graphic for breaking off task

[SekoETC]

But it's the button next to the project! If we did that, people would assume that when they stop their participation on a time when the project is at 0, it will also be cancelled. In fact I bet the reason for newspawns starting so many projects and leaving them hanging is due to them not knowing they go to the Activities page.

A better change would be to have the X not displayed on the Activities list, if someone is currently working on the project, resources have been added or it's otherwise non-cancellable (such as repairs and road improvements). That would make clearing the lists much easier.

[Jos Elkink]

Hmm, I kind of like that idea - two different buttons depending on the status of the project. If you start it, and immediately cancel participation, it cancels the project. Otherwise it pauses/stops/end/exits/postpones/etc. your participation

[Talapus]

That would mean that you could no longer start a resource gathering project for someone else to complete for you (work for hire and such) unless you were willing to spend an hour working on it.

[Jos Elkink]

Hmm ... good point

[psymann]

How about

1) We add a stop button as described.

2) We add suitable buttons to the front and activity pages as required.

3) We keep those two pages consistent.


So let's say we're making a bone knife, needing 100g of small bones:

If it has been started but no bones put into it and no work done on it and no-one is participating on it and this was done a while ago:
For activity starter:
- Activity Page: Info | Remove
- Main Page: Nothing
For all other people when they search for it:
- Activity Page: Info | Remove
- Main Page: Nothing

If it has been started but no bones put into it and no work done on it and no-one is participating on it but this was done pretty recently:
For activity starter:
- Activity Page: Info | Remove
- Main Page: Nothing
For all other people when they search for it:
- Activite Page: Info
Main Page: Nothing

If it has been started, all the bones put into it but no work being done yet:
For activity starter:
- Activity Page: Info | Participate
- Main Page: Nothing
For all other people when they search for it:
- Activity Page: Info | Participate
- Main Page: Nothing

If it has been started, all the bones put into it, the initiator has participated and done 25% of the work:
For activity starter:
- Activity Page: Info | Stop
- Main Page: Info* | Stop
For all other people when they search for it:
- Activity Page: Info | Participate
- Main Page: Nothing

And now say we're just farming potatoes, and you are participating but have done nothing yet:
On your page:
- Activity Page: Info | Stop | Remove
- Main Page: Info | Stop | Remove
On other people's pages if they search for it:
- Activity Page: Info | Participate
- Main Page: Nothing

I think that's enough examples for now.
Anyway, the idea is that:
- it uses a stop button to stop instead of the same X button that is used to cancel.
- it doesn't show you an X if you can't cancel the project.
- it does show you a stop sign on both pages if you are participating but have not finished the project.
- *the main screen uses the same info button as the activity screen for consistency rather than you clicking on the name of the project.

It may be neater to grey-out the impossible options rather than just remove them - or maybe just leave a gap as you do with the participate option when that is removed from the activity page already if not a suitable option so that things stay in neat lines.

I think this would make things clearer for people.

___________

I think that's sort of what Seko and Jos were saying about not having impossible actions given an icon you can click on.

Seko, I'm sure you're right about newspawns not going to the activity page to cancel a project, that's why you need both the Stop and Remove/Cancel buttons available for a project such as farming potatoes above.

Talapus (and Jos's agreement), I don't understand why you say that. A person who starts a resource gathering project would have (as in example above with potatoes) both the Stop and Remove/Cancel buttons. If he chooses to Stop, the project can be taken over by another person even if he has done no work. If he choses Remove, then the project will be terminated. Can't see a problem with that at all.


psymann

[SekoETC]

Well psymann (btw, does that name come from Simon? ) you were the first one to suggest that there'd be two buttons. An info button for the activity is not needed since if you haven't noticed yet, clicking on the project name leads to the info page. But displaying both "end participation" and "cancel project" buttons might be a good option, provided that they're made distinctive enough.

We won't need the "end participation" button in the activities list though, since you still see your active project in the top of the page while browsing the list. And besides, you can only be participating one project at a time, so having an extra column just to present one button in it would be too much.

[yigit]

The "end participation" button could maybe made to look like a participate button with a diagonal line on it, much like a no smoking sign - just a thought.

