I want to congratulate you guys on the new area. It is a great feature to have and when im able to navigate it , its a great enjoyment. But I have been having huge issues with it. I cant seem to be able to get into some areas. i get a blank page or a timeout error. When i want to submit a review or make a comment it asks me to login in , when i do it wont sometimes accept it. I did get in a few times enough to post 2 reviews but a 3rd time (after writing a whole review) i pressed submit and was told i wasnt logged in. grrrrr, lol.
Anyway may first suggestion be a remember feature so that you can stay logged in at all times?
BY THE WAY CONGRATS ON YOUR RECORD BREAKING DAY , IN TERMS OF TRAFFIC!
On a side note, it looks like we'll be getting a LOT of reviews for the same apps over and over again. Will the system be setup to merge the threads that this creates so that it can stay useful through the forum or does it need to be that way list the reviews with the application page?
On a side note, it looks like we'll be getting a LOT of reviews for the same apps over and over again. Will the system be setup to merge the threads that this creates so that it can stay useful through the forum or does it need to be that way list the reviews with the application page?
There is no perfect way but in the end... we felt this was the BEST way with all the positives/negatives weighed. The idea of AndroidForums is to create an open dialogue. Making a review and having it be in one long list is okay, but we prefer the ability for people to ask questions of the thread owner and give that reviewer the opportunity to clarify and create a conversation about their review.
This won't ALWAYS be optimal. I've already seen a TON of 1 line reviews. That is okay, but what we REALLY want is in-depth reviews and we'll work hard to help highlight the best reviews done by members.
That being said I can see how so many new threads could have an ill affect on other forum features like using "New Posts". I think we should all work together to identify where taking this approach causes issues and come up with problems to solve it. Regardless of which method you choose there will be problems but I think the opportunity for app reviewers to hold a conversation with those reading their reviews is priceless.
perhaps putting together some sort of task force. A set of staff members who would give an hour or two daily to help keep the app area clean and condensed . sort of a quality control group. lol. maybe give someone a-c, next guy d-f etc. Just an idea, because i have seen some sorry reviews and its a matter of time before spam hits it as well. I can for see some arguments in there as well
perhaps putting together some sort of task force. A set of staff members who would give an hour or two daily to help keep the app area clean and condensed . sort of a quality control group. lol. maybe give someone a-c, next guy d-f etc. Just an idea, because i have seen some sorry reviews and its a matter of time before spam hits it as well. I can for see some arguments in there as well
How does the site pull apps? It doesn't look like all the apps in the android market are represented... namely I can't find MLB.COM At Bat '10 by searching mlb, baseball, or at bat... also couldn't find runstar. Any suggestions or clarity on how the app discovery works and how we can help?
i really like it, it is a great start for sure, the new contest is awesome too.
that said, i would like to see the page(s) given some more attention in the layout department. one square block of all the apps on the page with pagination at the bottom works, and is effective, but it's not very snazzy or eye catching, not much to look at.
there are lots of app sites out there to give you guys ideas of how to lay it out.
__________________ DO NOT PM ME FOR SUPPORT....POST IT ON THE FORUM
How does the site pull apps? It doesn't look like all the apps in the android market are represented... namely I can't find MLB.COM At Bat '10 by searching mlb, baseball, or at bat... also couldn't find runstar. Any suggestions or clarity on how the app discovery works and how we can help?
Funny I coudnt find it either. But I can't find it in my phones market place either. Grrt
Device(s): htc sensation
nokia n8
samsung galaxy (broken - waterdamage)
Thanks: 46
Thanked 87 Times in 73 Posts
any chance you can get unlocked phones as prizes for the contest thing?
mainly for outside the states people
one thing about the otherwise brilliant app browsing i'm missing is some kind of filter, so you could exclude all the useless ringtones, boobies, wallpapers, ringphotos etc.
