For lack of a better way..

[Universezero]

Do you really think everyone is going to spend some time to rate and comment decently?
After a while everyone is going to quickly rate 4 or 0 and comment 'nice' or 'k' or 'meh' to be able to play the next map.

It's like communism. It's a cool system, but it will never work.

Exactly. If people wanted to spread the wealth they'd just do it.

I disagree. Because the difference between this and communism is that you can do this only if you want to. Otherwise, you can just browse maps normally. It's good for people who like to rate and comment maps; maybe to differ it from just clicking 'random map,' it will show you maps that you'd like to play based on previous ratings.

[chocollama]

I disagree. Because the difference between this and communism is that you can do this only if you want to. Otherwise, you can just browse maps normally. It's good for people who like to rate and comment maps; maybe to differ it from just clicking 'random map,' it will show you maps that you'd like to play based on previous ratings.

If Authors were only allowed one map to be in the roulette at a time....
And every/day/week the roulette was cleared out....
If I could put a complete thought....

[origami_alligator]

NUMA ROULETTE is a terrible idea. Why not just click "Next 10 maps" or "Random"? Even as a side-feature it would be annoying. I like to be picky about my maps, seeing as how 9/10 maps on NUMA are shit anyway. Honestly, we get about 100 maps a day and I doubt you favourite more than 10 of those or rate more than 10 of them a day. (I'm talking about maps submitted on the current day, btw, not maps submitted on previous days, as you can rate/favourite 10+ maps in a day.)

[Universezero]

NUMA ROULETTE is a terrible idea. Why not just click "Next 10 maps" or "Random"? Even as a side-feature it would be annoying. I like to be picky about my maps, seeing as how 9/10 maps on NUMA are shit anyway. Honestly, we get about 100 maps a day and I doubt you favourite more than 10 of those or rate more than 10 of them a day. (I'm talking about maps submitted on the current day, btw, not maps submitted on previous days, as you can rate/favourite 10+ maps in a day.)

Maybe to differ it from just clicking 'random map,' it will show you maps that you'd like to play based on previous ratings.

[Amadeus]

NUMA ROULETTE is a terrible idea. Why not just click "Next 10 maps" or "Random"? Even as a side-feature it would be annoying. I like to be picky about my maps, seeing as how 9/10 maps on NUMA are shit anyway. Honestly, we get about 100 maps a day and I doubt you favourite more than 10 of those or rate more than 10 of them a day. (I'm talking about maps submitted on the current day, btw, not maps submitted on previous days, as you can rate/favourite 10+ maps in a day.)

Maybe to differ it from just clicking 'random map,' it will show you maps that you'd like to play based on previous ratings.

That seems like it'd be way too difficult to code to be worth it. On a similar note, I don't really frequent Numa anymore so my opinion doesn't hold much weight, but it never made sense to me why the random function came up with a list, rather than just going straight to a single map.

[ethel]

Techno's second one was pretty schnazzy, but all of this is far too expirimental to work any time soon. Also, Atob missed a couple bugs. Featured maps not showing up and i wanna freaking browse barabajagals maps (among other author's with that problem) >:(. I'm glad the community itself is actively participating and some of these ideas are great. Someone should make a map that promotes this and feature it like they did with the dronies one.

[Cooby]

Hey guys. So I decided to try my hand at the redesign thing and I want to walk you through some of my concepts. Let me know if anything is too ambitious or just flat out can't be done. I tried to use a color palette that was simple and clean and also complimented the colors of the game itself. Also, I did some mock-ups of changeable color schemes.

So, let's start with the main event: the Hot Maps page.
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2986 ... sfinal.jpg

I started the Hot Maps page with the goal of maximizing the number of maps that appear on-screen as soon as you load the page. Currently, NUMA's Tot Maps page only shows a maximum of two maps. Factoring in space for ads, this design shows four maps while retaining each map's vital information and keeping a reasonable space for their descriptions. I always felt that a single column of maps pushed new maps out of sight far too quickly.

