Gossamer Forum
Home : Gossamer Threads Inc. : Discussion :

Gossamer Threads Development Survey

(Page 3 of 4)
> > > >
Quote Reply
Re: [pugdog] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
In Reply To:
Just make the move from Gossamer Threads links SQL to the next version an easy one... PLEASE!!! it took me forever to work out all those templates - can't imagine what will happen if I'll have to start over!
In Reply To:
People have spent a lot of time developing templates, and a whole look/feel to their sites, which will, apparantly, be invalidated in the next release. Major work will have to be done to implement it.
We want to stress that it will not be necessary to start over. Our v3 programs will maintain compatibility with the v2 templates, though you will be on your own when it comes to integrating new features into your existing templates - but with heavy enough modifications, this may well be the case already.

Version 3 will include several new features and a completely redesigned template set, but one of our targets is to *not* break compatibility with v2 template sets or v2 plugins*. Hopefully the new XHTML+CSS design will make it easier for people who are new to the program, or who want to start over - but you will not be forced to do so.

* - as was mentioned before, if it does become necessary in some cases to break compatibility, we'll do our best to make sure the changes are small, and, if changes do occur, we will clearly indicated those changes in our release information.

Gossamer Threads Development Team
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Quote:
We want to stress that it will not be necessary to start over. Our v3 programs will maintain compatibility with the v2 templates, though you will be on your own when it comes to integrating new features into your existing templates - but with heavy enough modifications, this may well be the case already.

It would be nice if the first 3.x version has the modified 2.x version templates too. It could be that just one template set, is carried over with all the Features Addition to V3 and the others are left for the users to take up in case they are not using the same V2.x template (or it's derivative).

Thanks
HyTC

Thanks
HyTC
==================================
Mail Me If Contacting Privately Is That Necessary.
==================================

Last edited by:

HyperTherm: Nov 25, 2004, 1:47 PM
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
I've spent a lot of money over the past couple of years havin GT customise my setup - thus I hope I would be able to easily make use of the new CSS features without having my site $re-done$ all over again.

I also see no mention of RSS feeds - why not? Top ranked sites stay at the top by constantly updating and providing unique content - thus an RSS feed to alert of new material going up and say a snippet of the new link added would be highly useful.

Automatic updates should be optional with a rollback option to minimise crashing a site by an automated procedure.

Glad to hear of the Gossamer AutoRes and Gossamer List upgrades - it's way long overdue just hope the wait is worth it. My copy of Gossamer Mail is not in use so not really concerned about that. Been unable to sell it so far.

As to the name change, Gossamer Links means nothing to a webmaster - especially a newbie - out there looking for a solution such as the one that GT provides. GT Portal Manager or some such name would more convey its features.
Belize Tourism & Country Guide
Belize News
Quote Reply
Re: [mromero] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
WoW.. great topic.. and very good features/comments by users. I would like to pitch in my 2 cents too (my comments are mainly for Links SQL).

Quote:
What do you think of the XHTML+CSS design described in the announcement? Do you think this is a good or poor move, and do you have any suggestions, alternatives, or other ideas that we might consider?
Very good Idea :)

Quote:
Gossamer Update: an automatic update system that downloads updated files from our server, auto-detects current version and updates only the files that need to be updated. You'll never have to run install.cgi again for an update, and never have to upload files manually for posted Official Bug Fixes.
This is a good idea, however an option where admin can disable this feature and have an choice for manual upgrade (as current would also be appreciated)

Quote:
How important is backwards compatibility with older browsers to you? When we say compatibility, we are talking about extremely old browser versions - that is, Netscape 4 and IE 4 - which already are incapable of displaying much of what is on the internet successfully.
I still think there are good number of people out there still using Netscape 4.7 and IE 5.0. Personally I would not care for the support for browsers older than Netscape 4.7, IE 5.0 & Opera 5.0

Quote:
using javascript to add functionality
This is a very bad idea. As even today many people disable javascript within their brower for various reasons, however the number of such people is not that big. But if I am not wrong, dosen't load time increase with the use of javascript ?

