New site updates for January 1, 2009 - Feedback encouraged

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to let all registered users and paying subscribers know about the following changes we implemented today (January 1, 2009) on the site:

What new features are available?
1.) Added drag & drop sorting of files within media albums
2.) Added drag & drop sorting of media album sections
3.) Added ability to move media files from one album section to another album section within the same registry entry

What's Changed
1.) Redesigned site for easier navigation
2.) Removed registry-specific navigation, now all registry types can simply be found under the "registry" navigation link
3.) Improved club navigation to draw more attention to club pages hosted on SuperMotors
4.) Redesigned registry homepage to show top monthly rides and top all-time rides in addition to newest and updated rides
5.) Fixed bugs with email notifications not containing correct unsubscribe link
6.) Added new 300x250 advertising formats on a few pages of the site to help us generate additional revenue to keep the site running each month
7.) Registry URLs are now in the format of http://www.supermotors.net/registry/10 (previously they were http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/10). All old URLs/Links will automatically forward to the new format -- you do not need to update your links.

Feedback is encouraged
We've done our best to ensure all old links work and forward to the new locations. If you come across an error with the new site or a broken link, please post a response here or contact us via the support page at http://www.supermotors.net/support/index.php.

Thanks,

Eric, Looks as if you have re-tooled to add a number of good, easy to use features.
I have an immediate question regarding the merit of hiring my own appraiser to refute a low value established Response Insurance on a recent accident claim I have filed.
This company has been impossible to deal with thus far. A topic/category concerning problems encountered with processing a claim, may be in order.
Seems as if an insuror such as Response, has no idea and cares less about an owner who has a specialty or unique vehicle, when it comes to establishing value.
BEST OF LUCK for meany years to come !! Glenn

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Eric, Looks as if you have re-tooled to add a number of good, easy to use features. I have an immediate question regarding the merit of hiring my own appraiser to refute a low value established Response Insurance on a recent accident claim I have filed. This company has been impossible to deal with thus far. A topic/category concerning problems encountered with processing a claim, may be in order. Seems as if an insuror such as Response, has no idea and cares less about an owner who has a specialty or unique vehicle, when it comes to establishing value. BEST OF LUCK for meany years to come !! Glenn

Not knowing what type of vehicle you have or are referring to, I would recommend checking out either http://www.hagerty.com or http://www.grundy.com . Depending on how you use your vehicle will depend on which insurer is right for you. Hagerty's policy on what's covered is located here: http://www.hagerty.com/Auto/vehicle_insure.aspx and Grundy's policy on what's covered is located here: http://www.grundy.com/mvp/ .

I personally use State Farm for all the vehicles in our household (as well as other insurance), so with everything combined, the rates are reasonable on our '67 Galaxie.

Good luck with your dealings with Response Insurance.

Eric, I appreciate your reply. My response was more along the lines of recognizing the additions to the site and making it more user friendly than anything else!
I'm located on the East Coast of Florida [where cars rust overnight] and undercoating guy's like Ziebart abandonded this market years ago.
My 1996 Mark VIII LSC and I were in an accident [no others involved] and Response Insurance insist on using car lot comparables for a value on my Mark.
My car is shrowroom new, 72000 miles, all the bells and whistles + and I'm told it's worth $ 3,800 and totaled !
My suggestion was for a Forum dedicated to Problem Insurance claims for owners of older, specialty, limited edition vehicles. It has become obvious to me in recent weeks, an insuror, has No Interest What so Ever in deviating from Normal [ Drive Around Town] values, when dealing with vehicles that WE own and Drive, just because we appreciate them!!
Thanks for the links, I'll look into that. Have told Response I am invoking my appraisal clause rights and I guess I'll go from there.
My opinion is: A site such as yours is an excellent vehicle to disiminate information about all issues concerning car nuts, like us, who need to be aware that, even though we "Love Them", most conventional insurance companies could care less! I didn't know this! My first accident in 50+ years with a Class A CDL!
Good part about this experience: You can bet that My 1978 Anniversary Edition Vette, will be insured with another carrier on Monday!!!

