UI suggestions

[mrfoxhound]

I wasn't sure if this thread was fine to post, so I ended up messaging a site staff briefly yesterday about this but did not elaborate. So, I'll go in to a little more detail here. Feel free to agree or disagree.

Having come from Backloggery to find a new way to manage my video game collection, the detailed collection with photos/info and a forum is what made me want to sign up to this website. So, I made the switch, but being somewhat of a nut when it comes to clean organization with a premium feel, I felt I didn't really find it here. This website has potential and that's why on my first day of signing up, I donated and became a Pro supporter. This site has everything I've been looking for BUT a clean and easy to use UI, in my opinion. So, I haven't completely transitioned from Backloggery to here, as much as I'd like to. Keep in mind, I am in no way trying to suggest this website be more like another website - options and customization are nice features for any website - it broadens your demographic and gives more users control of their collection. Of course, none of these changes have to be forced on anyone, but giving them an option to partake in any feature mentioned is nice. Here are a couple of my suggestions I feel would make this site feel a little more than just throwing games into a catalog:

*Granted the Notes section on games could be used for a few of the things mentioned below - I feel it shouldn't have to be and that having a specific place for each suggestion keeps things cleaner. Sorry if any of these have already been mentioned or are currently being worked on. Also, while some elements may be similar to other sites - it could still be uniquely implemented.


1. A way to rate your games from 1-10 stars (Half stars included), with the option of writing a brief review. A way to view reviews on any game you search for from site members (if written).

2. Adding games to a "Currently playing" section (It could also show up in VGCollect forum signatures).

3. Being able to mark games as "Finished" or "Unfinished", so that collector's know what they have or haven't finished playing.

4. Being able to add games in a collection title in some sort of sub title sort of way. I own 353 games, but this website does not count individual games in compilations - so it marks it down as 164. For example:
Mega Man Zero Collection (User clicks title and title slides down a scroll bar type of menu that shows games in compilation while also adding game count in collection since a compilation is not just one game - it has several full games on a disc or cartridge)

5. Light and dark website options.

6. While ads are necessary, could we maybe remove them from being in the center of collections and keep them on the side? It acts as a big weird border.

7. Being able to organize or rename consoles on left side of collection. Organize as in move systems up or down in place if someone would like to put them from late to recent release order, top to bottom or bottom to top. Right now it just seems to be in alphabetical order.

8. Removing slider on left side for consoles in collection. It's black and blends in with the background, so it may be difficult for people to know you have more consoles because they aren't able to see the slider to move it unless they were regulars on the website (this is another issue with making the UI newbie friendly). Just using the page slider would be better.

[badATchaos]

[gf78]

*Granted the Notes section on games could be used for a few of the things mentioned below - I feel it shouldn't have to be and that having a specific place for each suggestion keeps things cleaner. Sorry if any of these have already been mentioned or are currently being worked on. Also, while some elements may be similar to other sites - it could still be uniquely implemented.


1. A way to rate your games from 1-10 stars (Half stars included), with the option of writing a brief review. A way to view reviews on any game you search for from site members (if written).

2. Adding games to a "Currently playing" section (It could also show up in VGCollect forum signatures).

3. Being able to mark games as "Finished" or "Unfinished", so that collector's know what they have or haven't finished playing.

4. Being able to add games in a collection title in some sort of sub title sort of way. I own 353 games, but this website does not count individual games in compilations - so it marks it down as 164. For example:
Mega Man Zero Collection (User clicks title and title slides down a scroll bar type of menu that shows games in compilation while also adding game count in collection since a compilation is not just one game - it has several full games on a disc or cartridge)

5. Light and dark website options.

6. While ads are necessary, could we maybe remove them from being in the center of collections and keep them on the side? It acts as a big weird border.

7. Being able to organize or rename consoles on left side of collection. Organize as in move systems up or down in place if someone would like to put them from late to recent release order, top to bottom or bottom to top. Right now it just seems to be in alphabetical order.

8. Removing slider on left side for consoles in collection. It's black and blends in with the background, so it may be difficult for people to know you have more consoles because they aren't able to see the slider to move it unless they were regulars on the website (this is another issue with making the UI newbie friendly). Just using the page slider would be better.

You make some good suggestions.  In particular, I think I would really like a light/dark option.  I prefer the screen to be dark with white text.  I also like the idea of being able to see what is on a compilation disc.  A tab to bring down a list would be great.

Oh, and welcome to the forums mrfoxhound!

[azure]

I like a lot of the suggestions, but if you want to keep track of your game progress Backloggery is the way to go. Backloggery specializes in your backlog, while VGC is for cataloging your collection. Thats just like my opinion though, man.

[mrfoxhound]

I like a lot of the suggestions, but if you want to keep track of your game progress Backloggery is the way to go. Backloggery specializes in your backlog, while VGC is for cataloging your collection. Thats just like my opinion though, man.

