Many of the suggestions we have received have resulted in significant changes and improvements to the station as a whole, and we very much value receiving constructive criticism and suggestions for improvements and upgrades to the site.
Much of the core services such as Searcher, Communicator, the LCARS Guide and this section - Advocate, were all added to Adran following suggestions made by visitors. We consider no suggestions too great or too small, and none are dismissed out of hand. Every suggestion that is submitted, is logged, discussed and replied too. Those suggestions that we feel will generate discussion or may prompt further suggestions are published here at Advocate for all to read.So, if you have an idea that you think could improve Starbase Adran, send it in to the team via the Communicator. Please note, that if you have any comments to make regarding any existing suggestions, please quote the relevant archive number ie. 01-09-057 on any communications you submit. This will help us to deal with your submission faster.
 Suggestions Implemented. |
Emporium: Why don't you upgrade Emporium to add a Starbase Adran store featuring a range of sci-fi merchandise. Other sites use this as a way of raising funds to cover the costs involved with running a large website. By using a service like Amazon aStore you can quickly get a store up and running and generating income.
Reply: While this idea has been discussed previously by the team, it had not been suggested by a visitor. We are currently discussing this idea with the rest of the team and a group of our regular visitors. If there is sufficient support for this project, we will take this further and develop a proto-type store using Amazon aStore.
Galleries: Who do you operate two sets of Galleries showing the same pictures? With web access speeds always improving, surely it's a waste of time to duplicate material just for the sake of differing web access speeds.
Reply: The decision to launch the standard speed galleries was taken because numerous visitors reported problems with accessing the galleries. The design currently in use on the high speed galleries, was too slow for a standard dial up web connection, so the standard speed galleries were added to resolve this issue. The problem is that it takes a very long to produce a new gallery, or even update the existing galleries because all of the work has to be duplicated in two different designs. Following several discussions on the matter, the decision has been taken to radically refit and redesign the entire gallery. The two current designs are going to be scrapped in favour of a much improved and much faster design. No new galleries will be added until the redesign and relaunch is completed. As part of the preparation for this change, the High Speed Galleries have been taken off line.
Download: When you update Download, could you please leave the previous two or three months in place, rather than just go from the current month forward. It's good to go back and look over what's been released previously, rather than just look at what's new. Also, why was there no update to Download during May?
Reply: We always tend to leave the previous calendar months worth of product releases on Download, so visitors can look back over at what has been released previously. From this months update onwards we will leave in place the previous two calendar months updates. The reason there was no update to Download during May, was that there were not enough new products on the release schedules to make an update worth while. We are currently reviewing Download, with the possibility of moving to a bi-monthly update schedule for this section.
Animated Link Bars: Why do some of the animated link bars move faster than others? For consistency shouldn't they all go at the same speed?
Reply: We are currently mid way through a project to replace all of the animated link bars. You can spot the older style bars as they move slower compared to the new design. We've had requests in the past to upgrade the speed of the bars as it can take some time for a link to come back around if you miss it. The new style move twice as fast, but not too fast that you can't hit the link you want. Also as part of this project, to further improve cross linking, the number of links on the animated link bars is being increased for 7 to 8. The project to replace all of the link bars is ongoing during 2011 and should be completed by the end of the year.
Gallery: What seems to be the problem with Gallery? The graphics don't display properly, and none of the image windows that open are the correct size. I think you should put these problems to the top of your list as they really are off putting when trying to view the pictures
Reply: Thank you for reporting this issue. With many of the style sheet entries and Javascripts that govern the generation of the Adran LCARS, problems like this have appeared in the past. It's due to a conflict between entries, one saying do this the other saying do that. This issue has occurred because the Gallery uses non-standard coding that we are trying our best to remove from Adran to make updating the station as easy as we possibly can. Work is underway to correct this problem and should be complete by mid to late September 2011.
Narrative: I was ready a few of the stories in Narrative and noticed that there are a lot of formatting errors and graphics anomalies on some of the later installments. It would greatly improve the look and feel of the section if you brought it up to the same standard as the rest of the site.
Reply: We are aware of the problems on Narrative. We have been trying to strike the right balance between updating and improving the site and ongoing repairs and general maintenance. We were faced with a list of 23 sections that required various degrees of repair and maintenance when Adran came back on line. Narrative is the last section that requires extensive work to bring it back up the standard of the rest of the site. Work is ongoing and should be completed by September 2011.
Log Archive Links: I noticed that there is a design error on the Station Log Archives. Whenever you leave an entry, the link returns you to the main log archive page. Wouldn't it be more sensible to have a return link to the specific year archive that the entry belongs to?
