[request]Recent User Activity Log

[Oehr]

just had to:

whos the black sheep? :D

[MalteseFalcon]

I find the 'Recent User Activity' sidebar on the front page very 'noisy'. As it generally shows a whole lot of 'User x has set anime y to z', which I don't find informative at all. The user ratings might be useful at some point (ie. 'Hey, user x liked anime y and so do I! What else did they like?'), but considering you are likely to have the SAME user for most of the recent activity list, this is also not very helpful.

I would like to suggest that it be replaced with a 'Newest AniRec Entry', so that users can immediately see if there have been new entries when going to the main page.

[Drahken]

*points out that this already has an ongoing discussion*

Threads merged.

[sothis]

that panel is specificaclly meant to draw attention to the fact that you can create an anime list - the homepage should be an easy way of people seeing what the site has to offer... we have the newest rec (anime db), newest user (accounts), newest review (reviews), and then the activity log for the anime list feature.

i agree it doesnt look good, but it serves its purpose. for full v3 we'd like a new design (see the "web designer? help us!" sticky)

[Drahken]

I think what the box needs most is more distiction. Both a seperation between each entry, and distinction between the users & the anime, plus an emphasis on the anime. A highlight based on the specific activity (such as status changing or rating setting) may also be a benefit. Here are 2 examples I came up with:



In the first demo, you'll see that each entry is clearly seperated from the others, this makes it look less like a jumbled mess. You'll also notice that the links for the users & the anime are different colors so as to make it clear that they are different, and that the emphasis is on the anime.

In the second demo, you'll notice that I also highlighted the different activities, giving status changes a light background & ratings a dark one.

For comparison purposes, here's a shot of the current box:




edit: I also tried switching it from a list to a table. This improves readability, but forces the whole thing to be either much wider or much taller to compensate.

[sothis]

problem with two color links is consistency - it's confusing to usability if links in one section are suddenly different on the rest of the site...

but i agree it needs updating.

[Drahken]

I don't think it would be that confusing.
*remembers all the people who can't see the stickies & 101 copies of the same question in front of them*
On second thought..... :-\


You could split the difference & go with 2 shades of the same color that links are on the rest of the site:



If you make the names links darker than regular links & the series links lighter, then they should still be close enough to the normal ones not to cause confusion, and yet still be easily differentiated from each other.
You could also make the names be not bold, and the anime bold.

[Otaku108]

personally I'm a big fan of this little addon, I'd even want it for my profile page to list my own activity to those looking at it.... include the comments other's post to me even... I know others are very against it but *shrugs* it's not a "must have".

in any case, it really shows me just how actively AP is used... I'm curious to know how many page views per second there are server wide...

[Synsane]

I agree too Otaku.
There should be an option to add one in for your own profile.
I simply love the idea.