GCF new Interface!!

[p373r7r4n]

Re: GCF new internface!!

much better
feels lke home

 

[Snake Vargas]

Re: GCF new internface!!

Hi Brian, good to see you here! I actually like the first option - it makes it easier for me to see what's been happening all at once, if I don't visit every day (although I mostly do visit every day). Maybe it would be enough to just keep the current day's articles, and the previous day's.

That said, I won't complain if Option 2 is the more popular/better choice - I'll learn to live with that little calendar thingy - though, do you think some people might not realise that it's used to go back to previous days' articles?

Anyhow, I quite like the new interface. Looks slicker, and a bit of change every so often is nice. But the "European Cars" dropdown menu to quickly go to each brand extends past the bottom of my IE window (I use 1024x768 and don't run fully maximised IE windows, maybe 3/4 of the screen height).

 

[Merc1]

Re: GCF new internface!!

I guess I have to against the grain here. The new setup is way too busy and has way too much advertising in your face, very distracting. It is really quite a mess IMO.

M

 

[Yperion]

Re: GCF new internface!!

With all the respect Brian , i have to agree with Merc1.

Too may space for ads. Especially the google ones are in the middle of the page! I prefer the old setup.
Also why do you have to go to worldcarfans to see germancarfans content? It was better as a seperate site!

Brian if it works why fix it?

 

[Zafiro]

just so you guys know, thos board will get ads as well.

 

[Yperion]

just so you guys know, thos board will get ads as well.

Not in the middle of the main page i hope.

 

[Snake Vargas]

I like how it has become World Car Fans instead of just German car fans. It makes the website 'branding' more general and more broadly encompassing. Hey, you'd be missing out on a lot of automotive news if you just looked at one country. I for one appreciate the wider horizon, despite having a bit of keenness for German cars.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Something odd happens when I go to the site. At first it loads up normally and then it all seems to dissappear with a single image under todays headlines and then just a string of images running vertically down the other stories section. The rest of the page is completely blank?

I'm using firefox BTW. What could be the problem?

 

[gcf_frank]

maybe you're blocking ads? Firefox can do that ofcourse... Everything looks fine from our end.

We are playing around with todays front page, eventhough that shouldn't affect what you're seeing. If you keep having troubles with it, please take a screenshot (800x600 orso, please, no 4mb pics!) and beam it over to feedback@blackfalconmedia.com.

 

[MikeJ]

I had the same problem as Mr. Mercedes yesterday, but a few clicks of the refresh button did the trick. Seems to work fine (and look good) now!

 

[gcf_frank]

I suppose it might be a caching thing. If you run into what might be a chaching problem, just try clicking refresh while holding dow n the shift key on your keyboard. That'll refresh the page and the cache memory.

 

[BrianWCF]

I'm using firefox BTW. What could be the problem?

Mr. Mercedes, we're running Linux OS with Firefox on our own PCs and tested the top 5 browsers including Opera. All is well on our end, but if the problem persists then please send us a screenshot like Frank said. That would really help get to the bottom of it.

Regarding, the cluttered feel of the page (which a few people stated previously). Is it still the case now that the pages are slight more filled? We made 15 updates today and the pages look more filled out and the ads are less "in your face".

Snake, we took your suggestion and decided to compromise on the front page layouts. We will carry over updates into the following day on the country level pages (German, European, American, Japanese). However, WCF main page will show only the current day's headlines and stories since there is so much. We will continue to watch the response and again we appreciate any further feedback you guys can provide. It does make a difference.

Just in case anybody missed it, there is an introduction article. It might give a little more insight into the changes we've made:
http://www.worldcarfans.com/news.cfm/newsid/2060205.001 [WCF launch article]

Thanks!
Brian

 

[Mark]

It looks great!
Macromedia has done a great job at bringing Coldfusion into the fold and making the cfm pages very compatible. The pages look the same under IE, Firefox, even Safari.
Only thing is, did you guys mean to design the pages for full screen view? On a 1280x1024 screen (PC) the site has to be viewed expanded in order to fit the last column on the right side. Same with the Mac (1680x1050), you need to expand the browser in order to view all.
Also some of the pop up menus go beyond the viewable range when expanded.
Design wise, it is very nice and I didn't find it cluttered at all.

 

[klier]

Brian, this is what I get:


Error Occurred While Processing Request Error Executing Database Query.

[Macromedia][SQLServer JDBC Driver][SQLServer]Line 1: Incorrect syntax near '='. The error occurred in E:\Web\worldcarfans\index_builder.cfm: line 7
Called from E:\Web\worldcarfans\index_builder.cfm: line 1
Called from E:\Web\worldcarfans\index_builder.cfm: line 7
Called from E:\Web\worldcarfans\index_builder.cfm: line 1
5 : <cfquery name="Page" datasource="SiteContent" maxrows="1"> SELECT * FROM FrontPage WHERE Alive=1 AND FPCountry=0 ORDER BY FPPublicDate DESC, FPID Desc </cfquery>6 : <cfelse>7 : <cfquery name="Page" datasource="SiteContent" maxrows="1"> SELECT * FROM FrontPage WHERE FPID=#url.ID# </cfquery>8 : </cfif>9 : <!--- Show Front Page Title? --->

 

[BrianWCF]

Klier, what browser are you using? Netscape?

 

[BrianWCF]

Klier, it seems that you got the error while we were fixing something. Can you reproduce the error?

 

[siko]

Brian,

FYI... the top navigation is messed up when using FireFox (v1.0.7; see thumbnail).

 

[BrianWCF]

Siko, sorry for the trouble.

Have you considered upgrading to the latest version of Firefox 1.5.0.1 ?
Do you have java installed and enabled? Version 5.0 Update 6?

 

[BrianWCF]

Siko, sorry I mis-spoke in my reply above. We are using the same version of firefox v.1.0.7. The version I mentioned above is the newest version still beta testing. You should have no troubles. I recommend checking you settings (i.e. ad blocking, java installed/configured/enabled, flash)

The dynamic menu is based on DHTML/Java so nothing extraordinary should be required.

Do you experience this problem constantly?

 

[siko]

Do you experience this problem constantly?

Yes... but I don't normally use FireFox, I only wanted to see if I can reproduce Klier's bug.

All Java, JavaScript, etc features are enabled (settings are form a default installation).

BTW, here are some more details of my bug:

1) When page opens (or is refreshed) the whole menu and submenus are displayed (see the pic I previously posted)

2) A mouseOver collapses the menus:

- After a mouseOver on Mercedes, its submenu collapses
- Same for VW
- After a mouseOver on "German Cars Home" , the whole thing collapses but it remains unaligned with the News, Feutures, etc. buttons.

3) The top menu always remains messed up with the "Japanese Cars" button not fitting on the same line as the other two buttons. This blocks the "American Cars" menu from being displayed.