Details, details...

[AA7BQ]

Okay, so there are a lot of options. #I thought it would be cool to take a vote, and to test out our new voting mechanism.

A callsign page typically has four parts: The basic info (callsign, name and address), the detailed info (expiration date, county, previous callsign, etc.), the user's picture, and then the user's biography.

So here's the question: which order would you prefer them to appear on the page?

I won't say that this is strictly democratic (after all, its my site! ) but I would like to know what you think. #I can be persuaded http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

73,

-fred

[KB1GYQ]

While you're changing things, consider listing email address with ' at ' instead of '@' ... might help with stoping spam

[k3sam]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KB1GYQ @ Feb. 08 2002,20:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">While you're changing things, consider listing email address with ' at ' instead of '@' ... might help with stoping spam[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
What an idea !! On a recent "spam" I received, it appeared that all the addresses had been pulled from here or buckmaster. The list went on and on with callsigns, in order. Anyone that knows how to get this far would understand the "at" replacement. Cheers.

[AB0SI]

Agree with the posters who suggest combining basic and detail. Or, at least, add the county to the basic. Very, very easy for me to say -- I don't ahve to problem anytihng. <grin>

[KB9YFI]

I vote to combine the basic and detailed info. It's just repititon anyway. Nobody uses 1400-baud modems anymore. Give us the whole picture instead of little snippets at a time.

One other thing. There should be a link to "Main Menu" on every single part of this website so one can navigate back instead of backspacing the whole way and wasting server resources on this site.

[N2RJ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (k3sam @ Feb. 08 2002,21:59)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KB1GYQ @ Feb. 08 2002,20:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">While you're changing things, consider listing email address with ' at ' instead of '@' ... might help with stoping spam[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
What an idea !! #On a recent "spam" I received, it appeared that all the addresses had been pulled from here or buckmaster. #The list went on and on with callsigns, in order. #Anyone that knows how to get this far would understand the "at" replacement. #Cheers.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Alot of spam is gathered by spam "bots" that scan HTML pages and Usenet. #I mangled my email address posting here so that the spam bots wont pick it up. #One person posting here didn't understand and called my email address a "punk" email address. #Oh well....

[KD5KUF]

General info and details should be quickly accessible. Other than that, the site is faster and I had no problem with frames. Many newer sites are using them now, and they do offer advantages. I can scroll one section then move over to scroll for an option without losing what I first zeroed in on. I always prefer change for the better, not just sticking with what I'm used to. Or I would have to saddle up my horse and ride to the creek to get a drink of water. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
On a side note, I noticed my profile dosen't show the date I registered and only 1 post to date. Is my past info lost or will it be updated in the future?

[n5xm]

I think you folks are doing a great job, and I like the fact that things are fluid, and being improved as users make observations about ways to make it better for everyone. I didn't like the new swapmeet section at first, but I like it a lot better now. I liked the previous ability to tell how many new items have been posted since my last visit. We can't seem to be able to tell that now. Some folks just aren't gonna like anything that is different. It won't be enough change for others. I think the UTC should go on the left hand side, maybe underneath the box for looking up callsigns, so that I don't have to scroll to the right to find it as I write down a callsign. A small deal, but the devil is in the details, as they say. Keep it up, and don't finalize anything quite yet.

[k9ij]

I would add my vote to combining basic and details. A couple of times I have missed the fact that a DX station has a QSL manager because that was buried in the (hidden) details and not more obvious.

[kb8aob]

The combination of basic information and detailed information makes a great deal of sense. #The order of the other items is not important as long as they are not first.

[N0NB]

I'm quite flexible when it comes to frames on web pages. #I don't mind them so long as when I jump to an off-site link the new information is not contained in the frame of the site I just left. #That burns me to high heaven and it is a simple action on the part of the HTML author to disable that function.

As far as QRZ.com is concerned, I liked the old threaded/nested method of reading the comments as threads were grouped together. #I would vote for that layout if I could. #While the current layout is fine, it seems to have lost some of the continuity the previous version had. #Since I chose nested in my profile, I didn't have to constantly click my way up and down through the comments.

Lastly, it seems the site is serving many more graphics, particularly small graphics for all the smileys and such. #Surely the server load could be decreased if the number of these files in a page were reduced. #Brevity is the soul of wit, so I'll shut up now!

Editor's note: #
Threading isn't something we can just turn on with the flick of a switch. #It has to be built into the system from its very foundation. #This software, ikonboard, doesn't support threading.

