NEW Classifieds!

[woody]

Its not an issue of pic quality. The site is blurring the thumbnails and overlaying metadata.

I know what all the features are now that I've played with it. All I am saying is that the overall effect is Too Much Stuff. It is a visual whirlpool of UI elements and data points and redundant information..

The UI would benefit from some simplification/refinement.

View attachment 4155559

That is literally how EVERY Thumbnail in the forum displays. Which is why a plugin eliminates thumbnails throughout the rest of the forum. Not even an option.
'
As soon as I can find a way to eliminate them in Classifieds, I will...but you can click ONE of those thumbnails and then very easily scroll thru the entire gallery for that ad. Super simple

 

[TreadingLight]

Sure, it is simple. Every one of these things is simple. It is the cumulative effect I'm trying to give feedback on. I'm sensing feedback isn't desired here though, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Sanney22]

Worked perfectly fine before it's confusing now I don't like it personally

 

[offoradjunkie]

Worked perfectly fine before it's confusing now I don't like it personally

I second this, old one was fine this is trash

 

[COS80]

I know what's missing... we need the ability to make "laughing face" reactions, when we think the price is too high, so everyone can be obnoxious like on bookface.

 

[woody]

There is now an option in "preferences" to remove the image from the List view.
Search > Hide Classifieds List view thumbnail

https://forum.ih8mud.com/account/preferences

Overlays on thumbnails are removed for mobile devices.

A few other tweaks have happened too.

 

[CruiserTrash]

@woody

Question: A vehicle type designator/label is required for making a Parts ad (25, 40, 60, 80, etc). On the left hand "Categories" navigator it would be extremely helpful if you could select, for example, "40 Series" and see only listing for 40 Series. I'm sure you can do a search and achieve the same result ... but with many more steps. If that label is already present on every ad it might be simple to use that as a category. Basically the same way the vehicle sales works in Categories click Vehicles Sales, then on the Series of vehicle - but for parts. Engine type might also be a good label and/or category. For example if I wanted to search for 1FZ parts, just click on the Engine->1FZ category. I'm no programmer though.

I think with the "no thumbnail on list view" preference option this new classifieds looks pretty close to the old system.

Last, did I see you can access a map of listings somewhere? I swear I saw that posted but I can't figure out how to access it, or remember what thread it was on.

Edit to ad: the Small Vendor section is buried now. It used to be right up top, which was a big help to us small guys. Maybe you have other behind the scenes data that shows there was low traffic in the Small Vendor area before though, who knows.

 

[woody]

@woody

Question: A vehicle type designator/label is required for making a Parts ad (25, 40, 60, 80, etc). On the left hand "Categories" navigator it would be extremely helpful if you could select, for example, "40 Series" and see only listing for 40 Series. I'm sure you can do a search and achieve the same result ... but with many more steps. If that label is already present on every ad it might be simple to use that as a category. Basically the same way the vehicle sales works in Categories click Vehicles Sales, then on the Series of vehicle - but for parts. Engine type might also be a good label and/or category. For example if I wanted to search for 1FZ parts, just click on the Engine->1FZ category. I'm no programmer though.

I think with the "no thumbnail on list view" preference option this new classifieds looks pretty close to the old system.

Last, did I see you can access a map of listings somewhere? I swear I saw that posted but I can't figure out how to access it, or remember what thread it was on.

The challenge then is the dozens of engine types, transmission types, axles, etc. and a ridiculous list of what is what.

Listings work best if the part is listed based on what it came from, IE if the 1FZ-FE came from an 80-series, and then allow the buyers to narrow down. MOST buyers will prefer to find a part that came from their same model, since it reduces the chance of mis-matches. The experienced shopper will already know to add other models into their search criteria.

Filters (right side, text link JUST above where the listings start and 1" below the Post Ad button) is a quick/easy way to filter the listing. OR, when you are in Engine and see a listing with the 60-series olive button, click that olive button and the listing filters to just Suspension AND 60-series.

On the overall/main listings page, the Section text can be clicked to link to that area, Ie: Interior...or the model number....or for sale.

Maps are always located at the very bottom of the list, and cover the items on that page....Ie: if you are in Suspension, narrowed to 80-series, then that map shows only those applicable ads, up to the 30 max per page. The maps simply get too crowded otherwise. You can fullscreen the maps, then zoom in to a region, then click on the marker and the ad summary will pop up.


For instance:

Classifieds

IH8MUD Classified Ads

forum.ih8mud.com

I clicked Classifieds, and came to the total listing...then clicked the first olive 80-series button I saw. Immediately filtered to only that model, full rigs to mudflaps. If you are shopping for model specific stuff, it's a super quick way to filter down to that days new listings.

 

[CruiserTrash]

The challenge then is the dozens of engine types, transmission types, axles, etc. and a ridiculous list of what is what.

Listings work best if the part is listed based on what it came from, IE if the 1FZ-FE came from an 80-series, and then allow the buyers to narrow down. MOST buyers will prefer to find a part that came from their same model, since it reduces the chance of mis-matches. The experienced shopper will already know to add other models into their search criteria.

Filters (right side, text link JUST above where the listings start and 1" below the Post Ad button) is a quick/easy way to filter the listing. OR, when you are in Engine and see a listing with the 60-series olive button, click that olive button and the listing filters to just Suspension AND 60-series.

On the overall/main listings page, the Section text can be clicked to link to that area, Ie: Interior...or the model number....or for sale.

