please don't make fun of me if this can already be done.

A "here comes the boss" button for the Sandbox!

You can use the bookmark feature of your browser.

I have a whole bunch of interesting threads bookmarked and in a separate folder.
Andy

Call me crazy I guess... I kinda like it just the way it is.

And browsers (firefox at least does) have built in spell check. Have for a long time now.

just keep it running.....that is all I want.

Rich

Its all good fella`s I just need to slow down and think like that`s gonna happen

How about some useful self help links for
- marriage counseling
- dealing with addiction
- divorce attorney

In that order

How about a "remove the jackstand" button?
This would fix all the rust on my car, tune the engine, refurbish the brakes, and remove the car from its jackstands.





Seriously, this button would put up a spreadsheet or something. I recall a game that would do this when you hit the spacebar or something.