Clunky editing, composition

Winterheart

I am not a Web 2.0 Commando by any means, but I've used online services for awhile and I'm struggling with setting anything up on OP.

This is a great idea, but the execution is unfriendly.

Why do I have to take 5 minutes to find/remember what buried link or button I need to change the name/title of my game ... fail ... do some searching in the forums and find at least one other comment about this but no solution?

Nothing is where I expect to find it.

I clicked on "Edit This Page" on my home page and looked for the big type-in box at the very top to change a typo in my page name ... no such box.

This is not Web 2.0 in the least. There should be no hunt-and-seek for features. And no scrolling to find buttons and links I need to manage my page(s).

Where is spell checking? (For some of us it's mainly TYPO-checking.) There's spell check in the forum ... why not where it counts most

DarkMagus

I'll just try to address your first problem. If you want to change the name of your game I think it can be done, not totally sure because I haven't tried, by clicking the EDIT SETTINGS button on your campaign page, its in the box titled Manage Campaign. It will bring you to a page where the title of your campaign is the first box. Try retyping the correct spelling in there.

I dont think you can rename wiki pages, not 100% sure, but never came across an option for that. I think you'd have to copy and paste the text and code into a new page with the new name.

If you want spell chek you could try typing into a word document first, I know its round-a-bout and not what you're looking for, but I'm just trying to throw out helpful suggestions. Also, where is the spell check in the forums?? I actually haven't noticed that.

Good luck.

Curufea

Spell checking is a Firefox feature that needs to be enabled in a text box to function. I'm not sure of the encoding needed for it - but it is possible to have some form input types not recognised by Firefox as text, and therefore needing spell checking. This was a recent issue at my work, but I'm unsure of the details.

Duskreign

I honestly think that a free member with two years of experience on this site that has no real work done on any of his wiki pages doesn't have a lot of clout to say whether the free options offered on Obsidian Portal are a "waste" of his valuable time, but that's just me. I don't know for sure, but I doubt that Obsidian Portal is the only game in town. If the features here don't thrill you, I'm sorry. I have seen plenty of phenomenal wikis on this site, which tells me that the tools offered are at least functional, which I think is the most you can ask for from a website that offers the majority of its features for free.

I think of Ascendant as a way for people that really appreciate Obsidian Portal to give something back, to help keep the site afloat, and to motivate Micah, Ryan, Dan, and the rest to continue to devote THEIR valuable time to this project. If you don't feel this way (and you rightly don't, given your list of concerns), then I would suggest not becoming an Ascendant. If you think the free membership is still a waste of your time, then I am certain you will find another campaign hosting site option that will offer the features you need. Or, if you are of such a mind, this being a competitive world, you could take your idea of providing "amore professional, intuitive alternative" and run with it. I would be eager to see the results, and I bet you would gain a bit more respect for the time Micah and the OP gang have devoted to this site.

I concede the point that things could be better. I would be really happy if my DVD drive could magically create hot, tasty waffles every time I hit the eject button. I mean REALLY happy. That would be better. Make that happen, please, Obsidian Portal!

Also, syrup. Maple definitely, Vermont preferably.

DarkMagus

"I would be really happy if my DVD drive could magically create hot, tasty waffles every time I hit the eject button." LMAO!!

Curufea

@Duskreign - you know, one improvement to the site would be the ability to add reputation, or karma or some other rating system to posts, because I'd like have been able to give you a double thumbs up for that one!
:)

Duskreign

I can think of a few dozen posts of yours and Dark Magus's that I would have voted-up as well. :)

DarkMagus

*blushes* Gee thanks!
....
lol

Winterheart

Thanks, DarkMagus and Curufea. Yes, now I see that the spell check in the forum must be a Firefox thing.

Duskreign, I'm an undergrad with some health issues. I dropped OP not long after starting and am only just returning to it. You mentioned alternatives but didn't name any. You did not make one helpful contribution to my still-new issues.

[ *ABROGATED* ]

There are some awesome wikis? Yay. Those people are either already savvy at the sort of hoops that must be jumped through, or have more time than I do to trudge up the excessive learning curve.

I was polite and tried to be specific, providing feedback necessary for improvement. [ *ABROGATED* ] I specified that I want this to work, but also to work better (at least as well as other similar sites).

[ *ABROGATED* ]

So I solved my one immediate problem, but am still faced with taking twice as long as necessary to do the buttload of work in my minimal spare time to come up with an engaging game for my friends.

To those who make this site go: I repeat that I like the idea and wish you the best. I have higher standards than Duskreign appears to have, however, and can't justify a membership upgrade for what I'm facing at this time. No offense. Just mature feedback so you can refine your craft.

Duskreign

I find nothing about Obsidian Portal to be mediocre, and I sincerely doubt your initial attitude, or your escalating hostility, will win you much support here on the forums.

You accused the creators of Obsidian Portal of being unprofessional, and insinuated that they needed to take classes in order to be worthy of your time, and your dime. I cannot think of a more flippant attitude than yours, my dear Winterheart, and that, friend, is critical thinking.

You spoke your mind. Did you hope for a unanimous thunder of applause when you said this site doesn't satisfy you? I am proud of Obsidian Portal and the work I have done on my wikis. I take to heart any attempt to belittle the work done by the good folks on Obsidian Portal, and if it makes me the fool to stand in their defense, then I'm a fool, and proudly so.

