What needs fixing on the "Add project" page

I recognize most of your experience. In fact I gave up using the add draft thing after a few times. I also wonder why it matters about the dates of beginning and finishing. Gave them up, too. Apart from that I think it works well and is logically built up.

Ellen

I like having beginning and ending dates because it helps me keep track of what I've done and when. You don't have to use those spots, but I wanted to speak for keeping them! Some of us do use them! 

I agree that the draft space is confusing. What's the difference between "draft" and "pattern"? I know that you can upload a draft to the draft section, but if the name of the draft goes in the draft box, then do you also put the same thing in the pattern box (ie: twill in both boxes)? Or is the pattern box for people who use patterns as written from Handwoven and the like (ie: Stash Busting Scarves from Handwoven issue 147)? And if we do them separately, is it copyright infringement to upload a draft from a project in a publication?

I just went and looked again, and I do have a checkbox for same yarn warp and weft. It is easy to miss, though, because I didn't notice it when entering 2 of my 3 projects.  Maybe it should be moved down a line, or moved in between the warp and the weft entry fields.

I'm not sure how you want us to count number of shafts (only on a shaft loom, or no matter what kind of loom we're using); I personally put 2 if I'm using a single rigid heddle or 2 rigid heddles for doubled sett (as opposed to using 2 or 3 rigid heddles to create a pattern), and also if I'm doing plain weave on a backstrap loom. On my latest project, I put 4 because I am using 4 sets of string heddles to weave twill. I leave number of treadles at 0.  

I would like the ability to have multiple notes instead of just a single note field (maybe with an "add note" link to add in another if you choose to but leave it uncluttered if not), just to eliminate the possibility of accidentally erasing my entire note when I go to update it.

Thanks for asking our opinions!

You're welcome.  This is your site, we need to hear from everyone.

I find the date boxes helpful and it's fine if you don't want to use them, you shouldn't but it's good to have the option.

I'm taking notes and will let you know when we have a final draft of changes. 

Thanks for the input,

Claudia

I think having an option to post the project in public or just keep it in your notebook would be good. Perhaps a tab that says ''share'' if you want to have it up on the main projects page. That way people who are just starting a project can write notes even when they are just winding the warp and won't have to worry about lack of photo or details. Then when they are ready to share it they can choose to do so.  I agree with others when they say that it is dull seeing a project page full of ''no image'' posts.

I will tell you that the Add Project page is not what I originally envisioned.  There are several problems with it, but the main one that really bugs me is that I wanted the Add Draft to be a pop up/dialog that popped up in front of the Add Project Page.  When you finished adding the draft, the draft would be saved, and the name added automatically to the Draft field in Add Project.

All of these suggestions will be evaluated when we next revisit the project page.  It's unlikely that we would remove fields, but I do believe in making a minimum of fields required, since that lowers the barrier to entering a project.

I really appreciate the possibility to choose metric measurements when you add a project. If it hadn't been for that I think I would have given up beforehand adding anything.

To make life even better for us "metrics" it would be really nice to have some sort of calculator function, maybe in the resources area, that would convert yards, pounds, inches etc into grams, centimeters etc, including reed substitution.

I once long ago found a reed chart on this address. Maybe others would find it helpful, too?

www.allfiberarts.com/library/tables/blreedconversion.htm

 Hi Ellen, here is a link to an online conversion chart:

www.onlineconversion.com/weight_common.htm

If you hit the home button it will take you to a long list of other conversions that can be done.

If it makes you feel better, I keep a small chart by my loom so that I can do my converstion over to the metric system for my dyeing and weaving.  So far the only # I've been able to keep in my head is 28 grams per ounce!  regards  Deb

Hi Deb,

Thank you very much. That place is a goldmine. I have also been stuck when trying to follow American recipes (how much is a cup of something, e.g., my answer would be, well, it depends on which cup you use...:-o)

Ellen

Hi Ellen,

We have a Reed substitution chart in the Resources.  I will check on whether we can add a metric reed conversion chart to it.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Claudia

There is a USA/Rest of the World conversion widget available to Mac users.

For the Windows users, you can download Josh Madison's Convert for free. The only thing I found a bit confusing was his Distance tab instead of Length.

As for U.S. 'cups' in the kitchen, you're on your own. I prefer using the kitchen scale and recording grams.

Pippin

Thank you very much. I have just downloaded and installed it. Great that you are so helpful.

Ellen

Hi Claudia.

Yes I have seen it, and it doesn't really help us "metrics." That is why I suggested the metric one I once found and has used a lot since, - in a printed-out- paper version. :-)

Something I learned from one of the guys I work with:  if you type into google 20 cm = ? in you get the conversion back.  This is so handy that I rarely go to any of the free conversion sites any more.  I might if I was trying to convert volume or area or acceleration, but for simple measurements it works great.

Thinking about "inches" versus "metrics"...

Wouldn't it be nice if within your profile you were able to choose whether you wanted to see data in inches or cm. (or whatever is appropriate) and then when you viewed a project or a page that displayed data for you to enter, that Weavolution would AUTOMATICALLY do the conversion for you!!

Then, the view that everyone sees of Weavolution could be the view that is most comfortable for us...

I think it would take some thought to figure out where these automatic behaviors are appropriate, but something to keep in mind...

Kay

I like Laverne's idea to "share" or "not share" a project... Some people like to keep their thoughts to themselves, or even their work until they are "ready" to share.

I also think the photo organization stuff could use some work to make it easier to use and understand what is going on.  Personally I think the photos should be grouped together, with some options below about what to do...  Right now, there is a replicated section of "stuff" for each photo that you have for the project.

One thing I think that could be really fun is to add some Weavolution standard icons for the different project stages.  Right now, the stages are:

Not Started
Warping
Weaving
Finishing
Finished
On Hold

How about replacing "Not Started" with two choices... "Thinking About" and "Planning".  Then, depending on what stage the project is in, if the user hasn't uploaded a cover photo, the standard icon could be shown instead.  For example, if the project was in the "Thinking About" stage, if there was a graphic that displayed someone looking thoughtful, it would be easy to visualize all of the projects that are in that stage when looking at the full projects page.  Unfortunately, I'm not very good with graphics...

And now that I'm thinking about it, I am working on a project right now, that the weaving stage is taking an incredibly long time... it would be nice if I could mark the stage as being 50% complete... Actually, once a user marked the Warping stage as 100% completed, what if Weavolution automatically sent the project into the next stage?  That would be helpful.

Kay

I like this idea!

A "Designing" stage would be nice and maybe encourage more people to design their own.

Laurie Autio

yes, I agree completely.

That was something that I thought about, but put aside because we had other fish to fry.  I still would like to have the preference.

It would also be nice if the add project page also had that automatically selected when you went to add a project.

Maybe one of these days...

Hi Kay,

That would be absolutely great! I have no idea if this is at all possible, but it would be so nice to be able to intuitively imagine a thing without having to convert measures first.

Sorry for having been so long in answering you, I've just been away for a while.

The project page is desi, designed for weaving projects, and people have adapted it to use for other kinds of projects, as I just did for my natural dying experiments. It doesn't really lend itself to that (I had to fill in irrelevant fields to post!).  Could there be another project area for thing like tools, dying, etc that don't fit the weaving fields? 

I've added

• * Metric/Imperial conversion
• * keeping projects private until ready to share,
• * additional project stages,
• * project percent progress complete,
• * icons for project status, and
• * alternate project types

...to our ever growing list of ideas for website improvements.

(Making the pages for adding and editing projects more user-frendly and easier to follow is on that list too.) :)

Thanks Neshobe for bumping this thread!  I hadn't gone back as far as 2009 when looking for feedback, and now these great ideas will not be forever lost or forgotten.

I have been thinking that it wood be a good idea if the newest photo would show at the top as the presentation of the project. That way it would be easy to show the progress as it happens. As it is now I must delete the top photo before adding a new one, and then upload the old top photo again.

Hello all. Does anyone know if any thought has been given to having a notice banner sent to the " My Projects" originator, so one could respond to those who make a comment there? I find that having to continually scan each of "My Projects" for others posting there, is very difficult, and hard to answer in a timely fashion. Frank.

The ability to re-order photos is a great idea!  I will add that to our ideas list.

Notifying a project owner when his or her project receives a comment is already on the list - but don't let that dissuade you from further feedback!  When we hear multiple people asking for the same thing, that helps us understand where the biggest needs are. :)