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1.) Added drag & drop sorting of files within media albums

Hmmm... I remember beta-testing that feature, what? 3 years ago? I was beginning to wonder if it would EVER happen!

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3.) Added ability to move media files from one album section to another album section within the same registry entry

That's a good feature, and I'm already using it. But how about moving from one registry to another? Or, even MORE useful: showing the SAME media file in several albums or registries? For instance: I have an album for TSBs that apply to my Bronco, and another for fuel pump info. I'd like to show the fuel pump TSBs in the Fuel Pump album, but I don't want to UL the same diagram 2x to get it into both albums. I want all the hits scored on ONE image file. And since some of those TSBs also apply to my CV, I'd like some of the TSBs to appear in an album in THAT registry.

Any chance of either happening?

We also discussed the possibility of editing (re-uploading) files, but keeping the hit count. Is that still under consideration? I've revised some diagrams & I've already uploaded the new versions, but I don't want to delete the originals & lose those hits.

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6.) Added new 300x250 advertising formats on a few pages ... [b]Feedback is encouraged[/b]

I HATE it. It's on at least 3 of my album pages, and I know why - they score more hits than most other albums.

Steve,

Thanks for your feedback. My comments are below:

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Quote: 1.) Added drag & drop sorting of files within media albums Hmmm... I remember beta-testing that feature, what? 3 years ago? I was beginning to wonder if it would EVER happen!

You were close -- it took 8 months.

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Quote: 3.) Added ability to move media files from one album section to another album section within the same registry entry That's a good feature, and I'm already using it. But how about moving from one registry to another? Or, even MORE useful: showing the SAME media file in several albums or registries? For instance: I have an album for TSBs that apply to my Bronco, and another for fuel pump info. I'd like to show the fuel pump TSBs in the Fuel Pump album, but I don't want to UL the same diagram 2x to get it into both albums. I want all the hits scored on ONE image file. And since some of those TSBs also apply to my CV, I'd like some of the TSBs to appear in an album in THAT registry. Any chance of either happening?

Moving a file to another registry entirely -- yes, that's possible. How often do you run into this? If you need a one-time move done, we'd be able to help out by doing it on the backend for you, if you'd like.

As far as making one media file available across multiple albums -- this really works against the design of the application and database. For example, this link to the front hubs on my Excursion that I replaced: http://www.supermotors.net/registry/media/478017 That url doesn't definitively tell me which registry entry or album section it belongs to. That media ID, 478017, is uniquely tied to the album section.

If we were to make media files be able to live in multiple album sections, we wouldn't be able to provide breadcrumbs back to the album/registry nor would we be able to provide previous/next links to the other images in the album section. There's no way to tell by the URL which album section that file belongs to.

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We also discussed the possibility of editing (re-uploading) files, but keeping the hit count. Is that still under consideration? I've revised some diagrams & I've already uploaded the new versions, but I don't want to delete the originals & lose those hits.

Added it to the top of the list. This will be the first change we make this month.

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Quote: 6.) Added new 300x250 advertising formats on a few pages Feedback is encouraged I HATE it. It's on at least 3 of my album pages, and I know why - they score more hits than most other albums.

It's on everyone's album pages in the default album view format (here's a link to one of my albums) http://www.supermotors.net/registry/9/54748

The economy is actually affecting advertising revenue from the various banner networks that run on the site. We recently lost one of the ad networks (due to "client cutbacks") so we need ways to supplement this lost revenue. Adding 300x250 ads in various areas on the site is one way in which we will test to see if they perform well.

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Moving a file to another registry entirely -- yes, that's possible. How often do you run into this?

I guess NOT often enough to justify that function. I'll try to make a list & e-mail it to you later.

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That media ID, 478017, is uniquely tied to the album section.