Yet how about a new and improved "participate" button while we're at it? The letter P presents language related difficulties. "Participate" does not translate to something beginning with P in Turkish, we pretend the P is for Project, whose equivalent luckily starts with P. Of course, not all languages may have a solution like this, we even have languages that don't use the latin alphabet, don't we?

I think the graphic for the "Participate" button should not be a letter (actually, it's the only button with a letter on it) but a picture like the others.

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before, but I don't have the time to dig it up right now, or else I'd love to point to a reference here.

[psymann]

Seko - you are right about the name, and psymann is pronounced with a silent "p".

An info button for the activity is not needed since if you haven't noticed yet, clicking on the project name leads to the info page.

The very fact you had to say "if I hadn't noticed yet" indicates why this is required. It is indeed possible to see the info by clicking on the project name, but why do that, when on the activities list you do it with the info button? Either put an info button on the top of the page, or allow me to see info of the project by clicking on the project name on the activities list. Keep it consistent and you halve the amount of learning I have to do to interact with the interface.

We won't need the "end participation" button in the activities list though, since you still see your active project in the top of the page while browsing the list.

This forum has got a link to the main forum page at the top of the page. That doesn't stop them from putting it at the bottom of the page as well.

If we have the same list of options on both the activities list and the page heading, then I can choose which I use. Same as I can choose to copy this sentence using Edit_>Copy, or using Control-C, or using the right-hand mouse button and clicking on Copy. Just because the option exists on the menu doesn't mean it is removed from the keyboard shortcuts or the right-hand mouse button menu. No harm in giving me a choice to end my participation in whichever way I feel most intuitive and comfortable with.

After all, we don't remove the project from the activities list completely just because it is listed at the top of the page...

The "end participation" button could maybe made to look like a participate button with a diagonal line on it, much like a no smoking sign - just a thought.

Now I see why tah was being patient that's the best idea yet - even clearer what it does then.

And I agree that the participation button could be converted from a "p" to a graphic. Maybe a picture of a tool (hammer-type device or something), or a pair of hands, or something? Hmm, I'm not good at creative graphics, am I!

you can only be participating one project at a time, so having an extra column just to present one button in it would be too much.

You could just put the participation-with-line-through graphic in the same position as the participation graphic used to be. No extra space needed


psymann


btw, this was the 22222th post in this forum

[Jos Elkink]

Nice suggestions, psymann

[psymann]

Thanks I thought so... so what do I have to do to get this into accepted suggestions?

psymann

[T-shirt]

bump.

[Chris Johnson]

T Shirt - There is no need to bump all you suggestions - Please refrain from this

[tiddy ogg]

But asit has been bumped, if any action is taken, don't forget the alt text equivalent... I can read Ps, not hammers.

[psymann]

Problem is, there does seem to be a need to bump suggestions...

It actually wasn't T-shirt's suggestion, it was mine, but T-shirt kindly moved it into its own topic for me.

In the middle of November, Jos said "nice suggestion" - and since then no-one has disagreed.

Surely one of two things should happen:
1) This be moved to Accepted Suggestions
2) Someone argue against it

Until that happens, people are going to have to keep bumping things. I already bumped it a month ago, and there was no response, which is probably why T-shirt has felt the need to re-bump.

There's a thread in here somewhere about sails, that Pie started - he's bumped that every six months for the last two years!

When nothing appears to be happening to the topic, I think bumping it is a natural thing for people to do.

Anyway, I guess that there are too few people to deal with the number of suggestions generated, which would explain why so many are left hanging. Maybe worth having an advert pinned at the top saying "sorry, we're understaffed, so we may not have time to deal with suggestions" or something, and asking for people to join the staff and help out.

It's frustrating to give ideas if they are just ignored...

psymann

[Sicofonte]

Summing up:

- On the Events page, besides the project name-button, provide two buttons, one for cancelling/erasing the project and one for stopping/leaving the project.

- The image for the cancelling button, as it is now (a cross).

- The image for the participating button: a hammer/spanner.

- The image for stopping button same as the participation one, with a forbidden symbol crossing it (circle and diagonal crossing).


Moving this to accepted (boss, if you find this wrong...).
But it is low priority.