The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Just to let everyone know that a new improved help and support system called the Freeola Knowledge Base has now been made available on the Freeola website and has replaced the existing one.
http://freeola.com/support/
The new system allows customers to submit their own guides to the website to aid other users and potentially win prizes for helpful submissions.
You are also now able to make give your opinion on current guides by voting whether you found them helpful or not or by adding comments.
If you feel something is missing and would like to request an article, you are able to do this. The request is then made available to Freeola staff and other customers and could then be written for you.
To add to this, there is now a search function on the right hand side of the help and support section which allows you to search the Knowledge Base and forums for any help that you may need.
At the moment the guides in the Knowledge Base are related to Freeola's services, although it should expand in the future to cover a broad range of technical subjects.
If you would like to add to the Knowledge Base, articles do not need to relate directly to Freeola's services to be submitted and technical articles on other subjects (for example games consoles and website coding) are encouraged.
To make a submission, you will need visit the Knowledge Base and click the Write an Article button on the right hand side of the web page.
http://freeola.com/support/
The new system allows customers to submit their own guides to the website to aid other users and potentially win prizes for helpful submissions.
You are also now able to make give your opinion on current guides by voting whether you found them helpful or not or by adding comments.
If you feel something is missing and would like to request an article, you are able to do this. The request is then made available to Freeola staff and other customers and could then be written for you.
To add to this, there is now a search function on the right hand side of the help and support section which allows you to search the Knowledge Base and forums for any help that you may need.
At the moment the guides in the Knowledge Base are related to Freeola's services, although it should expand in the future to cover a broad range of technical subjects.
If you would like to add to the Knowledge Base, articles do not need to relate directly to Freeola's services to be submitted and technical articles on other subjects (for example games consoles and website coding) are encouraged.
To make a submission, you will need visit the Knowledge Base and click the Write an Article button on the right hand side of the web page.
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Hmmm... wrote:
...The link returns visitors to the same page which also seems a little strange...
This was sorted as of yesterday. Completely slipped my mind to update this thread.
...The link returns visitors to the same page which also seems a little strange...
This was sorted as of yesterday. Completely slipped my mind to update this thread.
McLong wrote:
I think we'll have to agree to disagree...
:¬)
We're sort of agreeing though!
As you say it doesn't seem to serve much purpose having the overview next to the individual status indicators.
That's why I suggested (especially on that one page) moving the overview to the top of the page so visitors can instantly see if there are any outstanding issues - without anyone have to scroll the page whatever resolution, or number of toolbars (or mobile device) they are using.
For me on that one page you could even put the 'widget' into the page header as that is the whole purpose of the page.
Obviously when the 'Freeola Status Widget' is available all this will be overcome ;¬)
I think we'll have to agree to disagree...
:¬)
We're sort of agreeing though!
As you say it doesn't seem to serve much purpose having the overview next to the individual status indicators.
That's why I suggested (especially on that one page) moving the overview to the top of the page so visitors can instantly see if there are any outstanding issues - without anyone have to scroll the page whatever resolution, or number of toolbars (or mobile device) they are using.
For me on that one page you could even put the 'widget' into the page header as that is the whole purpose of the page.
Obviously when the 'Freeola Status Widget' is available all this will be overcome ;¬)
[s]Hmmm...[/s]
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on the placement of the 'Current Network Status' panel on the Network Status overview page Hmmm...., I just don't see why we'd make the panel more prominent on a page which is already dedicated to giving a detailed overview on a per-service basis. If anything, it probably shouldn't appear at all as it's effectively rendered useless, but I don't feel too strongly to get rid of it all together.
You're definitely right about the link leading back to the same page though, I'll get that sorted in a jiffy.
You're definitely right about the link leading back to the same page though, I'll get that sorted in a jiffy.
No problem :¬)
I appreciate these debates aren't easy - I have similar ones with my clients!
- Still can't quite see the logic of the placement of the Status Overview on the Status page though :¬P
Surely the idea of an overview is to enable visitors to quickly see if something is in trouble - but when the status and the detailed view is in the same part of the page it seems to defeat the object?
The link returns visitors to the same page which also seems a little strange.
Couldn't help myself - reply not required :¬)
NB I'm only running with one additional toolbar (Google)... !
I appreciate these debates aren't easy - I have similar ones with my clients!