And waffles are delicious, man. Come on! Who the hell wouldn't like a waffle dispensing DVD drive? That's just plain common sense.

arsheesh

Let's keep any further remarks civil and constructive please.

Embirsiphone

If you want to see all the awesome Wikis there is the Site of the month on the main page, I've been here about a month and figured that one out pretty quickly.. You could also check out the pages of all the people who offered up their own responses. The thing about Obisidian Portal is it's a free service that you have to accept the bug and quirks a long with all the good awesome things that are available..

The other thing though if from what I've heard the guys that run this thing are rather busy themselves and this site has been a work in progress and will stay that way as they continue to improve upon it. And asking these busy men to go take classes to satisfy you is rather rude I think, considering you find you're time more valuable.

Also being on Obsidian isn't just for all the great features, I love this place because of all the awesome people I've met, and while I'll admit this site probably isn't perfect and I wish I could get some of the stuff ascendant members get to toy around with, like loads of maps and stuff I wouldn't say this site is mediocre.. I think it's pretty awesome actually..

And if you want to make and exciting campaign for you're players the best way to go about that is develop it first before you try making it fancy. You don't need digital videos to enthall a player, all you need is a description that captures their attention or a quest their character yearns to undertake. You have to get to know your players characters, their backgrounds and everything else and THEN you can make an epic campaign that you're players will love.. I haven't updated my wiki in quite some time for that very reason. I'm the type of GM that wants to make a campaign as magical as possible by adding in elements that let my players know I'm listening to what they said when they created these characters, That I paid attention that one time in the hideout when so and so was making eyes at some low level rogue.. You don't need Obsidian to make an epic campaign you just need it to document and share it with others if you choose too..

Also Arsheesh? I was civil and Constuctive right? Please tell me I was cause I spent like 20 minutes writing this out trying to make sure I was... >.< forgive me if I wasn't...

RaseCidraen

Umami: I think that's perfectly civil and Constructive. I find myself agreeing with a great deal of your points.

The community here is the best I've ever been involved in: everyone is extremely willing to help out and get people motivated, regardless of skill level. Before I joined, I barely knew how to hack enough HTML together to make some text bold, but now I'd like to think I've built an awesome little world of complexity and niftyness (If I do say so myself..) It was all through the community here, and no amount of fancy textile parsers could change that.

Also, Dusk: You mean your DVD drive doesn't produce hot, tasty Waffles? I integrated mine with a toaster (It's actually rubbish for reading CD's now...) and my floppy drive dispenses syrup and/or Hash browns.

Embirsiphone

Thanks Rase :D I hope I can learn how to do html and stuff too soon, which is another good point about obsidian, people can be really helpful if you ask the right questions

can my DVD drive eject French toast? Cause waffles are just crispy pancakes stuffed with air.. :P

RaseCidraen

...When you define waffles like that, I want them even more. You can rig your DVD drive to eject French toast, but the battering mechanism will be a little messy.

HTML is actually really easy, once you get down to it. I mean, I hobbled together some pretty nasty code and it worked: the problem is, you can't learn all of HTML at once. You have to say "I want to do this particular thing. How do I accomplish it in HTML?" I'm willing to help, but I wont be as active in the upcoming week... I'm going to Belfast, so I'm going to be operating on a +5 hour time difference from the east coast. By the time people in California wake up, I may be in bed :P

FrankSirmarco

Dusk, if you place your toaster on its side, underneath your television set on your entertainment unit, you can have hot, tasty waffles any time you want. I just don't think you're going to be able to watch Avatar on it.

But, as a wise man once said, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Something tells me you're the type of guy that could make a DVT ("T" for "Toaster") work.

Winterheart, I think you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. There's a lot of people on the forum who have used OP to create some great pages. I couldn't have told you the difference between Textile and Floor Tile when I joined up. But because I came on the forum and asked for assistance instead of pooping on the product, I found a group of people ready, willing, and able to offer their assistance. And that, in turn, made me appreciate what the site CAN do, and be more mindful of the things that I wanted it to do.

RaseCidraen

Mm... I want a DVT now... Makes me wonder what a DVR actually could do...

Frank: The difference between Textile and Floor tile is that Textile is just regular tiles with words on it.

saithan

As a free user I liken OP to a garage for my car. in the sense that OP provided me with a free(!!!) place to park my vehicle and to top it off provided me all the tools I need to maintain that vehicle for free. and generously provided the option for a car lift and extra tools for a reasonable monthly fee. Gee that is way too cool so now I'm going to complain that OP did not provide me an on demand mechanic staff to do for me what I can do myself now that all the tools are available?
is OP perfect, no. but the staff here seems to really care about our input as users. and I see it in the day to day growth of this site.
My own wiki does not look the way I would like. but that is not the fault of OP it is my own laziness (but i know that if i wanted there is all the tutorial information and the user provided info on this forum to make my wiki ultra uber, but it is up to me to use what OP provided again for free.

take a step back and re-evaluate your perspective.

Curufea

@Rase gotta agree with that - HTML is very simple as I also think using this site is. Mind you I'm a bit jaded from trying to get an XML parser to work on my drupal site just so I can have decent Doctor Who character sheets.

Duskreign

I am so angry. I was JUST at the store, and I did NOT remember to purchase waffles.

OR PIE!

What the h-e-double-inverted-sickles is wrong with me?

Embirsiphone

This thread was pie-jacked again