Ping 166: Facebook Graph Search, WP8 Nominated, Nokia Drive, Microsoft loves the 90's

I will admit that my first computer (a Franklin Ace 1000) was in a basement and I kind of long for those days. So quiet and peaceful down there made it easy to focus. Alas, basements aren't a popular option where I live now.

That Facebook graph search thing looks pretty clever but not sure I'd use it. I only use Facebook to check out family n friends, don't post much on there. I tell nobody nothin'

I have Nokia drive on my WP7.5 and it also supports offline maps so it isn't just for WP8 😊

The mythly site looks nice but I'm not a fan of the scrolling right side with the floating pic on the left as it stutters up n down while I scroll, oh and the logo in the top left for me doesn't load, is it missing?

Edit: ha ha ha ha is that cheevos conversation for real? I can't quite tell, made me laugh though. Man the chicks are really gonna dig my huge....Gamerscore!

Edit 2: Goooo Ravens!!!!!!!!

15 minutes ago, IRB wrote

I have Nokia drive on my WP7.5 and it also supports offline maps so it isn't just for WP8

Do you have a Nokia branded phone?  If so, that would make sense.  But the Nokia Drive+ app is available across hardware brands so it's not limited to just Nokia devices.

The mythly site looks nice but I'm not a fan of the scrolling right side with the floating pic on the left as it stutters up n down while I scroll, oh and the logo in the top left for me doesn't load, is it missing?

Just fixed the logo in the upper left hand corner.  We still need to design a real logo, but at least the image loads now.

And can you describe a bit more clearly what is stuttering?  Also, what browser/OS/device are you using?

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm not a designer but I think the MYTHLY site looks great. The hover over action of the tire company text in the Work bar on the left isn't want I was expecting. Instead of just getting larger like the other items in the list it moves "Tire:" to the next line. I also spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to interact with the plus that sticks out from the side bar into the main view. Doesn't seem to do anything.

I like the black on red menu. Some of the descriptive text in the About section seems a bit fluffy and it took me a bit to really understand the meaning but I'm not the target audience so maybe that's just me. I like the transition animation when drilling into an item but the Prius video isn't playing for me. Overall I think it looks great. Only had one real shock:

Why google maps instead of bing maps in the contact section?!?

Re: facebook. I'm with IRB. When I first started on FB I filled out the info about what books and movies etc that I liked. Then I was force fed an ad diet heavy with those exact items. If I say that a book is my favorite why would I click on an ad for that book? I already own it.

Stuff like that got annoying so I pulled all my likes and just use it to keep in touch with family.

Re: Cheevos. Yes. If my visual studio cheevos are reflected in my gamer score I think maybe my gamer score should be a bullet point on my review. That would be ok.

Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mWSM1duydE

8 hours ago, Paul II wrote

Do you have a Nokia branded phone?  If so, that would make sense.  But the Nokia Drive+ app is available across hardware brands so it's not limited to just Nokia devices.

*snip* 

Just fixed the logo in the upper left hand corner.  We still need to design a real logo, but at least the image loads now.

And can you describe a bit more clearly what is stuttering?  Also, what browser/OS/device are you using?

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah I do have a Lumia 800 (though my 920 is hopefully on it's way to me soon) I just wanted to clarify that it wasn't just only available on Windows Phone 8

On the web site, I made a little video to show what I mean. I'm using my surface and metro (I know that's no longer the name) IE10. The video is here: http://sdrv.ms/WLzK9f (if it doesn't work, let me know and I'll try hosting somewhere else)

7 minutes ago, IRB wrote

On the web site, I made a little video to show what I mean. I'm using my surface and metro (I know that's no longer the name) IE10. The video is here: http://sdrv.ms/WLzK9f (if it doesn't work, let me know and I'll try hosting somewhere else)

The video helped us understand the problem a bunch.  Thanks a lot!  If you scroll fast on the on the [redacted fruit tablet] there is also a slight flicker.  We'll have to take a look at that.

3 hours ago, Paul II wrote

*snip*

The video helped us understand the problem a bunch.  Thanks a lot!  If you scroll fast on the on the [redacted fruit tablet] there is also a slight flicker.  We'll have to take a look at that.

No problem, it also fickers when I do it slow just wanted to make sure in the vid that you could see what I meant. Sorry to be a pain in the *, but you just gotta be what you are good at

The animations on the bar thingy is kinda laggy on my low-end laptop, running @ Chrome. I don't like the text (Times New Roman? *Shruggle*), would have chosed a different font in my opinion. But except that, the site was nice. 

I agree with @martinmine about the font, not my taste.

Also, when you expand a topic and choose it, the menu collapses again, is it supposed to do that?

The mythly.com website is well designed. I have a couple of points of interest. The navigation font just doesn't feel right. I'm not sure if it's the font itself or the spacing. The name should be offset from the navigation. Also the middle pane is too constrained where the video is shown. Either let the navigation pane be collapsible or provide more resizing options.

On other note, I liked the content on the digital magazine. That would actually make me more interested in that type of content (whether on my notebook or when I get a Surface). Another idea which is a tie-in to the show (it's my idea and I claim it) is you could set achievements for viewing ads and have some type of reward system.

As for achievements in general, I don't really care that much. I like that they're there, but my gamer score is pretty low considering the number of games I've played. It's more about the story or the activity for me.

10 hours ago, tgrt wrote

The navigation font just doesn't feel right. I'm not sure if it's the font itself or the spacing. The name should be offset from the navigation. Also the middle pane is too constrained where the video is shown. Either let the navigation pane be collapsible or provide more resizing options.

I agree with the font on the navigation pane.  We need to try something else there.  And I also agree that "Mythly Studios" should be offset from the navigation.

We initially had it so that the navigation was collapsible, but it seemed cumbersome to have two collapsible columns.  Maybe we'll have it collapsible, but have it shown by default.

Thanks for the feedback!

17 hours ago, Paul II wrote

*snip*

I agree with the font on the navigation pane.  We need to try something else there.  And I also agree that "Mythly Studios" should be offset from the navigation.

We initially had it so that the navigation was collapsible, but it seemed cumbersome to have two collapsible columns.  Maybe we'll have it collapsible, but have it shown by default.

Thanks for the feedback!

You're welcome.

Perhaps you could tie it to video playback and just expand the pane when the pane is too small for the video.