Quote:
What suggestions do you have, if any, for the product manuals? Do you find the current format (PDF) useful, or would you consider that we make the manual available in another format, such as MS Word (.doc) or perhaps even broken down into multiple HTML pages?
PDF is just fine, however I would still prefer an online HTML version along with downloaded chm version. As both can load faster and are better than pdf.


Quote:
Have you had any problems with the installation of our products? How can we improve the installation process? Would an installation tutorial be useful?
Current installation method is just perfect. I don't really think a tutorial is required. However a small update would be great.

While installing it ask for the path for "cgi pages" and "build pages", right? however about users ability to specifiy path for "admin" folder too? As right now if anyone is using Links SQL it is too easy to figure out the path to admin location and hence maybe someone trying to test their hacking password too? However the ability to change the /admin/ folder location as desired by user can pratically eliminate this issue.


Quote:
Are there any specific weak spots in our programs currently that you would like to see addressed, with respect to how the overall programs work? We do not refer here to individual product feature requests for this question - but rather areas that affect all of our programs, such as installing, modifying templates, upgrading, etc.

Quote:
Template Set Issue
I LOVE THE CURRENT TEMPLATE METHOD BEING USED IN LINKS SQL. If you guys are working on adding mores then I am all for it, but please do not remove the current method of working with templates.


Select All - While Validating Link
When admin clicks on Validate Link, it shows 5 links per page, however each link are required to be selected individually and if there was an option where all the links can be selected by "Check All" type of button, it would be great.

Stronger Rating Security
Current rating system at Links SQL can easily be abused and can such abuse can actually cause the site's reputation go down the gutter. So any work on setting up a better security system would be very much appreciated.


Multiple-Pages per Listing
We all know that Links SQL is already better than any other Link Management Script in the market, however by adding this feature Links SQL would not only gets extra 1000 steps leads over other link management scripts, but it also actually eliminates the use of most content management systems.

Hide/Un-Hide Categories
This feature has been requested by many users and is actually a wonderful suggestion.
However if this feature is added, it might also be good to make sure that links from hidden categories does not show up on Search Pages, New, Top & Cool Link pages.

Link Sorting for public view
I think this should be pretty easy, but a small section within Tutorial would be even more appreciated.

Link Sorting while Validation
This is a huge requirement. Suppose if there are 500 Links waiting for validation there is no way of sorting them in any manner, however it there was an option to sort this pending validation links based on Title and Date Submitted and Link Owner and URL.

Multiple Link Modification
Current Links SQL Function allows admin to delete multiple links at a time, however if there was a way where admin can do a search and the output result pages is actually editable link section, then such a function can save admin lot of time while keeping up with regular updates in the directory.

Update multiple users
Same as above, but instead of updating links, this request is for updating user profiles by admin.

Delete User & do not delete Links
In current Links SQL setup, if a user is deleted all the links within that Users account are also deleted. How about a option that if user is being deleted, admin have the ability to move all the links to any other account.

Ad Spots - inherit Option
This would enable users to serve targetted advertising within specific categories. An ability where admin can create new category property columns from Links SQL admin, however an option if such columsn will have the inherit property or not. This would save lot of time on a long run.

User Profile (with features)
One thing that Links SQL really lacks is the ability of User Profile. How about a User Profile, which can also be made publically available (admin &/or user optional), along with options where users can manage their favorite links within the directory and also their reviews.

RSS Ability (entire + category specific)
Considering the marketing trend, I personally think RSS is the "must have" for Links SQL. How about RSS function for
1) Top Links for Entire Directory
2) New Links for Entire Directory
3) Top Links for any specificed Category
4) New Links for any specified Category
5) Latest 5/10/x Reviews for entire Directory

New & Top Links
Ability to display New, Top & Cool listing for any category and/or sub category. Where if it is being displayed for Category "Test Name 1", it will also display New or Top or Cool for sub categories below it too.

