tak's recent activity
-
Comment on Any developers/designers interested in a helping build a proof-of-concept for a new type of data-centric app? in ~comp
-
Comment on What author has the best worldbuilding? in ~books
tak LinkHamilton's world setup in Night Dawn trilogy is fairly impressive. Dan Simmons' Hyperion universe is diverse and very nicely done. Stephenson's Snow Crash world is also quite interesting if a bit...Hamilton's world setup in Night Dawn trilogy is fairly impressive.
Dan Simmons' Hyperion universe is diverse and very nicely done.
Stephenson's Snow Crash world is also quite interesting if a bit out there.
-
Comment on Reddit testing a new "tip" feature. Giving real money to other users. in ~tech
tak LinkThis needs a cool-off period. That is, it should be possible to withdraw a tip without penalties within first X hours. This is to combat not immediately obvious reposts and valuable, but stolen...This needs a cool-off period.
That is, it should be possible to withdraw a tip without penalties within first X hours. This is to combat not immediately obvious reposts and valuable, but stolen comments.
-
Comment on Recommended two-player board games under sixty minutes in ~games.tabletop
tak (edited )LinkTokaido - a beautiful and calmly paced game. Haven't tried it in a 2 player config though.Tokaido - a beautiful and calmly paced game. Haven't tried it in a 2 player config though.
-
Comment on Recommended two-player board games under sixty minutes in ~games.tabletop
tak Link ParentVery good game indeed, but Stratego is best played on a computer. In physical form the board is too damn tiny and it's just not very comfortamble to play. The setup alone can get very frustrating.Very good game indeed, but Stratego is best played on a computer. In physical form the board is too damn tiny and it's just not very comfortamble to play. The setup alone can get very frustrating.
-
Comment on An option to hide topics from the front page. in ~tildes
tak Link ParentYou beat me to it. Just found it and came back to edit the post with a link :) It's 8 months old though... any ideas for the ETA, do you know? Filtering based on tags is only tangentially related,...You beat me to it. Just found it and came back to edit the post with a link :)
It's 8 months old though... any ideas for the ETA, do you know?
Filtering based on tags is only tangentially related, not really a good alternative.
-
An option to hide topics from the front page.
As per subject - it'd be nice to hide topics from the front page. The use case is very simple - if I see a topic that I have no interest in, I'd rather for its spot to be taken by some other topic...
As per subject - it'd be nice to hide topics from the front page.
The use case is very simple - if I see a topic that I have no interest in, I'd rather for its spot to be taken by some other topic that currently sits "below the fold".
Hiding a topic should remove it from the front page only, but leave it visible on the group page. It would also probably make sense to mark the topic there in some way and have an "unhide" option there.
Alternatively, have a switch for the front page to toggle between "full view" and "view without hidden topics".
12 votes -
Comment on Passwords in ~talk
tak Link ParentThat was not the point. What I was saying that framing it as being good for the users comes across as patronizing. You are likely to get less flak and friction if the message was saying it's...It's for everyone's good.
That was not the point. What I was saying that framing it as being good for the users comes across as patronizing. You are likely to get less flak and friction if the message was saying it's required for the forum's good first and foremost... in which case, for example, this whole thread would've not existed to begin with :)
-
Comment on Few thoughts on the index page design in ~tildes
tak Link ParentThanks for a thoughtful reply. I have general deeply-rooted prejudice towards tags. I've been online since the Fido days and lived through many attempts to use tags to better organize things....Thanks for a thoughtful reply.
I have general deeply-rooted prejudice towards tags. I've been online since the Fido days and lived through many attempts to use tags to better organize things. Heck, I am guilty of building them into several systems I worked on myself. In the end, it's an elegant and simple technical solution that, however, requires a great deal of discipline on everyone's part to work properly. In some cases it may be made to work with mods' help, but this doesn't really scale well.
Essentially, a tag system is too flexible and all-encompassing to be actually comfortable to use. It also only marginally better than a basic category/flair system, when a post/thread can have a single optional "tag"... just something to clarify the nature of a post, not to dissect and classify it exhaustively.
-
Comment on Passwords in ~talk
tak Link ParentBah, get off your high horse. There's a bunch of forums that have nonsense restrictions in place and force creating an account for no other reason but to collect email addresses and grow their...Bah, get off your high horse.
There's a bunch of forums that have nonsense restrictions in place and force creating an account for no other reason but to collect email addresses and grow their "registered user base". So, yeah, you can bet your passive-aggressive antivax jab that the only thing they will see from me will be an @grr.la email and password for the password.
-
Comment on Passwords in ~talk
tak Link ParentThis explanation needs to be front and center, not buried in the comments. Basically it's worth rewording this restriction to explicitly say that some passwords are blacklisted due to an elevated...This explanation needs to be front and center, not buried in the comments.
Basically it's worth rewording this restriction to explicitly say that some passwords are blacklisted due to an elevated risk of account compromise and associated admin overhead. Without getting into why they are blacklisted. That is, that's the blacklist exists to help the forum operators.
Because the way it reads now is that this is done for the users, which comes across as gratuitous. I've used pass1234 for all forum accounts since the BBS times, because I really don't care about any of them in the beginning and treat them all as throw-aways. If some forum proves to be nice, only then I would go and change the password to something unique.
