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rookie1ja

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Posts posted by rookie1ja

  1. It Appears to be Over

    in Others

    Posted

    I would be thankful for any ideas (and for actions even more) to get more people on BD.

    Anybody can

    Are you a webmaster?

    Do you have a blog?
    Are you a regular contributor to other forums?
    Do you have an account on myspace, facebook, twitter or any other social/community site?
    Do you link your favorite sites on stumbleupon, digg, reddit, delicious or any other online bookmarking service?
    Are you a teacher who gives his/her students brain teasers on your school's web site?
    Are you a student who likes to discuss topics on school's web site or just chatting/talking to other students?
    If you answered "YES" at least once, then you can help by linking BrainDen pages that you like on other sites where you participate.
    There is also another simple way to recommend good content to your friends - click Google "+1" or Facebook "Like" buttons at the top of the page that you find interesting.
    For instance, do you like our Optical Illusions?

  2. Mark your Threads "Answered"

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    With the latest forum upgrade to version 3.4.0, if you start a puzzle/riddle thread, you as "thread author" have now the chance to mark one post as "Best Answer".
    This has been the most expected feature in my opinion. Puzzle authors can now quickly and easily mark the post which includes the best answer for their puzzle - all by a single click on button "Mark Solved" located in the bottom right hand corner of each post.
    If you ever created a puzzle/riddle thread, then give it a try, go into your old thread and select the post which includes the right answer. It will then be shown at the very top - above the 1st post. The thread will also be marked as "Answered".
    All this will enable you to:
    1. easily distinguish threads which have not been answered yet (they don't have "Answered" label in the thread list) - be the first one to solve them
    2. mark the post including solution to your puzzle by single click
    3. find solution (preferrably hidden in spoiler) directly above the 1st post including the original puzzle/riddle (so no more reading through the whole thread to find the correct answer)
    Submit your own puzzle/riddle in a new thread and give this feature a try.
    Enjoy the Den :-)

  7. Incredibox - Create Your Own Song

    in Other Mind Boggling Stuff On Web

    Posted

    You can easily create simple "a capella songs" on this website in a few minutes.

    Here are a few of mine that I made in August:

    1. http://www.incredibox.com/?music=50217DB0D8565

    2. http://www.incredibox.com/?music=502181A79530B

    3. http://www.incredibox.com/?music=5021857838DA3

    4. http://www.incredibox.com/?music=502189B663693

    5. http://www.incredibox.com/?music=50218F0A30B0B

    6. http://www.incredibox.com/?music=502193DBABFE5

    Have lots of fun and feel free to add your own songs in this thread.

    Enjoy.

    • Downvote 1

  8. BrainDen Site - New Design

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    Very nice job on the site Rookie. I think it is very nice, very modern. The company did an outstanding job. I guess my question now would be can we update the forum to match the site. The blue on the old IPB 3.0 skin fit so well with the blue on the old site design that to me it almost felt like they were integrated in some way. Now I go to the forum here and feel like it is so separate. Would you be willing to pay someone to upgrade the forum to match your new design?

    If the forum design would be consistent with non-forum pages then it would be great. However, it might be harder to maintain - each forum upgrade would require checking the forum design and correcting the possible bugs.

  10. Ripping BrainDen to an XML File -- Thoughts?

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    Solved/Unsolved tag would be quite useful.

    Full text search online and tag search in the app is OK with me due to the mentioned constraints.

    Puzzle difficulty grade (easy/medium/hard) - I trust your judgement and rating. Let's keep it simple - 3 categories rating puzzle itself, 1 rating per puzzle.

    Link to solution/discussion agreed to be included.

    Platform of distribution

    Flash - no (poor google indexing, designated more for interactive games and not for text, lacking skills for easy/fast creation)

    HTML5 - maybe (easier maintaining, good indexing, however separate html pages would just duplicate the forum content in another form)

    Android App - still my favorite, if we agree to proceed within the existing BrainDen Android app then I might get you the details - in what form the xml could be easily incorporated into the app. iPhone/iPad will not be the primary target for the time being.

    To summarize, incorporating the database into existing BrainDen Android App is the way to go. If you agree, let me know what details on the App you would need and I will send them to you.

    Thanks.

  11. Ripping BrainDen to an XML File -- Thoughts?

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    Is it possible that visitor just clicks 1 thing from the web and he/she immediately is browsing the database. In other words, no need to install anything on computer (eg. no need to install Java environment) and everything can be visible on any desktop/mobile (not depending on operating system or installed programs)? I guess if we want an offline version then a lot of info has be downloaded but let's keep it in reasonable size for mobile phones.

    Will the search work only based on tags or will it be full text search? Might be interesting to have both options - tags if you like a certain type of puzzles and full text search if you want to find a puzzle you read a few days ago (eg. search all "Morty's" puzzles).

    Adding tag for difficulty might help - user could solve puzzles adequate to the level of skills. 1 admin person should rate all puzzles to avoid discrepancies.

    Link to solution might be useful - if someone disagrees and wants to check reasoning of others.

    Is there an easy way to incorporate the database into Android App? The major obstacle used to be that the solution has to be found in the forum thread while your approach could give the solution directly. On one hand, Android App would be a great place to have all content available offline, however, on the other hand it might be too big in MB to download all puzzles onto phone. So I am still thinking of an effective way of distribution.

    I think that nature of this database (offline browsing of well sorted content anywhere) would have the best use on mobile phone - that's what we could focus on. What do you think?

    Thanks.

  12. Ripping BrainDen to an XML File -- Thoughts?

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    That seems great. Let me know if I can help anyhow. Unfortunately, I am not good at scripts so perhaps I could help with other questions.

    Should I not include some of the information listed above or include something else?

    The more puzzles, the easier the interface and search must be. Let's keep it simple.

    Did I miss any tags that would be good to use or do I have a useless one?

    Depends on the final form. For instance, BrainDen Android App has just 4 categories.

    What other features should the new editor have?

    Not sure how I should imagine the editor and working with the database - some kind of android app or a program interface with dropdown menu to select type of puzzle?

    Any other thoughts about this project?

    What are the advantages compared to live BrainDen version (apart from having it offline)? It's great to have listed just the best brain teasers like you selected but could you list some other advantages that would make this popular? Where/when/by whom could it be used? Is there a better way to propagate it compared to the live BrainDen site?

    Do you think this would be useful, or is it a waste of time?

    BrainDen site has static pages (old best of selection), this forum (great fresh puzzles), igoogle gadgets and Android App. I wonder how this new channel would fit in the strategy - what gaps it fills and what the added value is.

    Would anyone be interested in helping once I get to a point where I can divide workload?

    I can help as my skills and free time permits.

    Don't hesitate to drop me a note or reply to this thread if you would like to discuss in more details.

    Thanks.

  15. BrainDen Site - New Design

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    It was time for a change. 8 years of blue was enough. Maybe after another 8 years I will go back to blue again, who knows ;)

    Old logo still remains as my avatar, however, I wanted a new/modern one. The colorful brain is made out of several stripes which work together, fit together and bind a powerful brain - just like the community here. The "Den" inside the brain should make it easier to associate the logo with "BrainDen".

    "Forum" link on non-forum pages

    I had to cut down a lot of links and introduce the real minumum of primary links - so there are 4 links in the main menu now (actually only 3 on mobile to fit smaller mobile screen). Link to forum is on every page in the footer, and also after every brain teaser (in solution spoiler). There is also a separate page dedicated to the 15 latest puzzles/riddles from the forum - http://brainden.com/new-riddles.htm

    Forum is also mentioned in regular text of homepage, best puzzles page, contact page and several other places.

    Latest puzzles from forum are feeded into Google Gadgets, twitter and facebook.

    Of course, all of you could make this forum more prominent if you would link to it from your school pages, your personal blog, facebook/twitter accounts, other websites you visit etc ;)

    • Upvote 2

  16. BrainDen Site - New Design

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    BrainDen website has gone a long way since year 2004 when it all started. Latest news include amongst others that there is a special BrainDen Android App that you can download on your mobile and enjoy the good old brain teasers.

    Just a few minutes ago, new design of non-forum BrainDen pages has gone live. After many years of hesitation finally the work began in December 2011. External web design company Art4Web was hired to create not only regular design but also design for mobile phones and also new logo. Check out optical illusions which have been categorized and many new have been added.

    Let me know your comments.

    Enjoy the Den ;)

  20. Youtube

    in Comments and Suggestions

    Posted

    Good idea. Actually anyone (not only members, but also guests, and anybody who likes BrainDen) can "bring more people from other parts of the web". I have listed several ways to do that a few years ago -

    Note that the link is in my signature as well ;)

  23. Glad it's back!

    in Others

    Posted

    Thanks to all and especially to plainglazed who moved and titled hundreds of threads.

    Anybody can report to him (or me) any significant threads which should be moved to other forum section and need title due to high probability of further use in the future.

    • Upvote 1
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