Forum: Community Center


Subject: The Menu Bar, Please Get Rid Of It!

ocddougdotcom opened this issue on Jul 11, 2004 ยท 76 posts


ocddougdotcom posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 3:03 PM

You know the one, up top, that takes 15 seconds to load (on high speed wireless). It even reloads two or three times when it ought to be cached. There's like 20 pics in that menu. I thought the text links worked fine, and even looked better. Please fix this soon. Doug


Sasha_Maurice posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 4:25 PM

I Agree. Thats gotta be murder for people on dial-up.

odeathoflife posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 5:20 PM

ditto, it takes me 15seconds on average to load that pile. Then the rest of the page loads fast after the 15seconds that it takes to load the menu

♠Ω Poser eZine Ω♠
♠Ω Poser Free Stuff Ω♠
♠Ω My Homepage Ω♠

www.3rddimensiongraphics.net


 


pearce posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 6:02 PM

Well I have to say I'm on dial-up and this just isn't a problem. I feel left out now! Mick :)


Sasha_Maurice posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 6:27 PM

You feel left out? :) Well, you could post praise in the thread that is giving kudos to the new and improved menu bar, instead of hanging out in the gripers thread. :)


elizabyte posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 7:10 PM

People have been complaining about this problem for weeks now. bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


mateo_sancarlos posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 9:58 PM

Ay, dios mio! This is the third thread about the problem, and it's still there. That menu bar is one frog that nobody wants to kiss 8-)


elizabyte posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 10:02 PM

This is the third thread about the problem, and it's still there. Third? Hmm, I thought it was the fourth... bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


AgentSmith posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 10:50 PM

Attached Link: settings screenshot

I changed my browser setting and once the bar is loaded the first time I come to the site it is then just "there" and instantly appears everytime I go to a new Rendo page. Worked beautifully for me, anyway. AgentSmith

Contact Me | Gallery | Freestuff | IMDB Credits | Personal Site
"I want to be what I was when I wanted to be what I am now"


ocddougdotcom posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 11:02 PM

Just checked, I got the same setting.


AgentSmith posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 11:11 PM

Weird. Other than increasing how much disk space my temp cache can take up, that's the only setting I have changed. (and the disk space option shouldn't matter) AS

Contact Me | Gallery | Freestuff | IMDB Credits | Personal Site
"I want to be what I was when I wanted to be what I am now"


spook posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 11:56 PM

ok.... this is getting ridiculous.... the settings in the screen capture and resetting the cache do NOTHING to help this situation for those who tried this already - BEFORE the helpful suggestions. is it possible that having this many people COMPLAIN about the problem might give the complaints SOME validity???? so, rather than suggesting a "user error," try and come up with a fix, please. stop exhibiting this tired, stubborn, not-invented-here, cliched computer-geek attitude and TRY to apply the more professional, adult business skills of addressing customer complaints to this situation....


elizabyte posted Sun, 11 July 2004 at 11:57 PM

I have the same setting, as well, although I will note that it has improved slightly since I switched from Netscape 7.1 to Firefox. BUT... While I appreciate that changing one's browser settings is an okay "workaround" in the short term, telling users to change their browser settings isn't exactly the best approach to professional web design. ;-) bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


striving posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 12:28 AM

Boy, Spook took the words right out of my mouth. I have been having a slow load on that menu as well. I found this thread and thought it was strange that I was being told to alter my browser just to get a faster load on this site. Its obvious a lot are having issues with this menu. Its not that pretty.. get rid of it and put back simple text.


AgentSmith posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 12:51 AM

That's just the seeting I use to get a faster response on ALL sites, not just this one, lol. I think it is the default IE setting anyway. AS

Contact Me | Gallery | Freestuff | IMDB Credits | Personal Site
"I want to be what I was when I wanted to be what I am now"


IndigoSplash posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 12:52 PM

Why does RR care so much about keeping a basic blue button behind the text? This site is full of artwork, I doubt anyone stops to catch their breath over the amazing blue button on top of the page. I vote to return to text links too :)