Advanced Search Guide
Within the tutorial is would be great to add a section on setting up custom search function. So admin can actually customize their advanced search page and give users abilities to search by selecting only Title and/or Description and/or any other Link Property.

Better layout for New/Top/Cool Link Pages
I think New, Top and Cool Links pages can better layouts options, especially New Links Pages. Yahoo is a good example (http://dir.yahoo.com/new/20041125.html)

Ability to Offer & Change Rank order of Sponsored Listing
I am not sure how easy/hard this would be. But an option, where if 5 links are setup as Sponsored (or as described by GT Team), then on every page reload the sponsored link position will be rotated, so every sponsor listing owner gets better exposure. In addition, if the admin is using static build, then the position will be rotated every time the rebuild process takes place.

In addition an ability to setup a time limit for the sponsored listing would be even better. So the listing will remain as sponsored listing for time specified by admin, and if admin does not extend the time, then the listing will change to normal listings on the last day of the specified date.

Link Owner (if Choosen) & Reviewer email notification on review approval
Every time when a link receives a review and the review is approved by admin, I think it is only fair that Link Owner also receives an email with this review. In addition, there should be an option where the link owner have the ability to opt out from receiving email for the review of their listing too.

Link Owner ability to reply for reviews
Once a review is posted for any link, there should be an option for the Link Owner to reply. Such replies will also require admin approval/validation as regular reviews (Links SQL setup optional)


================================================================

Again I would like to thank GT team for the wonderful work and awasome support they have provided.


Vishal

Vishal
-------------------------------------------------------
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Hi GT,

good to hear that you are still working to improve your great products.

I think XHTML and CSS is a great thing, although I still donīt know much about the difference between HTML and XHTML.....I think Iīll have to learn XHTML now.

Some suggestions for your update to the new version:

- the new version should be compatible with your "Multi-Language-Plugin"

- it would be great to have a system like the "Page-Builder-Plugin" directly implemented (my link-owners / customers want to have their information presented not just in form of a link with some text, but on more than one page)

- it would be great to have the a system like the "Links-Forum" directly implemented (this shows the website visitor the latest entries in the Forum, without going to the forum immediately)

- somehow, it should be easier to add images to each link (more than one image)

- the rating-system (including review-system): it would be great if my link-owners (customers) are able to approve the "reviews" (of the website-visitors) and then if they want they can release it by themselves on my website by saying: "yes, this review is o.k. - everybody should see it on the website" or "no, delete this review".

- each of my link-owners (customers) will have his own small "website" on my detail-pages. So the URL to this "detailed-page" will be very long and not easy to remember. Is there a possibility to build a software where I can change this URL to http://www.domain.com/linkowner1 and http://www.domain.com/linkowner2 , etc. ?

- what worries me most, I do not know how to back-up all my Links-SQL data. I donīt know how a cron-job or something like this works.
could you build-in an EASY way to back-up all the data ? Like: safe everything which is on the server to my hard-drive and then save everything on a CD ?

- possibilty to order the category-links not only in alphabetic-order, but in manual order.

- I also have the german-language version of Links-SQL. There is an "english-language" spell-checker. This doesnīt make sense.

- would be great if the manual will be in HTML-format

- the easier it is to USE your new software-version V3, the more customers you will get !



Many thanks,

Erich

Last edited by:

erichcyber: Nov 27, 2004, 9:08 PM
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
1. I think CSS is the way to go for simplifying the templates. It's cleaner, faster and compatible with many browsers. I would be skeptical of tables built with css though, that seems to pose problems with some browsers.

2. The site should look perfect in Explorer 5 and above. I think it should still function in Netscape 4, but it's OK if it looks bad. A surprising number of people still us NS 4 unfortanately...

3. Javascript should only be used for "optional" functionality, like spellcheck. It should not be required for core functions.

5. Yes, I've had trouble installing but I think it's a problem on my end with how we have our server configured. Not much GT could do about that...