That's fine, I just don't see what's wrong with mashing the two together. Catalog and tracking. Besides, I'm sure collector's here would like to know what they beat or haven't beat. It doesn't have to be like the backloggery where you can mark games as "Completed", "Mastered", etc. Just finished or unfinished. When you have hundreds or thousands of games - you can sometimes forget. Besides, others will be able to see if you beat something if they're ever curious. Appreciate your input.

[azure]

I like a lot of the suggestions, but if you want to keep track of your game progress Backloggery is the way to go. Backloggery specializes in your backlog, while VGC is for cataloging your collection. Thats just like my opinion though, man.

That's fine, I just don't see what's wrong with mashing the two together. Catalog and tracking. Besides, I'm sure collector's here would like to know what they beat or haven't beat. It doesn't have to be like the backloggery where you can mark games as "Completed", "Mastered", etc. Just finished or unfinished. When you have hundreds or thousands of games - you can sometimes forget. Besides, others will be able to see if you beat something if they're ever curious. Appreciate your input.

Understandable, I'm sure others would love the feature. I would just like the other stuff you mentioned implemented before any sort of progress tracking. First and foremost, this is a website for keeping up with your collection.

[gf78]

I like a lot of the suggestions, but if you want to keep track of your game progress Backloggery is the way to go. Backloggery specializes in your backlog, while VGC is for cataloging your collection. Thats just like my opinion though, man.

That's fine, I just don't see what's wrong with mashing the two together. Catalog and tracking. Besides, I'm sure collector's here would like to know what they beat or haven't beat. It doesn't have to be like the backloggery where you can mark games as "Completed", "Mastered", etc. Just finished or unfinished. When you have hundreds or thousands of games - you can sometimes forget. Besides, others will be able to see if you beat something if they're ever curious. Appreciate your input.

Understandable, I'm sure others would love the feature. I would just like the other stuff you mentioned implemented before any sort of progress tracking. First and foremost, this is a website for keeping up with your collection.

It could be something as simple as a checkbox you can mark, just like where you check off what you have (Item, manual, case, etc.).  It's not top of my list for wanted features, but seems simple enough to implement for those who want it.

Give me the option to have a black background, the shelf view and I'm good as gold.   

[mrfoxhound]

Making the "Finish" and "Unfinished" a checkbox would be great, I didn't think of that. Hopefully more people come around to agreeing to my suggestions. Maybe we could get some of them worked on sometime soon. I'd also like to slip in an opportunity to say a clean up crew for the video game database would be nice. I know the admins are busy enough with maintaining the site, database, etc. Wouldn't hurt to have admins make some sort of mini staff group for people who want to go around and clean up box descriptions, photos, etc. I've come across a couple games where the box art info is not only incorrect but in the description, etc. Of course, I fixed it but if we had a dedicated team to go around, sweep the database up and fix some little things like that - it would make it that much more of an official VG database.

EDIT: Add a game condition scroller? So collectors can mark down their game/game case condition incase they want to see what needs upgrading? Oh, and photo of manual section should also be added with box art front/back and item photo. Good to keep as much info as possible on record. Or just check if it has a manual or not since old games have them but new generation games don't. Maybe add the numbers of pages? Color or no color? Hell, print the whole damn book on there. Nah, kidding. I'm getting ahead of myself.

[gf78]

Making the "Finish" and "Unfinished" a checkbox would be great, I didn't think of that. Hopefully more people come around to agreeing to my suggestions. Maybe we could get some of them worked on sometime soon. I'd also like to slip in an opportunity to say a clean up crew for the video game database would be nice. I know the admins are busy enough with maintaining the site, database, etc. Wouldn't hurt to have admins make some sort of mini staff group for people who want to go around and clean up box descriptions, photos, etc. I've come across a couple games where the box art info is not only incorrect but in the description, etc. Of course, I fixed it but if we had a dedicated team to go around, sweep the database up and fix some little things like that - it would make it that much more of an official VG database.

EDIT: Add a game condition scroller? So collectors can mark down their game/game case condition incase they want to see what needs upgrading? Oh, and photo of manual section should also be added with box art front/back and item photo. Good to keep as much info as possible on record. Or just check if it has a manual or not since old games have them but new generation games don't. Maybe add the numbers of pages? Color or no color? Hell, print the whole damn book on there. Nah, kidding. I'm getting ahead of myself.

LOL.  It was discussed before about having pics of the game manuals and it became this "where does it end?" kinda thing.  I personally use the "notes" section to comment on things like condition notes, extra bundled items, etc. 

We actually had a big douchebag on here a few months back, bitching that the mods and admins weren't doing enough even though they do it without compensation and for the love of games.  They are a pretty great bunch who take suggestions to heart and make changes as needed.