JohnRender posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 1:39 PM

What if we looked at this from the site's point of view? They are now serving 27 graphics per person per page. Let's assume that 1/2 the people that are currently online are able to cache the graphics. Heck, let's assume 75% of the people. Right now, there are 1,600 people online (rounded). 75% of 1,600 is 1,200. That means that 400 people are not caching these 27 graphics, which means that the site has to re-serve the graphics every time they load a page. Now, how big are those graphics? Each one looks to be less than 1k. Let's assume the total is 25k. This means that 400 people, per page, are having to reload these graphics. This means that 10,000k (or 10M) of bandwidth traffic is being used just to serve these graphics. Is this really more effecient than simple, text links? Obviously, Renderosity must have bandwidth to spare, if they want to use it up by serving these graphics.


elizabyte posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 6:41 PM

The reason they've given is because the previous text links didn't work properly in NS4.x. bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


spook posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 6:57 PM

well, bonni, i don't think that the response was adequate - not in the least. (and neither do you, i believe.) this website continues NOT to load properly - consistently and annoyingly despite the best efforts of the customers that have contributed to these threads. i am a paying customer - paying fees for a mailbox i don't use and for the privilege of uploading more than one image in a day. i am also a purchaser of products from the marketplace. and i believe not only that i have the right to lodge this complaint; i believe that i am ENTITLED to a proper, satisfactory response from the staff, also. furthermore, i believe that EVERYONE who has contributed to all of these threads with the same issue deserve the same: a proper, satisfactory response. ONCE AGAIN, i would like to call upon the staff of this website to respond to the issues that have been raised.


elizabyte posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 7:28 PM

well, bonni, i don't think that the response was adequate - not in the least. (and neither do you, i believe.) Correct. I'm of the opinion that: 1) graphical text is almost never a good idea anyway (that's Web Design 101 right there) 2) there are means and ways of making things work in NS4.x that don't involve slowing the site down for everyone else 3) this is a pressing issue since it keeps coming up again and again and has for weeks and deserves some immediate attention I have some other opinions as to the "professionalism" of the web design as it gets implemented around here, but as I don't feel like going off on a rant at the moment, I'll just keep that to myself for the moment. ;-) bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


ClintH posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 7:33 PM

Hi guys, I apologize for the lack of response to this post. Some good points have been brought up. This is on the table for discussion in our weekly admin meeting. FYI, Clint

Clint Hawkins
MarketPlace Manager/Copyright Agent



All my life I've been over the top ... I don't know what I'm doing ... All I know is I don't wana stop!
(Zakk Wylde (2007))



elizabyte posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 7:43 PM

Thanks, Clint. I know from posts you've made elsewhere that you're looking into this, even though it's not exactly your department. ;-) bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


ocddougdotcom posted Mon, 12 July 2004 at 7:55 PM

I appreciate it, Clint. As you can see, we are annoyed ;-) Doug


Ardiva posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 12:06 AM

Thank you, Clint. It's much appreciated for sure!



spook posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 1:09 AM

it's 0207 DST. and the loading behaviour has changed markedly - for the better! are you tweaking? thank you for responding, clint. my apologies for becoming testy in these threads. however, i wasn't aware that you had responded in others. and the frustration of the bizarre loading behaviour was becoming too much. whatever you and the programmers have tweaked in the last 2 hours seems to have helped - from what i can observe.... and if you haven't touched the code or servers, then i'm at a loss to explain why the site's performance has changed.


tutone1234 posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 12:28 PM

We discussed this issue in our admin meeting this morning, taking into consideration all of the testing that has been done with numerous browsers on different operating systems and platforms as well as looking at server logs to see if the new navigation has any significant impact on bandwidth We have consistently found that the navigation works as expected and that bandwidth is not a problem, nor has it significantly increased due to the images most commonly being cached rather than downloaded with each page visit. The purpose of the navigation change was necessary for two reasons. 1.) Being that this is an art site, there are expectations placed upon us to have the site utilize a more graphical interface rather than remaining plain and simple. 2.) We are trying to cater to the broadest group of people possible - which means not excluding the large groups of members that use older browser versions. With all of these issues taken into consideration, we have decided to continue with the navigation as it is for the time being.