Cheers,

Bryan
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Hello again everyone,

We've started a new thread with a mockup of the new Gossamer Links version 3, please feel free to check it out:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...rum.cgi?post=275592;

Gossamer Threads Development Team

Last edited by:

brewt: Dec 7, 2004, 3:35 PM
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
I only have one request now. All the others are irrelevant to me.

1) Please test your code rigorously before release.

The numerous bugs introduced by Gossamer in release candidates have been taking up an inordinate amount of my time as of late.

cdkrg

Able2Know :: Ajooja Directory
Quote Reply
Re: [cdkrg] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
I think that this goes without saying....nobody wants buggy code.

I'm sure that GT has never intended to release any product with bugged code. I can only imagine that it is extremely difficult to anticipate and test all possible combinations of hardware and software (browsers, OS, etc.; including multiple versions) that clients will deploy and end users will use to access these sites. Crazy

Dave
Quote Reply
Re: [cdkrg] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Some further thoughts on the upcoming new versions of GT products:

1. I would hope that the people working on Gossamer List take a good look at other mailing lists in order to improve their product. I refer in particular to Title/FirstName/LastName fields so that we can send out personalised emails. There should be the capability to have batch sending by date and time in the future, automated bounce handling and so on.

2. AutoRes also needs a MAJOR upgrade so that it can approach the capabilities of competing autoresponders, for example Auto Response Plus. Again, Title/FirstName/LastName personalisation, automated bounce handling, time sensitive offers capabilties etc are required.
Belize Tourism & Country Guide
Belize News
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Dear GT,

why donīt you just build mostly used "globals" into your program ?
So that I can choose various options with the click of a mouse......like this example: (see link)

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...apsed;guest=10021582



or another example of just the wish to add images to the system: (see link)

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...uest=10021719#269891





Itīs very hard for a non-expert-programmer (like myself) to look for various available "globals" and to implement them into the system.
This should be possible just by clicking in the admin-aea on "yes, I want this capability" or "no, I donīt need this feature".



Best regards,

Erich

Last edited by:

erichcyber: Dec 9, 2004, 4:11 PM
Quote Reply
Re: [erichcyber] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
In Reply To:
Dear GT,

why donīt you just build mostly used "globals" into your program ?
So that I can choose various options with the click of a mouse......like this example: (see link)

Erich
I support this 100% GT should make it's products easier to use for most webmasters by having all the options available by clicking on a buttom - something like what we have in VBulletin. This might make for some disgruntled consultants who would have little if any "custom programming" to do, but your volume of users would more than make up for this loss.

I think I've said it before, GT has most of the work already done (paid for by those that have hired GT to do custom programming) to make a GT Portal manager which would be a killer app for webmasters. If they do not do it soon someone else will.
Belize Tourism & Country Guide
Belize News
Quote Reply
Re: [bretzke] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
In Reply To:
I think that this goes without saying....nobody wants buggy code.

I'm sure that GT has never intended to release any product with bugged code. I can only imagine that it is extremely difficult to anticipate and test all possible combinations of hardware and software (browsers, OS, etc.; including multiple versions) that clients will deploy and end users will use to access these sites. Crazy

Dave


I agree, but the bugs are not always of that nature. I have found bugs caused simply because they had incorrect code. Testing it just once, under any platform would have found over 75% of the bugs I have found.

For example, they used to have a nonsensical textarea in the admin templates. It meant that sending a rejection email would not work.

It would not work on any platform at any time. Testing it just once would have discovered the bug.

GT has some fantastic coders and these bugs are not as common as with other vendors.

But each of the last few versions of LSQL have had significant bugs and in most cases just testing each feature an function once before release would likely have caught them.

cdkrg

Able2Know :: Ajooja Directory
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
I would just announce competition of web developers to create templates (100%CSS) and the top 3 winners would win $500 coupon to buy your scripts. Or something likes this. This would go fast and you could pick form many.

Pirate

Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Hello GT Dev Team

Hope I am not stating something of a *Big Jump" in terms of feature request but yes since it's a Version change, it should be more feature packed.

Applicability : All GT products.
Component : Admin controlled Help Documentation For Users.

