[xrotaryguy]

Lets write a program to copy cars from the EV album.

 

[TheSeeker]

I don't want to put my conversion into the garage until I at least have a couple pictures, and some idea of what I'm going to end up with. I've only just gotten the engine out of my car and it's still rather grungy, though you'd think with how much grease I've had on me every time I go near the thing that it'd be spotless by now.

 

[TX_Dj]

Maybe I'm just dumb... but I've looked, and can't find a link to add anything to the garage... I can find how to view and search the garage, but I'm at a loss how to add to it.

I even tried searching the FAQ link at the top of the page, and this is the first topic I found in a topic search about the garage.

What am I missing?

 

[TX_Dj]

NM, just found the link "Add Car" something just between the ad banner and search box... it was in black text and not underlined, so I completely overlooked it.

 

[Qer]

Maybe I'm just dumb... but I've looked, and can't find a link to add anything to the garage... I can find how to view and search the garage, but I'm at a loss how to add to it.

I even tried searching the FAQ link at the top of the page, and this is the first topic I found in a topic search about the garage.

What am I missing?

The little text-link pretty high up-left that says "Add new car"?

Personally I don't have a donor yet. Seems pointless to add vapor...

 

[TX_Dj]

Ok... next stupid question... There is no "Chevrolet" in the "Makes" field, and I don't see a way to add a new make. I could put GMC, which is the same, but technically inaccurate, as my truck is an S10, not an S15.

 

[TX_Dj]

OK, so I added it under "Custom" as a "Chevrolet S10". I guess that can be fixed later.

Then it wouldn't let me add my "Other notes" saying "Other notes is invalid" which is probably less helpful than any Microsoft error message I've encountered.

Finally, it let me upload my files in PNG format, but said "Something went wrong" or similar- most likely the image processor doesn't know how to deal with Portable Network Graphics, so I re-uploaded them as JPGs and it took them.

I fear perhaps the reason so few vehicles have made it into the garage would be because the software is challenging to use. I have 30 years computing experience, and have been a professional system administrator for 15 years. If I'm having this much trouble with it, I wonder how daunting it may be for less computer-savvy users?

 

[Nodd]

I design GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) for educational software on occasion & I have to agree with other posters here that the Garage's interface could use a little tweaking.

The greatest problem I see is the "Add New Car" link. It looks like a title for the filter's section, not a clickable link. When I originally attempted to add my EV, like others here, I filled in my details in the filters section then hit "Filter". The experience quickly deteriorated from there & much confusion ensued.

I'd suggest making the "Add New Car" link a lot more obvious. The filters section is in its own pale blue box. I'd suggest making a separate box to house the Add Car link. Editing the text to read something like "Click Here to Add Your Car" might help also.

That said I'm a big fan of the Garage. Its wonderful to be able to showcase our rides & is a welcome addition to the best EV forum on the net.

 

[rebenergy]

This post has been very helpful, as I just found and bought my donor car this week. It needs very very very much work and may bring a smile to the faces of all who see. I have taken photos and will label my conversion .05% finished.

 

[rbgrn]

This is excellent feedback. I had no idea that people weren't finding the link to add the new car and I will most certainly make it more obvious and fix up the problems with the notes section in a patch soon.

Thanks so much for letting me know what's going on here! I really appreciate it.

BTW - I wrote that garage app from scratch so I am aware that it will require some time and tweaking to get mature and really feel intuitive. I need feedback like this so that I can iron out problems that people are having since they don't really send me messages letting me know that things are less than ideal.

 

[xrotaryguy]

OK, so I added it under "Custom" as a "Chevrolet S10". I guess that can be fixed later.

Then it wouldn't let me add my "Other notes" saying "Other notes is invalid" which is probably less helpful than any Microsoft error message I've encountered.

Finally, it let me upload my files in PNG format, but said "Something went wrong" or similar- most likely the image processor doesn't know how to deal with Portable Network Graphics, so I re-uploaded them as JPGs and it took them.

I fear perhaps the reason so few vehicles have made it into the garage would be because the software is challenging to use. I have 30 years computing experience, and have been a professional system administrator for 15 years. If I'm having this much trouble with it, I wonder how daunting it may be for less computer-savvy users?