JohnRender posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 2:03 PM

"1.) Being that this is an art site, there are expectations placed upon us to have the site utilize a more graphical interface rather than remaining plain and simple." Yes, but first and foremost, this is a WEBSITE. Usability issues have to come before making it "pretty". "Plain and simple" text links may be "boring", but they are much faster than 27 graphics. Heck, if you want a more graphical interface, why not get it over with and make the site one big Flash animation? You can get a much slicker UI that way.


Khai posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 2:04 PM

tutone and the rest, are you infact listening to your members?

it seems not at all.
as to the older browsers I suggest you take a look at offical figures on browser usage - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3886861.stm figures from he US net watchdog, the Computer Emergency Reponse Center (Cert), and the internet security monitor, the Internet Storm Center

Message edited on: 07/13/2004 14:07


hmatienzo posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 3:34 PM

"1.) Being that this is an art site, there are expectations placed upon us to have the site utilize a more graphical interface rather than remaining plain and simple." In that case, I can send you to scores of tacky websites with anim gifs... Don't stop now, go the whole 10 yards!

L'ultima fòrza è nella morte.


Kendra posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 5:05 PM

"1.) Being that this is an art site, there are expectations placed upon us to have the site utilize a more graphical interface rather than remaining plain and simple."

Lol, that in defense of a plain and simple, looks like text, design.

shakes head

...... Kendra


ocddougdotcom posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 5:13 PM

Amazing...I can't believe you guys would keep a graphic ("for the time being") that is slowing down the site for so many, when as a graphic it looks like crap and quite cheesy. I can't see it as attracting people. If anything, it will turn away loyal members and also those new people who visit the site and see how slow it loads. What a joke. I rarely get upset about this site, but this really pisses me off. Doug


ocddougdotcom posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 5:26 PM

Amen to that, rd.


elizabyte posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 6:58 PM

Translation: We don't care if it's a problem for you. We refuse to investigate other options. We think it looks pretty and all of you having problems can go to hell. bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


CyberStretch posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 8:11 PM

In theory, at least, they should be able to provide the same effect using a table (like they are) with graphics for the border edges only (4 graphics; the top border is already a single image: nav_mini_r1_c1.jpg, 468x11 pixels, 686 bytes) and add the Light Slate Grey as a background color for the table with text links.


elizabyte posted Tue, 13 July 2004 at 10:12 PM

Do the "designers" (and I use that term loosely; perhaps "codemonkey" is better) of this site honestly believe that a poorly designed graphical menu with multiple images is the ONLY way to make the menu readable/usable in NS4.x? That can't be right, can it? Can this site really have web techs who honestly do NOT know how to make a text menu work properly in NS4.x?! bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


Erlik posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 6:31 AM

Simple nbsp added into an empty cell fixes the problem with tables and NS 4. And why do you need empty cells anyway? It's two rows by five columns. Any padding can be set in HTML, if you're worried about that. No need for rowspans or colspans. No need for borders. You can set the background for the whole table if you want that drop shadow. What's the problem anyway? BTW, putting an image to simulate Courier is NOT good. I'd understand if it was a font that's not readily available on every computer.

-- erlik


Djeser posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 10:51 AM

Ah. Great to have an answer from the admins or bosses or whoever. But from a dial-up user who is not in a 3rd world country but doesn't have access to cable/dsl but have managed to spend a considerable amount of money in your marketplace, a comment or two... Art site is fine...I never realized that there were "expectations" of Renderosity that related to 10 small links at the top of the page. If you want to professionalize this art site, maybe you should assist the marketplace sellers who are not native English speakers to spell their banners and advertisements correctly, among other things. What about access and usability and basic design? And I'd like to know how many people who visit here and who spend money in the marketplace are on non-wideband/cable/etc connections...

Sgiathalaich


Laurie S posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 12:39 PM

You know, I do not get upset that the site is slower than other sites,, always has been. However what you have done for myself and apparently many others is make the site useless. I can no longer enjoy the galleries, I can no longer browse the market place. What I have in my cart now is all I will be buying from Render, not because I am throwing a hissy fit, not because I do not want to shop.. simply because I do not have the time to sift through a large market place looking for an item when each page now takes forever to load in. Your site , you can certainly do what you like with it, but my goodness Renderosity must be doing well if it can afford to through out customers over a simple issue that is so easy to overcome.