Reply: This issue has not been reported before, and upon investigation we completely agree with your assessment. It would make more sense for the return link to send visitors back to a specific log archive, rather than the main page. The task of updating the log archive links has been scheduled as part of the ongoing work to implement the new dynamic HTML media playback system.
No Sound in Google Chrome: I recently switched browsers as I got sick and tired of problems with IE. A friend recommended Google Chrome and it is a great browser, but I've noticed that the LCARS key sounds don't work in Chrome, what is the reason for this and are there plans to correct it?
Reply: I am pleased that you have upgraded to Chrome as it is in my humble opinion a much better browser that IE. The problems with the LCARS sounds not working outside the IE platform goes all the way back to the very first version of the Adran LCARS. The problem stems for how browsers play media files. We had been unable to develop a stable system for playing media across multiple browser platforms. Recently our work on this took us in a whole new direction, using dynamic HTML as a method to play media files. Tests were encouraging enough to warrant the production of a full proto-type, which has recently been implemented on Resonance. There is still one technical conflict that prevents this system from being used station wide, but we are currently testing a series of revised Javascripts that will solve this problem and enable us to implement sound station wide that will play in all major browser platforms. Work on this project is ongoing, and still start to be rolled out during early to mid May 2011.
Updates: While it's great to see Starbase Adran back on line, there aren't as many updates as there used to be. Why can't you update daily like a lot of other sites do?
Reply: We would love to be in the position where we could update Adran on a daily basis, and our long term goal is certainly to try to achieve just that. At the moment however we lack the manpower to research, collate and prepare suitable material for publication on a daily basis. If anyone would like to volunteer to become part of the Adran team, please feel free to get in touch.
Astrometrics: I'm a big fan of Astrometrics, but have been disappointed by the lack of updates. Can you update it more frequently?
Reply: Following a number of visitor requests for more updates to Astrometrics, it has been added to the monthly update schedule. New pages for Astrometrics are currently under development and we have laid down plans for monthly updates for the rest of 2011.
Suggestions Box: Why don't you update the suggestion box more frequently. A previous suggestion of mine took over two months to make it in to print.
Reply: We can only apologise the delay in posting your previous suggestion. We try and stagger the publication of suggestions so that we can have something to publish every month, rather than just publish all the suggestions that come in one month and perhaps have none for the next. When the new Advocate section takes over from Suggestion Box next year, it will be updated every month and we will aim not to hold over material for publication the following month.
Links: I've noticed that some sections have fixed links to sub-sections, like Resonance. But others have animated links that seem to take an age to come round. Why don't you replace the animated links to sub-sections with fixed links to make it easier to navigate around the site?
Reply: Long time visitors to Adran will have noticed that over the last year we have been moving away from animated links to sub-sections. Resonance is a good example of the change we have been implementing. It has a fixed link section that allows access to the sub-sections, and an animated link section that allows access to the rest of the site. This design is currently being implemented station wide, and should be complete by the end of 2011.
Support Link: Why don't you get involved in more things like Children in Need. Numerous charities and organisations run campaigns every year. Don't you think it would be a good idea to get involved in some of these?
Reply: Yes we do think it is a good idea. Our current campaign to support Children in Need was a first for us. We've never included so many reminders and links to one organisations before. Following the end of this campaign we are going to be asking for feedback, and if it has proven to be a success - we would like to see this as the start of several such campaigns a year. We will not however be going from one campaign to the next and we plan to set a limit of no more than three or four a year.
The Story So Far: Why don't you add more stories to the story section, I gather from reading the Planning Log that some were supposed to be added during 2009, but so far - nothing!
Reply: Three further installments for the Story So Far are currently under development, and were included in the planning log. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to complete these chapters as planned, but we hope to re-start publishing the outstanding chapters from early next year.
Funnies: Why have there not been any updates to Funnies since the last big refit. I thought there were going to be more new sections added and the existing sections expanded.
Reply: Quite right, that was what we had planned. Unfortunately the team member appointed to take that particular project forward stepped down from Adran due to personal problems. The project was left open for their return and I'm pleased to report that Kath will be picking that project up again early in 2010. So far Kath has two new sections planned and updates for four existing sections.
Communications: Why don't you set up a Communications Room on Adran where you can contact various members of the team direct, rather than having to send all messages through the one mail box
Reply: We have considered this in the past. We consider it a strength that all primary station operations are routed through one mail box. In the event of a team member not being able to meet their responsibilities for what ever reason, the rest of the team can pick up the reigns at very short notice. There are no plans to change this system at this time.