And here's the key to follow along: http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9002 ... apskey.jpg
1. This bar is present on every page of the website. You can see here I've added some different updates other than just unread comments. These may not be what we end up with, but I think they're all relevant information.
2. Long awaited Previous / Next 10 maps function at the top of the page.
3. This is like a mini search bar that is, I think, far more intuitive for adding tags than the site's main search bar.
4. Extremely obvious and apparent tags such as "author:epigone" and "rated / unrated" are hidden on the Hot Maps page to save space.
5. The golden background for this map indicates it was submitted by a favorited author. The golden ninja is the same favorite map indicator as before.
6. Last Modified removed from relevant map info to save space. Available on the map's page.
7. NReality image map support.
8. "Who's Online" feature just like on the forums. Suggested by someone here, I forget who.

Now for a new addition to NUMA, something tentatively titled Workshop.
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/4527 ... pfinal.jpg

This idea came from whoever was talking about the race track website with the beta area for its submissions. The Workshop is an area where you can get help, feedback, constructive criticism, and whatnot for a map before you submit it to the Hot Maps page. You can submit anonymously (which could be good for non-biased feedback) or use your username (which could be good for specific feedback based on your style). Now, instead of rates (which would be useless here), maps receive something tentatively titled "nods." A nod is basically a go-ahead from a user that the map is up to snuff and should be submitted. When a map receive 5 nods from users, the map is automatically removed from the Workshop to make way for maps that need more attention. At this point, the creator can choose to submit it or continue working based on the feedback they received.

Key: http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/2347 ... hopkey.jpg
1. Here's the classic "Mother Thumping Impossible" in the Workshop. You can see the title isn't the same - you can alter it when you finalize submission.
2. Tags aren't static either. The tags you might want on a Workshop map are not necessarily the tags you want when you submit it - you can alter these before submission as well.
3. Submitting anonymously will be the default to encourage a non-biased, noob-friendly environment. You can check a box to show your username.
4. Maps submitted to the workshop by you will display your username.
5. Maps submitted non-anonymously by favorite authors will still have the golden background - you may have better advice for authors you know more about.
6. The map's description can be more important in the Workshop and thus has more space than given on the Hot Maps page.
7. Nods not rates. Get 5 nods and your map is removed from the Workshop.

The Submit page gets a little aesthetic update but maintains largely the same layout.
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/5103 ... tfinal.jpg

Key: http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/9964 ... mitkey.jpg
1. NReality image map detection through map data by NUMA. Don't know if this is actually possible.
2. Adds a tag to the map's page letting players know to use NReality for the map.
3. Sends the map the Workshop first. Selecting this will bring up another check box that the user can select to not appear anonymously in the Workshop.

Next, the Map page.
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7833 ... pfinal.jpg

Key: http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3379/numamapkey.jpg
1. Last Modified available only on the map's page.
2. Appears when the user indicates the map is for NReality. No, Afternoon Dragon is not for NReality.
3. Author's recent maps moved to the top of the page and reduced to 3 maps. Links to all of author's maps and featured maps are easily accessible.
4. Users can now reply to comments directly. Only one level of reply should be good, otherwise it could spiral out of control. <- Thanks Aidiera for catching that.

The Profile page undergoes a few big changes. And yes, I did steal those blue bars from the forums.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1749 ... efinal.jpg

Key: http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4638 ... luekey.jpg
1. Favorite author support. Link brings you to a page similar to the Active Authors page.
2. Users can choose 10 of their maps to display as being their "Top 10". These can be altered at any time and specific positions 1-10 can be chosen.
3. Comments section for the user just like on any map's page. Good for getting in touch with users quickly. An update will appear on the top bar when a new comment is posted.

Active Authors looks a little fancier.
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8206 ... sfinal.jpg

I'd like to see Bitesized maps make a comeback. Features and Bitesized can compliment each other very well. No titles or author names was on purpose.
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/2166 ... dfinal.jpg

Finally, the Home page.
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/9458 ... efinal.jpg

I've heard a lot of people really want the option for changeable color schemes. Here's a couple I came up with just to demonstrate. Some of them I really like, others I think are uglier than shit. Let me know if you guys wanna see the design in any other palettes.