There are little things in the database that bug me, but for the most part I'm very happy with it especially since it's completely free.  My biggest gripe is that occasionally people that can't spell don't find a game they want to add to their collection, so they create a new entry for it.   

[mrfoxhound]

Making the "Finish" and "Unfinished" a checkbox would be great, I didn't think of that. Hopefully more people come around to agreeing to my suggestions. Maybe we could get some of them worked on sometime soon. I'd also like to slip in an opportunity to say a clean up crew for the video game database would be nice. I know the admins are busy enough with maintaining the site, database, etc. Wouldn't hurt to have admins make some sort of mini staff group for people who want to go around and clean up box descriptions, photos, etc. I've come across a couple games where the box art info is not only incorrect but in the description, etc. Of course, I fixed it but if we had a dedicated team to go around, sweep the database up and fix some little things like that - it would make it that much more of an official VG database.

EDIT: Add a game condition scroller? So collectors can mark down their game/game case condition incase they want to see what needs upgrading? Oh, and photo of manual section should also be added with box art front/back and item photo. Good to keep as much info as possible on record. Or just check if it has a manual or not since old games have them but new generation games don't. Maybe add the numbers of pages? Color or no color? Hell, print the whole damn book on there. Nah, kidding. I'm getting ahead of myself.

LOL.  It was discussed before about having pics of the game manuals and it became this "where does it end?" kinda thing.  I personally use the "notes" section to comment on things like condition notes, extra bundled items, etc. 

We actually had a big douchebag on here a few months back, bitching that the mods and admins weren't doing enough even though they do it without compensation and for the love of games.  They are a pretty great bunch who take suggestions to heart and make changes as needed.

There are little things in the database that bug me, but for the most part I'm very happy with it especially since it's completely free.  My biggest gripe is that occasionally people that can't spell don't find a game they want to add to their collection, so they create a new entry for it.   

I'm not going to lie, it took me a minute to find a couple Zelda games until I realized that whole "The" at the end nonsense. I really don't like that. Then I had trouble finding the .hack games for a minute. I would type in ".hack" and I wouldn't really get anything - then I typed in "Hack" and they started popping up. Everything is alphabetical and I'm not too big of a fan of that. If it's progress people are complaining about with this website, then why doesn't staff create a secondary staff unit to specialize in maintaining the database or even get a few devs or something to get some work done on the site? At least that's the conclusion I came to when you said some guy was complaining a few months back about the website. It would also be nice to seperate memorabilia from the game collection somehow, so it isn't all cluttered together. It would also be nice if the staff made a post with a list of things they're currently working on and if it needs a funding goal, users could come together to muster up the cost if it is a desired feature.

[gf78]

I'm not going to lie, it took me a minute to find a couple Zelda games until I realized that whole "The" at the end nonsense. I really don't like that. Then I had trouble finding the .hack games for a minute. I would type in ".hack" and I wouldn't really get anything - then I typed in "Hack" and they started popping up. Everything is alphabetical and I'm not too big of a fan of that. If it's progress people are complaining about with this website, then why doesn't staff create a secondary staff unit to specialize in maintaining the database or even get a few devs or something to get some work done on the site? At least that's the conclusion I came to when you said some guy was complaining a few months back about the website. It would also be nice to seperate memorabilia from the game collection somehow, so it isn't all cluttered together. It would also be nice if the staff made a post with a list of things they're currently working on and if it needs a funding goal, users could come together to muster up the cost if it is a desired feature.
[/quote]

I get the idea of skipping "the" for titles that begin with it and pretty much agree with it.  And the .hack games just have wonky titles. 

The guy I was talking about was just being an obnoxious douche.  Like he thought he was in charge, the mods and admins were lazy and they should spend every waking moment working on the site.  I guess I could see it if the site was a paid site where people were paid a salary to work on it.  But being that it is basically a fan site, made by fans it's not going to be updated as fast as a paid site.

[rayne315]

I'm not going to lie, it took me a minute to find a couple Zelda games until I realized that whole "The" at the end nonsense. I really don't like that. Then I had trouble finding the .hack games for a minute. I would type in ".hack" and I wouldn't really get anything - then I typed in "Hack" and they started popping up. Everything is alphabetical and I'm not too big of a fan of that. If it's progress people are complaining about with this website, then why doesn't staff create a secondary staff unit to specialize in maintaining the database or even get a few devs or something to get some work done on the site? At least that's the conclusion I came to when you said some guy was complaining a few months back about the website. It would also be nice to seperate memorabilia from the game collection somehow, so it isn't all cluttered together. It would also be nice if the staff made a post with a list of things they're currently working on and if it needs a funding goal, users could come together to muster up the cost if it is a desired feature.

I get the idea of skipping "the" for titles that begin with it and pretty much agree with it.  And the .hack games just have wonky titles. 