Laurie S posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 12:45 PM

well that was the fastest response to a complaint on a web site I have ever had! Was so frustrated trying to look at the galleries this AM I posted the above .. hit the post button and then went to my own gallery .. the menu loaded in in a flash??? You fixed it? Tell me you are not just teasing? g.. If you have really fixed it for good.. THANK YOU!!


Jumpstartme2 posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 1:08 PM

** We are trying to cater to the broadest group of people possible** The broadest group??!! I pretty well think that the broadest group is using newer browsers....ya sure ya aint catering to the heaviest checkbooks?

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
---------------------------------------




striving posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 1:22 PM

"1.) Being that this is an art site, there are expectations placed upon us to have the site utilize a more graphical interface rather than remaining plain and simple." ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is funny sh*t! You are talking about a graphic that looks like it was uploded to the Beginners gallery. the graphic menu is TEXT you idiots! Why not just use text? (as Erlik pointed out, its not even a custom font) The little drop shadow isn't that great. And as a few above have stated, it would be so easy to get the same look using a table with a BG graphic for your little drop shadow. I have heard it all.. this guy is in the wrong business, he should be a political media spokesperson. You sure know how to Spin! Thanks for the laugh Tutone... you rock... :-


spook posted Wed, 14 July 2004 at 3:21 PM

i have deleted my last response to the message posted by tutone1234 on behalf of renderosity. it was inflammatory.

however, the responses by members to renderosity's latest answer express valid concerns and options. and i urge the staff of this website to re-consider their decision - which is grounded neither on good website design principles nor on good business practices.

i ask: at what point is it ever reasonable for businesses to know "better" than their customers? that is what has been expressed by renderosity in this thread. and renderosity is wrong.

Message edited on: 07/14/2004 15:24


spook posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 3:09 PM

thank you for your kind words, rdonovan. i no longer believe that there will be an acceptable response from renderosity in this matter. and i am really disappointed.

renderosity's clear inability to address valid client concerns - in just this one case - indicates that bondware would not be a suitable vendor to large international organisations.

on a personal level, poser is a hobby. i'll continue to use whatever website suits my needs and interest as i see fit.

Message edited on: 07/15/2004 15:11


ocddougdotcom posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 5:30 PM

Ok, no problem that you are going to keep it. But FIX it! It doesn't need to be 27 images. And those are my cache settings, and the menu continues to reload time after time. Why not just have the menu be ONE image, with the text links on top of it? That would solve this problem.


LillianH posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 5:48 PM

I wanted to personally express my apologies if we have given the impression that we are not listening. That is honestly not our intent. Nor is it typical, as most of you know. We try to take care of our members very quickly.

All of your concerns and suggestions really have been read and recognized because we do value your input.

It was due to member input the navigation box was put up in the first place. We received numerous requests from members who couldn't find the galleries, contests, tutorials, etc. In order to assist people in finding their way around the site, we added the box. (That, and yes...it did look pretty cool compared to having plain text.)

Then, we heard there were problems with certain browsers and we adjusted the graphic to address those concerns. When we encountered different concerns after that change, again we investigated and worked to find a solution. We did extensive testing with many browers and operating systems. We wanted to determine if there was a solution, or if it should go.

We would have removed the box if it was causing extreme server load, or we found that the download times were prohibitive to members coming to the site.

Yes, the inital download of the box is quite different than we're used to. But, after that it is cached*, unless you close the browser. The images do not continue to reload while surfing the site.

The box is serving the purpose it was intended for, which is helping members find their way around.

I hear and understand your frustration and displeasure over the change. We did reconsider, and the team came to the conclusion that it serves a necessary purpose for many members.

Best regards,
LillianH
Renderosity Marketing & Promotions

*Here are the cache settings in case anyone needs them:

Lillian Hawkins
Marketing Manager
By serving each other, we are free.


ocddougdotcom posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 6:38 PM

Yes, it's mostly a problem with opening a new window. But when I have an image comment ebot, or a forum reply ebot in my mailbox, the link will open in a new window, so every single time I have to watch that menu load. If I leave the site and come back later, I will have to watch the menu load.

I haven't seen this answered by the admins: Why does the menu need 27 (or however many) pics in it?? Make it ONE image and you'd have the newbies and the oldies alike happy.

