Cubed 3 Problems

Another thing which I noticed but which might not be an issue but just a design decision that you made jb :

Is it normal that the news articles have comments and reads counts on top...

but the reviews don't...

If it's not an issue and was intended that way, it would be nice to have it on both anyway.

( Edited 12.02.2011 12:35 by Kafei2006 )

I'm still not sure why some of the feed links aren't working weirdly enough,

Cheers for the suggestion to have reads/comments on reviews & previews - does make sense, and have been meaning to put them in for a while.

Fixed the avatar issue on feeds/reviews too

( Edited 19.02.2011 02:46 by jb )

Azuardo said:
Just another site problem I spotted that might need fixing.

If you go to the Reviews section of the site, the 3DS game reviews have a 'GC' (GameCube) purple icon next to them, instead of saying '3DS'.

Obviously nothing major, but thought I'd point it out

http://www.cubed3.com/topic/41793

Something that was fixed a couple of weeks ago that has now seemingly reverted...

One thing I've always wondered, what's with the monthly league table for the stars system? As far as I understand, there should be a monthly stars count alongside the total stars count but the monthly one has been going since I joined back in mid/late 2010 since my current stars count equals my total one. Is it something jb or someone else is aware of?

It's sort of always been like that, it really should be the yearly star league (joke), but it does eventually start again.

It changes whenever JB bothers to reset it >.<

Edit: Can this be a sticky topic?

Couple of issues which I'm not sure you know about.

1. Going to my own profile, and then my feeds tab just gives me nothing. Seems to be some random unknown user whose details are on the right, with his posts made etc, even though his user info is pretty much void.
Image:

2. Notices and Suggestions forum has big blank space. Got to scroll down to see the topics.
Image:

One suggestion that I think should be implemented:

When using the search box on the site, it only finds games based on the order of the words you put in.

For example, I was just searching for Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story to add to my collection. The site can't find anything if I put in just "Mario Luigi". Contrast to GameFAQs, where it will display all games containing the words "Mario" and "Luigi" in the same title (basically, all 3 M&L games show up).

I tried putting in "Bowser's Inside", but the site automatically adds a forward slash before the apostrophe after you press Enter, so you can't find anything that way either.

Ended up just putting in "story" to find the game.

For a search function on a website, anywhere, you shouldn't have to be picky about what it will accept. What I'm basically saying is you should be able to find the game you're looking for if you put in any word in the title, in any order.

Another example: the site produces no results if you put in "Zelda Mask". You would expect Majora's Mask to show up.

I know it's being picky, but for more casual browsers, you don't want this pickiness. Hopefully I'm making enough sense, and that it shouldn't be too hard of a thing to implement.

Weird - definitely fixed the feeds issue before, don't know how/why it reverted! Should be fine now.

Good suggestion on the search, will try something out - been meaning to look into it as it's a hassle for us updating news/finding games too.

Fix that thing in stars reports where you get a blank space in place of where your starred post should be.

Martin_ said:
Fix that thing in stars reports where you get a blank space in place of where your starred post should be.

Don't see what you mean?

jb said:

Martin_ said:
Fix that thing in stars reports where you get a blank space in place of where your starred post should be.

Don't see what you mean?

^Yeah, sorry I didn't see your bump Jeebs. What Az says.

Also, I'm just experimenting some more with the search function. There's an awful lot of games with screenshots completely unrelated to the games themselves - in fact, they seem to have the same images.

Examples: Oracle of Ages, Mario Land 2, Smash Bros 64, Dr Mario.

In fact, I realise when you go to the screens section, most games link to this page.

There's a couple of weird fan drawings in Yoshi's Island GBA too.

Also, do we need to keep games up that never happened? E.g. Zelda Four Swords Adv DS, Mario 128? Matter of choice I guess, but again, these games' screens link to the same as above.

Just random crap I'm noticing messing on the site. You could do with more staff Jeebs!

( Edited 05.06.2011 13:31 by Azuardo )

I'll take a look at the stars thing, bit difficult as it's random - but I *think* I know why.

Screens is a weird issue too, will looky!