So when told that here I need to select something unique from the get-go for my own sake, it just doesn't read right. Nope, I really don't need that. But if you ask nicely and explain that it's for forum's sake, then it makes sense and it's not a big deal.
-
Comment on What products do you absolutely love? in ~talk
tak Link ParentHow weird to see this at the top. Every single Logitech mouse of about a dozen I owned in the past 15 years has developed a crippling hardware issue few months in. Top of the line, expensive mice...How weird to see this at the top.
Every single Logitech mouse of about a dozen I owned in the past 15 years has developed a crippling hardware issue few months in. Top of the line, expensive mice too. Every single one. Scroll wheel issues, clicks not registering, ghost clicks, etc.
While I had some replaced under the warranty, all of them so still failed. Some where bought in Canada, some in Europe. Made no difference, they... just... fall apart. Very disappointing. Never again.
Logitech is literally the only vendor that I will take time to NOT recommend to anyone, ever.
-
Comment on What mobile games are worth playing? in ~games
tak LinkFrom what's not yet mentioned - Proper games, can be played through to the end: Love You To Bits - FANTASTIC game, can't recommend high enough. Tiny Bang Story - also very beautiful, good puzzles....From what's not yet mentioned -
Proper games, can be played through to the end:
Love You To Bits - FANTASTIC game, can't recommend high enough.
Tiny Bang Story - also very beautiful, good puzzles.
Hidden Folks - Where's Waldo, XXI century edition
For short plays, bathroom breaks and such:
From what's mentioned - Alto's Adventure is really good and Threes.
-
Comment on What programming language do you think deserves more credit? in ~comp
tak LinkD Low-key, carefully and thoughtfully designed language. If I were to start on a new C-ish project, I'd be taking a very close look at it. PS. In fact, it'd be nice to send a quick invite to...D
Low-key, carefully and thoughtfully designed language. If I were to start on a new C-ish project, I'd be taking a very close look at it.
PS. In fact, it'd be nice to send a quick invite to WalterBright.
-
Comment on Few thoughts on the index page design in ~tildes
tak Link ParentSure, but it feels backwards, counter-intuitive. Hiding an A just to get to the B.Sure, but it feels backwards, counter-intuitive. Hiding an A just to get to the B.
-
Few thoughts on the index page design
Freshly minted user here, so here is a bit of feedback from the first hour of using ~s. #1 Having topic-info line below the topic-text-excerpt block creates some usability friction, because if the...
Freshly minted user here, so here is a bit of feedback from the first hour of using ~s.
#1
Having
topic-infoline below thetopic-text-excerptblock creates some usability friction, because if the the excerpt is large-ish, then the "xx comments" link is pushed way down, sometimes below the fold.This is an issue (at least for me) because it interferes with efficient selection of topics to read.
You spot a promising topic, you open excerpt, skim through the top part, if it still shows promise, use the "xx comments" link to open it in.
Key point is that I would very rarely read the whole excerpt before deciding to see the comments. However with existing layout the "xx comments" link sits at the very bottom of the excerpt, requiring scrolling down, correcting for an over-shoot (if the link was below the fold) and then zeroing in on the link.
In comparison, if the link were to stay above the excerpt, it will be within few pixels from where my mouse is after clicking on the "open excerpt" triangle.
#2
If this were my site, I would probably just swapped
topic-metawithtopic-info, like so - https://imgur.com/fJ3tKxc.jpg.The rationale here is that meta carries information that is less important and less frequently used/needed that
topic-info. I know that I would be more interested in the comment count and the topic age than in tags.#3
The
topic-text-excerptfont size is too big. The index is nice, compact and has a very light feel to it. Then you click to expand the excerpt and it's like - WOAH, HERE'S SOME TEXT FOR YOU.12 votes -
Comment on Open comments and links with a single click in ~tildes
tak Link ParentThis is a marginal feature that optimizes away a just single extra click and has an uncomplicated workaround... if it's even qualified to be called that. Pre-open comment pages first, then use...This is a marginal feature that optimizes away a just single extra click and has an uncomplicated workaround... if it's even qualified to be called that.
Pre-open comment pages first, then use them to open an actual link, read it, close it. If it's worthy of commenting - comment as you right back there, on the comment page. Close the comment page, move to the next one. Rinse and repeat. Works for every reddit/hn/tildes-like site.
You clearly have been thinking this through for a while.
As someone's reading this for the first time, I see a solution in search of a problem.
As I understand it you are basically looking to create a single browser thing that uses plug-ins/extensions to handle different data sources and present them in a uniform way. This never ends well, because of an inherent conflict between needing to abstract away the details (to make things look uniform) and the need to access these very details as that's what makes the data actually useful.
So at best you end up with a Windows Explorer-like shell to show data index with perhaps some summary info, and then have a bunch of modules to allow drilling down into the data to do something with it. With all modules forced to use shared UI for all user interaction. An example of this approach is the Windows' native Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe), which pretty much does exactly all that.
If that's roughly correct, then I simply see no point in this as it doesn't solve any problems. It merely repackages things into a format that introduces new dependencies and makes individual modules unusable in standalone fashion.