Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » New Updates

Okay, I gotta give props for these new updates. The little arrows are fantastic with minimizing the parts that you don't use and don't want cluttering the page you're on.

At first I was really hesitant about there only being a little pencil for the update of a character. But when I saw that it brought me to a management page and not the website-editing page that I thought, I just fell in love.

Kim, you've done wonders once again! I love this!

I totally approve of these new updates as well! They make character management much cleaner and are just nifty to look at~! *easily amused by tiny things*

Oh, I spotted the buttons to collapse the different sections but hadn't noticed the new character management page. Very nice indeed

Wow, you guys found them fast, I literally just pushed this update.

Thanks for your encouragement guys! I'm in the midst of some major updates and overhauls, and seeing that even the beginnings of them are useful already is hugely motivating to keep going.

Working on a character sheet as the updates happen helps us catch it quick, Your Majesty!

I have a habit of constantly clicking the 'dashboard' button to check for any new posts on threads.
So it's easy to catch! And yes Kim, I can't wait to see what you've got coming next! You're doing some amazing things with this site!

Not much slips by those of us who spend a lot of time here Can't wait to see what else you're updating

I see you can now check recent conversations in groups

I can't find the option to delete characters since this nifty new update with collapse-arrow thingies and the new edit-character page. Not that I want to delete any of my characters, mind you! But still!

Same here! It be lost on me. I also don't seem capable of making the bigger collapse arrows work? The one next to Your Characters and Your Groups and Tools don't do anything when I click

The big collapse/expand arrows work for me, but it looks like they run on Javascript. If you don't have Javascript enabled or are using something like NoScript, you'll want to enable it.

Looks like deleting characters can be done by clicking the pencil for them on the dashboard, and then looking down in the bottom right-hand corner - there's an X and a "Delete [character name]", or at least there should be.

I think my mouse was acting up, it works. I would prefer a red X next to the pencil like groups have them though. Deleting them from the dashboard feels like the more efficient way of doing it

I guess the real question is, how efficient does deleting characters need to be? And this is a real question. Feel free to join the debate.

From my perspective, there's several questions that have to be weighed to come up with the answer to the first:

1. How often does the average user want to delete their characters?
2. Does adding the delete button back into the dashboard have a negative impact on trying to accomplish other tasks?
3. Bonus question: Does moving the delete button off to the side on a separate page cut down on the number of mis-clicks and accidental deletions?

The following is my perspective on those questions...

How often does the average user want to delete their characters?
Most people keep characters for months or years, except for the occasional throw-away NPC or "test" character. The majority of characters that get made around here are made and then stay roughly forever.

Does adding the delete button back into the dashboard have a negative impact on trying to accomplish other tasks?
Technically, having all the options on the dashboard (such as edit, settings, friends/members and yes, delete) is more "efficient," but throughout the various design iterations I've been testing, I've learned that the less I put on the dashboard, the more people actually get done. Even though it adds extra clicks while people are searching for things, it cuts down on visual clutter and makes all the (other) options more easily scannable -- therefore easier to find and understand -- therefore easier to use.

The only option that got more obscure was deleting, which was mostly motivated by how little it actually gets used relative to the other options. But also...

Bonus question: Does moving the delete button off to the side on a separate page cut down on the number of mis-clicks and accidental deletions?
Accidentally deleting a character is a catastrophic event. And even though there's a number of "ARE YOU SURE?!?" screens in between you and the end of that character's world, one of the things I've been most flabbergasted about has been the degree to which people don't bother to read anything while on the internet. I've had a number of people think they were deleting character A, and it turned out after they had gone through all the warning screens that they'd misclicked and actually deleted character B, but were in such a rush they didn't read the giant name of the character they were deleting on their way through the confirmation screens.

Putting the delete button well out of the way and not in a scrunched up clutter pit with a bunch of other delete buttons was my attempt at forcing people to slow down and really mean what they click in the event of the one button that can't be undone.

And partially I just found looking at a red X right next to my favorite characters that I've had for about a decade mildly distressing.

Down the line we may experiment with making the button bigger or more obvious, but it probably won't ever rejoin the main lineup of other options because for most people clicking it isn't a casual event.


By the by, groups are undergoing a similar transformation, where the pencil will take you to a "management" page. Groups are the more complicated entity and sorely need this upgrade.

The management page exposes the available options in a much more obvious way than the current submenu does, and with the amount of stuff groups are capable of (or will be capable of), they really need a more self-explanatory method of being worked with. And yes, it is currently planned to move delete buttons for groups off the dashboard as well. If deleting one character is bad enough, deleting a whole group full of people's contributions and RP is even worse.

I agree with all of the above that Kim said. I totally understand just what you mean, Kim!

And yes, it is distressing. ._.

Yeah, I figured that was the justification for moving it, after a few minutes of wondering 'why the heck is it all the way over there?' after I found it. You have never known true sorrow until you've gone and trashed anything that's taken over a couple of hours with a single mis-click.

...I kinda did that while playing Bayonetta today, actually, and ruined two hours of work because I fell down a cliff right before I had secured the absolute top rating on a level, and there was no way of going back. T_T

Ah! I've found the delete option now! I missed it before because I didn't bother to scroll further down (I'm on a very tiny mini-laptop screen since my desktop's screen broke) and because I went straight for Settings, assuming the option would be hiding there.

I like the location it has now. It's only one click away from the Dashboard, so it's not too far away for people who want to go on a deleting spree. I disliked the fact that the red cross of doom was next to the characters' names before, even though it was rather efficient to delete test characters. But it was also a bit scary. It reminded me of all those games where 'load save' and 'load character' are only a millimeter away from the 'delete save' and the 'delete character' buttons, indirectly reminding of countless wasted hours and frustration. It's better the way it is now, I think.

I actually didn't consider that, Kim! I was thinking selfishly of what I feel is more efficient without stopping to think why moving the button is useful