The Elftown Re-Align Project

Do you want to make Elftown a better place?

When we say "better", we mean:
- easier to use,
- friendlier to newbies,
- better suited to your needs,
- more efficient,
and
- nicer to look at.


And here's how you can help:

1) Leave comments on this page with your observations, requests, suggestions and complaints.

2) To discuss your ideas and see if others agree, join the Suggestions forum.

3) If your ideas concern graphic design, contribute a sketch or two! It's a great way to show others what you mean, and a chance to make Elftown visibly yours. See also: Redesigning ET

4) If you enjoy writing valid, semantic HTML and CSS and have some free time on your hands, perhaps you can join us... Leave a note :)


Examples of comments we're looking for:

"If instead of ___________ it said ________________ (on the ___________ page), Elftown would feel much friendlier."

"The order of _________________ is confusing. A more logical way to arrange them would be: _________________."

"I've spent ___ years on ET and I hadn't noticed __________ until yesterday! Shouldn't that feature be more obvious?"

"Look, I've drawn a new decorative border image! Isn't it lovely?"

"There are too many boxy boxes! I want my Elftown to feel 'softer'."

"The _____________ (non-wiki) page is huuuuuge, and it takes ages to load. We should divide it into __________ and _____________."

"My favourite feature is ___________. Everyone should try it!"

"I always end up clicking the wrong _________ when I try to ___________. It's frustrating..."

"Can't we have Elftown in azure and tangerine, please?"


Types of comments we'll have to ignore:

- New feature requests - try the Suggestions forum instead! (<forum:Elftown, Suggestions>)
- Bug reports - they're very welcome in the Bugs forum. (<forum:Elftown, Bugs>)
- Demands to make the forums work like phpBB - our system is better because there's no need to hunt for the new posts :P


What we'll do with your comments:

- Usability improvements that would be useful for everyone will be added to our to-do list on this page.

- Debatable suggestions will be discussed in the forum.

- Layout, design and colour suggestions will be either added to the to-do list, or converted to stylesheet requests for optional use.

- Offers of help will be considered when we get to the implementation stage.

- The suggestions that make the to-do list will (hopefully) be implemented in our Great Re-Align Mock-up.

- The result will be available for evaluation and feedback.

- When we're done, we'll ask [Hedda] to approve it and help us apply it to Elftown.

---

Suggestions made so far:

Main Links bar

L1. simplify and rearrange the links like this:   |Main-Home-Messages-Sent-Blocked-Wiki-Forums-{No new posts}-Notes-Search-Log out| - [Nita]

Main Street

MS1. review the content and organization of the static links - [Nita]
MS2. add headings to random photos and art - [Nita]
MS3. organize the top left textbox a bit - [Nita]
MS4. have a page where the Calendar events can be viewed more easily without much scrolling - [Nita]
MS5. add anchor links to featured stuff at the top? - [Nita]

House

H1. "send yourself a message box" seems out of place {..}; better suited on the "view messages" or "sent messages" pages - [Imperator]
H2. change "Elftown Crew wannabe" to something more apt [Imperator]
H3. The "Private Information" box in your house should be placed under the "Other Interests" box or the "Description" box. [Imperator]
H4. "It would be nice to be able to see our house description area while we edit it just like with wiki pages." - [Imperator]

House/Navigation

H5. "What about moving the edit-mood form to your house only?" [Hedda], [Veltzeh], [Yncke]
H6. Create a page with friends' mood histories - [Hedda], [Imperator]

Notes

N1. improve overall organization - [Nita] et al.

Messages

M1. make the View Older form more obvious - [Nita] for [Mordigen]

Forums

F1. threaded view - [Yncke] - there's a flat view, but it does need more love

Wiki

ERA.W1. improve the layout and look of buttons on exported pages for usability - [Nita]

Navigation column

NC1. move Mood away from user search - [Yncke] /see also H5/
NC2. wiki name box and forum number box could move closer to the user name search - [Yncke]
NC3 moods should be hideable in the Online friends list and searches - [Veltzeh]
NC4. split the status table into personal ("to read") and ET status - [Nita]
NC5. arrange a section like this:
=Elftowners=
Previous active | Previous | Random | Next | Next active
User, #, name or email: {________} {Seek}
Guestbooks | Diaries | Polls
- [Nita]
NC6. rename Now into Chat, ETwitter or something else that gives a hint of its use - [Nita]
NC7. write "Set" instead of ">" on the mood setting button - [Nita]
NC8. move the wiki page keyword search button to underneath the regular wiki page search box - [Imperator]

Style and graphics

S1. whenever there's a graphic button, it should be replaceable with a text button - [Veltzeh]
S2. every button looks different {..}; more uniformity would be nice - [Imperator]
S3. I find the picture next to the "delete yourself from Elftown button" to be rather garish and unnecessary- [Imperator]
S4. "It would be nice if more stylesheets were available that aren't very heavy on the graphics, and don't use a lot of spacing for the navigation." [Yncke], [Veltzeh]
S5. Inventory the existing stylesheets and make them more accessible, describe more 'sheets that might be neat or useful [Nita]

Code

C1. simplify markup, get rid of unnecessary tables - [True, plain and simple] and [Nita]

Documentation/Community/PR

D1. Describe the Elftown administration processes - [Nita] / "Well... I'm looking for something that actually outlines the powers of each position because as I see it, they're just titles that gives the bearer more rights to mess around with Elftown stuff. I don't know, maybe I'm just being difficult and don't understand since I'm not actually on anything." - [Imperator]

Rejected by [Hedda]

• 2008-05-06 Alexander2war: What if instead of the box that tells you which of your friends are online, that box listed all the members you specified (friends or not) and it will always show those members and their moods and then tell if they are online. - 2008-05-06 Hedda: Nah, you can watch non-friends' houses, but if you want to see when they are online, I think you should have to have a relation.
• 2008-05-07 Yncke: And perhaps, a list of the previous user names too? - 2008-05-07 Hedda: The list of previous user names are available for the guards. People should not be encouraged to change names, so I will not implement anything that will even remotely give people the idea that a name-change is a good idea and something that they should do.

---

ERA coordinators: [True, plain and simple] and [Nita]

P.S. I'm also keeping an eye on popular feature requests (such as rearranging bookmarks and notes), but not promising anything in particular - [Nita]