Tu & Lpo - What The Future Holds!

[Curt - NC]

As we all move into this new season here at TU, I wanted to share my thoughts here, with the hopes that it will put people's minds at ease.

First of all, let me state very plainly that Tackle Underground will remain the open forum that it has always been. Lure Parts Online is not here to "take over" and make drastic changes based solely on what we think is best.

On the contrary, we welcome your feedback and suggestions as to what you'd like to see here at TU as we move forward.

 

The layout and the look & feel of TU will remain as it is for some time to come. And we will not be changing the name. It will remain Tackle Underground

Our goal is to secure and reinforce TU as the world's leading resource for people who already make their own lures or want to learn to make their own lures and are starting from scratch.

We want to grow together, with members having a part in the future direction of TU.

So to that end, if you have suggestions or feedback on how we can make TU better, please reply here and leave your feedback. We're open to any and all suggestions!

On another note, I have been personally working with Jerry for the past few weeks as we have prepared for this transition.

We know the hard work that Jerry has poured into TU over the years and we want to make sure that the site continues to grow and flourish, giving us all a place to come and share ideas, teaching each other to build better baits and catch more fish on those baits!

So with all of that said, I hope you will follow up with your feedback and suggestions for making TU a better place for all of us.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for sharing your suggestions and feedback.

Curt

[Nathan]

Jerry and I had thrown around the Idea of "live how to" classes on the web.They could be open to questions..etc. just like a regular class.The topics that could be coverd are endless and could be archived for later watching as well...Nathan

[RayburnGuy]

Good idea Nate. Like the old saying goes "One picture is worth a thousand words".

 

Ben

[Curt - NC]

Jerry and I had thrown around the Idea of "live how to" classes on the web.They could be open to questions..etc. just like a regular class.The topics that could be coverd are endless and could be archived for later watching as well...Nathan

 

Thanks Nate

 

This is exactly what we're looking for; good, solid, constructive ideas that will advance and improve TU.

[littleriver]

Hi Curt

 

Thanks for asking!

 

One thing I would like to see come back is new photo gallery additions on the home page. Not so long this is how the site's homepage was set up. I think Jerry had some virus trouble and this was changed. It was nice because one always knew when new photos were added without having to visit the gallery. It also gave everyone a moment in the sun, so to speak, as their photo is featured on the site's homepage. Good for the site too as new folks found their way to the site they were met with some really cool looking fishing tackle. I am sure it "lured" in a new member or two. For some time now there has been nothing under "TU Nations Creations" heading. 

 

Another is the gallery itself. It too is setup different than it used to be. Looking at indiviual photos is not so different but the gallery view under each heading used to be better than it is setup now. Looking at and loading  individual photos is great but it is the bigger view or gallery view is much different. Seems to me the makers TU id name used to be displayed under the photos when they were displayed in the larger gallery view. I liked this because I knew whose bait I was looking at before before I selected it. It also enable the user to scan a page of baits and find a bait made by a particular lure maker without having to looking at each one. I know the search works for this purpose too but this information on the gallery view is missed by at least one user. 

 

That's about it from me today Curt.   I know you can't fill every request but this thread is great step in the right direction.

 

Thank you!

[Curt - NC]

Thanks littleriver!

 

I also noticed that there is no gallery on the TU home page and noted that this was something that would need to be updated.

 

Your suggestions are good ones. I will keep them in mind as we look to add feature improvements

[Robbie Roberson]

Curt, I am the new guy here.

 

I find the gallery very hard to navigate. I first thought the small pictures I was seeing was because I was a new member. The are very hard to navigate through and the most annoying thing is (may be a setting on my PC) when you click on a pic, you have to scroll up to see it.

 

Then when I back space to go back to the original pic, I have to scroll way down to get back on the pic I was on...and if you are way down the page, then you have to scroll way down. I was thinking on some web pages when you click on something and click back, it always takes you back to the location you were at.

 

The pictures in the gallery are very hard for me to navigate through because it always takes you back to the top of the page. As I said, this could be some setting on my pc. not sure.

 

And I have a lot of red X's on the gallery page next to the numbers......not sure what this is. I know my browser needs an update but the page scroll up and down must be something else.

 

Your doing great by asking what the members have to suggest, not many places would do this, thanks. Robbie

[Travis]

I would find the gallery more effective if the member galleries were used.  General categories are great but many are really only interested in hand full of guys work and scrolling through pages of lures one is not interested in is limits the functionality of the gallery. .  Home page is important but remember many don't ever go to the home page just link straight to forums.  

[Curt - NC]

I would find the gallery more effective if the member galleries were used.  General categories are great but many are really only interested in hand full of guys work and scrolling through pages of lures one is not interested in is limits the functionality of the gallery. .  Home page is important but remember many don't ever go to the home page just link straight to forums.  

 

Your points are well taken. But remember that new visitors to TU might hit that home page, and having a gallery full of nice-looking lures just might bring them further into the site and make them an active member, as mentioned by someone else already.

 

Regarding your other point, galleries should be broken down into categories to keep them from being overwhelming or boring.

[Travis]

I wasn't saying not upgrade the home page.. just most that routinely use the site don't venture to the homepage ever.  I have no idea of time table of when or how many changes are to be made but call me selfish I would rather see changes to areas that most members utilize first.  

[Curt - NC]

I wasn't saying not upgrade the home page.. just most that routinely use the site don't venture to the homepage ever.  I have no idea of time table of when or how many changes are to be made but call me selfish I would rather see changes to areas that most members utilize first.  

 

No problem. I fully understand what you mean. It makes more sense to spend time/money on the most-frequently used areas of the site than on areas that see little traffic.

[redg8r]

It's a fixer upper.....nice location though.

[RayburnGuy]

It's a fixer upper.....nice location though.

 

Too funny!!  

[Griffond]

Hi Curt I've been a member for almost two years and I use this site now more then I did in the recent months past work will do that for ya thou, and now that I have more free time I find myself back here reading up on the conversations of things I missed out on and expanding my knowledge of luring building. I had a random thought this morning about a small improvement... in the black button bar across the top how about adding a video section up there and breaking it down just similar to how we have the gallery and if you took the original idea of the gallery from the idea above where people saw the new pic posts every time you came to the home page you could have a small section below it for the new video posts. I think this would not only help out the video makers but help new people find videos that would help and increase more discussions from them here on the forum. 

[Curt - NC]

Hi Curt I've been a member for almost two years and I use this site now more then I did in the recent months past work will do that for ya thou, and now that I have more free time I find myself back here reading up on the conversations of things I missed out on and expanding my knowledge of luring building. I had a random thought this morning about a small improvement... in the black button bar across the top how about adding a video section up there and breaking it down just similar to how we have the gallery and if you took the original idea of the gallery from the idea above where people saw the new pic posts every time you came to the home page you could have a small section below it for the new video posts. I think this would not only help out the video makers but help new people find videos that would help and increase more discussions from them here on the forum. 

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

Please keep them coming. We're keeping track of all of them and will work toward making future updates and improvements based on these

[toadfrog]

Just A Thought Maybe Not . We all know that the reason there has been some decline in TU activity is OUR INOVATIONS ARE OFTEN USED BY PEOPLE THAT DON"T HAVE OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART . That being said I was Thinking we could have a section that could be called , The Think Tank , a by invitation only discussion board with a clause that no information gained therein can be used without permission of the originator .Like I said Just A thought Maybe Not .

[Curt - NC]

Just A Thought Maybe Not . We all know that the reason there has been some decline in TU activity is OUR INOVATIONS ARE OFTEN USED BY PEOPLE THAT DON"T HAVE OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART . That being said I was Thinking we could have a section that could be called , The Think Tank , a by invitation only discussion board with a clause that no information gained therein can be used without permission of the originator .Like I said Just A thought Maybe Not .

 

Thank you. We will definitely consider it!

[Kasilofchrisn]

Hey Curt whats the possibility of bringing Tapatalk back?

I know they removed it for issues they had with the software or something. But it sure is nice for us smartphone users to quickly check the forums or to add pics etc.

[Travis]

Just A Thought Maybe Not . We all know that the reason there has been some decline in TU activity is OUR INOVATIONS ARE OFTEN USED BY PEOPLE THAT DON"T HAVE OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART . That being said I was Thinking we could have a section that could be called , The Think Tank , a by invitation only discussion board with a clause that no information gained therein can be used without permission of the originator .Like I said Just A thought Maybe Not .

 

This is already going on.....best bet is to go off site and use a chat like Yahoo and invite the individuals you want.     I may not be following correctly with the concept however.    

[Curt - NC]

Hey Curt whats the possibility of bringing Tapatalk back?

I know they removed it for issues they had with the software or something. But it sure is nice for us smartphone users to quickly check the forums or to add pics etc.

 

I will definitely look into it! Not sure what kind of issues they might have had, but maybe they can be sorted out. We'll see...

[Gloomisman]

I would like to see a listing(easy acess to their site) of all the sponsors.  It may be here and i'm not finding it.

[Curt - NC]

I would like to see a listing(easy acess to their site) of all the sponsors.  It may be here and i'm not finding it.

 

Great idea. We can probably add this under the "Directory" heading in the top navigation menu. We currently have LureMakers and Suppliers. We could add "Sponsors".

[Gloomisman]

If at all possible make a 80/80 pixel or some size like the upper left rotating one on here for each.  So if I want to go buy from preditor bass baits or bogs or LPO,  I can click on picture and it opens up their webpage in a new window.  I'm all about easy. LOL

[Curt - NC]

If at all possible make a 80/80 pixel or some size like the upper left rotating one on here for each.  So if I want to go buy from preditor bass baits or bogs or LPO,  I can click on picture and it opens up their webpage in a new window.  I'm all about easy. LOL

 

Not sure exactly what you mean by making an 80/80 pixel "like the one rotating here". But I'm assuming that you mean having an icon next to each sponsor link that can be clicked on to open a new browser window??

[Gloomisman]

Correct.  That would be awesome!