Darker Palettes
http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/5149 ... ftcopy.jpg <- Cool
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/254/nu ... ftcopy.jpg <- Cool
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6742 ... ircopy.jpg <- Menacing
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2918 ... eecopy.jpg <- Super Cool
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/5882 ... getcop.jpg <- Pretty ugly, but I know one of you will fall in love with it.
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/8007 ... secopy.jpg <- Alright
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/4137 ... ckcopy.jpg <- Think some of you a little hesitant toward the redesign might enjoy this one.
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8066 ... nocopy.jpg <- Special thanks to Techno for the palette. It's one of my favorites. Even though I didn't ask to use it.
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7374/n ... uecopy.jpg <- Cool
http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/2839 ... encopy.jpg <- Ugly as shit

Lighter Palettes
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5411 ... ewcopy.jpg <- Cool
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/7012 ... iccopy.jpg <- Simple and cool
http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/8303 ... rycopy.jpg <- Almost cool
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/8954 ... ancopy.jpg <- Lol
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/906/ ... akcopy.jpg <- Simple and cool

I know some of you are kinda annoyed that we're spending time on redesign and structural changes in addition to fixing issues. But I think this is a good chance to improve NUMA once again and get a site that has great new features, runs smoothly, and looks great. So let me know about anything you think could be improved with my design and any color palettes you wanna see it in. I'll try to make the palettes you guys give me if you have any requests.

If you actually read up to this point, holy shit.

Thanks for your time, mangs.

Quick links to the 5 necessary pages for the redesign:
Home: http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/9458 ... efinal.jpg
Hot Maps: http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2986 ... sfinal.jpg
Active Authors: http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8206 ... sfinal.jpg
Profile: http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1749 ... efinal.jpg
Submit: http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/5103 ... tfinal.jpg

[T3chno]

That's some sick work you put into that, Cooby. Much respect.

[Universezero]

Amazing, man. I would love that to be implemented.

[aids]

Next, the Map page.
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7833 ... pfinal.jpg

Key: http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3379/numamapkey.jpg
1. Last Modified available only on the map's page.
2. Appears when the user indicates the map is for NReality. No, Afternoon Dragon is not for NReality.
3. Author's recent maps moved to the top of the page and reduced to 3 maps. Links to all of author's maps and featured maps are easily accessible.

4. Users can now reply to comments directly. Only one level of reply should be good, otherwise it could spiral out of control.

http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/8007 ... secopy.jpg <- Alright

My favorite.

• Why not display more maps on the Featured page? Eighteen's a rather random number, and it seems that there is wasted space. Actually,
• I'm confused. Are Bitesized and Featured maps displayed on the same page?
• The Workshop page sounds excellent, but make sure there's a way to submit map data easily. Or even edit the maps themselves.
• Love the Who's Online feature, but there has to be a way to limit the list down to people with whom I'd want to communicate.
• Could the Main Page be a two column setup? I dislike the long blue bars taking up space.

[Aphex]

Cooby, just get a badge saying "I've done this properly". Get a beer while your at it, I mean seriously the amount of effort you put into that must've been huge. I back cooby. He has blown everyone out of the water. Put in black lion's "top rated" idea as well as cutting back those themes to a handful and you've got yourself a damn near perfect site.

[Radium]

Cooby FTW

[chocollama]

<3 Cooby

[sidke]

uberfap makes an appearance

/supports cooby :>

[Pheidippides]

I believe in Harvey Dent Cooby. The new features you're proposing seem like they fit in with the site's current offerings, and the new look is pretty cool. honeybee, kickback, and techno's palette are my favorites of the bunch.

You've definitely done your homework. Once NUMA's little bugs and glitches are all sorted out, I think this would be a great way to move forward.

[squibbles]

Yep. Thread over. Cooby wins.

[Cooby]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm really, really glad you all like it.

4. Users can now reply to comments directly. Only one level of reply should be good, otherwise it could spiral out of control.

Nice catch. Thank you, sir. Edited.

Why not display more maps on the Featured page? Eighteen's a rather random number, and it seems that there is wasted space. Actually,
I'm confused. Are Bitesized and Featured maps displayed on the same page?

