Map on the Front Page

Discussion about the Geocaching Australia web site
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Cached
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Map on the Front Page

Post by Cached » 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.

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zactyl
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Re: Map on the Front Page

Post by zactyl » 14 November 06 9:53 am

Cached wrote:I hope others will chime in and say that they think it could be better used too.
Me too! :D

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Post by ideology » 14 November 06 10:20 am

great ideas!

map:
we could probably convey some information in the map, eg how many active and new caches in each state, etc.

state page:
the combined state page sounds fantastic! all the key information in one place - almost like a state homepage. we like all the stuff you mentioned, plus why not the latest 10 logs as well, a section showing most recently archived caches. it could even plot your hitlist or planned list as well!

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Facitman
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Post by Facitman » 14 November 06 10:45 am

I would certainly like a state page linked from the front page. As with others I find the click through the map to be less than useful.

For me it's about what's going on and to support this I created a GeoDashboard which shows me some keys things.

Not saying that all this needs to be represented on GCA but here's some ideas ---> Victorian Geo-Dashboard

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Post by caughtatwork » 14 November 06 10:56 am

Facitman wrote:I would certainly like a state page linked from the front page. As with others I find the click through the map to be less than useful.

For me it's about what's going on and to support this I created a GeoDashboard which shows me some keys things.

Not saying that all this needs to be represented on GCA but here's some ideas ---> Victorian Geo-Dashboard
Yeah, but that looks like ass :lol:
(You know I'm only joking, don't you, don't you?)

I love the idea.

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Post by zactyl » 14 November 06 1:16 pm

Facitman's crappy attempt at web design © 2006 :lol:
Great idea though, be good to have something like that for each state. :D

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Post by GIN51E » 14 November 06 6:15 pm

:shock: :shock: :shock: :D

It all sounds fantastic :D

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Post by J_&_J » 14 November 06 6:23 pm

Very good idea.
The "All caches available in SA" GCA page has always been my first port of call for all things geocaching. The above ideas could only make things better.
We really appreciate all the work being put into this site, well done to the development team.

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Post by swampgecko » 21 November 06 9:34 pm

Sorry but i don't like the default being "ALL" caches when I click on the maps, If I want to see a Geocaching.com listed cache I go to that website, now I have an extra click to see the page I want, Looks like I'll have to make it a favourite/bookmark... Bummer

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Post by CraigRat » 21 November 06 10:23 pm

swampgecko wrote:Sorry but i don't like the default being "ALL" caches when I click on the maps, If I want to see a Geocaching.com listed cache I go to that website, now I have an extra click to see the page I want, Looks like I'll have to make it a favourite/bookmark... Bummer
It'll no doubt change to become more like what Cached has suggested rather than go straight to a cache list page.
Even though I was the one who changed it to go to ALL caches in a state, I can tell you I don't like it.....
Stay tuned!

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Post by CraigRat » 22 November 06 11:05 pm

I've done the inital coding for a state/region page using some of the suggestions in this thread.

It should be ready for Beta testing in the near future.

Stay Tuned!

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