Some Subtle Enhancements to DCSki
December 16, 2006
18 posts
12 users
9k+ views
There are some subtle changes on DCSki's home page and throughout the site -- the first batch of improvements for the 2006-2007 winter season. Although the changes are subtle, a lot of work and thought went into them. My goal was to not make it too obvious that changes were afoot.
Please take a look at DCSki's home page and let me know if you encounter any rendering/layout issues in your web browser. If you do, please post the details here, or e-mail me a screenshot.
If you notice the changes, please feel free to offer feedback on them as well. I'm mainly shooting for a more updated look, and making it a bit easier to navigate all the information available on DCSki.
I love the main page changes, although I'm not fond of the amount of advertisements on the top of the forums when logging in.
I'm curious, have you thought of using Invision Power Forums? They seem to give a ton of flexibility code wise and or theme wise. I didn't know if the cost of UBBThreads was more or less than IPB.
Have you made a change in the logo? The white on white background makes the 'S' disappear so that it now looks like 'DC ki' .... is this right?
Site is a lot cleaner looking ... freshened the place up a bit, what?
Thanks for all your hard work Scott, I know what it takes to keep one of these things up and running. It has to be a labor of love, like DC Ski obviously is, to make it work.
Kudos.
Thanks for the feedback! Snowcone: do you have animated images turned off in your web browser? The new logo is subtly animated -- every 10 seconds, the "S" swoops down like a skier skiing down a mountain. The "S" should normally be there. But I'm wondering if some browsers will just show the first frame (vs. last frame) of the animation if image animations are turned off..
I just re-rendered the animation, and stuck a full logo (showing the S) in the first frame as well as the last frame. Please let me know if you still notice this problem. (You might have to quit your browser and re-load to clear its cache.)
I was going to make some joke about the high cost of gas causing me to foreclose one of DCSki's letters...
Also, I'm still experimenting with the layout in the forums to make the ads blend in more naturally. So any annoyances there should hopefully be minimized soon.
It's subtle but it looks pretty good. I like it, good work.
It's pretty fast, blink and I've missed it.
yes ... much better now. The 1st and last frame idea works. I don't think I have animations turned off but you never know; I lock my browser down pretty hard to help prevent all those nasty diseases from take up residence in my box. I also use Firefox but that shouldn't make any difference as far as animations are concerned.
Thanks.
I like the
.
It's new isn't?
I think the forum/article summary at the bottom is a little busy looking myself -- although i'm not against the concept. And I'm not too keen on the ">>" underscore in each of the main boxes, maybe those could be replaced with a little graphic arrow or something along those lines. Perhaps you planning such and they are simply a place holder.
Scott- that new mapping device is awesome! I really dig the satellite images.
Sadly, you now have a more sophisticated mapping system than a lot of town planning agencies in the United States (sadly, that is, for them, not you!).
Scott,
Nice use of Google maps. I may have some tech questions for you in the near future...
The updated map is very nice!
Scott,
I was browsing around the new map and noticed that the placeholders for The Homestead in Virginia and Montage in Pennsylvania are off. The one for Montage is only slightly off, but the one for the Homestead is several miles down valley at a place that Murphy and I once agreed would make an outstanding ski resort, but there's nothing there (unfortunately).
Don't mean to sound critical because the map is a great tool. Just thought you should know in case there's anything you can do about it.
(Yes, it's a slow day at the office)
I used the mapping tool in satellite imagery mode to show my kids a close up of our house in Northern Virginia.
Could even see what I thought might be the neighbors green minivan in front of their drive, which makes me ask...how often do they update the imagery that they use?
Quote:
Scott,
I was browsing around the new map and noticed that the placeholders for The Homestead in Virginia and Montage in Pennsylvania are off. The one for Montage is only slightly off, but the one for the Homestead is several miles down valley at a place that Murphy and I once agreed would make an outstanding ski resort, but there's nothing there (unfortunately).
Don't mean to sound critical because the map is a great tool. Just thought you should know in case there's anything you can do about it.
(Yes, it's a slow day at the office)
Hi Roger,
No, I was hoping very much for this kind of feedback. I spent a few hours hunting down the exact latitude and longitude of ski resorts and in many cases, I was only 90% sure I got the right location. I'll take a look at Montage and the Homestead this weekend.
I also was meaning to ask: did I get the right locations for Canaan Valley and Timberline? I found some maps of Canaan Valley that seemed to disagree on the location, and from the satellite imagery I wasn't positive I got Canaan Valley right. If anyone thinks they're wrong let me know.
At some point, I would like to create a similar map for Lost Ski Areas locations. That will be even more challenging to nail down the correct locations!
Glad folks like the new feature. I had fun putting it together, and still have some ideas of how to expand it once the season gets underway (e.g., showing operating status of resorts.)
Quote:
Quote:
Scott,
I was browsing around the new map and noticed that the placeholders for The Homestead in Virginia and Montage in Pennsylvania are off. The one for Montage is only slightly off, but the one for the Homestead is several miles down valley at a place that Murphy and I once agreed would make an outstanding ski resort, but there's nothing there (unfortunately).
Don't mean to sound critical because the map is a great tool. Just thought you should know in case there's anything you can do about it.
(Yes, it's a slow day at the office)
Hi Roger,
No, I was hoping very much for this kind of feedback. I spent a few hours hunting down the exact latitude and longitude of ski resorts and in many cases, I was only 90% sure I got the right location. I'll take a look at Montage and the Homestead this weekend.
I also was meaning to ask: did I get the right locations for Canaan Valley and Timberline? I found some maps of Canaan Valley that seemed to disagree on the location, and from the satellite imagery I wasn't positive I got Canaan Valley right. If anyone thinks they're wrong let me know.
At some point, I would like to create a similar map for Lost Ski Areas locations. That will be even more challenging to nail down the correct locations!
Glad folks like the new feature. I had fun putting it together, and still have some ideas of how to expand it once the season gets underway (e.g., showing operating status of resorts.)
T-Line looks good, but your marker for Cannan is at the state park area. I am farily certain that the ski area is east of Rt 32.
I think I now have the correct location for Canaan Valley Resort, the Homestead, and Montage Mountain. If anyone else notices any inaccuracies, please let me know.
From a semi-newbie, who last skied and used your site about three years ago. It's an even more terrific resource now than it was then. A couple of suggestions from a newcomer perspective...
The front page doesn't have a "where do I start" menu option. You could turn the section currently called Q&A into a Newcomer section that would include the current questions, and other orientation-type info that would be of interest to new skiers or Washingtonians.
Create a "newcomer" forum board to ask the most basic questions. The Icebreaker section doesn't seem to be question-oriented. Perhaps one board could serve both purposes.
You've added some minor, distant resorts to your coverage (yay!), but of course not every area merits full coverage. Could you just post a list of names of places like Eagle Rock, so people at least know they exist and can Goggle-search for them.
Also, I'd be interested in knowing the names and locations of ski shops in the metro area where you could rent skis a few days at a time instead of day-to-day at the resort. Although I can understand you'd rather they pay to adverise istead of getting a free listing.
