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Release Notes (Website: Navigation changes) - March 25, 2015


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Read the previous Release Notes

 

The addition of the new geocache search and Hide a Geocache page gave us an opportunity to think about how players navigate Geocaching.com. We found that most players who visit the website want to either learn about geocaching, play the game, gear up, or connect with the global geocaching community. The new navigation should help guide you to find exactly what you're looking for — and leave the hunting around for when you're in the field!

 

What's new:

 

How do I access My Profile?

Click on your geocaching username or your profile image. This will take you to My Profile where you can access Lists, Geocaches, Trackable Items, Souvenirs, and more.

 

How do I access Account Settings?

Look for the gear icon in the drop down under your username.

 

Why is the font different on the website?

You have good eyes! In the name of consistency, we updated the font to be the same across Geocaching.com.

 

Oh no! My geocaching scripts aren't working anymore. When will you fix these?

These scripts are made and maintained by members of the geocaching community, not by Geocaching HQ. Occasionally, updates like this will stop them from working. Usually, the geocachers who own and maintain the scripts are quick to fix them. Thanks for being patient!

 

How do I find...?

Sometimes less is more. These pages did not make it into the new navigation but you can still find them on our website here:

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funny enough, i am at work and wondered what might be new in the forums.

I like that you gave a brief run down on how to use the new changes. Made it real easy to see what to do. It all makes pretty good sense. The menus are nice and big, easy to read. Looks more open, therefore easier on the eyes (I was in art school once).

So far I like.

 

But, where did the white squirrel go?

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I have read the faq and understand there is a way to search by "found by" but can we please get that back as a filter option. Perhaps "not found by" could have an off/on option for premium members? While going to the user profile is viable option the it's not user friendly to have to come out of the search filters to search on a particular user's finds plus you can't apply multiple filters unless in the advanced search section.

 

Thank you!

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So let's see what is written there

 

We're always striving to make better tools for the geocaching community. The recent addition of the new geocache search and hide a geocache page gave us an opportunity to think about how players navigate Geocaching.com. We found that most players who visit the website want to either learn about geocaching, play the game, gear up, or connect with the global geocaching community. The new Header and Footer navigation should help guide you to find exactly what you're looking for - and leave the searching for when you're in the field!

 

I read the above twice and ended up with the conclusion that my mind set and the mind set of the team at Groundspeak simply have nothing in common.

 

The link to view my profile was one of the ones I used the most often and I found it much more intuitive to find it in a menu than having to click on my login name (without the faq I would not have got that idea). Even when knowing it, it will once again need time to adapt (like adapting to the font change, colour and contrast changes) all with no profit visible for me. I'm apparently far too stupid to understand in which way this change improved any tool. By the way, the same holds true for the new geocaching search at least for basic members where what happen is rather a deterioration in my opinion.

 

I'm sorry to say but the changes for me feel like changes which happened to change something, but maybe others are more clever and manage to understand what became better and not just different.

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I have read the faq and understand there is a way to search by "found by" but can we please get that back as a filter option. Perhaps "not found by" could have an off/on option for premium members? While going to the user profile is viable option the it's not user friendly to have to come out of the search filters to search on a particular user's finds plus you can't apply multiple filters unless in the advanced search section.

 

Thank you!

Thanks for your feedback. These comments relate to the prior Release. That thread has been closed, but there are threads open in the Geocaching.com Web Site forum, the Geocaching Topics forum and the "How do I...?" forum that discuss the new search feature, request changes to the design, vent complaints, and offer workarounds. Everyone's welcome to contribute to those threads -- each and every post is read by Lackeys responsible for the evolution of the search tool.

 

EDIT to add: the prior Release Notes thread was reopened, in order to collect additional feedback about the new search feature.

Edited by Keystone
new information
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What's new:

 

How do I access My Profile?

Click on your geocaching username or your profile image. This will take you to My Profile where you can access Lists, Geocaches, Trackable Items, Souvenirs, and more.

 

Why remove the drop down menu that made all of this information available without having to click through another page.

 


  •  
     
  • Local Organizations (Note: Getting involved with a geocaching organization is one of the best ways to take your game to the next level. You can also learn more about organizations here.)
    If this is one of the best things you can do to meet locals and find local caches why hide it?

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I miss the menus dropping down automatically when hovering over them. Now it takes another click to find a geocache or go to my pocket queries for example. It was a lot simpler to just hover then move the mouse to the selection and click on it.

 

When clicking on my user name, I go to http://www.geocaching.com/my/default.aspx. When clicking on my avatar, I go to http://www.geocaching.com/my/. They end up in the same place, but the URL without the "default.aspx" should be preferred. Actually, there are very good arguments to not include "default.aspx" in any URL - Think search engines for one reason.

 

I like the cleaner look.

Edited by Corfman Clan
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First impression: it's about like arriving at home and finding the driveway has been moved.