The guy I was talking about was just being an obnoxious douche.  Like he thought he was in charge, the mods and admins were lazy and they should spend every waking moment working on the site.  I guess I could see it if the site was a paid site where people were paid a salary to work on it.  But being that it is basically a fan site, made by fans it's not going to be updated as fast as a paid site.

yeah when you think about it, aside from add revenue, pro membership only costs $30 a year and how many people truly have pro? even if its 100 (which I'm almost positive its less) that's only 3k a year. that just simply not enough to hire anyone. So all the work done here is all in everyone's spare time for the love of collecting. as for just adding staff you have to be careful with it, especially people that deal with the coding, if the person you give the code to is untrustworthy you can have someone adding malicious code or taking the code and using it themselves.

EDIT: WHOOO this was my 500th post!

[mrfoxhound]

I understand it's a free time kind of thing but we have plenty of people here who don't mind devoting their free time to upkeep this website. I guess I'm being a little ambitious with making this website kind of like a premium video game database/tracking website. The go to website, you know? Try to beat out all the others. As for creating a mini staff team solely for database upkeep, I don't see how they couldn't make it so that those members on the team would have restrictions and can only help authorize edits/adds granted they're a trusted known member. I don't see how they could really get out of hand. It would certainly take some load off of current staff who do it, so that they can work on other things. Kind of like spreading the work out. Hell, give the users a mini quiz about the style rules before allowing them to authorize anything. This is all assuming authorizing edits and adds has a friendly UI for a small team to jump in and understand. Simply getting notifications and then pressing accept or decline.

Meh, I get the feeling none of what I suggested will be taken into consideration. "Collectorz" looks pretty clean and nicely organized but I'd rather not be required to pay a monthly fee. I already pay enough monthly fees.

[jason]

I wasn't sure if this thread was fine to post, so I ended up messaging a site staff briefly yesterday about this but did not elaborate. So, I'll go in to a little more detail here. Feel free to agree or disagree.

Having come from Backloggery to find a new way to manage my video game collection, the detailed collection with photos/info and a forum is what made me want to sign up to this website. So, I made the switch, but being somewhat of a nut when it comes to clean organization with a premium feel, I felt I didn't really find it here. This website has potential and that's why on my first day of signing up, I donated and became a Pro supporter. This site has everything I've been looking for BUT a clean and easy to use UI, in my opinion. So, I haven't completely transitioned from Backloggery to here, as much as I'd like to. Keep in mind, I am in no way trying to suggest this website be more like another website - options and customization are nice features for any website - it broadens your demographic and gives more users control of their collection. Of course, none of these changes have to be forced on anyone, but giving them an option to partake in any feature mentioned is nice. Here are a couple of my suggestions I feel would make this site feel a little more than just throwing games into a catalog:

*Granted the Notes section on games could be used for a few of the things mentioned below - I feel it shouldn't have to be and that having a specific place for each suggestion keeps things cleaner. Sorry if any of these have already been mentioned or are currently being worked on. Also, while some elements may be similar to other sites - it could still be uniquely implemented.


1. A way to rate your games from 1-10 stars (Half stars included), with the option of writing a brief review. A way to view reviews on any game you search for from site members (if written).

2. Adding games to a "Currently playing" section (It could also show up in VGCollect forum signatures).

3. Being able to mark games as "Finished" or "Unfinished", so that collector's know what they have or haven't finished playing.

4. Being able to add games in a collection title in some sort of sub title sort of way. I own 353 games, but this website does not count individual games in compilations - so it marks it down as 164. For example:
Mega Man Zero Collection (User clicks title and title slides down a scroll bar type of menu that shows games in compilation while also adding game count in collection since a compilation is not just one game - it has several full games on a disc or cartridge)

5. Light and dark website options.

6. While ads are necessary, could we maybe remove them from being in the center of collections and keep them on the side? It acts as a big weird border.

7. Being able to organize or rename consoles on left side of collection. Organize as in move systems up or down in place if someone would like to put them from late to recent release order, top to bottom or bottom to top. Right now it just seems to be in alphabetical order.

8. Removing slider on left side for consoles in collection. It's black and blends in with the background, so it may be difficult for people to know you have more consoles because they aren't able to see the slider to move it unless they were regulars on the website (this is another issue with making the UI newbie friendly). Just using the page slider would be better.

Hi mrfoxhound,

I wanted to thank you for your feedback of VGCollect and hope to keep these suggestions in mind when we are looking to add additional features to the website.

- Jason

[mrfoxhound]

No problem, Jason. I've made a few other recent threads where I submitted some suggestions - some of them being agreed upon by other users here, even a staff or two if I remember correctly. Feel free to copy and paste any of my suggestions to a note pad or something to keep on file if you're interested on working on any of them. I'd appreciate it.