I pride myself on always trying to make the site better. Not just by adding new content, but by improving or introducing new features.
Today I am pleased to announce the rollout of Phase 1 of the PP Profile page.
This post will explain its current features and hint at Phase 2 and 3.
The PP Prfoile page is only for registered PP users. ALL users can view profiles, but only registered users have one.
Almost ALL the information is OPTIONAL. This means that if you don’t want to add or update the information, you don’t have to.
The idea is to begin to create closer relationships with other PP users.
I want to stress that this is just the first phase of a greater project and much more will be added to the profile page over time. Not only that but it will be made to long a LOT better too.
Any data not entered will not be displayed. So, if you don’t enter any data about your favourite games or mods, that section of your public profile will not be displayed.
In the sidebar, near the top, is a new widget. If you are logged in, this displays your username and 3 links. If you are not logged in, it contains a log in form and a Lost Password and Register links.
When logged in, you have 3 links: Your Public Profile, Edit Your Profile and Log Out.
Clicking the Your Public Profile link displays the profile that everybody sees. No information can be edited here.
Clicking the Edit Your Profile link allows you to update and add information.
The enhanced profile contains a lot more information than in the past.
Remember: ALMOST ALL THE FIELDS ARE OPTIONAL
You are NOT forced to add or update ANY information if you don’t want to.
The new fields in the basic details are: Website 2, Website 3, Skype Username, Twitter Profile URL, Facebook Profile URL, Steam Profile URL, YouTube Channel URL and Livestream URL
This means you can link to social media sites, other personal sites etc.
The next new section is Extra Information
This includes your gender, year of birth, and country where you live. I am hoping to create some meaningful statistic with this information.
After that comes the Half-Life games you own and which is you favourite.
You then get a chance to choose your playing style: Cautious, Balanced, or Aggressive. I’m hoping to get an insight into which types of mods are liked by which type of players.
Below this are two text boxes for you to write a little about your playing style and/or your playing history.
Now you can add your Top 5 Favourites for others games and SP mods. Eventually, we hope to automate this and allow a way to create links to the Steam page for games and PP page for mods.
Finally, we have any modding skills you may have. We admit that the display of this data is uninspiring and we will work hard to make it look much better.
From yesterday onwards, ALL comment usernames of registered users link to their profile page. If a user was not logged in or not registered then there is no link.
I would like to publicly thank Mars for making the time to code the page and for spending quite a lot of time on Skype with me making changes and improvements. It’s been a pleasure to work with him and I really hope he has time in the near future.
Phase 2 will be about adding data about your commenting and recommendation image use.
Phase 3 is the introduction of the “Trusted” reviewers feature. I won’t go into details here except to remind you that it will not be automated. Users will have to manually “Trust” other reviewers. You will then be able to find maps and mods you are likely to enjoy based on your Trusterd reviewers.
Well, there you have it. It’s not much yet but is the framework for some exciting features.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please post a comment if you have a question, suggest something or if you want to raise an issue.
I personally think this is great. After a while you sort of get to know the people that comment the most on PP, since it’s quite a small community that does so, but this just helps that even more. The statistics also seem very interesting, looking forward to seeing how that turns out.
Now I’m just missing the possibility to change my avatar.
P.S.: I’m not sure if you could easily do this (since it’s not the author that posts) but having links to the person’s mods released on PP would be a nifty touch.
Simply go to http://www.gravatar.com and register for free, using the same email address as you use here on the site and upload the image you want to use. My site automatically selects the image and uses it.
I just noticed that your comment above uses a different email address from all your other comments. Let me know if you want me to update the email address to the new one and then your image will be visible on all your comments.
If that isn’t too much of an hassle for you. I changed it when I noticed I was still using my old email address while checking the new profile feature.
Done. They all should have the Ying and Yang avatar now
I’d suggest adding a field for a Twitch streaming URL.
There’s a “Live Streaming URL” field. I choose that because not everybody uses Twitch, although it is very popular. I might Change the “YouTube Channel URL” to “Video Channel”
Ah, I misinterpreted that, because there is such a thing as Livestream.
Mmm, maybe I need to rename it then.
It freaked me out a bit and for me it was like a warning, cus I went to check my own profile and saw that the full name was there? I immediately cleared out all the fields that I could. I’m not one for private info being made public soooo…. hmmm, not hyped about the new profiles, sorry.
Yes, I did consider that but all the fields I added are optional and the other ones are standard WordPress ones that are available to all users. At least I believe so.
I hope that the other phases will get you more excited.
BTW, don’t you think you should have the BTC as a website link?
Well I liked it how it was before, the name to be clickable with only 1 website behind it, I would’ve gladly put btc in there. But ok atm I guess I could add that to my profile.
Thanks Philip 😀
You are most welcome
Haven’t logged in for a while, I like the changes! Had to look up my PW (must be old age) It would be nice if you brought back the section about showing off our rigs and also the Forum. BTW, Phillip you should try “Wolfenstein The New Order” it’s a real challenge!! 😉
I will, once it comes down in price.
Whatever you do, i wont say everything is perfect, but you do so good! Is there any other site that lists HL-Universe Maps and Mods in your way?
Go on, you have my support. I am 36 yo and if there is anything I can help you with, ask me and we can find out if I can. I like your site and HL-Universe and I would love it to work with you for free! Lets connect and talk about it. So now go on with your good work, I´ll watch you!
Greetings from Middle Europe, country does not count, we are all the same 😉
Yes, you are right, nothing is perfect here, but I try hard. There are other HL sites, some with more basic lists than mine, but I believe my site has the most comprehensive details. Check the Links page for other sites.
Thank you for your offer to help. I will send you an email now.
Fantastic! I’ve always enjoyed reading other people’s comments and they often help in deciding whether to play something I’m on the fence about, or how to fix something that goes wrong. Now getting a little more background about folks will be great!
I need to get me a new avatar, though. *nods*
Yes, I’ve had some fun reading users’ profiles too.
This is really cool! After being here for a few years (apparently since 4 April 2011 according to my profile) I feel like I already know most of the regular commenters but this really adds another level to comments on the site. I like how everything is optional.
The idea to have modding skills as a category is great – maybe an interesting feature at some point in the future would be to be able to search for people with particular skills, say if you want to find a good voice actor or modeller for a project (I realise that would probably take a lot of work). If you’re looking for bugs, the browser page titles for the profiles seem to be a bit messed up. Also, in my sidebar I have the option for “Dashboard” which always gives the message “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page”.
Yes, finding people might be useful, although I suggested ModdersDB years ago – a website where modders of all skills create simple profiles that can be searched and filtered. I just didn’t have the time or skill to do it.
With regard to the bugs:
1. Browser title: Well spotted. I’ll add it to the list of things to fix.
2. That’s interesting. I won’t go into the details but I believe I have fixed it.
Great feature Phillip, the Modding skills area has a lot of potential for those seeking help with certain skills and also as a way to present your talents.
Yes, perhaps one day there will be a way for users to custom search for other users based on the data in their profile.
Cool, updated mine. Nice feature to have.
Oh god I just now noticed there are posting milestones.
…. Great.
<_<
CHALLENGE, ACCEPTED.
😀
(Anyone who has seen me posting on the Steam forums or anywhere else knows I can't just "not post"….)
Yes, “Milestones” will be used more and more around the site and not just for comments.
I think Mars and I will look at a way for users to “Opt Out” of the profile page completely. I won’t guarantee that we can or will do it, but we will definitely seriously consider it.