*edit* an annoyance in chrome and safari (aka. webkit): when you middle click an app in the grid to open it in a new tab, it loads it in both the new tab and the existing tab
sure i know this is a bug (or a feature ) of webkit, but it's been there for ages and imo you should edit the site to take this in to account
also the power search doesn't seem to have an option to only search for free apps (or am i blind?)
one more thing: and -operator for the power search
actually i'd rather and was the default operator, rather than or - when i search for world cup, i don't want world of warcraft themes to pop up when they don't mention the word cup anywhere
oh and the app's website link should be included in the details page
__________________ All the best bands are affiliated with Satan - Bart Simpson
I've meanwhile given up on using the market on the phone , instead I google what I need and use various websites and forums. Now you guys come along and bring it all into one place ; what fantastic news. I've browsed through your site and it looks good, will soon add reviews of my favourites.
One of the lesser good things about Android is the limited storage for applications. Even on the Nexus One and other newer phones you will at one point run out and need to start making decisions on what you want to keep or discard. However, Android 2.2 allows to install apps to SD card (provided the developer has enabled this functionality). It would be great to have an option "allows install to SD" in the left search pane, maybe something to consider for future improvements?
Device(s): Moto Atrix [lovin']
Nexus One [Lost]
LG Vu [Lost]
Thanks: 719
Thanked 1,935 Times in 1,345 Posts
Rob, just an idea not sure if it's feasible or even possible. When people click on the 'yes' or 'no' button to 'was this review helpful', would you be able to create a text box popup that they can write why they chose 'yes' or 'no' and have that inputed as a post to its thread in AF? I think this will enable people to write something since...I can see people just clicking yes/no only. I don't think a lot of people will specifically go into 'discuss in Forum' unless there's something about the review they don't like.
And I love the search features in AA VERY well done!!! Keep up the good work Mr. Boss!
How we include apps on AA is a very complicated process and we're doing out best to include everything possible. We'll be adding a "suggest an app" area so that we can get our butts on tracking down new apps we haven't yet got in our system.
@Roze that's an interesting suggestion but I don't think we'll include that immediately. I'm a bit wary of adding too many click-heres and this pops up and jump over here etc.... it's kind of confusing already
@Caddy in terms of layout we actually spent a lot of time CHOOSING this method. We felt it was the best way to get the most information on one page. That being said, I can understand that having to scan left/right AND up/down isn't always the best. If we change this, it'll probably end up being with a personalization option when we roll out new profiles at some point in the upcoming months.
Keep the comments coming!
The Following User Says Thank You to Rob For This Useful Post:
First off, I love the AA section so far. In large part to the reviews I've read here, I've downloaded a ton of new apps that I had never even heard of before. So I guess thats a big thanks to you and everyone else that is participating and contributing.
The funny part is, at least for me, is that I am more prone to actually reading the reviews after they've been moved/copied(?) to the Android Applications > Android Reviews Section within the forums. Perhaps I more comfortable with this format, but I think there are benefits as well:
- The newest reviews are on the very top, and its easy to read several of them at one time.
- Because of this format, I discover alot of new apps just by looking down the list
- There is a clear way to give feedback on the reviews within the forum
- I am not keen on the current pop-up effect on how the reviews are show
I am by no means saying that everything should be moved to the forum, but there are benefits to the format. A site I think that successfully does this is NotebookReview.com - though its not perfect either. The AA Section is new, and I am sure I just need sometime to adjust to it. All in all, I love it so far and am really enjoying contributing.
__________________
Follow me on twitter! @chaunceydrinon
@chaunceyd - thanks for your input. Right now we're working on some sub-navigation for AA and the site in general that we're hoping will improve navigation across ALL sites within the next month or so. As you suggest, there will be an area of AA that shows newest reviews and top ranked reviews to help you find great stuff quickly so look out for that.
You're 100% completely right about AF being more comfortable to some people and that is exactly why we integrated AA with AF in the first place.
But think of it this way... if you're searching Google for something like... "Epicurious Recipe App" you might land on our listing for the Android App here: Epicurious Recipe App | AndroidApplications.com
Where that person may seem lost/unfamiliar with AF, they'll immediately feel at home on AA and be able to read reviews on that very page without ever leaving and dealing with the complications of an unfamiliar vbulletin forum.