- Still can't quite see the logic of the placement of the Status Overview on the Status page though :¬P
Surely the idea of an overview is to enable visitors to quickly see if something is in trouble - but when the status and the detailed view is in the same part of the page it seems to defeat the object?
The link returns visitors to the same page which also seems a little strange.
Couldn't help myself - reply not required :¬)
NB I'm only running with one additional toolbar (Google)... !
[s]Hmmm...[/s]
Hmmm... wrote:
NB. This 'gallery' is something I've been working on recently and will hopefully soon be the focus of a Freeola technical post when I get a chance!!!
That's just the kind of thing we're looking for :) Looking forward to reading it.
NB. This 'gallery' is something I've been working on recently and will hopefully soon be the focus of a Freeola technical post when I get a chance!!!
That's just the kind of thing we're looking for :) Looking forward to reading it.
Hi Hmmm... & Garin,
In the 1024x768 resolutions here the 'Current Network Status' panel seems to fit on nicely*. A height of 768 (or higher) accounts for the top 10 most popular visitor resolutions to Freeola.com, which covers a very large proportion of our traffic. Regardless, I don't think moving the 'Current Network Status' panel higher up the on the Network Status page is required seeing as a more detailed overview is featured at the top of that page on the left-hand side.
I won't explain the reasons for the order of all the elements in the sidebar, or how prominently they feature. What I will say is we never really considered the 'Help & Support Links' panel in the sidebar as a main navigation section (seeing as it includes links to 'Request an Article', 'View Requested Articles' etc which we don't consider vital for visitors requiring help/support).
Any links/options which we considered important to helping visitors (E-mail Support, Help Category drop-downs) are placed in the new Help & Support header. This probably goes against my 'Don't move elements around on a per-page basis' comments from earlier though, so we'll definitely consider switching things up. Perhaps a main navigation at the top of the sidebar (with important links) and then a further 'Knowledge Base Links' section further down the sidebar? Either way, we'll take your comments on board Garin and have a think shortly.
Thanks for the feedback you two :)
*Your tool/searchbars seem to be taking up quite a lot more space than I'm used to Hmmm... which I appreciate will affect other visitors too, so we'll bear this in mind along with the UI suggestions from Garin.
In the 1024x768 resolutions here the 'Current Network Status' panel seems to fit on nicely*. A height of 768 (or higher) accounts for the top 10 most popular visitor resolutions to Freeola.com, which covers a very large proportion of our traffic. Regardless, I don't think moving the 'Current Network Status' panel higher up the on the Network Status page is required seeing as a more detailed overview is featured at the top of that page on the left-hand side.
I won't explain the reasons for the order of all the elements in the sidebar, or how prominently they feature. What I will say is we never really considered the 'Help & Support Links' panel in the sidebar as a main navigation section (seeing as it includes links to 'Request an Article', 'View Requested Articles' etc which we don't consider vital for visitors requiring help/support).
Any links/options which we considered important to helping visitors (E-mail Support, Help Category drop-downs) are placed in the new Help & Support header. This probably goes against my 'Don't move elements around on a per-page basis' comments from earlier though, so we'll definitely consider switching things up. Perhaps a main navigation at the top of the sidebar (with important links) and then a further 'Knowledge Base Links' section further down the sidebar? Either way, we'll take your comments on board Garin and have a think shortly.
Thanks for the feedback you two :)
*Your tool/searchbars seem to be taking up quite a lot more space than I'm used to Hmmm... which I appreciate will affect other visitors too, so we'll bear this in mind along with the UI suggestions from Garin.
Just to support what Hmmm.... is saying in a more general sense, I think the ordering is slightly inconsistent with the rest of the site. I browse Freeola.com, I recognise theres a right hand column with red headers and at the top of it I'm going to find navigation links. Except if I visit support you change the rules. I dont quite get why the logged in status (already visible on the top bar anyway) and Mcafee logo is suddenly important enough to displace the menu, the search box and even the status overview.
Hi McLong,
At the moment (for me) on the Status page I get to see just about all the detailed status items at the same time as the 'Current Network Status' comes into view as you start to scroll - so that rather defeats the object of the 'overview' on that page.
I'm surprised to hear that over 98% of your visitors will see it.
In the good old days a popular resolution was 1024x768 - still very popular on office type machines. But laptops are now nearly all 'widescreen' so resolutions have moved on. But a height of 768 still looks very popular.
I follow the BBC as they spend more money on this sort of thing than most of us! Their site is still built with 1024x768 users in mind with no horizontal scrolling etc.
