Talking Point: What would you change on MoDaCo?

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Talking Point: What would you change on MoDaCo?

Welcome to this week's 'Talking Point', our 'MoDaCo Feature' for Friday!

Today i'd like to open the floor for you, the great MoDaCo membership, to talk about what you like, don't like, would add / remove / change on this website!

Obviously there are already some things in the MoDaCo roadmap already such as:

- The return of MOBILE MODACO

- Expanded and improved downloads area

- Expanded and improved links area

- More (and better) games in the Arcade

and much more, but what would YOU like to see?

In addition, i'd be interested to hear whether you guys think the 'MoDaCo Features' are valuable (including a Sunday 'Week in Review' feature that will be launching in the near-ish future).

Go on guys, you are what make MoDaCo what it is, so let us know what you think!

;)

P

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

sorry Paul, but for me, what you need to do is undo a lot of whats happened recently.

1) Modaco was Smartphone. Everything contained on Modaco (the main site) was Smartphone. Thats Mobile Phone's running Smartphone 2002 / Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones. Everything I saw in search results was Smartphone related.

Now when I search I see a result that sounds interesting - only to find its unrelated to smartphones. Not good IMO.

2) Modaco was always fairly advertising-free, even without Modaco Plus, and I liked it that way. I do understand you want to make more money/break even, but is there really any need for the over-the-top advertising seemingly everywhere?

3) The new forum software. I prefered it before - but this could be down to point 4 below.

4) The layout of the forums - in part down to the reasons specified on point 1 - is annoying in the extreme. It's too difficult and longwinded to find anything now. I rarely venture past passing comment on news stories from the front page these days because I like a easy to use site. Modaco used to be. Its not anymore.

You really need to separate smartphone from the rest. I really don't like this "Windows, Moblised". Modaco was Smartphone. Not PDAs and anything else (though pocket pc/etc did have a sub site - which was fine.

5) There seems to be a small bug with firefox browsers - on the download section, if there is more than one page, you can't get to anything but page 1!

Plus Points:

Modaco is still the number 1 resource for smartphones

Modaco is second to none for smartphone news

Modaco's relationship with Orange appears to be benefitial to us all

Modaco Plus appears to be once again worth buying (Sorry Paul, but it was dying a slow death until recent annoucements)

I enjoy reading the Modaco features, especially the tweak of the week.

Please remember this point is some constructive critism, rather than an all out go at Modaco!

Edited April 29, 2005 by MARKUKCOUK

[Guest Ozzie252]

Hi, I'm not trying to defend modaco, just add my opinion.

I think the reason that PDAs are included now is because the line between smartphones and PDAs has become blurred.

The Orange SPV M2000 is a smartphone but also a PDA. Should we exclude it because it has a larger screen and a stylus?

[Guest MitchellO]

I like it the way it is. It would be a real shame if you removed the forums for Pocket PC Phones. Just because some only have a smartphone, doesn't mean many others should lose out on the forum.

A mobile version with support for posting messages would be great. I like to surf on my Mini, and it isn't ideal. A mobile version (with the ability to post) would be awesome!!!

[Guest scottishdave]

1. PDAs should remain part of the content of the site.

2. Can I suggest that, with regards to the forums, they are split and Smartphones and PDAs have a completely different forum each. It would be far better for searching.

3. I too understand the need to make money or break even but the advertising really does get on my nerves. There must be another way to make a few pennies. Or perhaps a user might be able to turn off the feature of viewing tha adverts?

Constructive criticism is a wonderful thing.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

BTW, I fixed the problem with viewing second page of downloads a couple of days ago I think, can someone else check?

P

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

I actually thought the AdSense advertising is pretty subtle (certainly a lot more so than other sites I use!)

The point of it is, quite simply, if enough revenue can be generated, more resources can be committed to the site, allowing the full potential to be realised!

It's actually in everyone's interest ;)

P

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

I think the PPC / Smartphone merge is absolutely necessary, but agree the layout could be better / more friendly, and is something I am trying to tie down... watch this space.

It's also very important as SHOULD the 2 platforms become one further down the line, it puts us in a VERY strong position.

P

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

1) Paul - yes the bug appears to have been fixed. Sorry about that, I should have checked first! ;)

2) "I like it the way it is. It would be a real shame if you removed the forums for Pocket PC Phones. Just because some only have a smartphone, doesn't mean many others should lose out on the forum." - but my arguement, would be that Modaco WAS smartphone. So people wouldn't be "losing out" - it wouldn't have been included in the first place.

Although I don't necessarily want the PDA stuff removed - i was quite happy with phoneedition.modaco.com a while ago. Totally separate, other than being in "the modaco network"

Maybe the forum should be split from the outset like this...

Home --> Smartphone --> Smartphone subforums

---> PDAs --> PDA subforums.

So at least it removes some of the click throughs?

Paul, I understand its hard to pinpoint how to fix useability issues - because its hard to decribe what the problem is! Theres just something not quite right with it at the moment.

[Guest chucky.egg]

I too would like the option to "remove" forums that I'm not interested in from my view, particularly in the "New Posts" view.

