Suggestions & Opinions wanted

[Jack]

As you all know I'm taking an aggressive stance towards improving TDC (since it feels like the site's in a bit of a slump at the moment, but that's not really true...but I digress). Anyhoo, I need your help.

(The following questions are more of a survey, and I'd really appreciate if you'd take a second to tell me what you think. Be brutally honest.)

1. What section(s) is/are TDC's strength?
2. What section(s) is/are TDC's weak spots?
3. How would you rate the backstory coverage (ie. the Compendium) on a scale of 1-10? (1=awful, 10=perfect).
4. How would you rate the Game Guides on a scale of 1-10?
5. How would you rate the Interactive sections/games on a scale of 1-10?

(now for more superfluous questions)

6. What kind of browser do you use?
7. How many times a week do you visit TDC? How many times a day, if more than one?
8. What is your monitor resolution?

Finally, the last two questions are sort of optional, since they're almost essay questions (though not really). Are there...

9. Any improvements you think could be made? Perhaps a new section?
10. Any complaints about how a feature is currently presented? Is something here deserving of a little more elbow grease?

Any opinions you give me are beyond appreciated!

[Darth Wyndisis]

1.  Many things.  There are so many unique sections here.  Most of the compendium things are awesome.  Haven't seen to many sites with anything quite like it.  Hyrule Adventures is unmatched by any Zelda site I've ever seen.  It is truely extraordinary.

2.  I am going to say that the walkthroughs could use a little more detail.  But I don't go there often so I really don't know.

3. 9  Nothing is perfect, but you did a hell of a job with all that extra detail / timelines.

4. 7

5. 10!

6.  Charter Cable

7.  Many times a day.

8.  ???

9.  Not sure yet.  The rusty gears in my head will be turning.

10.  ......

[bgrugby]

1. TDC is great all around, there is not much to change and there are alot of strengths.

2. Like Shadowlink said, the walkthroughs could use some more detail but not too much, that is the only weak spot I see.

3. 9.5

4. 6

5. 9.5

6. IE and Firefox

7. At least 3 times a day

8. I am not sure if you mean my pixels, if so then its 1024 x 768

9. None that I can think of right now, maybe more admin in the forums but that is probably it.

10. Nope

[weienw]

Well, now that I've browsed around some...

1. What ... strengths?
I think that the fact that TDC is truly alive and has an index page that shows this aspect is very powerful. It really keeps people coming back and checking it out, even if the next update might not be for a couple weeks. The forums add to this effect, to a degree. I think another strength is how TDC covers such a wide domain, with everything from trivia-style info (very unique) to individual pages on the different games (common and sort of a "must have" for Zelda 'fan'sites) to fanmedia (somewhat common, but TDC has a good sized library/museum). Another great aspect is the Jack O'Reily humor that is scattered around the site (a la "Your q's have been officially a'd." and Ezlo period). Plus, an awesome domain name.  ;D

2. What ... weak spots?
Well, to offset the big amazing spectrum that is TDC, I feel that the small twiddly bits give a sort of "loose ends" feel. What I mean by this is places like the "Link to the Past Oddities" page, where there's only one entry. But this is a tiny weakspot and there's not much we can do about it besides hire people to research those sort of stuffs for us XD.

3. ... backstory coverage (ie. the Compendium) on a scale of 1-10?

9.25! But I don't feel qualified in this respect, not being a Zelda trivia/history guru whatsoever, but what I've read is fantastic... I feel like I could go from Zelda newb to pro that baffles everybody, just by scanning through 'em. One definite plus is its constant updation (new word).

4. ... Game Guides on a scale of 1-10?
*goes to look at the OOT guide*

6-- A lot of good detail (i.e. the oddities section is a good one), but not particularly extensive. All-text walkthroughs have a potential to be confusing, but the alternative is a huge undertaking and that's putting it lightly.

5. .. Interactive sections/games on a scale of 1-10?

Superb. 9.99! (the last .01 is because the HA link is outdated if you're going there from the TDC forums, and also that it's not listed in the Village Square "Hub". XD

6. ... Browser?
IE, 6.x (latest version).

7. ... Visits?
Oh, at least once a day, usually a good deal more. My cycle generally starts from the index (check updates) then goes to the forums (check 'important sections' like General, OOT, and HA) and then goes to HA2, where I add an "s" to the end of the broken link. ^____^ Just thought I'd be ultra-clear.

8. ... Monitor Res?
1024 x 768, or larger (larger as in numbers are larger). Shadowlink, to see your Monitor Resolution,
>Right click desktop
>Properties > Settings Tab
>Look at slider under "Screen Resolution." Should be a pair of big numbers.

