First, and foremost, kudos. The site looks great and loving the colors too. Lots of bells & whistles. Appreciate that you ask what we would like to see. So, please don't see input as a negative, merely request/suggestion.
Thank you and I won't
I always go to new posts, and didn't realize the lightening bolt was for new posts. Perhaps labelling it would help newcomers navigate around the site better.
It is labelled in the larger format views. I'm guessing that you are using a mobile phone or other narrow screen device to view the site one because on these, labels have to be ditched and only an icon used because of the space issues.
This is it an a laptop screen.
Phone screens simply can't have the labels. You'll have noticed that on your device you won't have your full username across the top either - again its a space issue, though to be honest I think it could probably fit on on a tablet screen but that's the default design.
This is the view on my tablet
If I switch my laptop into phone mode (something I can do for testing the various screen sizes and the design) I get this.
I've highlighted the 2 identical symbols. One has a label and the other doesn't. Both do the same thing.
I like to keep things simple, i.e. sharing a recipe w/o cross references, etc. I found it complicated
Referencing recipes is essential for the sake of netiquette and copyrighted material. It is also absolutely essential that recipes are uploaded as new threads because the site would simply not be what it is without everyone participating in this. How would you find a recipe for say a nice beef stew you saw if it was embedded deep inside a 30 page thread that was now closed because it was for what you cooked or ate back in November 2016? The site would simply not work without recipes being created as a new thread and tags put on, and everyone knows how to make a new thread.
Adding a link to it has now become easier because all you need to do is to copy the web address in the bar at the top and put it directly into the text (just as I am typing here) and the
system will copy the title post for you and make the link for you once you press the "Post reply" button. It's a new feature - so just copy the address of the recipe thread you have just created and paste it into an competition thread or what you did indeed eat today and the title is taken care of for you.
So copy this
paste it into your text "I made
https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/dairy-free-buckwheat-blini.16466/ yesterday. They were really easy to make"
And you will get this "I made
Recipe - (Dairy Free) Buckwheat Blini yesterday. They were really easy to make"
Tags. I like them simple - perhaps 3 tops. Maybe this is a way for Google to find & bring more traffic to the site? Unsure. Do multiple tags help?
Tags do all sorts of things and the more the better (to a point - the system limits each member to 4 and a thread to 8 total from anyone). It helps with searches, it helps with lists and it helps with the google search engine. The more accurate they are the better, but if you are making say "Brandy Butter", it is better to use "Brandy" and "Butter" and not "Brandy Butter" because your recipe will be seen by anyone searching for either "Brandy" or "Butter" but if it is tagged "Brandy Butter" it will only ever be seen by someone specifically searching for "Brandy Butter" and if you are looking for ideas on something to do with either Brandy or butter and are only searching on one of those tags (most likely brandy I guess) then a brandy butter recipe won't come up if it is tagged "Brandy Butter" but will come up in the search results if it is tagged with both "Brandy" and "butter"
Rarely send a personal message. The word conversations threw me, but I figured it out. Also didn't see a way to delete them.
Personal messages are exactly that - you don't have to use them. There is no way of deleting them. This allows for me to moderate members (once I have been added into a nasty PM) if there are problems. If a member can be nasty and then delete the PM with that evidence, the harm is done but I can't moderate them because I can't prove it ever happened. And yes, it does happen.
There are other feature s I don't use - leaving a message on someone's page?
Comments on a profile page are optional, they are just a quick way of leaving a message that the whole world can see - no different to an unsecure Facebook profile page and used in exactly the same manner.
Don't know if more features cost more money. Re food topics, perhaps a pic of the food. Not necessary, but would add more color. For me, the simpler to navigate, the better. Looking forward to seeing the new home page too. Thanks for listening, and all the hard work you do
No, the features like PM's and comments are all built into the core code of the forum and don't cost extra. The media gallery does cost extra but is needed to save server space and will be something that we will be encouraging members to use instead of direct file uploads, especially if the image is to be used in more than one location - currently if it is in 4 places (lets say 2 competition threads, the recipe used for the competitions and the what did I cook to day thread) then it is being uploaded and stored 4 times which is a massive waste of disk space on the server and makes the forum much larger than it needs to be in the long run. Think about a busy server and then consider many more members doing this regularly and it does become an issue. If it is uploaded to the media gallery, and then embedded into each of those 4 threads, it is only uploaded the once and stored once on the server. The threads show the picture as though it is there in the thread and also link back to the original which can be rated and commented on. There is actually a star rating system for images in the media gallery along with all of the EXIF data (dates and settings used to take the photo and what device was used, and if you know anything about photography, some of those settings are quite useful to know). But I am going to be writing a guide on how to use the media gallery in the near future. suffice to say right now, there are significant benefits to its use. Just think about that original image. If it was the maximum file size allowed, 5Mb and is uploaded 4 times into separate threads, that is 20Mb of disk space taken for 1 image. If it had been uploaded into the media gallery and a different icon used to insert it into those 4 threads, only 5Mb of disk space would have been used. That's a massive difference over a long period of time and as the site gets busier and bigger, with us being an image intensive/heavy site, it is going to add up and right now we are hosted free of charge by the original owner and creator of the site. I don't wish to cause issues by growing too big because of bad image habits of all users (myself included!).
Most I understand, and some I will reread. Appreciate your taking the time to explain. Certain things are easier for me on a laptop like posting a link. Haven't figured out how on a phone. My to-do list always seems to be growing.