I forgot to add: When I have, say, 10 comment notices in my mailbox, from 10 different images, this means I will have to wait for that menu to load 10 times. Does Renderosity consdider this acceptable?

Doug

Message edited on: 07/15/2004 18:50


elizabyte posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 7:25 PM

Renderosity seems entirely and wholly unwilling to accept the word of the many members who report that the menu loads EVERY TIME, regardless of settings. There have been weeks and weeks of people saying their settings are precisely those that are recommended and yet they still have the multiple images loading every single time. The argument on the R'sity side seems to be, "You're doing something wrong," and "It works for us!" and "Hey, it's not taxing OUR server, it must be something you're not doing right!" Basically, a lot of people are still having issues with this, and several perfectly good suggestions have been put forth as to how the problem could be better managed, but it's all been pushed aside without exploration. My guess is that a class of first year web design students could figure out something that would work better than 27 separate images that are causing problems for a significant number of people, and they wouldn't have to fall back on "It's not our problem, it's yours!" Trust me, I definitely understand the push-me-pull-me aspect of making design decisions, but in this case, I don't see a lot of progress being made. "We're doing it like this, tough if it's causing you problems," is NOT an adequate answer. bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


spook posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 9:43 PM

lillianh: i appreciate your taking the time to respond to this thread. please understand that this is NOT "personal." but also understand that i'm not used to dealing with an enterprise that responds this way to customer complaints.

also, please convey to your programmers that the process they are using to test compatability and performance is flawed. though they may have tried to "simulate" specific environments, the quality and quantity of complaint indicates that something is very wrong.

i attach a screen capture made a few minutes ago. this "final" screen was the result of approximately 45 secs on a cable modem attached to my 2.8 MHz, p4. the image is a result i receive for practically every other web page that loads at this time of day - whether individual image OR gallery. (and my browser settings are as suggested.)

Message edited on: 07/15/2004 21:44


Khai posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 10:02 PM

"Yes, the inital download of the box is quite different than we're used to. But, after that it is cached*, unless you close the browser"
erm..

one of the points of caching is, it's still there if you close the browser.....plus, the images reload if you switch from the forums to the marketplace so infact... THEY ARE NOT CACHING.

I to have the settings you suggest.. and it's damn slow here as well.

" I wanted to personally express my apologies if we have given the impression that we are not listening. That is honestly not our intent. Nor is it typical, as most of you know. We try to take care of our members very quickly."

you could have fooled us!
have a large dose of cynical laughter removed once calmed down

Message edited on: 07/15/2004 22:03


striving posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 10:06 PM

It's hopeless... they dont care no matter how much doublespeak they use to say they do. We will just have to deal with it or find other sites...


elizabyte posted Thu, 15 July 2004 at 10:06 PM

lillianh: i appreciate your taking the time to respond to this thread. please understand that this is NOT "personal." Ditto. Just wanted to make that clear. :-) bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


Lyne posted Fri, 16 July 2004 at 2:34 AM

I have also posted in another thread on this subject...I have DSL, and IE6 with settings fine and

1)it does NOT cache... odd that, how come it doesn't?? EDIT: WHAAA??? IT'S SUDDENLY CACHING!! JUST BETWEEN THE TIME IT TOOK TO WRITE ALL THIS, NOW IT IS STAYING LOADED!?!? OKAY...I deleted the rest of my "rant" as it appears that the "higher ups" ARE listening, and my faith is restored! :))

Message edited on: 07/16/2004 02:47

Life Requires Assembly and we all know how THAT goes!


Lyne posted Fri, 16 July 2004 at 2:54 AM

BUT WAIT... HUH? Now if I stay here and move around it stays cached...so I left a page open on purpose, went to my mail program to visit one of my favorite artists by the e mail notice link and THAT page has to reload the menu bar bit by bit! Now how can I enjoy my back and forth from my mail to my Favorites?? (which by the way DOES generate sales from me, when I see someone use a product here that I suddenly want to buy!).... Well maybe those that fixed the "while you are here" caching can fix this element too? I think coming in from the e mail link must make it a "new session" even if a page is open... I will check my settings again.

Life Requires Assembly and we all know how THAT goes!


