And this is the new category page for the articles - new one on the right and old one on the left. The right is the new Mirai Gaia platform 2 column template. Wanted your feedback on two things:- 1.What do you expect to see when you click on a category such as "figures" ? Most blogs present you with a stack of 10 or so posts and then send you to the next page. I generate thumbnails from each post automatically and display them in a grid view which has been great for discoverability so far. But the current category page (example here) has too many thumbnails. My observations have been that when there is too much info presented to a user for the first time, they take longer deciding what to click on and the likely hood of that user staying on decreases. 2.which leads me to the second question - how many thumbnails do you think is just right and how many is too much?
when i click on a category i expect to see the latest things, and possibly the most popular items in term a figures and such, i think 20-30 thumnails is just about right.
I'm not sure for others, but usually I prefer having as much information presented to me on the first screen I go, rather than to keep clicking "next page" over and over. But the only problem with that, it'll increase the loading time. Maybe about 30 thumbnails would be just nice.
25 is fine to me (cool number as well). A number below 20 will bring dozens of pages to browse and one above 30 or 40 will clog the page and assuredly bring slowdown. (So basically I agree with Evo_Spec)
Nice new avatar ^^
Thank you. This was the "sleeping" one. The current one is the "normal" one... And I intend to switch to each other depending on if I am asleep or awake. Tedious maybe, but priceless. ^^ (Commment will be wrong/right one half of the time, depending on the avatar and current time)
i agree. though watching makes me sleepy. i think i'll just lay my head down annnd..................................................
Hey, don't snooze just now! There are still much to do to save this world! *laughs*
Agree, too. 25 seems the right spot.
Agree to 25 to 30...my internet is slow...
hey Danny this is looking great :) by the way , was wondering you going to add like a Unicode for your site? for those who have phones with Unicode-Barcode readers :D?
yup i agree with the 20-30 thumbnails. Seems just about right.
I think somewhere around the 30 mark is fine. I think no less than 25 and no more than 35
What would the numbers be like if the first page displayed the relevant results by month or week? Would there be too many/too few items that way? That aside, 30-ish sounds fine.
I think 20 thumbnails are okay but anything more might be too much.
I think exactly 21 thumbnails per caregory. Atm I see 7 across and a lot down, I think 7 across and 3 down per category (one being Figure Review and the other being Figure Events) is perfect.
@danny would it be possible to let the readers customize the number of thumbnails they want to see? something sort of like your Hide Comments stuff.. give a choice of like 10, 20, 30, all...
Was not thinking of having this as an option due to the need of having to cache extra pages server side. Maybe if the results turn ajax though.
just cache it as cookie at client side? for those who normally clear cookie and disabled cookie, just too bad.. just a thought though...its been a while i got my hands messy with codings so i am not sure how complex it would be for you..
20 to 30 seems about right to me. Depending on how many thumbs you have across too as i'd like to pretty much see them all on one page without scrolling. The current 7x gives you between 3 and 4 rows without needing to scroll = 21 to 28 (stating the obvious)
yea good point is that the readers do not need to scroll to see all and thumbnails are large enough without straining one's eyes (real eyes).
Dang, I wanted to corner you (in putting a lame pun ever again)... Guess you've made the distinction clearly... or maybe not. *Dark grin* ...So you mean there are fake eyes? Ocular prosthetics (glass/plastic eyes)? Silicon implants? Which is which? where are they placed? How much do they cost? Are there any risk? Ahhhhhh!! ... *Mad & evil scientist's laugh*
well if the thumbnails are too small, one with large eyes may need to lean forward to see the thumbnails... this would incidentally cause one's large eyes to be squeeze hard against the table thus causin execessive strain or tension upon the eyes....=p
Agreed~~
i think 10-20 thumbnails per page is imo the ideal number and arrange chronologically where new posts are on the first page ^^
just a thought, why not have 20 or more thumbs stacked and show a few lines from your post. similar to what you have on otaku.fm?
i think that should show the most recents, the most viewed and the more commented, and should be 10 items each
18-24 (3 to 4 rows) sounds okay in my opinion. That picture (right pic) looks more user friendly (easier to navigate and easier on the page load).
i think about 28 thumbs per individual sub category should suffice. (4 rows) anything more than 6 rows will take longer for users to scroll. my screen resolution is 1280x1024
25 to 30 thumbnails seems like the way to go. I prefer to page through selections than scrolling through all the content.
I'm with a few here, 25-30 is fine. I'm sure it will be really awesome, can't wait.
25 in 5x5 format is the best. a square format will let readers be more focused when looking at the thumbnails.
Of course the biggest problem is trying to present the most relevant information to the user who is observing the page. That's a tricky one. I wonder how much help a search bar would be. Kinda aside, always wanted a way to track my comments and comments made to my comments by others from my profile page. That would be cool.
Would be nice if users can manually download thumbnails for their latest post items.
Upload, I mean. I'm still unsure why my post won't show up in thumbnails. Didn't break Rule 1, 2, and 3 that you list.
Yep, 25-30 seems good to me
1. I expect to see when I click on a category a stack of thumbnails of the most recent and/or popular posts in that category. So you can sort either by date, sort by most commented and/or sort by most viewed. 2. I think a stack of 20-30 thumbnails would be just right. over 50 would be way too much. Also, just a suggestion if it's possible, it would be nice if when you hover over each thumbnail you get a quick summary or the first sentence of that posts. To be honest, I hardly ever go to each category and read the posts that way nowadays, but I did do that when I was a new reader here. I guess as a new reader, I tend to like to read it like I'd read a blog I just found, I'd go back as far as possible and "catch up"!
I think the user should be able to customize how many thumbnails that they want to see. I think 30-40 is good.
I'd vote for 20-30 thumbnails, it's about right.
I prefer a clean layout after clicking the figure icon. Make it less crowded there. I tried before launching your site on a 14" laptop and it take some effort to scroll down right to the bottom page where all the thumbnails end. If you get any time outs during this, you have to refresh the page and start all over again. For those who are using mega sized monitors like 24" or plasma tvs, there wont be any problems. You can sub categorised them into company brands in a form of banner or icon with the scroll down options when you click on them. It works with text but not sure you can insert thumbnails into it. It should save some loading time here.
25 thumbnails would be best and make it 5x5. Symmetry at its best~
Totally unrelated, but what is the app in your dock to right of Firefox??
Its Adium - my IM client that supports yahoo, msn, gmail etc etc
Adium? My icon looks like a green bird!? Never mind...
Thanks all for the feedback. Looks like around 30 is what I should go for.
It would be nice to assume everyone is on boardband or fast internet but even if everyone is. having 30 thumbnails would be an information overload , maybe 10-15 would be just about right.
