Topic: To bring more movement into the puzzle process

[gilescooperuk]

I never see the home page as like you I always go straight to the forum page as it is where my bookmark is set up to do, I just thought I would check it this morning

Just did a search for AutoPuzzles on DuckDuckGo the first hit was amazon, the second was a jigsaw retailer, the third took you to the front page and the fourth to AutoPuzzles.blogspot.com (last updated in 2010……

Other search engines are available and your results may vary….

[Carnut]

Going back to my post from the 1st September the  home page for the site  is still the same as it was then……

Otto used to update it and he is the only one who knew how to do it..
He did send me full instructions about 7 or 8 years ago (now lost) but it was so complicated I never even tried it. I think it ran to about 5 pages!

[nicanary]

Going back to my post from the 1st September the  home page for the site  is still the same as it was then……

Otto used to update it and he is the only one who knew how to do it..
He did send me full instructions about 7 or 8 years ago (now lost) but it was so complicated I never even tried it. I think it ran to about 5 pages!

Ah. I thought it was Ultra but you have reminded me. I wonder if Karoly would find it a simple task (simple by his standards) or whether it would be a bridge too far to ask him after everything he's done for us.

[Carnut]

Maybe I should ask Otto for the instructions again...!

[gilescooperuk]

A bit of reverse engineering and I pulled the source code for the front page off the site and replicated on my own machine.

The main problem is the saved puzzle compendium I have no idea how it works and it appears to use flash (which is not good in this day and age).

The bad news is the links were all done manually

They are a link direct to the page in the forum and then Otto has taken a copy of the picture resized it to 320px wide x 240px high

i.e.
   <p align="center">
      <a href="http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=26296.msg294936#msg294936"><img border="0" hspace="0" src="Rookie.jpg" width="320" height=240></a>   
   </p>

The first part in bolt the link to the page on the forum, the second section is the image.

So this links to a page on the forum and displays a picture called Rookie.jpg

It is the same for the other pages

go to https://www.gilescooper.co.uk/autopuzzles.zip to download the file set - anyone wants me to I can go through it in more detail


or the page will run from https://www.gilescooper.co.uk/autopuzzles/autopuzzles.html

Giles

[Carnut]

However it works I would agree to it!
I'm afraid you've lost me Giles..

[fromwien]

I feel very happy about that wide spread discussion, and think, it's a very necessary one, to keep 'AutoPuzzles' alive.

Sadly, I am not an website-expert, will try to ask my son for hints if they are necessary in converting to new design.

On the other hand, I think, anybody who's not so confident with the computer-world, may tell some input about new implemented rules, that may make puzzling more attractive and brings more movement into the puzzle process.. (did I hear that before?)

Thanks to all involved in this very very necessary discussion and helpful cooperation

[pnegyesi]

Good morning
1, Sorry for my absence from this conversation
2, We can modify the home page, I just updated the copyright info from 2012 to 2021 and did another cheeky little thing just to see whether this whole things works. It does.
3, Flash is not working any more. Please let me know where we use Flash and we will try to erase it
4, The whole AP site is hopelessly outdated. If we want to make it visually more attractive we may need to spend some money on it.
5, Making AP more attractive is a noble task, I will try to contribute but I am afraid I will not be very consistent here as we are in the middle of moving all across Europe, not to mention a few other smaller projects.

[gilescooperuk]

I can see the copyright date has changed but the other change is too subtle.


Flash was used for the solved puzzles compendium.


The original page looks like it was html from Microsoft word, so I cleaned the copy I made up.


We’re you thinking of radical changes or just something to make it mobile friendly. I could make the front page into a flexible layout fairly quickly as I have another site which uses something very similar so would just adapt the code.


Does the forum itself use a standard css file, if so we could make the front page reference it and then any colour / style changes reflect on both.


Only random thoughts but it might help out

[pnegyesi]

Yes, very subtle change.
Yes, the site is a very simple HTML - please send over your version and I can upload it.
Not surprisingly the CSS of the current theme is
https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/Themes/default/css/index.css

I can see the copyright date has changed but the other change is too subtle.


Flash was used for the solved puzzles compendium.


The original page looks like it was html from Microsoft word, so I cleaned the copy I made up.


We’re you thinking of radical changes or just something to make it mobile friendly. I could make the front page into a flexible layout fairly quickly as I have another site which uses something very similar so would just adapt the code.


Does the forum itself use a standard css file, if so we could make the front page reference it and then any colour / style changes reflect on both.


Only random thoughts but it might help out

[gilescooperuk]

Ok give me a day to do the work, I will change the css to use the main site one. And adapt to  be a more responsive layout

Let me know where to send it or you can download it from my website when it is done

Giles

[pnegyesi]

Please send it pnegyesi@ceauto.at

Thanks

[gilescooperuk]

No problem

[nicanary]

Be careful out there. Don't make it too attractive. I like this site like Brooklands - the right crowd and no crowding.

To allow simple access by mobile/cellphone would definitely be a bonus.

[gilescooperuk]

1st revised version sent - not perfect but better than the previous one.

[pnegyesi]

It is up and running. Thanks Giles and let hear others what they think

[gilescooperuk]

A thought the front page if you don’t know the aim of the site is rather uninformative.

We could do with a paragraph or two explaining the purpose of the page?

What do people think, and who wants to come up with some words.

Also I can have a look at the other pages that are linked off the front page and update them to look the same

[Oguerrerob]

I like the new look

[Carnut]

Well done Giles.
Big improvement!
We just have to make sure it's kept u p-to-date now..

[gilescooperuk]

That was phase 1, now trying to get the page to look like the forum - same menu and header styles to make it more consistent.

The problem is matching two completely different document layouts - needs a bit more time for me which I will have next week hopefully.

[gilescooperuk]

quick preview of the revised version


Need to sort out the menu (it won't yet wrap on smaller screens)


And change the images used for the sections to something better


Basically it now looks like the forum itself as it borrows a lot of the layout code from it.


I have a copy running on https://www.gilescooper.co.uk/autopuzzles/autopuzzles.html

[gilescooperuk]

I have just sent V2 over to Pal.


Now a question for everyone - go to the front page (doesn't matter if it has been updated yet) click on "articles" in the menu (not the picture labelled "featured articles")


You will find yourself on a page with a lot of links on it. Each of those links will take you to a dedicated article page which then links back to the forum page.


Did anyone else know these existed ?


And should we try and maintain them or just lose them.


Thanks


Giles


p.s. here is the preview of the latest version.

[nicanary]

I think I did know of their existence - I haven't checked but maybe they are what is now "feature articles". Notwithstanding that, the only name there that is still current is AllanL, apart from Otto himself. I don't think anyone would miss them.

[gilescooperuk]

I’m not sure if they were extracted from the feature article section or created first, regardless they are rather old, and I doubt not very often visited.


The very bottom article has a link to the forum at the end, and clicking on that takes you to a stub story on a forum page.


Maybe it is time for a clean up, as the pages don’t have any stat counters it is not possible to find out when they were last visited.

[Wendax]

I think a direct link to the "Features, Stories and Photos" section would be more appropriate.