Round 2 (ok, I'm probably not done yet, but wanted to get some more of this stuff 'in the hopper'):

Photo & 'Report' feature(s)

1) 'Report' / photo upload do not require a state/reach be selected
As Regional blah-blah-blah, I've had more than one user contact me saying "I've uploaded photos . . . how do I get them to show up on a (river/reach/page)?" It seems to me that there is very little point in allowing users (any and every boater or netizen who comes across our website) to upload photos to the database if they are not associated to a particular river and reach. Seems like this should be a MANDATORY field, that you shouldn't be able to upload photos until at least that field (if not a bunch of other relevant fields) has been populated!

2) 'Report' state/reach drop-down-lists not working (trying to fix existing 'report')
I tried to fix an existing report (from a ST volunteer other than myself) to change (add) state and river/reach information. The system allowed me to pull up the report, go into 'edit', select state and river/reach, and click 'update', but the selected state and reach information was not stored.
Is editing existing reports and photos a function which only the person who made the original report/upload is now allowed to do?
Or am I (as Regional blah-blah-blah) supposed to be able to have authority to help out by fixing others' reports/photos?

3) Photo viewer - photo count
I've noticed that the photo viewer seems to show a different 'count' of photos than the "Photos" tab. For example, reach#2313: photo-tab says "20" (and displays twenty photo/video thumbnails), but click the first thumbnail and the photo-viewer app pops up and says "(20 of 38)". Hmm, I added one photo, and now the tab says "21", but the photo viewer (when I click the first, newest shot) says "(21 of 40)".

4) Photo viewer - chopped captions
Whoa! Suddenly, erratically, the viewer is chopping the front couple characters of the caption and description. And, next time I tried it, it is ok. Not sure how 'repeatable'/reproduce-able this is. Hasn't happened again (yet).

5) Photo viewer - details
Hmmm, I thought I recalled discussion in the past where I thought there was some general concensus of opinion that there was value in trying to give proper credit to our photo contributors, by listing the 'credits' virtually whenever/wherever photos were displayed. Additionally, date and 'level' are requested (on photo upload) and present (at least, a good part of the time). I thought some concensus suggested it was beneficial for that information to be displayed along with display of the photo. However, the new photo viewing application does not display any of this information. Yes, it is 'available', by clicking a 'details' link as each photo is viewed, but doing so takes you out of the viewer app and (upon return) out of the Photo tab.

6) 'Report' and photo upload feature 'radio buttons' seem ill advised and inappropriate
The 'Report' feature has (almost 'hidden' under the bold-face instructions) a couple of 'radio buttons': "Photo and Text" and "River and Gauge Information". When the page is opened, NEITHER shows as 'selected'. Clicking "Photo and Text" does nothing (apparently indicating that it is currently the 'default' setting upon opening the page). Clicking "River and Gauge Information"

The 'title' at the left says (simply) "Share", which (given the fact that only ONE radio-button can be selected) seems to suggest that users can EITHER 'share' "Photo and Text" OR "River and Gauge Information", but NOT BOTH!

This provision for user entry of level (flow) information seems far less than obvious, especially since we are encouraging (more or less) any and every user of the system (not just us highly educated and intimately aware of functions of the system ST volunteers) the ability to upload their 'reports' and photos.

I think the level (and gauge info, when available) is a potentially very useful piece of information for viewers to have. If I'm looking at a photo (especially of a river I haven't done, but even of one that I have) I like to know what the flow was in the photo/video, so I can compare to the level when I've done it or when I get a chance to do the river/reach in question. Thus, I would think the provision to enter this information should either ALWAYS be displayed, or at least be the default setting, which could then be 'closed' (by clicking/switching the radio buttons).

Further, I find it confusing to look at the report I've created. It appears (as it SHOULD) that users can enter any 'historical' date (since it is likely in the vast majority of cases that they won't be uploading the photos the same day they ran the river). They can then specify what the gauge reading was. However, when I look at the report, it pulls in the latest gauge level. So, we have a report which seems to say "the GAUGE says the level was THIS, but I say the level was really THAT". When in fact, it is 'comparing' (showing) two different times, so OF COURSE the readings will differ! This is just confusing!

7) 'Report' and photo upload feature "Level" and "Numerical Reading" seem redundant
Unless the 'pop-up' instructions on 'Level' are misleading, and really this field wants to have some other information entered, these two fields say the same thing. (or, explain to me how they're different!)

