@ Catalyst

Ok, so you have helped to re-design the site, and put a lot of work in it, which most of all very much appreciate.

But, it turned out that ONE of the new ideas for the site is very much disliked by the vast majority of the visitors of the site (see poll and comments).
Why is it such a problem to admit that maybe this particular idea was not so good after all (even if you yourself like it), and withdraw it, or at least seriously think about it again?

That doesn't mean that your work was bad, or that we are unthankful... just that one of the ideas was not a success.
Such things happen, it's not a big deal.
It becomes a problem only when developers refuse to see and understand the objections of their user base.

Honestly, your 5 arguments for the two column design are very much negligible, at least for me.

 

We're not beyond listening to feedback as I'm sure you're already aware and I was actually the first person to bring this up with staff including submitting ways of accomplishing it where everyone can be happy. I also recognize that SAiNT has his own reasons for incorporating two column view as well. And though they might be negligible for you they might not be negligible for the other contributors or for our needs in terms of being able to have notifications up, or members waiting on reups, etc. Again you guys only look at it from your point of view but you are not the only consideration we have to cater to. When this poll was put up I don't believe people were aware of any reasoning at all for why it was done this way and so I provided some but people had already voted. I don't think you would feel it's so negligible if it were put back and then we had NICNT, notices from staff and other things you don't want in Fresh Releases.

 

Its probably best that everyone chill for awhile, I can see this turning ugly.
Also I'm sure it is discouraging for the admin.

Its pretty obvious that not everyone will be happy. Give it some time and let Saint and Catalyst think about it.
I'm sure Saint reads this thread.

From personal experience.......
Websites are a evolution and a designers work is never done.(If it is your site)
A little sleep, patience and brainstorming goes a long way. Give it a flippen chance.

Chill and go play some music.. Its therapy for me.
Voo

 

I'd only add that it was a change for me as well and I was resistant at first but now after catching a few things I never would have seen otherwise I am 100 percent behind this system. Please don't let something as simple as an extra column keep you from enjoying what is an absolutely stellar site. There are still some bugs and features to be added but honestly I feel like I'm in the hottest VIP lounge/club when I'm in there and I work here. All of you should get maximum enjoyment from the site and it's many amazing new features. It is quite simply a work of art and functionality. *yes*

 

Well at least now both of you have spoken out the main reason for the two column design.

It is for the uploaders, because they want and should be ensured more downloads.
Everybody HAS to see every single thing uploaded to AudioZ, if he likes it or not, to get them "the attention they deserve".

Well believe it or not, you don't need two columns to achieve this purpose, you can just as well do that with one column, but including all uploads in the single column.

The way it is now, the two column design shows it's flaw very quickly.
Why?
Because you have much more uploads in the left column than in the right. This is a simple fact.
So, after the right column finishes (because no more new uploads), you end up with one small column alone, and a lot of free, unsused space on the right, for several pages if you have lots of new releases.

If you think it doesn't at least reflect a general trend, well so do a poll on AudioZ, then *yes*

But I can see you both have made your final decision to act in the interest of the uploaders, which has to be accepted now.
Take it or leave it

 

Why would NON Audioz users visit an Audioz Poll thread, let alone participate in it.?

I'd have to think almost all of those votes were from folks that know \ use Audioz.

I would be shocked if a similar poll on Audioz didn't reflect similar margins.

Anyway.. moving on, over it all, logged in..

 

We're still ironing out bugs and adding features so that's all that's on our minds at the moment which is why I said let's just get situated. It's hard to continue working or feel good about such an accomplishment when some people are so unhappy already and it's just one aspect among many amazing new features. Personally I'm sure that some members appreciated the 2 columns today when that Plugin Alliance 4 was reuploaded as well as Sandboxie which a lot of members might not know about. I also caught that useful Orchestration e-book and a few other releases too. Who knows perhaps I'll start my own sys tools releases if I have the time even some music too. Perhaps even something you'd download because you caught it on that view.

However I also caught the weakness of utilizing such a view yesterday when there were more releases in Fresh releases Gulliver so I'll give you that.

 

I too feel a bit lost while scrolling and not knowing where to look. And by the way, SAiNT, you say two columns work only on widescreen monitors; I am using an old 21" CRT (1600:1200), which means 4:3, not widescreen, and I always see two columns. Maybe it is about resolution of the monitor rather than aspect ratio.
Anyway I wanted to ask (not propose) if you have considered separate scrolling options for each column? That would have been a logical compromise, wouldn't it?

 

dr.dark
It tells you at the top of each section whether right or left what it is:
Left - Fresh Releases and by fresh we mean uber fresh.

Right - Archives including such things as E-Books, Nicnt's and Wallpapers, Reups. Sys Tools, etc. Keep in mind that archives doesn't mean old. In the file-sharing world an archive can be something that just came out recently such as the Plugin Alliance 4 post we have up.

 

I did not mean that; I understand the difference. I just generally don't like to move my eyes quickly across the screen. I think I am going to try to get used to revising one column top to bottom and then moving back to the top to revise the other column the same way. I just don't like having to acquire conditioned reflex - I suck at it!
P.S. - I still don't see a Kontakt libraries category in posting... (4:3 monitor, 1600:1200 res)

 

Thank you for taking our opinions/objections so seriously.

 

As I just mentioned on another thread I would prefer the single column but honestly. I couldnt really care, yeah its easier for me but.. for what you guys are doing for us.

Wel.. the saying goes "Beggars cant be choosers"

I have my preference but Il suck it up and get on with it =) Thanks for the hard work.

I noticed SAiNT mentioned

"It is also important to mention that double column view only works on widescreen monitors; in other words, second column uses space that otherwise would be empty."

Mayby that is related to my other issue, about the "Add new comment" section being up top right? Rather than below?

Keep it up =)

 

Ahhhh Now it makes more sense!
I never ever saw that they had separate headings!

Now im partially swayed back a bit from my single column vote.
I quite like that idea.

Mayby make the headings bigger? or pull them down from the Advert a bit or something? Im not exactly sure how it would all work. But I have overlooked that every time until I read this. Which I dont believe was hard to do.

 

I really take issue with comments like this because we take feedback very seriously in case you haven't noticed the 20 threads I've opened asking for feedback and the many many comments all over both forums doing the same. However a lot of people misconstrue feedback with we have to do what you want simply because you're sure that you're right. I'd be hard-pressed to find even one business that would be as open and receptive as we've always been with all of you and again you forget one important distinction: this is all free so we're not even under extra financial obligations. It's as if the moment something is not the way that people wish it was we are the bad guys. I think that SAiNT and I, not to mention the rest of the staff, have gone above and beyond for you guys. We have to retain the freedom to try new things out otherwise we can't grow. There are many times when I have an idea and SAiNT and I end up having a disagreement over it, that doesn't mean that I tell him "oh well thanks for taking my opinion so seriously." No because I understand that we have to meet somewhere in the middle, I am grateful to him for everything and don't take it personally. Maybe that idea won't make it to the site but I know that he's been more than willing to incorporate some other good ones that I've had and the newly relaunched AudioZ is proof of this. SAiNT always looks at the big picture including all the different components (staff, contributors, members, etc) before even beginning planning and if he says this is how it should be I am willing to give it a chance and when I do I almost always come to the realization that he's right. Even if I don't I come to the realization that he has the right because he has to balance all these different pieces of the puzzle.

 

Thanks to SAiNT and the rest of the team for putting up such an awesome community.. Im sorry if this thread seemed too unappreciative....I do love the site and I hope you guys continue to support us poor musicians far in to the future