In addition, I didn't care much for it on the old Forum. #Topics tended to meander too much each could have an entirely new heading. #It was very easy to get down into a sub-discussion of a sub-discussion and it could be very difficult to get back to the original track you were reading.

Nothing is stopping users from starting new topics on any subject on this system. #At least this way, each discussion stays focused on the original topic.

-fred, AA7BQ

[KB1GYQ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (N0NB @ Feb. 09 2002,16:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">As far as QRZ.com is concerned, I liked the old threaded/nested method of reading the comments as threads were grouped together. #I would vote for that layout if I could. #While the current layout is fine, it seems to have lost some of the continuity the previous version had. #Since I chose nested in my profile, I didn't have to constantly click my way up and down through the comments.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I agree

[N5TIF]

Yes, I agree the the General and details should be combine. #And please no frames. #But i do like what you have done to the web page.

[stevencko]

I would like to see the licence class added to the basic page.

[N2RJ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KB1GYQ @ Feb. 09 2002,17:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (N0NB @ Feb. 09 2002,16:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">As far as QRZ.com is concerned, I liked the old threaded/nested method of reading the comments as threads were grouped together. #I would vote for that layout if I could. #While the current layout is fine, it seems to have lost some of the continuity the previous version had. #Since I chose nested in my profile, I didn't have to constantly click my way up and down through the comments.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I agree[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I kinda like the new format. #One thing I've noticed is that without the threaded format, there is slightly less chance of a discussion degenerating into personal attacks. #Then again, it may be my imagination.

The nested format was only nested up to the point where the comments would reach the far right of your screen and then they'd be flat on top of each other. #It would take a heck of a lot of comments for it to reach that far. #Given the number ofcontroversial articles published within recent times, this has been a regular occurrence.

A nice format I have seen (although I am not sure if Ikonboard can do it) is Google Groups (dejanews) where the comments are on the right hand side and on the left side in a frame there is a a thread. #I can't exactly describe it, the best thing would be to look at it yourself at groups.google.com. #The left side is clickable so you can instantly jump to an article, yet the right side is scrollable so you can just read comments without worrying about threads.

Oh, and a feature about this I just LOVE is the ability to edit your own posts. #Many times on the old format I noticed a few grammatical errors here in my posts and I would have loved the ability to correct them. #The old format didn't allow for that. #The new one does, and I just love that feature, as a matter of fact this last paragraph is a result of my editing ;-)

[n2ea]

The way it is now works fine. By 'details', do you
mean the address info? Or something new?
I'd suggest that the apparent polling division between details prior to, and details following picture may reflect some uncertainty of language.

[K4RAP]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (n2ea @ Feb. 10 2002,04:55)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The way it is now works fine. #By 'details', do you
mean the address info? # Or something new?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

As an example, I just looked up your call sign. #The basic lookup page included your address, picture, and biography. #On that page is a link to "Detailed info". #

Clicking on this link brings up a few more interesting tidbits about you, such as your license class (obvious in your case, but not everyone updates to an extra class call sign), your birthday (nobody's business, but interesting to know), your county (of interest to county hunters), and your geographical coordinates and grid square (not always 100% accurate).

It seems that the general concensus is to just have everything come up on one page when a call sign is checked. #This seems like a reasonable solution that will satisfy most users.

[ad0ry]

One reply said "Nobody uses 1400-baud modems anymore."

Remember us /MM (maritime mobiles) who connect by cell phone (maybe 9600 baud) for browsing, and by HF (winlink) for email, at perhaps 300 baud! Quick-loading pages sure are nice.

For what it's worth, I even used service (saildocs.com) that retrieves web pages by email request, and returns them by email, to poll the qrz database periodically, so I could see when my current call was issued. At 300 baud, short is sweet!

Bill, ad0ry/mm
(formerly ka3nrm, and can't seem to get the obsolete call out of the QRZ system)

[g4jfs]

One of the things I use QRZ for is finding out the county a US station is in (OK, the station may not be operating from the county listed but does help me!). Hence, I'd second the idea to combine basic and details on one screet to cut down on keystrokes.

[KA2LIM]

Basic and Detailed combined

Fred,
You have a fantastic site! I do agree with the majority of our fellow amateurs that the basic and detailed information should be combined. Keep up the GREAT JOB!

73,

Bob
KB0ZWK http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[VA6CJC]

Howdy! Really don't make no never mind to me! It all works out in the end sure enough well!! 73! VA6CJC
Chris