OK I understand that now. Would it be possible to make entire albums appear in multiple registries? For example: my 94CV Steering Column album applies equally to later Broncos, so I'm continually referring Bronco owners to it.

And I really have no idea what's involved in programming or managing a database, so if this won't work, I'll shut up about it. But couldn't you detect the previous browser page so that the PREV/NEXT links would know where to go for the media files that appear in several albums? Maybe use that info to add a cookie to the media page so the server would know which one the user is browsing...? I'm just spitballing.



I also remember mentioning the possibility of the registry owner changing the default view for an album. I'd like some of my larger albums to automatically appear as thumbs with captions so it's easier for people to find (CTRL+F) what they're looking for. But now that I can move media to new albums & organize them faster, that MIGHT not be such an issue.

One last thing that occurred to me: is it possible to add the option for a text heading or footing in the albums? In some of them, I'd like to explain the purpose of the media.

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Quote: Moving a file to another registry entirely -- yes, that's possible. How often do you run into this? I guess NOT often enough to justify that function. I'll try to make a list & e-mail it to you later. Quote: That media ID, 478017, is uniquely tied to the album section. OK I understand that now. Would it be possible to make entire albums appear in multiple registries? For example: my 94CV Steering Column album applies equally to later Broncos, so I'm continually referring Bronco owners to it.

The same challenges exist for albums existing across multiple registries. I'll explain more below:

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And I really have no idea what's involved in programming or managing a database, so if this won't work, I'll shut up about it. But couldn't you detect the previous browser page so that the PREV/NEXT links would know where to go for the media files that appear in several albums? Maybe use that info to add a cookie to the media page so the server would know which one the user is browsing...? I'm just spitballing.

You could detect the previous page and then build breadcrumbs and the previous/next links -- however, album links aren't always linked to from a registry. If someone posts a link in a forum directly to an album, then there's no previous page for the server to be able to detect and determine the previous/next links. The end result would be a dead-end because the server wouldn't know which album the file is tied to, or which registry the album is tied to.

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I also remember mentioning the possibility of the registry owner changing the default view for an album. I'd like some of my larger albums to automatically appear as thumbs with captions so it's easier for people to find (CTRL+F) what they're looking for. But now that I can move media to new albums & organize them faster, that MIGHT not be such an issue. One last thing that occurred to me: is it possible to add the option for a text heading or footing in the albums? In some of them, I'd like to explain the purpose of the media.

We are actually going to be adding some new functionality to albums so that users can flag an album as a "type." Initially, we are going to start with the ability to flag an album as an "install/howto". We'll be adding an additional field that will allow a description to be created for the album.

The goal of this is to enable users to "tag" their albums as certain types so that we can create easier ways to categorize albums in the registry. I know you, like many users (myself included), have great content and install/howto procedures posted as a series of pictures/videos and descriptions. Here's an example of an "install/howto" with an album in my registry when I swapped leaf springs on my Excursion: http://www.supermotors.net/registry/9/54681-2

We'll then add a new section/tab to the site called "Installs" which will allow people to browse the directory of install/howto albums by keyword, year, make, and/or model. Similar functionality will also exist on the registry entry so you can view your albums normally but also be able to separately view all "install/howto" albums, too.

Hope that makes sense -- hard to explain without any visual aids. We want to get this install/howto feature added by no later than the end of February. We've got a few other things to add before getting started on this feature.

OK It sounds like you're way ahead of me, so I'll just try to be patient...

Now that I've been using it, I've noticed a few bugs:
1) A single click in a UBB code text field no longer selects all - you have to triple-click now to highlight everything.
2) Drag-N-Drop in the album list doesn't work. You can't drag a sub-album to a new parent. You have to use the old parent editing window.
3) The DND links beside each album name are counterintuitive (to me). The DND link at the top of the list opens the DND window for albums, as I expect. So I expect the DND links beside all the albums to open THAT ALBUM's DND window for the media inside it. But it does the same as the link at the top of the page.