Originally Posted by bleuquila

I should comment that from my home computer and network the site load times were much improved. I guess the broad spectrum picture is that clearly people are having a huge range of different experiences from fine all the way to unusable/crashing. And no that doesn't mean that people need to upgrade their computers :rolleyes: (not directed at OP) it just means the site is optimized for a very limited segment of the market, but once again it's another thing that will slice away a segment of the potential audience.

Personally, were it my site I would do away with the "viewer" and "pro" categories and just have one contest per week with no entry fee. Focus first on building a group of regulars who are having fun and coming back weekly. Make the photos the centerpiece of the website. For instance, I could look at this weeks gallery, or last weeks gallery but beyond that it's just the top 3. What happened to the rest of the submissions? The navigation/organization is a bit clumsy imo. good luck!

Hi bleuquila,

I agree, lots of people seem to be having a wide range of experiences and yes, IE7 blocks out 25% of the market and then the broadband speed required to view the site at a decent speed blocks out a further ??%...

We could'nt do much about IE7 as the site does some clever things that it couldn't do in IE6... Thought we'd swallow that bitter pill in the hope that it wouldn't take too long for IE7 to be taken-up more widely...

We're getting rid of frames where we can so that should speed things up some and we're promoting the Forums button too...

You'll notice from my previous comment that we are dropping the pro comp and are going to have 2 viewer's comps, both free to enter and each with a $50 prize...

Thanks for your comments and feedback... Much appreciated.. Will keep you posted...

Cheers...

That's a bit rough...???

Originally Posted by Tylersladen

PHAIL

Originally Posted by photoenter

That's a bit rough...???

he's the new guy, too... just trying to earn his wings

Glad to hear you are making some positive changes on the site and competition. I'll be more enticed to join in now...

Originally Posted by Tylersladen

give him a break,
his website is safe
and that 50$ for free would be nice

^^^ see what I mean? he had your back before!

kids...

Hmm. Looks exactly the same to me. Even the $4 entry fee, the frames, etc. What do you see that's different now?

Originally Posted by photoenter

Based on feedback we received here and some of our own UAT we're going to be making a few changes to the site over the next few weeks...

Here are the 5 main changes...

• We're dropping the $4 Editor's Choice competition completely and are looking at inroducing a second Viewer's Vote comp - also free entry with a $50 prize. One comp will have a theme every week and the other will be open every week. 2 free comps, 2 $50 prizes, 1 open, 1 themed... Both voting based... No judging...

• The Personal Profile page will get a scrollable list of "screen names" to make it easy to browse straight to a member's profile...

• The forum button is increasing in size and moving up from obscurity into the Left Navigation Pane...

• We're losing the frames from the FAQ, Links and Forum pages to speed them up a little...

• The banners at the bottom of the page are moving down further to below the bottom row of navigation buttons to get them out the way a bit more...

I'll let you know as and when we impliment the changes...

I am disappointed you are dropping the editors choice competition. If you choose to enter most national competitions you are expected to pay an entry fee. (Generally a lot more than $4!) In this case not only may you win, but you may also win a good cash prize! I find the crits useful.

What will happen to the balance of my entry fees?

Comments:

Without going through all the entries and remembering the scores the winner is not obvious.

When I upload my picture, the thumbnail is only a portion of the picture. This is particluarly annoying if it is a letterbox and makes it difficult to judge which you want to look at without going to full size.

Please can we enter a longer more meaningful title. Sometimes I cannot even get a single word title in.

I do not find the speed of loading any page an issue. The images are necessarily a good size file and it takes time to download into your computer.

My computer has never crashed on this site.

Hope you find these comments constructive.

(Sorry new to this forum - haven't yet discovered how to edit my profile!)

Hi All,


I'm back with some good news. Thanks for the lively conversation the last time I was here. PhotoEnter will re-launch in Mid May with a lot of exciting changes.



The most significant change is that the Editor’s Choice Competition is falling away for the moment. We’ll re-design the look, feel and functionality of this competition before we bring it back as a monthly competition rather than a weekly one. It will also be lower than the free comps in the left menu pane's pecking order.



We’re also introducing a second, Free Viewer’s Vote competition with a $50 prize which will be based on different themes every week to complement the current Viewer's Vote Open Theme competition.


OK... Some of these changes have been discussed here and other haven't... Here goes...

• Home Page
• Will show summarised data for both competitions
• Will show the leading entries for both competitions
• Will show the competition deadline info

• Navigation
• Go directly to a competition with 1 click from the Home Page

• Viewer’s Vote
• Show total current entries & competition deadline
• Screen Name & Photo Title lengths are increasing
• Page numbers will replace the thumbnail scroll bar
• Show competition & theme descriptions
• Show basic rules, hints, tips & tricks
• Will have a visual display of the Top 5 Entries
• Personal Profile avatar, photo details & EXIF summary
• All visitors will be required to register and log-in
• Comments will show member’s Screen Names
• Members will be ranked by Vote and Upload history
• Voting won’t require email confirmation
• Voting will only require “one-click” & will record instantly
• The login system will keep voting secure
• Hall of Fame will show the top 3 entries + all past galleries

• Personal Profile
• Will include a free Member’s Gallery
• Galleries will be listed alphabetically
• Will show the number of photos in each gallery
• Will show the member’s country
• Will have personal links to Flickr, RedBubble, EyeFetch, etc
• Will have a “free text” About Me section

• Forum
• The forum page will load faster
• Is graduating to a “big button” in the left menu pane

• Mailing List
• Will include a list of Archived Newsletters
• Subscriptions will be based on an anti-spam “opt-in” system
• All new requests will need to be confirmed via email

• Useful Links
• Will have more categories and will load faster

Please do comment on the above and feel free to make further suggestions. I hope you like the site and find it more useful when we re-launch in May.

Hi everyone,

We got some very lively feedback from you guys last year about our new (back then) photo competition website.
We took many of your suggestions on board and made a number of recomended changes.
We are at the point now where we are about to make some more changes and would really value some more feedback from your community before we submit the final changes.

All of the contests will remain free to enter (you guys were very adamant about this and we agree)
We'll add 3 more weekly theme based contests bringing the weekly total to 5 (4 theme + 1 open contest)
US$20 prize for each contest each week (it's not much I know but at least the contest s are free to enter right?)

We'd appreciate it if you could have a look at www.photoenter.com and let us have your honest opinions.
Thanks in advance...
Jake

Thanks...

I agree about the ads and the "spam-looking" buttons... That's another lesson to chalk-up under experience.

In the new version I've tried to be more discrete with the ads...

I'd love to show you a sneak preview for you of the new home page and contest landing page...

Id there somewhere on your site I can upload a file to rather than point to a url...?

Cheers, Jake...

Cheers...
Once again I agree about the ad (top left) but I feel that it's a necassary evil (and hope that regular users become blind to it!)
The second page is very busy. I've struggled with this landing page cause there is so much info to display but I'd be grateful for some pointers here...
There is one colored button for each contest... too colourful perhaps?

So many contests because each one has a different theme each week giving our members choice...

All of the contests are free to enter and have a small cash prize. In the new site there will be 4 themed contests and 1 open contest each week, each with a $20 prize. Registered members log in and vote anoung themselves (and comment) to determine the weekly winners...

Granted... Will try moving the ad to the right instead...

My concern with increasing the prize is primarily cheating. I'll need to spend some time (and money) comming-up with a "fool-proof" way to manage the voting...

We have an IP + cookie-based system that manages the voting and account creation quite well but it'll need tightening-up before the prizes increase. Also we display who has cast votes for who so that everyone can see and also easily click through to the voters's profile for transparency's sake...