I also don't see my make. I only have a converted Diamondback mountain bike right now, so no surprise that its make is not included. However, it would be nice to be allowed to enter your own make somehow... Maybe that's not a good idea though. Having a pull-down menu of makes prevents people from entering Chevy instead of Chevrolet. If a person searches CHEVY, he will only get half the results. With the MAKE pull-down, this is not a problem.

Maybe a better solution would be to have a few sections:

Cars and Trucks
Motorcycles, Scooters and Bicycles
Tractors, Maintenance vehicles and Other

That would make more sense than being allowed to choose Diamindback, kawasaki, Lawnboy or Kushman when you're trying to enter your Chevy S-10 into the DIY EV garage... unless you've converted your S-10 into a drag-line electric lawn mower

 

[Nodd]

Another request would be to extend the "Started" & "Finished" conversion dates to include the 1990s. My EV was converted by a Professor, a some what early adopter of this tech, in 1997. Currently the Garage's Started / Finished dates are limited to 2003 through 2013. I believe EVs have been around since the late 1800s.

 

[xrotaryguy]

Another request would be to extend the "Started" & "Finished" conversion dates to include the 1990s. My EV was converted by a Professor, a some what early adopter of this tech, in 1997. Currently the Garage's Started / Finished dates are limited to 2003 through 2013. I believe EVs have been around since the late 1800s.

That's right, Jay Leno would be disappointed by this too.

 

[TX_Dj]

BTW - I wrote that garage app from scratch so I am aware that it will require some time and tweaking to get mature and really feel intuitive. I need feedback like this so that I can iron out problems that people are having since they don't really send me messages letting me know that things are less than ideal.

Robert,

Thanks for the garage app, it is very nice to have one on a forum like this.

On another forum that I run (motorcycle related) we run phpBB and have an app called "phpbbgarage" which serves the same purpose as your app.

I am wishing at this point that I had written the app myself, but I went the lazy route and adopted someone else's software, and now the person responsible for that software has all but abandoned the project, having released only a beta release for the new major version of phpBB- basically leaving us stranded because our members don't want to give up the garage functionality on the forum.

Thanks for taking the time to write one that meets this forum's specific needs- I hope you didn't think I was coming down on you for the state of the software as it stands today. In fact, I somewhat suspected that it was something custom that you or someone else had written specifically for this forum.

Keep up the good work, this is an awesome community you've built!
(And that compliment comes from an experienced forum admin, who knows just how thankless the job can really be. )

 

[rbgrn]

Oh of course. I didn't take any offense. I just want the best features I can have for the community.

Just because I like to make things difficult, I wrote my app in Ruby even though vbulletin is written in php. I learned a lot though and did a fair job integrating the two.

phpbbgarage sounds interesting. I'd be surprised if no one took ownership of it. I'd like to see if so I can maybe rip off a few features.

 

[TX_Dj]

I'd be surprised if no one took ownership of it. I'd like to see if so I can maybe rip off a few features.

Well, even though it is apparently open source, it seems heavily dependent on the original author. I heard they have a recent beta on the SVN server, but haven't packaged it for release... I wouldn't be opposed to running the beta for the new 3.X phpBB though... if there was a conversion tool to adapt the older version's database to the new, but it doesn't seem there is such a thing and I've been far too busy to deal with it myself.

My first request on the feature rip-off list would be an "Add New Make" feature. phpbbgarage also has pull-downs for model, but all make and model additions require administrator approval on phpbbgarage so that gets real old real fast. As such, I like the free-form "Model" field you have, and appreciate the need for a select list on the "Make" field, but the users need the ability to add missing makes imho. You know someone's going to want to post their "Whatever" oddball make, since EVers have an interesting desire to convert some of the most unusual vehicles.

 

[rbgrn]

Now that I think about it, there is a good compromise: A text field w/autocomplete

 

[xrotaryguy]

Now that I think about it, there is a good compromise: A text field w/autocomplete

Oh, now that's a good idea.

 

[rbgrn]

I just did a small update - added Chevrolet and MG as makes and then changed the action links to be underlined again.

I'm still planning on fixing the input fields so that people don't see errors with unsafe characters.