Map on the Front Page
Posted: 14 November 06 8:47 am
I've mentioned this a few times in passing lately, and I think it is one of the actual problems on this site.
The map on the front page.
I'm not saying it should be removed - I do like it - I just think it could be far better used.
At the moment, it whips you off to a listing of the state you clicked's caches. Not all of them, just the GCA ones - but if you were new, you wouldn't know thats what you were getting. I imagine that stats would say that these links are either often clicked and the resulting page not stayed on long, or not overly often clicked.
It's really not very intuitive, even for those of us that have been around since it appeared.
Some suggestions for what it could link to (for the state clicked)
* Current months stats
* Newest caches
* Upcoming events
* A page with links to the appropriate other pages
Or probably best of all:
A page, not unlike the search results page which shows under headings:
* Link to the state page in the forum
* Current months stats (top 10) and link to full page
* Current year stats (top 10) and link to full page
* Newest caches (all sites) (latest 20) and link to full page
* Upcoming events
* Recommended caches
* And a list of the GCA caches
This would give a picture of caching in the state you clicked - wouldn't that be fantastic?
I really think that doing something like this will really increase the usability of the site and provide tangible increases in use of the other pages.
I used to keep a check on each states stats and the national ones, but when we moved to the current format, it became too difficult to move between states, and so I stopped. And I bet others did too.
Please, really consider this a serious suggestion. I hope others will chime in and say that they think it could be better used too.
This is constructive - not a complaint.
Thanks guys for considering this.
The map on the front page.
I'm not saying it should be removed - I do like it - I just think it could be far better used.
At the moment, it whips you off to a listing of the state you clicked's caches. Not all of them, just the GCA ones - but if you were new, you wouldn't know thats what you were getting. I imagine that stats would say that these links are either often clicked and the resulting page not stayed on long, or not overly often clicked.
It's really not very intuitive, even for those of us that have been around since it appeared.
Some suggestions for what it could link to (for the state clicked)
* Current months stats
* Newest caches
* Upcoming events
* A page with links to the appropriate other pages
Or probably best of all:
A page, not unlike the search results page which shows under headings:
* Link to the state page in the forum
* Current months stats (top 10) and link to full page
* Current year stats (top 10) and link to full page
* Newest caches (all sites) (latest 20) and link to full page
* Upcoming events
* Recommended caches
* And a list of the GCA caches
This would give a picture of caching in the state you clicked - wouldn't that be fantastic?
I really think that doing something like this will really increase the usability of the site and provide tangible increases in use of the other pages.
I used to keep a check on each states stats and the national ones, but when we moved to the current format, it became too difficult to move between states, and so I stopped. And I bet others did too.
Please, really consider this a serious suggestion. I hope others will chime in and say that they think it could be better used too.
This is constructive - not a complaint.
Thanks guys for considering this.