JeniferC posted Fri, 16 July 2004 at 12:17 PM

Just a note that this statement "In IE 6 you go to the "general tab>Temporary Internet files>Settings>Check for newer versions of stored pages" needs to have "automatically" added to the end of it. Also, the top nav bar changes made were to help the thousands of people using Netscape 4.7 (or older) on MACs (older than OSX) that didn't load the nav bar at all. (sorry if that was already explained somewhere and I missed it) I hope you can understand that it's helping a LOT of people. I'm also confused that many people have made statements that the nav bar is now caching, and we haven't made any changes. That makes me wonder if it has more to do with general internet connections. I ask that everyone using IE please go to microsoft.com and make sure you have all the updates. A few months ago there was the Critical Update for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (KB831167). I'm sure most of you have it but I'd like to get to the bottom of the problems, since we've been testing with multiple browsers and different types of connections and can not duplicate the problem. I also ask that everyone please triple check (cause I believe all of you have already checked at least twice) your browser settings. If we can't find anything wrong, can't duplicate, then I'm not sure how we can fix something that "appears" to be working. Honestly, we'd like to get this resolved as much (if not more) than you. We hate that some of you are having problems. I'm sure some of you may have already done this, but (I'd like to help trouble shoot) please send an email to admin@renderosity.com with your browser version (including updates list) and the type of operating system you have. We will try again to help figure out what's going on. Thanks, Jenifer

 


spook posted Fri, 16 July 2004 at 4:53 PM

thank you for your response, jenifer. and while i appreciate that you are trying to help "thousands" of members using a free, out-of-date browser on MACs to use the website, as a member who pays some money for some premium services and has use of both premium equipment from his place of work as well as premium equipment purchased for personal use, you have to understand how preposterous your comments - and the comments of others on this website's staff - sound to me.

to date, renderosity has REFUSED to recognise that there's a problem. and in some of its responses, it has gone as far as to suggest that these issues are grounded in "user errors" or configuration problems. finally, renderosity has stubbornly defended this navigation design note to a community of artists unimpressed by the rationale for the design note AND its rationale for its execution of code to programming professionals unimpressed by the code....

i assure you that i am not in error here. as i type this note, i'm doing so from my office in washington, dc - on a 100 MB wire connected to the rest of my organisation world-wide by t-3 or frame relay; through its own, dedicated proprietary satellite and landline network. and i see the same behaviour of the renderosity website here as at home.

i believe i - indeed, all of us - have a right to be frustrated. and you have an obligation to fix the problem.

Message edited on: 07/16/2004 16:56


Ardiva posted Fri, 16 July 2004 at 6:14 PM

I have taken the liberty of making a button-type banner like the one RO has here. This is purely text based and will work very efficiently and is only 8kb(total). Using an image-map program to link the text to each area, this one can be utilized in place of the numerous graphical ones used presently.

Sorry if I stepped on anyones toes here, but I would think that the 'thousands'of other users RO has would benefit from this one even more in loading time.



Jumpstartme2 posted Fri, 16 July 2004 at 11:57 PM

Well said Spook, and Ardiva, thats a great looking button..I see no reason why 'Rosity wouldn't want to use it.

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
---------------------------------------




elizabyte posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 12:03 AM

I see no reason why 'Rosity wouldn't want to use it. Because there's not a problem! Duh! :-) bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis


Jumpstartme2 posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 12:18 AM

G

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
---------------------------------------




ocddougdotcom posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 12:36 AM

That would be too easy. I would guess that a majority here use IE, so why not adapt that menu to accomodate the majority??


Daz1971 posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 3:22 AM

I'm having the problem too. While it doesn't happen every time, that stupid menu re-loads most of the time. And it's damn slow. In contrast, Ardiva's menu loaded instantly, and in my opinion it looks a hell of a lot better too! I don't understand R'osity's arrogance in keeping the current menu. I've never seen a text-like menu on any other website that has had this problem. Wouldn't that indicate that it's a problem with YOUR site, not our browsers? Also, expecting users to modify their browser settings just to accommodate your site seems ridiculous. (BTW, I've checked my settings and they already match your suggestions). I am a programmer myself, so I understand perfectly how painful it can be to admit something you've created doesn't work properly. But come on guys, swallow your pride and rip out that useless menu.