 

Nice not to have menus popping up and stealing a click intended for something else.

 

Still not loving the new cache submission process. Was hoping that would get back a bit to the function over form method which worked well for experienced cachers. Bookmark at the Hide A Cache page to avoid the annoying intro pages.

 

-- When will this have Event/CITO among the types? It's a PITA setting it up as a Traditional and then editing and remembering to move the date forward. It's like some overly slick app which isn't really finished and requires a work around.

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For me, the jury is still out. This is way too new to judge. I do appreciate that you gave us a link to our profile settings from that page, instead of having to go to our Public Profile page.

 

One gripe I have, though, is that you STILL have not given us a link to our Gallery! The only way to view my gallery is by going to the tabbed interface on the so-called Public Profile page. Please don't bury my gallery like that. I am more likely to view it than others that might want to look at it through the public profile. Does it really make sense to have the only access to it from there?

 

That's all I've got for now.

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Now that I'm clicking on geocaching 101, instead of the help center right away, might take a while to get it straight in my dyslexic old noggin.

 

Oh that sounds familiar. It does not happen to me for the help center (I hardly use it), but for other links. I typically rely on where a link is located without actually looking what's there when it's a site that I use often. And so every change is quite annoying and does not bring me anything positive.

Edited by cezanne
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My friend was manager of a company that every year would rip up and replace the carpet in the office as well as throw out and replace a good chunk of the furniture, not that it needed replacing but to spend their yearly maintenence budget so it wouldn't be reduced the next year.

 

Not sure how I feel about the new carpet.

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I like how the new menu at the top doesn't automatically pop down when you simply move the mouse over it. 99% of the time my mouse is simply "passing through", and the menu was a tiny annoyance every time. For that 1% when I do want the menu, I'm happy to spend the extra click to get it. Thanks.

 

Yes, I like that too. Overall the headers look cleaner. Getting to my profile is not real intuitive though - I'd rather see another item in the drop down menu next to my name.

 

Minor glitchy thing - I can get to my profile by clicking my name, but if I click on my find count below my name, it does nothing, even though the cursor changes to indicate it's clickable.

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A lot of wasted space on the screen now. My legally blind father-in-law would like it though.

 

Also, a PQ that has been working fine for months now results in a file not found error...the PQ ran yesterday and is apparently ready for download, but the file behind the scenes is apparently missing.

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Minor cosmetic bug. In "Recently Viewed Caches" page, the "Log a cache" box, there is no space between "Search for Geocaches" and "near your home location". It's a 1 character fix. The HTML :

 

Search for Geocaches<a id="ctl00_ContentBody_hlSearchByLocation" href="/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=xxx&lng=-yyy">near your home location</a>

 

I see this in Firefox 36.0.1, Windows 7, no Greasemonkey installed.

Edited by Chrysalides
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Minor cosmetic bug. In "Recently Viewed Caches" page, the "Log a cache" box, there is no space between "Search for Geocaches" and "near your home location". It's a 1 character fix. The HTML :

 

Search for Geocaches<a id="ctl00_ContentBody_hlSearchByLocation" href="/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=xxx&lng=-yyy">near your home location</a>

 

I see this in Firefox 36.0.1, Windows 7, no Greasemonkey installed.

 

Same on safari on iPad.

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I wish there was a service provider that respected their subscriber base. I would spend my money there instead.

 

It would be nice to have a transition period to get used to the new features. An opt in or opt out feature. Instead we have yet another non-productive evening trying learn the product yet again instead of logging finds.

 

So sad.

 

I understand that you can't support the old stuff forever. But give people a month or so. Let us ease into it rather than be forced into on your schedule.

Edited by y2kcompliant
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All the useful features that I have been using for the last ten years are going, going, gone.

This is really sad. SmartPhones users are more important that veteran cachers. Really sad.

I found it amusing (as well as disconcerting) that just today you taught me that the footer has all manner of useful links such as the benchmark search link, and just a few hours later it's disappeared. The real laugh is they threw out most of the links, but they jacked up the font size so the few links left take up even more room. Good thing I'm never at the bottom of the page to see all that waste.

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I generally do like the simplification of the menu system, as far as I can find what I'm looking for, which I can. But what I cannot understand is why the header is so tall. The big green line at the top of the page that has only user box at the right can definitely be merged with the white menu line, whis on the contrary has white space on the right, where the user box could go.

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The only downside for me (and I realise it's minor), is the change from a square avatar icon to a circle means mine no longer shows as intended in the header. Hope you don't change this everywhere on the site, as at the moment it's only the view I get in the header that chops the picture and not the view everyone else gets (i.e. from profile page, found/dnf logs, forum icon etc), which still shows as a heart shape.

 

I like the rest of the changes in this release.

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1. Full agreement with niximor - why is the headline so huge?!

2. There were two small icons for log-out/settings - you have replaced it with a much bigger square. Now I have to click one more time - therefore why aren´t there more options in the table? I would welcome e.g. "(your) caches", "your PQ" etc.

I hope that at least the broad bands of green & white will be merged. It looks strange, especially with background colours/images used in the listings...

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What we can see now by the new design and changes on the homepage of geocaching.com is in my opinion a logical development - if you look at it out of the company. For me and many other geocachers the gc.com-site was a tool we need to do our hobby. So if you prepare for a gc-tour, manage your caches with lists or pocket-querries, search in unknowns areas or nearby - all of this must have been quick and easy available on the gc.com-site. The system ran and so you could surf through the site with eyes shut. But now it looks like gc.com want to reinvent themselves in order to be ready for more and more new geocachers coming from the app-generation. Now you have to press some icons to get a-nearby-search or your account-detail, where formerly I thought this icon could rather be an element of design. What is soo bad about it to type "nearby-search" or "account-details" instead of an icon? This are only typical instances to illustrate what happens - gc.com developed to a mainstram-webpage whith the same claim - first comes design, then functionality. So I have to shut down now - I must learn the new structure.

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I am normally an advocate of white space but now there's simply too much of it on the wide screen sitting on my desk - it makes me go like this <_< then I either have to do this B) or actually turn down the brightness on my monitor, which would be fine if I then didn't have to turn it back up again for everything else I do on my PC.

 

It's blinding! :blink:

 

It reminds me of the Mike TV scene from the Willy Wonka / Charile and the Chocolate factory movies :(

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Apart from beeing pi...^^not so happy that (for me) essential tools such as GCTour don't work anymore: Why is there a huge whitespace between "Status:" and "Last Visit:" on my profile page (Firefox 36)? And: Wouldn't it be much better to first solve the speed problems and then work on the design?

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Before the change, I could access my bookmarks (lists?) page directly from a bookmark list. Now, when I'm on a particular bookmark list, there's no link at the top back to my bookmarks page. It would be helpful if I could "go up a level" into my bookmarks page from an individual list again.

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Where did you hide the search function for the database of benchmarks?

 

Knowledge Base article says to type in a zip code at the top of "this page," but that obviously won't work.

 

Ah, here it is.

 

Now, that makes me wonder about how Waymarking is treated.

 

Thank you msrubble,

 

The question is, how or where did you get to "here it is"?

 

Why is Find a Benchmark not in the dropdown for "Play" on the main page? Is GC going to do away with benchmark hunting? Hmmmm?

 

Shirley~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edited by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)
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Event and CITO are down below the Create a New Geocache button. Keep scrolling... too much scrolling IMO....

 

Oh, 'eck. That is beyond lame. What's with this "Clean Look" where there's just huge amounts of empty space on a page? It's not like you can lease it to someone, is it?

 

Tighten this site up. Geez.

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Where did you hide the search function for the database of benchmarks?

 

Knowledge Base article says to type in a zip code at the top of "this page," but that obviously won't work.

 

Ah, here it is.

 

Now, that makes me wonder about how Waymarking is treated.

 

Than you msrubble,

 

The question is, how or where did you get to "here it is"?

 

Why is Find a Benchmark not in the dropdown for "Play" on the main page? Is GC going to do away with benchmark hunting? Hmmmm?

 

Shirley~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Knowledge Base/Help Center page links to the benchmark Gallery. I cut off the file name gallery.aspx at the end of the URL.

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I like how the new menu at the top doesn't automatically pop down when you simply move the mouse over it. 99% of the time my mouse is simply "passing through", and the menu was a tiny annoyance every time. For that 1% when I do want the menu, I'm happy to spend the extra click to get it. Thanks.

 

Myself, i miss the auto mouse over drop down. I also miss not being able to just click "community" without having to scroll through the drop down to get to the forums. Now i have a lag because i have to click on "community", wait for the drop down to come up, then move down and click on "discussion forums".

 

I used my "profile" tab quite a bit but i see it's now gone. Taking that away makes no sense to me.

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Where did you hide the search function for the database of benchmarks?

 

Knowledge Base article says to type in a zip code at the top of "this page," but that obviously won't work.

 

Ah, here it is.

 

Now, that makes me wonder about how Waymarking is treated.

 

Than you msrubble,

 

The question is, how or where did you get to "here it is"?

 

Why is Find a Benchmark not in the dropdown for "Play" on the main page? Is GC going to do away with benchmark hunting? Hmmmm?

 

Shirley~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Knowledge Base/Help Center page links to the benchmark Gallery. I cut off the file name gallery.aspx at the end of the URL.

 

I wonder if GC wants only the younger people on their sight now and this is one way of pushing long term users of this site away? Oh, please do not change the forums into something new and not better also!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Ok, how do i get to my profile page now? That was one of the tabs i used most. Was so easy to get to caches found and owned info, TB found and owned info, and pocket queries. Imo, removing this was just plain goofy! :blink:

 

click on your name top right of page

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