Hello UrbanPlanet Upgrade

[nurfle!]

Neo: love the new site so far, but one thing, so long as you're taking ideas: I read most posts through RSS, and I don't know how many others do, but I feel guilty because I don't see ads until I go to post (which isn't that often). I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one would be more than willing to see google ads on the RSS feed (and would even click the ads). Just a thought.

[Neo]

Neo: love the new site so far, but one thing, so long as you're taking ideas: I read most posts through RSS, and I don't know how many others do, but I feel guilty because I don't see ads until I go to post (which isn't that often). I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one would be more than willing to see google ads on the RSS feed (and would even click the ads). Just a thought.

That's something I'm looking into. I too read almost everything exclusively through the great RSS feeds we have here. Google unfortunately doesn't have the ability to do this in RSS feeds right now unless you redirect feeds to their service. I hope to have something on this front at some point, but for anything on a hot burner now, I have nothing.

[Neo]

Not sure if any of you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, but today I rolled out a version of the site for those devices. I posted this on our Twitter feed (@urbanplanet), Facebook page and in the main UrbanPlanet Information forum, but just in case you didn't see it in any of those places:

Just visit http://www.urbanplanet.org from your device and it will load a version optimized for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

A couple of other things are in the oven...one is the soon to be released (as long as staff testing proves to be ok) ability to embed custom maps (i.e. Google Maps that have custom data on them such as lines, pins, etc). Just wanted to let you guys know since you've been so great at giving feedback on the new upgrade!

How's the speed for everyone at this point? I've made a lot of progress at speeding things up considerably.

[joeDowntown]

I'll check out the iPhone optimized site tonight. Liking the upgrade, I haven't noticed any speed differences and I like the new look

Not sure if any of you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, but today I rolled out a version of the site for those devices. I posted this on our Twitter feed (@urbanplanet), Facebook page and in the main UrbanPlanet Information forum, but just in case you didn't see it in any of those places:

Just visit http://www.urbanplanet.org from your device and it will load a version optimized for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

A couple of other things are in the oven...one is the soon to be released (as long as staff testing proves to be ok) ability to embed custom maps (i.e. Google Maps that have custom data on them such as lines, pins, etc). Just wanted to let you guys know since you've been so great at giving feedback on the new upgrade!

How's the speed for everyone at this point? I've made a lot of progress at speeding things up considerably.

[Raildudes dad]

Life is good again , not sure what you did but speeds are back to normal or maybe even a little faster . When I click on a thread, it still doesn't go the the first unread entry but I can live with that ok.

[Neo]

Life is good again , not sure what you did but speeds are back to normal or maybe even a little faster . When I click on a thread, it still doesn't go the the first unread entry but I can live with that ok.

It will if you click the little yellow square with the arrow . This will take you to the first unread post.

[Raildudes dad]

It will if you click the little yellow square with the arrow . This will take you to the first unread post.

[John E]

Neo,

Sometimes when I click on the yellow square with arrow it takes me to the first post and sometime to my last read.

~John

[Neo]

Neo,

Sometimes when I click on the yellow square with arrow it takes me to the first post and sometime to my last read.

~John

Hmm, I haven't experienced this myself. Is anyone else experiencing this issue? You may want to clear your browser's cache and clear your cookies (specifically the urbanplanet.org cookies) and see if you are still experiencing the issue.

Keep in mind that the view new posts system was overhauled in this new version which means unless you've clicked on get new posts before (with the new version of the site), it will take you to the beginning. The next time you click on get new posts for that particular thread, it should take you to the correct spot.

[Raildudes dad]

Hmm, I haven't experienced this myself. Is anyone else experiencing this issue? You may want to clear your browser's cache and clear your cookies (specifically the urbanplanet.org cookies) and see if you are still experiencing the issue.

Keep in mind that the view new posts system was overhauled in this new version which means unless you've clicked on get new posts before (with the new version of the site), it will take you to the beginning. The next time you click on get new posts for that particular thread, it should take you to the correct spot.

[Neo]

Everything is working great both at work and home

Glad to hear it! BTW, I did quite a few more optimizations earlier today and the site has been the fastest it has ever been IMHO. The site should literally be screaming by your browser now!

Now to focus my attention on adding some great new features! Please feel free to let me know of anything you'd like to see here at UrbanPlanet.org. I'm always looking for great ideas for how to make this community even better! Let's see...since the upgrade thus far we've added topic ratings, an iPhone/iPod Touch version of the site and the ability to embed custom maps from all of the major mapping services through UMapper.com. Drop me a line and give me your best ideas!

[Raildudes dad]

Glad to hear it! BTW, I did quite a few more optimizations earlier today and the site has been the fastest it has ever been IMHO. The site should literally be screaming by your browser now!

[suydam]

Glad to hear it! BTW, I did quite a few more optimizations earlier today and the site has been the fastest it has ever been IMHO. The site should literally be screaming by your browser now!

Now to focus my attention on adding some great new features! Please feel free to let me know of anything you'd like to see here at UrbanPlanet.org. I'm always looking for great ideas for how to make this community even better! Let's see...since the upgrade thus far we've added topic ratings, an iPhone/iPod Touch version of the site and the ability to embed custom maps from all of the major mapping services through UMapper.com. Drop me a line and give me your best ideas!

[fotoman311]

Glad to hear it! BTW, I did quite a few more optimizations earlier today and the site has been the fastest it has ever been IMHO. The site should literally be screaming by your browser now!

Now to focus my attention on adding some great new features! Please feel free to let me know of anything you'd like to see here at UrbanPlanet.org. I'm always looking for great ideas for how to make this community even better! Let's see...since the upgrade thus far we've added topic ratings, an iPhone/iPod Touch version of the site and the ability to embed custom maps from all of the major mapping services through UMapper.com. Drop me a line and give me your best ideas!

[GRGridGirl]

Neo,

When I try to upload a pic to my profile, it says the file is too large. The file is 116x150, which should fit. Is it that my head's too big?

How many female members are on UP?

Thanks, TripleG

[Neo]

Neo,

When I try to upload a pic to my profile, it says the file is too large. The file is 116x150, which should fit. Is it that my head's too big?

How many female members are on UP?

Thanks, TripleG

Avatars are required to be no larger than 80x80 in dimension and no larger than 8k in file size.

I don't have a head count on female members of the site...but I do believe there are quite a few lurking around here.

[Neo]

Thanks for your input on the changes. I'm trying to come up with a way to make the advertisements a little less 'in your face' in topics. The best solution I've come up with is to break them up into two 728x90 ads (horizontal banners). One would be placed in the current position after the first post, the other would be placed before the last post.

I'm sure it won't come as a surprise that we've been hit hard with the drop in ad revenue. Most websites have been struggling with how to deal with the loss of revenue and like any other popular site, it isn't cheap to keep running.

I'll see if I can't implement the above solution as soon as possible and see how that flows for everyone. The ultimate goal here is to make everyone happy since without you guys we simply wouldn't have a forum as great as this (of course I am biased...).

After implementing the horizontal banner I have been tracking the results closely. Unfortunately I have re-implemented the previous solution where two ads are placed side by side. I simply have no choice as those two ads bring in 4x as much revenue as the two horizontal ads did when separated. I did make the footprint slightly smaller so hopefully there won't be any more space than is required between the first and second post.

I hope you guys understand my need to revert this particular placement. As always, anyone is welcome to pony up $20 and gain an ad free experience on 100% of the site. There are other benefits too, but that's probably the biggest one. The $20 simply goes to pay for the ad revenue lost for not showing ads for that user.

[fotoman311]

UP loads noticeably faster in Google Chrome 3.0.195 than in Firefox 3.5.5

If you're having issues with it loading slowly, try Google Chrome. It's a little different, but I'm finding I like it quite a bit. I do miss a couple of my Greasemonkey scripts, though.