8) Photo viewer - 'previous' + 'next' buttons keep moving
When one is sequencing though the photos, since each photo can (will often) be a different dimension than the prior one, the pop-up window keeps resizing, and the buttons at the bottom-right of the page (to sequence through the photos, or to close the window/app) keep moving around. This makes it necessary to keep moving the mouse/pointer around to 'next' through the photos.
It would be very nice if the pop-up window could either remain a fixed size (and just display photos different sizes within it), or least, say, have top-left corner 'fixed location' and have the control buttons then also be in the top-left corner (or any other corner 'fixed' and buttons in that corner), so you could sequence through without moving the mouse/pointer.

9) Photo viewer - no 'slideshow' option
It would be great if there was an option to have the viewer 'automatically' sequence through the photos (as I expect most users will end up doing, and we should want to facilitate such viewing). Ideally, the user should be able to adjust display/delay time (perhaps 1, 3, 5, or 10 seconds, or 'slow, medium, fast'). (Most photo viewer applications I've seen seem to have this.)

10) Photo viewer - no 'preview/select' option
It would be great if the viewer showed a series of thumbnails (across the bottom or down one side) as 'previews' of photos, and which might then allow the viewer to do some amount of selection and skipping of some photos, rather than being forced to view all photos in the order they appear.

11) 'Feature photo' on reach displaying goofy looking date
(As I previously reported elsewhere) The date on the feature photo appears to be displaying in 'internal' format, rather than being 'translated' to a user-recognizable 'date'.

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GGS Stuff
(maybe it was completely outside the scope of the current release, and planned to be addressed once matters really more the focus of this release have been settled? If so, ignore the following, and/or hopefully 'save' it for future reference)

12) GGS page wrapping lines
Looking at [www.americanwhitewater.org] it seems like the column for state names (etc.) is defined too narrow, causing many entries to 'wrap'. There seems to be plenty of width to the page, so this should not need to happen.

13) GGS listings appear incomplete
When a state is clicked on (from the above mentioned page), we seem to have a fine table for GGS stuff, but it is not populated with anything.

14) GGS functions not working
On the listing for a state, I clicked 'edit' for various entries, and each time was taken to the 'main' AW page.
I clicked on 'hide' for one particular listing (which was a duplicate, figuring it should 'hide' or delete that listing) and it seems to have abolished the 'edit' and 'hide' links altogether!

15) GGS mapping/defaults inappropriate
Clicking on the "Info and Map' link for a particular listing (which I had entered, and is apparently is sufficiently 'robust' in the current incarnation of things), a map opens. By default, apparently, we decide all paddlers live in LA (at LAX airport). WHY?
"Presets" also exist for "LA", "NY", "DC", and "ATL". WHY? Why have any 'presets', unless they could be from the nearest river(s)!
And, each of the other existing presets 'work', but "DC" seems to be broken. (But, again, IMO, all should just be removed.)
The text entry box is 'pre-filled' with "90210". WHY? (Ok, maybe it's 'cute', but that show is so long dead and how many boaters care about Beverly Hills, and getting from there to any GGS location?)
If it is prefilled with anything, it would be cool if we could get the user's location (at least zipcode, if not even more specific address).

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Other (misc)

16) River Networking - 'Title' inconsistent
Why do some entries show 'Paddler' and others show 'PADDLER' (all caps)?
And, it apparently allows you to 'sign up' multiple times (some user/paddlers appear twice on same reach).
(For example, see reach#2313, "Paddler Patrick Rault" appears twice (presumably because he 'signed up' twice).)

17) Administrator page to "Manage StreamTeam members on Reaches"
The action buttons (on the resultant page, listing reaches within the chosen state, and who 'owns' them) still show the old 'SK' (StreamKeeper) terminology, rather than 'ST' (StreamTeam).

Rob Smage
AW member since 1992, volunteer since 2000, Midwest Regional StreamTeam Leader

Good I have been cataloging requests in the bug tracker. Will add these too.

Cataloged all these in Trac.

Ryan

Yeah . . . I got something like 43 emails (apparently from the system) notifying me of all the bug-tracker entries . . .

(Is this your way of getting back at me? . . . just kidding!)

Hope you don't feel too much like you're just working for me! And . . . not meaning to suggest that EVERYTHING which I included on these lists (aside from the obvious bugs and errors) is 'golden' and must be implemented . . . some of it may merit implementation, some may merit discussion and debate, some may not merit the time anyone would take to read it, think about it, or reply! But, hey, we have come up with some GREAT additions to the system!

Thanks for all your hard work on making this (IMO) the most AWESOME site I'm aware of. Yeah, it does suffer some 'growing pains' from time to time, but that's sometimes the price of pushing the technology and state-of-the-art a bit. In the end, it's a more robust, more functional system. (Though, obviously there are some users who may take issue with that.)

Anyway . . . keep up the good work! (Now . . . let's see . . . where was I on Laundry list #3?)

Rob Smage
AW member since 1992, volunteer since 2000, Midwest Regional StreamTeam Leader