Maps are always located at the very bottom of the list, and cover the items on that page....Ie: if you are in Suspension, narrowed to 80-series, then that map shows only those applicable ads, up to the 30 max per page. The maps simply get too crowded otherwise. You can fullscreen the maps, then zoom in to a region, then click on the marker and the ad summary will pop up.


For instance:

Classifieds

IH8MUD Classified Ads

forum.ih8mud.com

I clicked Classifieds, and came to the total listing...then clicked the first olive 80-series button I saw. Immediately filtered to only that model, full rigs to mudflaps. If you are shopping for model specific stuff, it's a super quick way to filter down to that days new listings.

Copy, that all makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Kernal]

FWIW the new Classifieds is WAY too busy with the photos especially. The previous version was very easy to scan through then click on what you might be interested in, the new version hurts my brain.

The new version IMHO looks like it was designed likely by someone with a good imagination, possibly with experience developing
Commercial Advertisments for webpages selling an individual product, not for a Classifieds Section of any publication/website IME.

If someome wants to make the listings more colorful/bold/fancy ie: BOLD LETTERING with LARGE PHOTOS (that take up too much space) then do that inside the individual Ad/post once they've been opened, IMHO.

Bottomline (IMHO/IME) Classified listings should be easy to scan at a glance what is being sold/wanted, etc ie: a Subject heading, brief description with words, after that let the seller/OP determine how fancy they want their own advertisement/post to be once the listing is clicked on.

 

[woody]

FWIW the new Classifieds is WAY too busy with the photos especially. The previous version was very easy to scan through then click on what you might be interested in, the new version hurts my brain.

The new version IMHO looks like it was designed likely by someone with a good imagination, possibly with experience developing
Commercial Advertisments for webpages selling an individual product, not for a Classifieds Section of any publication/website IME.

If someome wants to make the listings more colorful/bold/fancy ie: BOLD LETTERING with LARGE PHOTOS (that take up too much space) then do that inside the individual Ad/post once they've been opened, IMHO.

You set viewing to the LIST view and then remove the list photo in your Account Preferences.

That was covered 4 posts ago, #86 - with a link

Edit: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-classifieds.1381834/page-5#post-16341655

 

[Kernal]

Ok, found that, removed the thumbnails, better, but IMHO the old system wasn't broke, maybe bland but that's the idea, quicker to scan visually. Sometimes
IMHO it's better to keep it simple, like aircraft (or motor vehicle) instruments, just what's needed, no distractions. ie: Ergonomics - a simple Human-Machine interface is more efficient to scan quickly. IMHO it just got more complicated/difficult to use for no obvious benefit to the users??

Is there a way to search parts just for specific models ie 40, 60, 80,100 etc Series?

 

[woody]

Is there a way to search just for specific models ie 40,60,80, 100 etc Series?

Yep....

Filters, immediately below the "new ad" button

or even faster, click the Olive model tag/prefix to sort JUST that model on the fly.

OR, classifieds search, where you could select a few models and save that search in your browser as a quick link. I saved this one a couple weeks back

Search results for query: *

forum.ih8mud.com

These tidbits, and many more, are all discussed in this thread.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Woody, I went in this morning to bump an old thread and obviously it's no longer there with the new Classifieds format. I went into the Classifieds Archive and searched everything under my name and only one wanted listing from 2021 came up. I then read through this entire thread and tried a couple of things to no avail. So are you still archiving items into the Classifieds Archive or am I just not doing something correctly? Thanks.

 

[SNLC]

I guess I am just old, I don’t like this at all. The old classifieds were great, this is very meh to me. Oh well, I don’t think our opinions matter.

Cheers

 

[woody]

Woody, I went in this morning to bump an old thread and obviously it's no longer there with the new Classifieds format. I went into the Classifieds Archive and searched everything under my name and only one wanted listing from 2021 came up. I then read through this entire thread and tried a couple of things to no avail. So are you still archiving items into the Classifieds Archive or am I just not doing something correctly? Thanks.

There have been ongoing search issues, a new host/server is in the works to alleviate those issues

Zero threads / posts will be deleted.

 

[woody]

I guess I am just old, I don’t like this at all. The old classifieds were great, this is very meh to me. Oh well, I don’t think our opinions matter.

No one likes change. But I'll continue to make decisions for this business that I believe will help keep it viable for the long term. Forums and blogs have been on a drastic decline for the past few years, and the last 6 months has seen the Google search algorithm penalize both to the point where many simply give up and shut their doors. Add in the AI bots and it turns into a full time battle.

 

[cruisermatt]

Was your goal to make the classifieds have more or less traffic? I went from checking it every few hours (addiction level) to barely at all over the last few weeks.
Also have not had any movement or views on my items that I would have expected to sell very quickly in the past.

 

[woody]

Was your goal to make the classifieds have more or less traffic? I went from checking it every few hours (addiction level) to barely at all over the last few weeks.
Also have not had any movement or views on my items that I would have expected to sell very quickly in the past.

Neither of those listings include photos. You should be able to edit and add images if you wish.

500 classified postings in 3 weeks is comparable to historical traffic. That will vary as members adjust to the change.

 

[SNLC]

Was your goal to make the classifieds have more or less traffic? I went from checking it every few hours (addiction level) to barely at all over the last few weeks.
Also have not had any movement or views on my items that I would have expected to sell very quickly in the past.

This was me as well. It was the first thing I would look at every morning for like 15yrs. I have even made friends via mud transactions. I often ended my day by checking the classifieds as well.

And I am aware @woody of this being one of the last forums alive. I used to run a forum too and all the ones I used to use besides iH8mud are dead. Perhaps it has stayed alive because it didn’t change like other forums or go the way of Facebook, ect.

Cheers