I think that presenting the option between the two helps please everyone. Just stick with what you like most!
Personally I enjoy browsing the "Hot" tab to see what people have been "thumbing up" lately. I want to incorporate a lot of these voting features into member profiles and we'll be working on that in coming months as well. We have a lot planned so hearing the more input the better!
Device(s): htc sensation
nokia n8
samsung galaxy (broken - waterdamage)
Thanks: 46
Thanked 87 Times in 73 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrqs
any chance you can get unlocked phones as prizes for the contest thing?
mainly for outside the states people
one thing about the otherwise brilliant app browsing i'm missing is some kind of filter, so you could exclude all the useless ringtones, boobies, wallpapers, ringphotos etc.
*edit* an annoyance in chrome and safari (aka. webkit): when you middle click an app in the grid to open it in a new tab, it loads it in both the new tab and the existing tab
sure i know this is a bug (or a feature ) of webkit, but it's been there for ages and imo you should edit the site to take this in to account
also the power search doesn't seem to have an option to only search for free apps (or am i blind?)
one more thing: and -operator for the power search
actually i'd rather and was the default operator, rather than or - when i search for world cup, i don't want world of warcraft themes to pop up when they don't mention the word cup anywhere
oh and the app's website link should be included in the details page
just to add to this (again), the 13th is closing in, so what are you thinking in regards to the contest?
i don't really have any idea what kind of money revolves around this place, but if the current prize per day is deemed too much, might i suggest awarding one per week?
it's a fantastic incentive to write proper reviews and will help keep the quality and usefulness of the place high
When I went to input my review on the Post Review window, I quickly found out that the preview area does not work. (at least it doesn't work for me in Chrome, FF, or IE) It basically just shows me the exact same text and code that is input above. This became very frustrating because I was trying to rush and get my review in before midnight. I didn't make the deadline, but that's mostly because my video took longer to upload and convert than I thought it would. Being somewhat ignorant of forum formatting and what is and isn't enabled, I tried inputting HTML code in the Post Review window, and the Preview option began working fine for that. I then proceeded to finish editing my review in an HTML editor before finally pasting all the code over to the post review input page. After one final preview of approval, I hit submit only to find that my entire review ended up being posted in the forums as a bunch of unprocessed HTML code... I then spent the next hour or so converting it to the forum code line by line...
As I was doing so, I stumbled upon another issue... why are the images so freaking huge? Is there an option to set widths and heights using the IMG tag? I uploaded normal sized images, but they all appear with a set width or something and are about double the size they should be.
Finally, is there currently any way to embed a Vimeo video? Right now, my review is having to link externally to my video. The link appears fine in my forum thread of the review when I'm logged in to the site, but if I log out then there is a large empty gap placed beneath the video link... about the size the video would be if it was embedded. I imagine that's what everyone else is seeing when they view it and scroll down. When viewed on the App Review pop-up page, the link isn't visible and some broken HTML code appears to show up at the bottom of this same empty gap. I have no idea why this is happening. It appears to be trying to embed a flash object (my video) from the URL I've entered, but it's failing to do so. Any help would be appreciated!
Ok, it looks like the gap below my video link on the forum thread was caused by an ad that wasn't loading. Still not sure what's causing the review pop up window to have the gap where the link should be...
One recommendation: Just to put a quick search box for apps on the Main page instead of having to click on Power Search. Hopefully I'm not just missing it lol
One recommendation: Just to put a quick search box for apps on the Main page instead of having to click on Power Search. Hopefully I'm not just missing it lol
The search box to the right of the Store link and below the login boxes works for the apps.
This may be beating a dead horse but is the AA contest on hold or is it over? The main contest article is no longer on the front page and I've reviewed my twitter feed for any announcement. Reason I am asking, I may have been hoarding reviews so they were eligible for the contest. lol. Thanks!
AA Feedback
) of webkit, but it's been there for ages and imo you should edit the site to take this in to account
Thanks and a suggestion for future improvements
, instead I google what I need and use various websites and forums. Now you guys come along and bring it all into one place 
button and we'll take a look at it!!
button when someone helps you