Nah, only Bitesized maps would be on that page. I may have taken a couple featured thumbnails just as maps I thought were Bitesize-worthy. The choice for 18 maps displayed was based on the fact that 6 maps fit nicely in a row and 3 rows is aesthetically pleasing and fits on the page without having to scroll. But, you're right - 18 is a rather arbitrary number. It could be 3 rows of 5 maps - 15 maps - and still work well.

Could the Main Page be a two column setup? I dislike the long blue bars taking up space.

It's definitely something I could check out. News items would have to have truncated descriptions like on the Hot Maps page though. In other words you'd have to click a little button that said something like "Show post" to read the entire post, which may or may not be a workable structure for the News page. If they weren't truncated, you'd get a really weird visual order for the news. For example, if the first item was super long and items 2 - 10 were all similar length it would look like:
1 2
1 4
1 6
3 8
5 10
The problem is that items 4 and 6 show up before 3, completely out of order and probably out of relevance.

[乳头的早餐谷物]

NUMA ROULETTE is a terrible idea. Why not just click "Next 10 maps" or "Random"? Even as a side-feature it would be annoying. I like to be picky about my maps, seeing as how 9/10 maps on NUMA are shit anyway. Honestly, we get about 100 maps a day and I doubt you favourite more than 10 of those or rate more than 10 of them a day. (I'm talking about maps submitted on the current day, btw, not maps submitted on previous days, as you can rate/favourite 10+ maps in a day.)

Maybe to differ it from just clicking 'random map,' it will show you maps that you'd like to play based on previous ratings.

That seems like it'd be way too difficult to code to be worth it.

Not necessarily—the benfits of such a feature would be great, but it's something that certainly should not be coupled with forced rating/commenting.

[Spawn of Yanni]

Pandora's the obvious comparison here. If you get it to work like that you could be on to something.

[Destiny]

Cooby, that is awesome. I only have a couple of points.

The 'recent maps by this author' feature looks much neater in it's current position, above the comments. I can see that you're trying to reduce the amount of redundant space, but I think that preserving the aesthetic appeal of the website should come first.

Secondly, the featured maps mage. I think a layout similar to that you've used for the bitesize page would work great, but with the current featured map atop the page, with it's review next to it. To read older reviews you would simple have to click on one of the map's thumbnails lower on the page. Of course, keeping a structure similar to the one currently used is perfectly acceptable too, just voicing possible alternatives.

On the profile page, you have suggested a comments feature for quickly/directly contacting an author. I think this is possibly the best feature yet suggested. In the sample there was only space to view two at once however, and i'm concerned that that isn't enough. I think following youtube's example and having the profile comments at the bottom of the page, and being able to navigate between pages of comments would be the ideal system to put in place here.

Workshop sounds like an amazing idea, but I worry that everybody who was ever going to submit a map would also submit their map to workshop, because it would be an extra way to get what are essentially comments. This would render the page obsolete, but it's good in concept. Perhaps the way forward with Workshop is to expand its functionality into something of an open map-in-development collaborating tool. A map could be submitted (or part of one) as a new project, and any member can come along and add to it. All previous versions of the map would have to be stored somewhere to prevent sabotage. The original authors name can be put down with it as well as a description(probably the original author suggesting what sort of things should be put in the map), etc. Clicking on the map would take the user to the map page, which contains all the same things as normal (minus ratings, tags and recent maps) plus a couple of extra things, such as a list contianing the names of all who have contributed, in the order they contributed (names can be repeated as users edit the same map a second or third time). Users participating can discuss the map through comments. If you really wanted to push the boat out, you could have that as a live feed similar to what you see on facebook, where comments appear on the page as users add them, allowing smooth flowing 'chat' between users.

My favorite themes are Kickback, All American, and Numainverse. Having an option where the user can select from a small group of themes would rock my socks.

/me looks up

Did I go overboard?

[Cooby]

Haha no, Destiny, you didn't go overboard. It's awesome that you took the time to respond in-depth.

The 'recent maps by this author' feature looks much neater in it's current position, above the comments. I can see that you're trying to reduce the amount of redundant space, but I think that preserving the aesthetic appeal of the website should come first.

