Looking for Alpha Testers

[Chief 30]

I've been working on a website 100% from scratch using Node.js for the back-end (with Postgres and Redis), and then React for the front-end. I want to launch the forums in an alpha state within the next couple of weeks, and I need a handful of people to run through a simple process of joining and posting, and then giving me as much feedback as possible.

 

If you're interested, here's the URL: http://eclipse.games/

 

If you want to go ahead and join, then login, you should then head to the community forums page, and click into the General Discussion forum. Once there, go ahead and create a new thread. You can also throw in a reply to an existing thread.

 

Then if you can give me feedback on the flow of how it all works together, any improvements you see I can make, etc.

 

It's all still pretty rough, but tell me anything and everything you see I can improve so I can keep a log of it.

 

[Kitsuki 17]

Hmm, okay, I'll look through the place some more and figure it out later, because I'm running low on time right now, but:

 

1) I like the format. Super simple, but still looks great. Easy to figure out, too, unlike a lot of other websites I frequent. You didn't seem to sacrifice simplicity for aesthetic, or aesthetic for simplicity, which is always good.

 

2) Unexpectedly, no "confirm password". While that makes me glad, somewhat, since I hate confirming passwords (mostly because half the time I get it wrong), but that seems like a practical and helpful feature to have it. As much as I claim to hate it.

 

3) No email confirming forum sign-up? Okay so that might be a little complicated, I've never built a website 100% on my own, but usually those emails help me to remind me that I'm signed up at that forum already, that I have a username and don't have to make a new account, and sometimes those emails also have passwords, which is super helpful to me, Because my memory is total shite. 

 

4) I'm able to see a moderate button on my post (which I thought, for a sec, could make sense), but I was seeing it on other peoples' posts, too. The button, luckily, isn't interactive. I can also see edit on their posts as well, but none of the buttons on that bar are really useable. I can't report or quote other peoples' posts, which are things I'd probably want to do.

 

5) Overview of the forum with all the threads note that the threads were created by "Author". I'd prefer to see a username, as that's what I'm used to -- especially if I'm looking for a thread by a specific person -- but I can't figure out if that was intentional. Do you have titles other than "author"?

 

6) It'd be awesome if the "Latest Posts" section was interactive. I think you're working on that, though, just noting.

 

7) More content options in the future? Like images, embedded videos, fonts/other stuff, etc. I'm also sure you're working on this as well. The posting format is good, though, like I said. I like it a lot.

 

 

I'll go through everything more later, I ran out of time RIP. Soon, though!

[Chief 30]

Really good feedback, thanks! I have converted all of these into tasks for myself.

[Kitsuki 17]

lol accidentally double posted on one of your threads. Someday I'll be able to delete it lmao 

 

Rest of the functionality looks good. It might be nice to have simple/advanced reply, like most forums do. Simple for no advanced code/formatting required, and advanced for all the fancy stuff. 

 

also, I assume the site isn't a fixed page width, or whatever the proper technical terms are? I'm no expert :P

 

 

It's not a problem for normal screens, I guess, but if someone wanted to view it in Desktop Mode on mobile, not sure how that'd turn out.

[Chief 30]

If you wanna refresh your cache (ctrl+shift+r  in chrome on windows), and click the button to add a new thread or reply, you should see a message now that explains how to format your posts; the site uses markdown for that, so it should be really easy to learn, and a lot of sites already use it. I literally JUST updated the site.

 

As for the tiny window size, yeah, the site is gonna be mobile responsive, meaning it could scale all the way down to that thin, but I'm not at that point yet. Still WIP

Edited April 1, 2017 by Chief

[Chief 30]

Working on avatars right now; there's no UI for uploading/setting one, so I did it manually via SQL, but it looks nice!

 

[Marked 197]

Honestly, this is super impressive. I am overwhelmingly curious about how the system works with node.js (I never got to learn it, even though I was around when it first started up :( ). 

 

I too had ambitions once to develop a huge website from scratch. Although my scope was way too huge, it's a big commitment. I therefore hold grave fears for your motivation on progressing this project.... will the constant cycles of motivation and RL stuff that happen, etc. 

 

Just so you know, I have big plans for our games section  :yo: And I'm outsourcing the forums, so you better get busy.

[Chief 30]

Haha, yeah, this is the first time that I've gotten this far in a project. I've figured out what makes me tick and how I can change my thinking in order to finish something, so fingers crossed!

 

Yeah, my scope is also too large, but that's why I'm releasing the site a feature at a time. This way I can build out the community before I do the store and projects sections.