Brief Details Of Requirements:

  • The Help Documentation is Admin Controlled And DB based rather than present form.
  • Users Should be able to query (search) the Help Section Separately.
  • Admin Can Set a Topic Public/Autheticated so that the Help Document(s) are either vieable by all or Viewable By Authenticated Users Only.
  • The Help Section Should be controlled from the Admin side of Application.
This is just a brief idea and perhaps others could/would add on to this. I am not sure if it was lycos or somewhere, a searchable help documentation after logging to mail account was there. Few other commercial mail applications have a provision of user being able to Submit how he found the answer (Helpful/Useless/etc/etc)

Sorry this occurred to me so late, but "Better late Than Never" :)

Thanks
HyTC

Thanks
HyTC
==================================
Mail Me If Contacting Privately Is That Necessary.
==================================
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
  1. I think the move to XHTML 1.0 + CSS is a positive move in the right direction. What I would encourage is at least making the GT generated HTML output XHTML 1.0 Strict compliant. Then have the option in setup or in the template to use Strict or Transitional. While doing Strict is a !@#!@# it would at least allow the ability to pass the Strict validator or Transitional Validator (and I would encourage GT to develope templates and test code generation against the validators)
    In terms of too complicated, I would say that there are so many HTML books/resources available that explain how to work with CSS, that I think some responsibility for learning (or you provide good tutorial) needs to be placed on the Links3 owner.
    I love csszengarden.com and what they have done. I agree, you can really come up with something awsome and its just CSS. If that is the goal, and GT can provide several template examples, it would be easy to examine and modify.
  2. In my case, I appeal to a wide audience, yet I feel that IE 5.0 and Netscape 5 and Mozilla 1.0 should be adequate requirements "for optimal viewing". But I wont loose sleep if I don't have backwords compatability.
  3. I think Javascript would be acceptable when used appropriately. There are people who turn it off, but there are also a lot of sites, banking, onlnie stores, etc that require Javascript.
  4. PDF manual is acceptable documentation. Maybee JavaHelp or similar help generated output from Robohelp, etc to give a single source multiple output help system would be appropriate.
  5. No problems with installation.
  6. Tutorials would probably not benefit me, but I've been using Links for many years. However, for a newby, it might.
  7. The auto-update feature is a nice feature. Naturally, there would need to be some sort of provision to handle manually changed code.
  8. I agree with Manu and that a built in email/newsletter function would provide better value to Links. HTML / Text Email capability would be great, with having the HTML email include the Text part.
  9. Making categories visible/invisible could prove beneficial, especially when doing a reorganization of content as a temporary stomping ground. By using that logic of Allow, Deny, Inherit, it would really beef up some functionality.
  10. I agree, coming up with a Dreaweaver hook would be awsome. And your right, it may not show properly. I would look at what other similar DW extensions have done, like Mambo.
  11. RSS Feed capability. This would be great based on combinations of categories, sub categories, etc. Top links, new links, etc etc.
  12. Improved / more intuitive handling of sponsored links.

Lance Rasmussen
Bowlingzone.com
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Here's a Feature - How about the ability to remove duplicate url's in the same category?
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Hi,
I suppose it is too late for this type of request but it would be great if it was possible in LinksSQL to allow editors to view the content before it is published so they can check what they have added doesn't create any page layout issues but also to check it out and see what it will looks like before publishing, read it one last time and check for typos etc.

At the moment you basically have to validate the article in order to check this type of thing out which is not really a great solution since users will see it straight away.

It would also be nice if users could preview their reviews before posting them...

John
Significant Media
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
I’d like to see a merge facility added.

I have many duplicate URLs due to imports but they are in different categories so they are relevant.
I’d like a way to merge these to remove duplicates but maintain the extra categories and information.

Regards

minesite
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Hi,

I think most people are really going to be interested about having a Remote Authentication Module for each of the products.

It would be better to put a Price Tag on each of these modules so that they move up in development. They shouldn't be free.