I've changed the search system - for example it finds "Sunshine Mario", but brings up all the Mario games, including Sunshine as it's now looking through all the keywords.

( Edited 05.06.2011 13:51 by jb )

From what I gather, it happens when people gives stars to post on news, review and preview articles.

Name edits needed for: "The Legend Of Zelda: Majora" (missing the 'Mask' part), "Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons" (missing 'The' at the start).

Did you change the name of that Four Swords DS game? It definitely doesn't exist, right? :/

Also, any chance you could have a look at that automatic adding of a slash when you put in an apostrophe in the search box? Try searching for "Bowser's" and you'll see what I mean.

The search thing is better now, but have a look at what Gamefaqs does. If you put in "Super Mario Sunshine", it gives you the best match (containing all words), then the next best matches (containing any word). Link. What you've got now still works fine, but that's another suggestion you could always look at?

One more thing: Link's Awakening DX isn't on the site

Also, if you search and it doesn't find anything, under the Games part it says "No users found for (name here)", instead of "No games found for ... ".

Hope you don't mind me pointing these out

No, definitely don't mind!

Defo like the idea of best match, especially for games/reviews/previews Will try that out!

Marz - not sure why that happens, but can pop in a "View Post" link so it links even if there's no topic title.

I'm just looking in the Features section of the site, and just about every section hasn't been updated for years. You have any plans to do something with this area of the site again, jb? I suppose a lot of it also depends on trying to get other people to write things for the site, but I can imagine a lot of newcomers getting the wrong impression when they see the last time most sections were updated were in 2006.

I'm just thinking, maybe you could make a news post/forum thread asking for members (and guests) to suggest things that could be added/changed to the site, to improve traffic and just make things look more up to date. Maybe ask if there are people here willing to write some new/innovative articles, or restart some of the Features again. I know there are a few newer users that are more prominent on the site over the last year or two that might be willing to contribute in some shape or form.

The Charts section could easily be updated every week, but the last time that was done was 2008.

Anyway, do you think it's time now to add a 'Project Cafe' (as a temp name of course) as a new forum in the main forum? And of course edit the 'DS and Game Boy' section to include 3DS now too.

But yeah, C3 is like my main site, and it's just a bit of a shame to see certain parts of it looking a bit dated, or dead in some cases. I'm sure it's probably harder than it seems to keep everything up to scratch though, and it depends on other staff doing their bit too - in between their personal life. Still, be great if we could get as many people as possible helping out.

Just my 2 cents

( Edited 05.06.2011 18:26 by Azuardo )

EDIT - Tweaked the search system show it shows the most matched titles first/separately, then related games based on the search:

e.g.
http://www.cubed3.com/showsearch.php?search=Princess+Zelda&x=0&y=0
http://www.cubed3.com/showsearch.php?search=Country+Donkey+Kong

Cheers - we do have regular features/staff rountables, but not as much as before unfortunately. I'll be looking to update the sections and possibly hide some of the more stated features.

There'll be a cafe section/hub up, but only after the name becomes official

A new C3 design has been in development for just over a year, but finding it hard to find time to work on it!



( Edited 06.06.2011 00:13 by jb )

Search function much better than before, but still, the example I gave with "Bowser's" is not working. No titles appear after entering "Bowser's", but a backward slash is added to the term when an apostrophe is added (even if it doesn't affect the search). Try it and you'll see what I mean.

And you edited Oracle of Seasons wrong. Should be 'The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons', not 'Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Seasons'.

Both should be fine now - Bowser's, Majora's etc search fine now

Cool man. Only thing that needs fixing as far as I can see is the screens section of many older games, and the blank space of the Notice/Suggestions.

Look forward to the future of C3!

( Edited 06.06.2011 01:04 by Azuardo )

Ya, those ones are weird - especially the random screenage! Unfortunately we had a database crash/hack a few years back so it's left quite a few holes on the site

Searching within the review/games/preview directories also needs changing, though may scrap the dual search boxes.

I just tried searching "Zelda Mask" in the reviews section and it produced nothing, so yah, that's something to look at.

Keeping you on your toes today, Jeebs!

I take it you're planning an E32011 section for the site soon?