Dockyard: There are some really great reports on Dockyard, showing how the team has developed the station over time. However, just having them all on one page makes it very long winded and not easy to find what you are looking for. Also, I would be interested in reading reports 1 through 5 and number 9 which are no longer available. Numerous other sections have archives, could you not add a Dockyard Archive to chronicle the development of your site and provide a written record of what you have achieved.
Reply: Well, this suggestions certainly raised a few eyebrows. Dockyard is not one of the most frequented sections of the station. It's currently ranked 37 out of 56. While we are not sure that the effort required to implement the changes you have suggested will generate visitor interest, we are intrigued by the idea of having a full record of the station's development available. This suggestions really does require further discussion. We have agreed to implement the changes in principle, we are going to look carefully at what time we have to actually implement it.
On Screen: I read in the log that you are planning to upgrade On Screen sometime this year. Can you please add more information such as who created the screen saver and whether or not they are mac or windows screen savers.
Reply: We have been looking at the possibility of refitting On Screen for our rolling upgrade project. Work is already underway, and should be completed by the end of 2011. The information provided with each screen saver will be increased to include the name of the author and a web link if available.
Sound Doesn't Work in Netscape: Why don't all the LCARS sound work in Netscape, I think this is a bit of a let down to visitors that are still loyal to this browser. I think you should update your code to ensure that the sounds work in all web browsers.
Reply: Thank you for this suggestion. It had been under development for some time, but the decision by Netscape to abandon all future development of the browser made all the time and effort that was going in to solving the problem seem like a waste. Very few visitors to Adran now use Netscape, and I'm afraid that the team feels that undertaking so much work for a browser that is on the way out, is just not an effective use of the time we have each month.
Keep Quizical: I've just read in the new Captain's Log that Quizical is being dropped. Please keep it, I really enjoy entering the competitions.
Reply: Thank you for your message of support for Quizical. And thank you to all the other visitors that have e-mailed in on this subject, it's great to see such support for the page. The issue we are faced with here is time verses gain. When Quizical first started, we were getting over 100 entries per competition. This has dropped off quite substantially, and we have received only 23 entries to the current competition. During that same time period, there has been an increase in the number of visitors coming to Starbase Adran. We recently contacted everyone on our regulars list to ask what they felt about Quizical, and the majority said that it was not important to them and not the reason why the kept coming back to Adran. However, I have received so many messages of support I've spoken the rest of the team and we have agreed to give Quizical another chance. A new prize has been donated by Sean, and question supplied by David. Quizical will be updated later this month, and we will review the situation again at the end of the competition in March 2009. Please note that if the number of entries does not increase the page will be replaced with something new.
Game On: It's been some time since any new Games were added to Game On, are there any plans to add new games?
Reply: The simple answer to this is yes. There are plans to add new Games. Several suggestions have been sent in, which are in the process of being followed up. Once the plans have been finalised, they will be added to Status.
Game On: Have you ever considered adding Shareware and Freeware Games to Game On, much like the new Utilities Archive?
Reply: This idea hasn't been considered before. After passing the idea around, it's been agreed that is's a great idea and one that we are going to add to our current development project list. At the moment we have several projects ongoing that will see is through the latter half of 2008, but we hope to be able to start working on this project during late September early October.
Webrings: Scrap the web rings page as it's just not needed.
Reply: Web rings are still considered a valued way of advertising Starbase Adran on the web. If we feel that the rings are not serving their purpose, the page will be removed and replaced.
Gallery: Add a gallery of autographed featuring auto graphed pictures of the Star Trek actors and a gallery of behind the scenes pictures.
Reply: We are always on the look out for interesting pictures to add to the Gallery. Once we have a sufficient number to add a separate category, we will. At least three new galleries will be added during 2008 and the refit project completed on all outstanding galleries.
Triviality: Increase the frequency of replacing the questions on Triviality as new questions are posted very in-frequently.
Reply: Triviality started out as rather a low used page but it has increased in popularity. We are looking at implementing some rolling updates to Triviality.
LCARS: To reduce file download times of the LCARS main page, break the page up in to four separate sub pages: Command, Arcade, Continuum and Resources.
Reply: A proto-type command page was create along these lines and made available to judge visitor feedback. The feedback received on this has not been positive, many feel that implementing this change will result in extra time being taken to access the various sections of Starbase Adran. The project has been put on hold for the time being as alternative options are reviewed.