9. Any improvements you think could be made? Perhaps a new section?
I personally would like to see the Bestiary completed. For some reason I just love bestiaries, and I really like the way TDC's is turning out.

10. Any complaints about how a feature is currently presented? Is something here deserving of a little more elbow grease?
Not that I can think of...

*thumbs up*

[Master Goron]

1. What section(s) is/are TDC's strength?
Compendium, Encyclopedia, HA2, Guides, Ask Ezlo, Caption Game

2. What section(s) is/are TDC's weak spots?
TP info(see below) don't really know.

3. How would you rate the backstory coverage (ie. the Compendium) on a scale of 1-10? (1=awful, 10=perfect).
10

4. How would you rate the Game Guides on a scale of 1-10?
7

5. How would you rate the Interactive sections/games on a scale of 1-10?
9

6. What kind of browser do you use?
IE, version 6

7. How many times a week do you visit TDC? How many times a day, if more than one?
About 21/week, or about 3 per day.

8. What is your monitor resolution?
1028x768(was 800x600 recently. Don't try it! In HA2 I had to scroll just to use Farore's wind... >:( )

9. Any improvements you think could be made? Perhaps a new section?Nope, the site's really good.

10. Any complaints about how a feature is currently presented? Is something here deserving of a little more elbow grease?
Same, it's really good. Don't really know.

------------------------------------------------

I was browsing around CTC, and I accidentally clicked the guestbook. And to my horror was the second entry:

Posted On: July 02, 2005 06:36:11 PM

Name: Zac Schneider
Email: Zoocko@aol.com
How: Just ran into it.
Comments: If you want info on Twilight Princess, you could do worse than visit www.zelda.com, and www.desertcolossus.com

So apparently the TP info sucks. I don't see it, but maybe I am biased(also, in forums, link to TP guide still says next zelda).

[Jack]

Comments: If you want info on Twilight Princess, you could do worse than visit www.zelda.com, and www.desertcolossus.com

Yikes, that's not cool. :-\ (Though any publicity is good publicity, am I right? Eh?)

So apparently the TP info sucks. I don't see it, but maybe I am biased(also, in forums, link to TP guide still says next zelda).

Although, I am glad you brought this up. Gives me a bit of a kick in the caboose to get to work on it. I don't how much I can do other than perhaps preview articles and archive of scans, etc.

I think I have my next numbero uno project, haha...

[weienw]

Comments: If you want info on Twilight Princess, you could do worse than visit www.zelda.com, and www.desertcolossus.com

Is it just me or does this sound something like a compliment (as opposed to, "If you want info on TP, you couldn't do worse than TDC")? Or is it a shade of double-sarcasm that I haven't quite mastered yet? At any rate, it doesn't hurt to be grouped together with zelda.com XD.

I think the little things about our TTP section are just the bits that seem unfinished. I personally really like the Characters section, which shows that you're doing more than just regurgitating information out to us. But maybe Mr. Schneider gets mad if his favorite character, Colin, isn't featured in our section (hypothetically that is ;D)? I wouldn't really worry about items (the section, that is), I guess, since the only extraordinary one is the tornado 'rang. Though, I have noticed that our screenshots section seems to be limited to trailers 1 and 2, and not at all in 3 and hands-on-E3 stuff.

My tuppence, gotta go--

[Jack]

Is it just me or does this sound something like a compliment

After I posted I thought about it and came to the same conclusion. But then again, Zelda.com is usually bare bones, and thus I think the poster may have just mistyped.

[weienw]

Superb. 9.99! (the last .01 is because the HA link is outdated if you're going there from the TDC forums

*dances* Hooray! Thanks for fixing the link, Jack. I at least find it undescribably convenient ^^.

Just wanted to remind you that you're appreciated and no amount of google ads can repay you for your time and hard work :). *thumbs up*

[Jack]

Thanks very much Weien.  ;D

[Master Dragmire]

10 4 everything!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

[bgrugby]

This is more of a suggestion to a few members. PLEASE...PLEASE start using proper capitalization and grammer in posts. You do not have to post on every little thing like making a post saying "yeah that really suck". Remember, the more meaning the post the greater effect it has.

[zeldafreak1997]

on all the other fourms i go to, you dont have to type things after a quote. so if you wanna say something anthor person said, you can just do the quote like so

jimmy:i like that cat

bubba:me too.

lard_man:

bubba:me too

or is that just makeing the problem worse?

[Jack]

Personally, I don't care about capitalization, as long as everyone writes in coherent sentences. (That is, not using numbers for letters, blatant mispellings, etc.)

[Vampire]

Hmmmm, from my short stay here, the only suggestion I have is more downloadables.