About the login box: do you mean replacing it with a couple of links (login/register) on the dark gray menu bar? I actually like the box, with its info on last visit, the messages waiting, and the logout.
I've noticed the favorites/recommend icons: I do not use them, only because I recommend the site "in person" at every forum I frequent (not many) and the site has been for ages in my bookmark lists, but maybe replacing the star by a "Add to favorites" text could make it more prominent.
I like pitpass.com layout: it "hides" the ads a little embedding them on the top bar and using the extreme left of the screen for them. I do not know how you support the site financially speaking, but I would take any ad if this allows you to make the site more viable. FYI, your site's worth is not that bad in the "How much your site is worth" site (what a tongue-twister!
). Let me tell you I hate Google ads, btw, but, hey, anything goes.
I guess you probably love the F1Technical logo, and it is simple and compact to load, but maybe a little flashier, more "technical" logo would be nice.
I also like pitpass.com "features". I believe that the success of this site is based on the "stars" that write for them (Stoddard, Collins). I've always wondered if Principessa could convince some technical heads (or tails
) at the teams to write for you.
This would increment the seriousness of the "tech talk" a lot, so this is a suggestion: invite engineers of the teams (probably ex-F1 engineers, other series engineers, or, ideally, university professors to avoid conflict about secrecy) to write about the technical developments.
The style you have for the articles on the "Technology" side bar would be great: no comments on the conflicting developments, but on the more tranquil side of cars engineering. This is a hard to accomplish proposition, but I believe it could be a "revolutionary one": trying to "feature" a person with real knowledge, as opposed to the more "aficionado" approach of the forum members. I am a civil engineer and a systems engineer, and I am surprised at the shortcomings of some mechanical engineering students around, but maybe I am not understanding them. I wonder if some members could try to convince their professors and I am sure that some of the older members are about to graduate or already have (Reca and Monstrobolaxa come to my mind) and maybe want to write something under their real names.
Some people might know me as the "track advocate": I would add an "all tracks ever" link to the "History" sidebar, but (ehem...) there was no response at all when I suggested making a "sticky" of my (double ehem...) list of world tracks, so I guess not much people is interested.
The last time I posted a renovation to that list in this site there was just one post, so I guess most of you are "fed up" with this particular interest. I believe I am one of the few that keep the Wikipedia list on F1 tracks (well, "few" are three persons) and that proactively write there about the history of these places of "human effort". I guess nobody wrote about the Roman circus, but about the gladiators, until too late!
What makes me wonder is that every time I post additions to the "list of World Tracks" in other forums, the answer is overwhelming! Last time I did it, my humble geocities site was swamped, but I received three visitors from this forum (out of 1.500 hits in one day). I suppose here we are centered on the cars.
I am right now doing the quixotic task of transcribing every track to
FIA specifications for circuit drawing (PDF warning! 1 Mb), and I offer this work to the site, if you are interested. I'll finish that in the "winter pause". Every time I've posted technical drawings of circuits here, people show me a gif file of the circuit and says it is the same...
For me, it is like comparing a SolidWorks drawing of a car with a picture of it, but "every road has its way"...
What is annoying me about the site right now, is the superabundance of "comments on other people's comments" instead of technical posts, that I believe is the main reason of this site, but I guess there is nothing you can do about it. I am a little surprised about some posts, but I guess some of you have also misinterpreted my particular sense of humor, and probably this is my case now. Besides, I do not want any heavy censure here: it scares people away and make you look as "pro-something".
Thanks again Tomba, for showing interest in our opinions about the site.
Oh, I almost forgot: I wonder if a direct link on the main layout to the "Board style" of the "Profile" would be cool. This would make you able to change the look of the board on the fly and maybe this is a way to make room for small screens: perhaps one of the CSS could accommodate this particular "request for laptops", eliminating the sidebar (?). I wonder if somebody uses the "Jump to: Select a forum" box, so there could be a space for it.
It's normal, as when I bookmark something I also never use a link on a site.
