[Bouldr Matt]

Hi everybody!

I don't want to step on anybodies toes by posting here - so I apologise if I appear cheeky! 

I would like to tell you all about a climbing site that I have built (over about a year or so with a little help from my friends), called Bouldr). It's nowhere near finished yet - we're going to be adding a whole bunch of new features over the coming months - but the basic idea is to create a place for everyone to share climbs and meet other climbers from around the world.

I have just put out a big update to Bouldr, and I finally that we have something that I can begin telling people about, so if anyone has any constructive criticism (or finds any bugs), then please do let me know! I expect I'll be mooching around this forum for a while (can't believe I missed it!), so please do let me know what you think!

Thanks!

[Bonjoy]

That's great Matt I really like it.
Took me a short while to figure how it works but it seems like it could be excellent if enough people contribute.
 Had some problems:
 Couldn't register using work email address as the activation email must have been blocked by our spam filter. This doesn't usually happen when registering for websites, maybe it's related to the wording of the email.
 Tried to upload a 600KB image but it didn't upload despite the quoted limit being 2MB. Loaded fine when i resized the photo to 250KB.
 Had a problem adding a line to the image. The site seems to be rescaling the photo from that seen on the edit page, but not rescaling the line. I have left the mismatched beta image in place so you can have a look and work out the problem. Would this be rectified if you specified the dimensions of images to be uploaded?

[Bonjoy]

Came out looking like this

Which is not the line (unless your names Pat)

Also on the location and image editing pages parts of the explanatory text where obscured by the image.

[Steamboat Stello]

Yeah thats an ace idea dude. Like Bonjoy said its a bit confusing what the hells going on at first - maybe you need a bit clearer sub-division into sections on the front page and the first maps a bit big I think(using IE at least).
I'll have a go at uploading some stuff later and let you know how it goes.

On another note: your prob My Apple looks sweet boy I've been meaning to ask where that was - no need now.

[Bouldr Matt]

Thanks for taking a look guys!

I'll get right on those problems you mention, and I'll take a look at the start page to make the purpose and use of Bouldr clearer.

If you edit your profiles and add your location (which will be randomised slightly), Bouldr will make that location your default, and each time you log in, you will start there in the explorer. Also, (if you want it), the newsletter will be customised to your location!

More constructive criticism, please! 

[Bonjoy]

Good idea regards the location thing, it does get tiresome navigating from a world view each time you want to find the peak.
Is there any scope for grouping problems by crag and having links to this, or would this be a major undertaking? So you would have a link to the peak, with a sublink to Stanage and a page listing all the probs there.
 The prob I was having with text over images was because I had a favourites bar open on the left which was distorting the page and the text wasn't justifying (is that the right term?).

 On the image editing page I think it'd be worth having text explaining that the blocky image that appears when you upload a file is not how the published image will appear.

[Bouldr Matt]

At the moment, you can use the search box at the top of the explorer to go to specific regions - for example, searching for Burbage will zoom and re-center the map on Burbage, and only display climbs from that area (clear the search box to show all climbs).

I'm loving this feedback though - it's really difficult to know if we're building the right features until we are told that what we have done already is good or pants! I'll be in touch about those problems you came across.

Thanks again!

[Bonjoy]

Just had a play with that link, it works really well. How about a list of venues, or is there one already?
 It is a bloody good site. All you need now is to bully people into submitting stuff. I'll keep putting things in that I have pics of on my work PC.

[Johnny Brown]

This is brilliant. I remember in the far distant past someone should make a Modern antiquarian style bouldering site - pretty much exactly what you've done.
My only comment is your design seems a little less efficient with screen space then The Modern Antiquarian - especially how the destination opens beside the map. This is a detail though, I can see this becoming as good as bleau.info. Genius.

[Greg C]

It is a bloody good site. I'll keep putting things in that I have pics of on my work PC.

Likewise.

[Johnny Brown]

Bonnos, your problems with lines on photos. Are you adding them before uploading or is it a site feature?

[Bouldr Matt]

Thanks for the kind words!

Yeah The Modern Antiquarian has a pretty spiffy design - we're going to work on Bouldr's layout based on the comments I have received here, and from what I have heard so far, we have a couple of issues:

• It's not immediately clear as to how to get started
• It's using too much screen space for certain elements, and some areas need rearranging

If you love Bouldr, then I'd imagine that your climbing partners might like it too, so please do invite your friends - help us get the word out, after all, Bouldr is really only a platform from which people can find and help each other.

[Bonjoy]

JB - No the site has the option for two versions of an image, one with a line on, one without. You draw on the line on an editing page on the site.

Matt - I have changed my location in Profile Edit, but still I am navigating from somewhere in the atlantic. Is this something I have to wait for the site management team to update for me or should the site have done it automatically?

[Bonjoy]

 Any chance of adding grade and star vote options a la Yorkshiregrit/Bleau??

[Bouldr Matt]

Bonjoy: Sorry, my bad! You need to go to Edit Profile -> Location to update your default location. The 'Where are You' box is confusing matters, so I think that it'll have to go.

Site Management Team sounds so official! There is no manual management required for Bouldr to work - we automate as much as possible so that we can all enjoy the site without having to wait for scheduled updates.

As for voting, well we did have a voting system in place at one point, but we weren't happy with it, so it got deleted. We're going to have a good long think about implementing a star and grade voting system in the near future, but for now, do you (or does anyone else) have any preference as to how voting could be improved on such sites? I'd love to hear your ideas!

[Bonjoy]

For grade votes I think an option top vote for the full range (V0-V16) on all probs. Often my view on a grade differs beyond the range of options offered on sites like Yorkshiregrit, this is particularly so if holdsa break or new sequences are found.
 The representation of star voting on UKC is better than for instance Bleau IMO, as it gives a more detailled view of opinion. One or two deviations from typical opinion appear as just that rather than skewing the whole rating.
 Perhaps votes should be limited to one (editable - problems change over time) vote per problem per registered user. This way you encourage membership and hence problem submisions, plus you avoid abuse of the voting system.

[Bonjoy]

Have sorted the location mix-up out. It has changed the location on my homepage. Any chance you can also set it to default to this location when I go to New Climb?

[Stubbs]

Jon has updated the system on yorkshiregrit so you can vote whatever you want now.  Agree that star voting would be good too.

[Bouldr Matt]

BonJoy: Yeah, I think that having your default location used when adding a new climb would be better - it's on the (growing) list of things to do - I think posting here has been the best thing I have done all year!

Thanks for all the comments!

[fatdoc]

no map or satellite shows up on my laptop, i'll try my imac later....... could this be a safari (mac default browser) issue??

[Bonjoy]

 Surely there must be more people with photos of things on their hard drives?!
 Anyone who thinks this site has potential should make the effort and post up a few things. It's very easy to do once you've figured how to do one. I'm just about running out of things on my work PC now.
 Do it, do it, do it, do it!
I'm wadding anyone who adds something today. If I can figure who's who. Must include a pic.

[Stubbs]

Ha, will add when I get home, I've got to at least get Yorks on par with the peak!

[Monolith]

Stay tuned for a forthcoming documentary focusing on the dark and seedy underworld of The Breck. Seriously, this is happening and I'll upload it when it's made. Charting my quest to bag a repeat of Hastons Dyno, my sole motivation in climbing. THIS WILL HAPPEN!

[r-man]

Have had a dabble with this site, and it seems quite nice. Could be useful for planning trips abroad, if more climbs get uploaded.

Suggestions -

1. Get on all the bouldering forums in various countries. Ask them for contributions and feedback. The more people you get involved, the more people will want to get involved. Be proactive and it could soon turn into something great.

2. Scrolling around maps is a pain in the bum. It's nice to be able to do it when you want to, but would be great if you could just click on a a continent/country name in a menu and get a list of areas within that country. Then click on an area and get a list of sub areas (eg. East/West), then get a list of crags...

...Would be really nifty if the map could adjust with each step. So clicking on UK would zoom in to the UK, and so on.

3. This would be especially useful for adding problems, rather than fiddling about trying to find the location on the map. Would be good to just select a name from a drop-down list. (I would have added more problems if this was in place.)

4. An option to add videos, or youtube links, would be good.

5. Links to other bouldering websites around the world would be nice - that way it would be possible to browse on bouldr for a good destination, and then get more detail from a specific site. If you add links you'll also be able to advertise your site on all sites you link to, and encourage more contributions.

[fatdoc]

as of yesterday i've managed to get photos on the www. and i'm well up this site to be the global resource it could be.

I've  tons of photos.

and the site doesnt work, on a mac that is.

bonjoy - you hold me a waddage in reserve mate - i have some right crackers that need to get onto that site!!