Ardiva posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 6:19 AM

Yes, the menu I have put up here works for EVERYONE. sigh



CyberStretch posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 9:50 AM

We must've been thinking the same thing, Ardiva. Here's a .jpg (18.3KB) version I came up with (ref the graphic).

Message edited on: 07/17/2004 09:58


CyberStretch posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 9:55 AM

And a .gif (11.6KB) version (ref the graphic).

CyberStretch posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 9:57 AM

And the map code to go with either; changing the graphic name, of course (ref the graphic). Tested on: IE6.0, NS7.1, and NS4.79.

Message edited on: 07/17/2004 10:01


Ardiva posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 10:18 AM

Absolutely people! Bravo! You see there IS a way around this for ALL R'osity users. (Also they have to understand that their own menu version must load before even a gallery image is displayed. I find that very unusual since a gallery image is by far much larger in dimension and KB, and with cable can load almost instantly, where the menu cannot).



lundqvist posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 11:05 AM

Just to play Devil's advocate: were client-side image maps actually supported in the fabled NS4.7/Mac ?


Ardiva posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 11:08 AM

That I don't know lund, as I never have used it.



CyberStretch posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 9:01 PM

I don't know, either - never touched a MAC in my life. :) However, they're easy to make with the right software (I used Adobe ImageReady) and test on any platform.

I don't know if we can attach .zip files, but I'd be willing to share the test page and image files for people to try out.


CyberStretch posted Sat, 17 July 2004 at 9:03 PM

Actually, I guess I already did share the files as people can use the images from the page and type out the text if they wanted to. :)


Anthony Appleyard posted Sun, 18 July 2004 at 2:50 AM

I see that ANOTHER long thread has started about this while I was away scuba diving in the Red Sea.
Go back to the old text version. There is no point in being ingenious for its own sake.

Message edited on: 07/18/2004 02:52


ShadowWind posted Mon, 19 July 2004 at 1:05 PM

If you are on a local machine to the Rosity network, you probably don't see the problem. It does cache sometimes, but rarely. It's not that it takes anymore bandwidth. 1x27k is the same as 27x1k. The bottleneck comes in the server having to make 27 different calls to retrieve the navigation banner. Unfortunately due to IE's top down approach, that means that it has to load completely before the graphics content of the page will load (especially in the galleries, or Marketplace thumbnails), making each page a 5-10 second load. The solution presented here would be easy to implement and work on most if not all browsers and would help speed us back up. So please...


ocddougdotcom posted Mon, 19 July 2004 at 9:06 PM

I give up. I will just deal with the slow load times. But I'll tell you this: any models, textures, etc. I buy won't be from here.


PilotHigh posted Thu, 22 July 2004 at 2:54 PM

I'm on a Mac (OS 9) and a cable modem and I don't cache at all. It works fast for every other site but this one. I used to spend hours here enjoying all the galleries and forums - but not any more. By the time I get through the daily Poser gallery I'm too frustrated and annoyed to look at any others, let alone the forums. And if you check my purchase history you'll see that I'm buying less.


spook posted Thu, 22 July 2004 at 4:42 PM

pilothigh: i do wish that purchase history had some bearing on the decision of this website's staff. i, also, have spent some sous on this website.

however, we have discussed the issue on multiple threads; we have explained the specific problems. and now, you have confirmed that their original reason for the change does not work, too. and STILL, there is no movement.

now, they have become silent. i have even written directly to mr. choate; and i have received no answer.

the only thing that i can do - having experienced this company's client orientation first-hand - is to communicate these impressions to the organisations or agencies over whom i have some influence.... i know that doesn't mean much; i doubt that bondware would be interested in or be qualified for competing in RFPs for multilateral organisations or agencies. but i am so disenchanted that i feel obligated to do it.

Message edited on: 07/22/2004 16:45


CyberStretch posted Thu, 22 July 2004 at 6:15 PM

That's one thing R'osity'll most likely never know: A forum member/customer here may just be a CEO or relative of someone important in a corporation elsewhere where they may eventually seek to do business.

I wonder how many potential Bondware customers have donned the moniker of "member", checked the place out, and decided to go elsewhere?

That'd be one of my first priorities in researching a company.

Message edited on: 07/22/2004 18:17