Thank you, peter
Quote Reply
Re: [pyc] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
GT team hasn't replied in a while...

I just have two things that need to be said...

1. I don't think anyone at GT has any idea the amount of time users spend customizing templates. It's not that users don't want to start all over customizing their templates, its that they don't want to spend the TIME customizing them. Sometimes a fresh start can be a good thing. I know in my templates I have 3 main features: header, footer, general design... If those countless hours I spent customizing templates were not mostly REDUNDANT, there would be no need to complain. I'd like to be able to customize one template, press a button so that all templates get this look, and maybe manually do the rest. I really don't know the best way it should be done, but I do know that the templates need to be easily edited and dealt with, while still keeping customization. A GT customized WYSIWIG might be cool to edit templates. SPEND A LOT OF TIME FINDING THE BEST WAY TO MAKE THIS PROCESS EASIER!

2. My next problem I have is with customization. The plugin feature of linksSQL is one of the best ideas I have seen on here. There needs to be more time spent on this. Why? Think about this... once GT gets the plugin section to the point where it needs to be, the users (your clients), can do the rest of the work (well at least take some of the burden off of everyone). It should be easy to create a plugin that does the simplest things like changing : to > in the categories. There could maybe be a section in the GT plugin area for official plugins, and for non official plugins. Instead of a user asking a redundant question spaming the forum, searching, and editing core code, the user could simply go to plugins and click one button to have it installed. There are so many answers to customization questions and great ideas, that are buried in this forum maybe never to return. Once the answer is found, an inexperienced user should be able to copy and paste some code here and there solving some problems of experienced users. ONCE A FEATURE IS FOUND, IT SHOULD NOT BE DOCUMENTED AND BURIED IN THIS FORUM, IT SHOULD BE ADDED AS A NEW PLUGIN ONE CLICK AWAY FROM A USER.


- side note: Something I think GT should incorporate to G-Community is to allow users to customize their homepage: http://my.yahoo.com/ (Obviously this is some of the most complicated code written, but GT definitely has the direction right... )


Reading, Not Sleeping, Typing and Writing.... just plain delirious

Taking one step at a time Unsure

- Jonathan

Last edited by:

jdgamble: Jan 13, 2005, 3:23 AM
Quote Reply
Re: [jdgamble] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
For what it's worth I'll add my $0.02 to the discussion

two thumbs up regarding easier backups/restores! They would certainly help the clumsy among usBlush

i'd really like to see a couple of things.

1) the ability to sort by criteria other than date and then subsort as well
ie sort first by geography and then by date .

2) a one button 'date site live' option

this option would over ride the date added and is verified fields.
this way links admins could easily work ahead.

ie i want go on vaction. I add and verify a pile of sites on January 1st but don't want them to be visible til January 15 and when they are visible it would appear to the surfer that the sites were indeed added on January 15.

Hope that's clear!

Any word on an approx release date?
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Referring to the post containing new suggestion:
[Suggestion] Search Engine Friendly GT v3.0 apps & URL translations

Best regards,
Webmaster33


Paid Support
from Webmaster33. Expert in Perl programming & Gossamer Threads applications. (click here for prices)
Webmaster33's products (upd.2004.09.26) | Private message | Contact me | Was my post helpful? Donate my help...
Quote Reply
Re: [GT Dev Team] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
Replied to your post in following new thread:
CPAN release of GT lib (or modules)

Best regards,
Webmaster33


Paid Support
from Webmaster33. Expert in Perl programming & Gossamer Threads applications. (click here for prices)
Webmaster33's products (upd.2004.09.26) | Private message | Contact me | Was my post helpful? Donate my help...
Quote Reply
Re: [webmaster33] Gossamer Threads Development Survey In reply to
GT,
I know this may come up... so I'll ask it now...
With the option of putting detailed pages into the subcategories, is there a way to do a redirect on a massive scale from the /Detailed/1.html to the new page under the subcategory, for example,
<%if category_id eq "Arts" redirect "category_name"%> or something like that??

</not a clue>
> > > >