Mobile Modaco coming back would be great, it's something that I really miss (especially as from next week I might only get here every couple of days without it)

I keep the stuff on the left side minimised all the time, it'd be nice to have the option to remove it and get that screen space back. Failing that could we try it on the right? For some reason it seems to swap sides every now and then (especially between work and home) but I have no idea how to control it!

[Guest Gears]

I absolutely hate the friggin Google ad-word links. They get on my tits big style and one major reason I never implemented them. ;)

Apart from that, I'd like to see more free beer and free phones for everyone (rejoice!!) .. Sorry... it's Friday... Bank Holiday weekend approaching...

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Ah, you mean IntelliTxt gears ;)

Don't forget you can disable ALL ads with a Plus Subscription.

Yay for Bank Holiday! ;)

P

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

That's the advantage with being a Plus memberm, I never get to see the adverts (unless we get the occasional system glitch)

[Guest gadgetfbi]

Personally I would like to see some rss feeds. Maybe there already avaliable, I cant see them?

[Guest jakobdam]

First of all - thanks for a great website with lots of information, seriousness and resources! ;)

My humble suggestions would be:

- Lesser number of forums. Though I'm danish myself, I don't see why there has to be a forum where danes can write in danish. That part of the Modaco forum is pretty dead anyway. ;)

- Another background color on the "Portal frontpage" would be nice, just to distinguish it more from the rest of Modaco. It is the frontpage, after all... :P

- A "last 10 added" showing on the frontpage for the download section...

That's all I have... ;)

[Guest squall]

I actaully agree that some forums are hidden away, perhaps it would be worth removing the parent forums as a trial.

as an example when you visit

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?act=idx

rather than seeing "news" then clicking on it to see the forums inside, all the forums could be listed on the index page.

That would make the index very long, but could you not then cut out some of the text which lists the forums found inside?

The ability to hide forums from the index would help with this to, that way those only interested in smartphones could ignore the ppc forums if they wanted to

[Guest Gears]

More boobs

Sorry.. sorry.. It's Friday afternoon now... sorry... ;)

Seriously - advertising the RSS feeds more, yep. Deffo. PubCast ?

Edited April 29, 2005 by Gears

[Guest Pondrew]

May I just say that in my opinion Modaco should cater to Pocket PC Phone Edition as much as Smartphone.

Mark:

You want to make things easier for Smartphone owners and more difficult for Phone Edition users? Well as Paul pointed out there isn't going to be a distinction soon so not going to happen. And I'd add that a lot of us original Modaco members who started on Smartphones have since graduated to Pocket PC PE. In truth the Pocket PC section used to be woefully inadequate with next to no discussion so there is NO WAY I'd want Modaco to go back.

I personally think you want something that not even Paul can deliver, a time when the limited number of Smartphones meant almost all topics were relevant to everyone.

I personally would welcome being able to filter new posts so that only preselected forums were included...

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

Pondrew... don't you find seeing a interesting news post/forum post/search result quite annoying when you click and realise it won't work on your platform?

I'd be happy just to separate them better - as a user choice, so its left up to users.

[Guest squall]

gears, nice point!

also since you mentioned the rss perhaps it should be set to default to only giving headings from news? I know it can be changed, but having to do stuff may put members off using it.

The feed also seems to be picking up replys to threads at the minute which suchs.

a nice big orange xml / rss button would be nice to!

[Guest squall]

Pondrew... don't you find seeing a interesting news post/forum post/search result quite annoying when you click and realise it won't work on your platform?

I'd be happy just to separate them better - as a user choice, so its left up to users.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think most users are interested in news across windows mobile as a whole, not just the OS version they currently use.

[Guest MitchellO]

I think most users are interested in news across windows mobile as a whole, not just the OS version they currently use.

Yes!!!!

[Guest chucky.egg]

I'm vaguely interested in PPCPE news/apps/discussions, but having the option to filter them out would be nice

As for RSS feeds, which I currently use only occassionaly, the big downside is that they link to the PC-formatted website, so on a Smartphone it's harder to navigate and read.

What would be nice would be the Mobile Modaco reinstated, and an XML feed that directs you to that site (rather than the full-blown site). You could fairly easily have another feed that directs to the full-blown site for use on your PC.

Is the PPCPE screen generally considered big enough to manage desktop-formatted pages, or would a 3rd feed be required to direct you to a PPC-PE formatted site? ;)

One other thing, I've just noticed the "Search Topic" button at the bottom of the thread. How long has that been there? and are there other things available that we (read: I) just never notice? :oops:

[Guest pisquee]

On the old front page there was the boxes at the top for signing in, which was a nice and quick way to log in. When using net cafes etc, where it is not possible to have always-sing-in optioned, having a quick way of logging in, instead of having to go to another page to type in username and password would be good.

[Guest Gears]

That'd be cool. I know there is a news feed on MoDaCo somewhere, and I've added it to NewsGator after searching, but we could do with it splattered on the site somewhere in easy reach. I've grown up with the internet, and I know that this is a f****n excellent site, so in my mind there's not major amount that needs changing. I've read the messages about finding something, only to find that it won't work on your handset - well, that can be fixed by restricting your search to a certain forum or area of MoDaCo, which can be done within the search function itself.

Everyone is different will want different things. I ended up doing several different XML feeds on CoolSmartPhone because some people wanted "the whole XML feed", some wanted just titles, some wanted an intro - etc etc.