Fair enough. Let me explain the reasoning for it first, then show you a different design I think you'll like better. I definitely wanted the recent maps feature to be on the page somewhere, but I didn't want it taking up space where the comments should appear (like what NUMA has now) and I didn't want it below the comments where you'd have to scroll to get there.

So, how about this: http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3809 ... p2copy.jpg

Much more aesthetically appealing, same functionality. Only difference is it looks weird with the map titles, so I removed them.

On the profile page, you have suggested a comments feature for quickly/directly contacting an author. I think this is possibly the best feature yet suggested. In the sample there was only space to view two at once however, and i'm concerned that that isn't enough. I think following youtube's example and having the profile comments at the bottom of the page, and being able to navigate between pages of comments would be the ideal system to put in place here.

The reasoning behind the comments up top on the profile page is similar to the recent maps thing. I wanted the comments to be visible as soon as you open the profile page. So, I couldn't put them below the actual "Profile" section. However, I didn't want to put them above the "Profile" section because I felt like that would bump it way too far down, which breaks up the entire idea of a complete profile page. You can actually navigate the pages of comments like you said; I think you may have just missed the little link below that says "Show All Comments." If that's true it may not be obvious enough, which is good to know...

[Destiny]

Same deal with the recent maps thing, even with that change. I think that in the current layout it actually acts as a nice border between the map description and the comments section. I think you're over-evaluating the need to have comments visible the moment you reach a page. You're probably going to scroll down the page anyway to see older comments (or leave your own) and so it's really not a problem at all if they're a little further down the page.

Your reasoning for the profile thing is sound, but having to click a link to see more than 2 would still frustrate me. I'm not sure which compromise would make for the best usability.

Any thoughts on my workshop suggestion?

[Sunset]

I think we go with Cooby's idea and make him a special rank that no one else is.

[Cooby]

Same deal with the recent maps thing, even with that change. I think that in the current layout it actually acts as a nice border between the map description and the comments section. I think you're over-evaluating the need to have comments visible the moment you reach a page. You're probably going to scroll down the page anyway to see older comments (or leave your own) and so it's really not a problem at all if they're a little further down the page.

Something is going in that damned white space. Lol.

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/9515 ... p3copy.jpg (Imagine the Recent Maps in the normal spot)
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4563 ... p4copy.jpg (You don't have to imagine)

Any thoughts on my workshop suggestion?

Workshop sounds like an amazing idea, but I worry that everybody who was ever going to submit a map would also submit their map to workshop, because it would be an extra way to get what are essentially comments.

Two things. First, I don't think it would turn into the portal for map submission. I think most authors (especially more notable ones) would never even or very rarely use the Workshop. Nonetheless, to prevent that situation there could also be a cap on how many maps you can workshop in a certain number of days. Or you could only Workshop a map after every two Submissions you make.

Perhaps the way forward with Workshop is to expand its functionality into something of an open map-in-development collaborating tool. A map could be submitted (or part of one) as a new project, and any member can come along and add to it.

I want to like this idea, but it's definitely not the direction I wanted to take the Workshop. The Workshop is supposed to be an area to improve your mapping through community suggestions, not to have your maps altered directly. I think this is an absolutely great feature to have for collab groups though. Something like all the members sign into the collab account and just map together. Support for collab accounts is actually something I considered putting into the design, but I couldn't quite imagine what it would entail exactly.

[Cooby]

Two things. First, I don't think it would turn into the portal for map submission. I think most authors (especially more notable ones) would never even or very rarely use the Workshop. Nonetheless, to prevent that situation there could also be a cap on how many maps you can workshop in a certain number of days. Or you could only Workshop a map after every two Submissions you make.

How about only 2 maps maximum per author in the Workshop and the author must submit/delete there maps in the workshop to reset the count to 0.

Crap - forgot my second point, which addresses the delete maps part of this. The Nod system is also a safeguard against what Destiny was talking about. If people think a map is good enough, they won't comment - they'll just Nod and it'll disappear from the Workshop when it gets 5 Nods (no need to delete it unless you want to preemptively).

But yeah, it probably needs some kind of cap.