I use twin monitors on my main machine. The smaller one runs at 1024x768 and the other at 1280x1024. But I keep my browser window running at 1024x768 on both monitors.
I've just looked at my Google Analytics and 1366x768 is the most popular resolution from my last 100,000 visitors on my 'Hmmm' site!
So the majority of my visitors will see what I see - and they will have to scroll to see your 'Current Network Status'!
I've taken a screen shot for you. I've posted it here: www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/camera and is currently the first image.
NB. This 'gallery' is something I've been working on recently and will hopefully soon be the focus of a Freeola technical post when I get a chance!!!
Hope this helps.
Glad you liked the 'Freeola Status Widget' idea :¬)
At the moment (for me) on the Status page I get to see just about all the detailed status items at the same time as the 'Current Network Status' comes into view as you start to scroll - so that rather defeats the object of the 'overview' on that page.
I'm surprised to hear that over 98% of your visitors will see it.
In the good old days a popular resolution was 1024x768 - still very popular on office type machines. But laptops are now nearly all 'widescreen' so resolutions have moved on. But a height of 768 still looks very popular.
I follow the BBC as they spend more money on this sort of thing than most of us! Their site is still built with 1024x768 users in mind with no horizontal scrolling etc.
I use twin monitors on my main machine. The smaller one runs at 1024x768 and the other at 1280x1024. But I keep my browser window running at 1024x768 on both monitors.
I've just looked at my Google Analytics and 1366x768 is the most popular resolution from my last 100,000 visitors on my 'Hmmm' site!
So the majority of my visitors will see what I see - and they will have to scroll to see your 'Current Network Status'!
I've taken a screen shot for you. I've posted it here: www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/camera and is currently the first image.
NB. This 'gallery' is something I've been working on recently and will hopefully soon be the focus of a Freeola technical post when I get a chance!!!
Hope this helps.
Glad you liked the 'Freeola Status Widget' idea :¬)
[s]Hmmm...[/s]
Hi Hmmm...
I'm not sure moving the 'Current Network Status' section (from the sidebar) further up the page is the best idea as it might get a bit confusing if page elements start moving about on different pages.
The Network Status page already shows a much more detailed section reporting the status of each individual service (which appears quite high up the page in the main content section), which we hope should suffice.
I gather you used the term 'above the page fold' loosely, but just to point out, both the detailed service information and the 'Current Network Status' panel in the sidebar appear above the page fold in all common screen resolutions (covering over 98% of our visitors). What resolution are you running?
The Network Status widget sounds intriguing so I'll pass this idea on to the relevant people for consideration.
Thanks for the feedback & suggestions!
I'm not sure moving the 'Current Network Status' section (from the sidebar) further up the page is the best idea as it might get a bit confusing if page elements start moving about on different pages.
The Network Status page already shows a much more detailed section reporting the status of each individual service (which appears quite high up the page in the main content section), which we hope should suffice.
I gather you used the term 'above the page fold' loosely, but just to point out, both the detailed service information and the 'Current Network Status' panel in the sidebar appear above the page fold in all common screen resolutions (covering over 98% of our visitors). What resolution are you running?
The Network Status widget sounds intriguing so I'll pass this idea on to the relevant people for consideration.
Thanks for the feedback & suggestions!
On your Status page you have a 'Current Network Status' overview indicator.
You use this elsewhere, but on the actual status page it would be useful if it was 'above the fold' as they say - i.e. somewhere near the top of the page.
I could well be your most frequent 'Status page' visitor - it would be nice to be able to view the page and see the overall service status without scrolling.
Status Widget
On a similar theme - how about allowing customers to embed your Freeola Status indicator on their websites?
This could work well as it would both offer a service to people who like to keep up with your services and also be used as a subtle advert for Freeola. i.e. People may start using the widget and in turn linking to you!
You use this elsewhere, but on the actual status page it would be useful if it was 'above the fold' as they say - i.e. somewhere near the top of the page.
I could well be your most frequent 'Status page' visitor - it would be nice to be able to view the page and see the overall service status without scrolling.
Status Widget
On a similar theme - how about allowing customers to embed your Freeola Status indicator on their websites?
This could work well as it would both offer a service to people who like to keep up with your services and also be used as a subtle advert for Freeola. i.e. People may start using the widget and in turn linking to you!
[s]Hmmm...[/s] Page: