The State of PalmInfocenter Address

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, October 1, 2002 1:41:32 PM

Welcome to the new version of PalmInfocenter.com. Today we’ve released a long overdue site remodeling. It incorporates a fresh new design and many new features designed to make the leading Palm OS news site even better. We've listened to your suggestions and have made changes to site we hope you’ll enjoy. Please read on for the full update.

In what may come as a bit of a surprise, longstanding PalmInfocenter News Editor Ed Hardy has resigned his position. I won't go into the details about why he left because, frankly, that's not really anyone's business but Ed's and I. It is enough to say that we are parting friends and will be meeting for the first time face to face in a couple weeks. Ed has been a big part of PIC for the past 2+ years and I can never thank him enough for all of his hard work for everything he has done for the site. I sincerely wish Ed all the best with his future endeavors.

I want to assure everyone that I am fully committed to keeping PalmInfocenter the great place that it is for Palm Handhelds enthusiasts. I will be filling in as the Daily news editor, bringing you the latest Palm OS news as it happens. We are looking for qualified candidates that would have an interest in writing articles and we always welcome articles and review contributed by our readers. Interested persons are welcome to contact me for more information.

You may be asking yourself, who is this Ryan character? If you’re not already familiar with my role with PIC, I am the Founder and Editor in Chief, I usually post under the admin account. While Ed has been the most visible person on the site for the past 2 years, I have always been in the background, handling the less visible aspects of the site. I custom built the code that runs PIC, handle advertising, biz development, marketing, waking up at 3 am to repair the site from hacker attacks, and filling in for Ed on his breaks. I’ve been running PIC now for 4 amazing years and I love doing it and hope to do so well into the future. One thing I would like to ask of my readers is that you have a bit of patience with my bad grammar and typos; I went to school for a MIS degree not an English one.

On to some of the new features…
The first major change that you will notice, the most user requested suggestion, is that we will no longer permit anonymous posting. One of the major complaints about PIC is over the signal to noise ratio of our reader commentary. Way to often intelligent threads are drowned out by the sheer amount of posts and banter. We have made this change in order to encourage more civilized, insightful discussions, increase the value of our comment area and to build an over all friendlier PIC. This will be a trial at first and if things improve it will be a permanent change.

If you have not done so already, please take a moment to create a PalmInfocenter account. It is quick, easy and free. Registration is now required for posting in the news articles, discussion forms and viewing PIC member profiles. If you have an account, you can update your preferences to customize your new member profile.

We’ve created a new News Center, a much easier way to explore the great articles, reviews and features in our archives. All articles comments are now displayed in flat mode, no more clicking through to view threads. We will now list our most notable news article, denoted by the blue "Lead story" text, first at the top of the homepage. New articles will be listed directly below the lead story ordered by date. These are just a few of the improvements you’ll find in the new PIC. We also have many new exciting things in store for the near future so stay tuned!

There may be a bug or spelling error here or there in the new site, if you spot anything it would be appreciated if you let me know. The site may seem a bit slower as the server adjusts to the new code.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to personally thank all of the PIC reviewers, moderators, contributors and especially our readers. Everyone comes together to make PalmInfocenter the wonderful resource that it is, and I sincerely thank you all. Special thanks to ThatWeasel Productions for their work on the site design.

Best,
Ryan Kairer
Editor in Chief
Ryan@PalmInfocenter.com

Article Comments

 (158 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

Down View Full Comment Thread

WOW!!

sandbuck @ 10/1/2002 2:56:01 PM #
I like it!! You still have the signature, clean PIC look and feel!

RE: WOW!!
LanMan @ 10/1/2002 2:58:38 PM #
Looks great, Ed!

Full-time computer network engineer
Part-time computer science teacher
Christian till the end-of-time <><
RE: WOW!!
jjsoh @ 10/1/2002 2:59:29 PM #
I agree. The site looks much better.

Great job guys, and farewell Ed.


Jim

RE: WOW!!
Massman82 @ 10/1/2002 3:01:46 PM #
Excellent job. It's a little slow on my broadband connection right now. Did you change ISP's or is it just high traffic?

Roman Pedan
Palm V/Vx
Will get a Palm OS 5 handheld
RE: WOW!!
Beavis @ 10/1/2002 3:02:03 PM #
No more Anonymous postings! It's about time.

RE: WOW!!
Beavis @ 10/1/2002 3:07:00 PM #
The font on the main menu on the homepage has to go. It is barely legible on my PC.

RE: WOW!!
Altema @ 10/1/2002 3:14:03 PM #
Good job on the new site, looks kind of WinXP flavor, but XP is the first Windows release that I actually like!

Ed, thanks for all the work you put into PIC on a daily basis to keep it THE prime Palm OS site.

Ryan, loking forward to hearing more from you, and seeing where we go from here. You know that the speed issue is partly due to everyone hitting the site now because they could not get their "PIC fix" this morning!

RE: WOW!!
bcombee @ 10/1/2002 3:15:46 PM #
Very nice layout, and I definitely approve of removing anonymous posters. You can still be pseudoanonymous, as no one but the moderators will be able to see your info, but it may cut down on the flaming.

I'd sad to see Ed go, but I'm glad to see that Ryan will be continuning his major role as site editor. Good luck in your future ventures, Ed the former ed.

--
Ben Combee, CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com

RE: WOW!!
rsig @ 10/1/2002 3:54:24 PM #
>I shot on over to Brighthand to see if Ed's name >happened to show up as the mysterious new E-i-C. Lo >and behold, there he is!

Yeah, well I'm a littled dismayed that they "can't pry his hands off" of the a Toshiba PPC, but all in all, I'll miss Ed.

RE: WOW!!
palmmongrel @ 10/1/2002 3:56:41 PM #
Just one suggestion from a picky graphic desgner guy - the "i" and surrounding circle in the logo looks kinda fuzzy and out of place next top the crisp scheme of everything else. In fact, the optical illusion of the shadow and shape of the "i" makes it seem off-center... anyone else think so?

I say get rid of the "i" shadow and the circle gradation, and give the circle a black line, with the same point size used on the outline of the words. It'd be nice and bold. My opinion only, don't boot me :)

Otherwise, great!

RE: WOW!!
Foo Fighter @ 10/1/2002 4:02:32 PM #
No more anonymous posts!!! THANK YOU JESUS!

RE: WOW!!
Liam @ 10/1/2002 4:19:26 PM #
What's up with Ed's departure? Does not sound good. What is the real story there? I'd like to hear what Ed has to say on leaving...

Wow?

RE: WOW!!
jjsoh @ 10/1/2002 4:42:28 PM #
: No more "Anon's" I really think this will improve the
: contenet and reduce the Trolls.

Unfortunately, it won't improve the spelling and grammar of posts. ;)

All kidding aside, this is what I hope for, too. Now we can reply to (or flame) others by their registered names instead of referring to "I. M. Anonymous @ 10/1/2002 2:59:29 PM." Long threads were pretty hard to follow when they were all anonymous. @X(

Jim

RE: WOW!!
a @ 10/1/2002 5:10:50 PM #
love the format! good job!

I love my Treo 90
RE: WOW!!
whiterabbit @ 10/1/2002 5:55:01 PM #
No Anon Posts! Yay! The site also looks great, but what happened to being able to select themes? I liked the nice blue theme you used to be able to pick. :(

RE: WOW!!
cbusch @ 10/1/2002 6:54:31 PM #
Awesome new design! Almost fell off my chair when I saw that PIC had changed designs. Looks great!

We'll miss you, Ed. Thanks for all your work over the past years.

RE: WOW!!
Altema @ 10/1/2002 9:06:22 PM #
"the "i" and surrounding circle in the logo looks kinda fuzzy and out of place next top the crisp scheme of everything else."

They were just trying to get more color combinations of grey by dithering... :)

Thanx for all the great articles Ed.
pdangel @ 10/2/2002 3:34:12 AM #
....and good luck to Ryan.



"There are 2 kind of people my friend....those with wires and those without"

RE: WOW!!
Sparkman @ 10/2/2002 4:26:06 PM #
Dangit.

I want Wes back! I'm curse the name of all PIC workers and won't rest until I have justice and the return of Wes...

What's that?

Oh, sorry. Flashback time. :-)

Seriously, new design looks great. Any way to contact Ed now and send best wishes?


RE: WOW!!
krtty @ 10/2/2002 10:59:19 PM #
Thank Ed for all your works and good luck

Welcome Ryan, I like the new look too and even like it with no anon....good job

RE: WOW!!
PDA Guy @ 10/1/2002 3:01:13 PM #
Excellent! Good luck to the new site, I especially look forward to seeing how the no more anon posting thing works out!
RE: WOW!!
LanMan @ 10/1/2002 3:05:25 PM #
Oops, I posted too soon. I see that Ed is no longer w/PIC. :-( We'll miss ya, Ed.

Looks great, Ryan!

Full-time computer network engineer
Part-time computer science teacher
Christian till the end-of-time <><

I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...

Isaiahp @ 10/1/2002 2:58:19 PM #
I like it. Thanks to Ed for all of his hard work, and thank you to you, Ryan, for yours.

Keep up the great work.

RE: I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...
Fzara2000 @ 10/1/2002 5:13:21 PM #
I really dont like the new look. it feels like we're in the 1950's with the grayish look.
Also, the new buttons arent what I would have expected.
Now on to Ed Hardy's position with PIC. Maybe Ed left to write for the pocketpc site. I think the PocketPC has gained another win, which proves that the PalmOS is dying again.
Need it be, I have friends who are trolls to this site, including my favorite friends from www.werewolf.com. Need it be, they will continue to flood the site with postings from fake and newly created usernames from every single IP address of each of our campuses and home computers.
Dont worry, you cant evade the power of the annonymous postings forever!!!!
AWoOOOoOOOOoooOOOOh

Also: I feel this will decrease the traffic to PIC because of Ed's extensive reviews. It really is a shame Ryan couldnt have Ed stay a while longer.

"Now thats just PRIME!"

RE: I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...
Fzara2000 @ 10/1/2002 7:57:27 PM #
Ok, I would like to aplogize for the last post.
Im obviously mad PIC lost ED, but im also mad that the site will go down in 6 months in flames.
Sorry to bother anyone.
and refute any and all information about the trolling. Those days were fun, but we now have anonymoue posting disabled.

"Now thats just PRIME!"
RE: I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...
Admin @ 10/1/2002 8:28:32 PM #
Fzara, PIC is not going down. We are picking up where Ed left off and building on our leadership position. I think the quote: "That which does not kill you only makes you stronger" is appropriate here. The site will only get better, I have many exciting things in the pipeline for PIC.
RE: I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...
Fzara2000 @ 10/2/2002 3:38:01 AM #
Ryan, I dont understand, how in the world are you going to be able to manage PIC, and the news stories that are coming out every other day, along with reviews and whatnot?
btw, you can call me 'Fzara' for short. ;)

"Now thats just PRIME!"
RE: I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...
alexp @ 10/2/2002 11:06:25 AM #
I'd just like to thank Ed and wish him well. I also wish Ryan the best of luck.

Lastly, to those other PIC readers who simply want solid information and informed, rational discussion, please do yourselves a favor and ignore postings from admitted trolls like Fzara2000. They're only here to try to push people's buttons, and when the buttons don't work, they move on.

PDABuzz managed to get Fzara2000 to give up, so perhaps PIC can, too.

RE: I was when PIC didn't come up for my morning Coffee...
omu @ 10/3/2002 8:27:19 AM #
I think it's totally allright for competent and ambitious people (like ed) to move on after some years.

If the well established people would stay on and on,
no "freshman" would have a chance to build up some reputation.

It's sad, though, but i can't imagine that this site's success is only based on one singel guy!



Looks Good

mrfrodo1 @ 10/1/2002 3:01:07 PM #
I like the new look. Very nice job.

RE: Looks Good
I.M Anonymous @ 10/1/2002 9:25:20 PM #
Ehh, it looks too Macintosh for my tastes.

First typo?

Fammy @ 10/1/2002 3:01:09 PM #
The sentence that reads:

"If you have not done so already, please take a moment to create a PalmInfocenter.com."

Should probably have account appended to the end. Although I am interested in making websites, I don't feel I can make a PalmInfocenter.com anytime soon. =)

_____
Fammy

No more anonymous posts

robrecht @ 10/1/2002 3:02:44 PM #
Congratulations. I hope this will help to raise the level of discourse.

Thanks, Robrecht
RE: No more anonymous posts
CKMOOSE @ 10/1/2002 3:20:09 PM #
No more "Anon's" I really think this will improve the contenet and reduce the Trolls.

Love the new look.

Ed will be missed :(

Long live Ryan!!

RE: No more anonymous posts
Cheap Guy @ 10/1/2002 8:40:37 PM #
While I agree that registration will lessen some of the less intelligent comments, i.e., "Palm Sux, Sony Rulz!" or vice versa, I hope it won't lessen the amount of humor on this site. Some of the funniest post were from I.M. Anons. The recent "stupid" post by I.M. Anon on 9/25/02 at 6:08:44 had me rollin'.

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=4208


RE: No more anonymous posts
I.M Anonymous @ 10/1/2002 11:57:40 PM #
Goodbye and good riddance!

Palm Sux, Sony Rulz!

Love the new changes

rldunn @ 10/1/2002 3:01:16 PM #
Ryan, I like the new look and love the fact that you disabled anonymous posting. Hopefully much of the attacks and immature posts that unfortunately PIC became known for will be a thing of the past. Good luck with the site. I hope it will continue to grow and stay the best Palm OS news site out there.

RE: Looks good
Cheetah @ 10/2/2002 12:41:45 AM #
Ryan, thanks for all your hardwork...this site is my home page.

Ed thanks for all your contribution over the years.

New Look

jrkclie @ 10/1/2002 3:04:14 PM #
Looks fantastic!! Keep up the good work.

Let Users Control Font Size
n0where @ 10/3/2002 2:48:10 PM #
>> The font on the main menu on the homepage
>> has to go. It is barely legible on my PC.

> I thought I was the only one with that problem.

Same here. It wouldn't be so bad if you could resize the font (in IE, etc.), but they are locked.

I recommend that the webmaster/editor check out this article by the 'father of usability', Jacob Nielsen. It is very timely.
Let Users Control Font Size
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020819.html

It may not be much of an issue on CRTs depending on the resolution you run it at, but for LCDs it can get pretty bad as you almost never use a resolution lower than the max.

I recently went from a 15" XGA (1,024 x 768) LCD to a 17" SXGA (1,280 x 1,024) and the dot pitch went from 0.297mm to 0.264mm.

I just don't get it...

Top View Full Comment Thread
Achtung! Only the first 50 comments are displayed within the article.
    Click here for the full story discussion page...

Account

Register Register | Login Log in
user:
pass: