Animal Toy Blog changes

AnimalToyForum · January 20, 2023, 06:02:14 PM

@bmathison1972 Do you have any objection to removing the dated archive list in the blog sidebar? I removed this from the Dinosaur Toy Blog years ago because it got incredibly long and nobody really uses it anyway. Also, the Recent Posts list is superfluous since the recent posts are listed in the main feed on the front page anyway, so I could delete that too.

bmathison1972 · January 20, 2023, 06:13:04 PM

Quote from: animaltoyforum on January 20, 2023, 06:02:14 PM@bmathison1972 Do you have any objection to removing the dated archive list in the blog sidebar? I removed this from the Dinosaur Toy Blog years ago because it got incredibly long and nobody really uses it anyway. Also, the Recent Posts list is superfluous since the recent posts are listed in the main feed on the front page anyway, so I could delete that too.

I have no objection; I have never used it either, to be honest.

AnimalToyForum · January 20, 2023, 06:25:10 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on January 20, 2023, 06:13:04 PM
Quote from: animaltoyforum on January 20, 2023, 06:02:14 PM@bmathison1972 Do you have any objection to removing the dated archive list in the blog sidebar? I removed this from the Dinosaur Toy Blog years ago because it got incredibly long and nobody really uses it anyway. Also, the Recent Posts list is superfluous since the recent posts are listed in the main feed on the front page anyway, so I could delete that too.

I have no objection; I have never used it either, to be honest.

Okay, now deleted.

bmathison1972 · January 20, 2023, 06:43:07 PM

I see there is also now 15 posts per page, rather than 10 (which is fine by me)

AnimalToyForum · January 20, 2023, 07:35:05 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on January 20, 2023, 06:43:07 PMI see there is also now 15 posts per page, rather than 10 (which is fine by me)

Yes, well spotted, that was a minor tweak I made recently to match the Dinosaur Toy Blog. It means having to click less when browsing through categories etc.

AnimalToyForum · February 05, 2023, 12:24:39 PM

I've installed a new star rating system, which means all ratings are reset to 0.

AnimalToyForum · February 22, 2023, 06:18:08 PM

I've added Happy Hen Toys to a new category "Supporters" in the blog's links. They are generously providing AnimalToyBlog reviewers with samples to review, so show Happy Hen Toys some love by visiting their online store, they have an excellent range of dinosaur figures: https://www.happyhentoys.com.

AnimalToyForum · November 04, 2023, 04:01:02 PM

Following the recent overhaul of the blog's categories system, I've now added a dropdown filter to the sidebar, so you can filter by one or multiple categories.

sbell · November 04, 2023, 09:59:24 PM

Quote from: animaltoyforum on February 22, 2023, 06:18:08 PMI've added Happy Hen Toys to a new category "Supporters" in the blog's links. They are generously providing AnimalToyBlog reviewers with samples to review, so show Happy Hen Toys some love by visiting their online store, they have an excellent range of dinosaur figures: https://www.happyhentoys.com.

It's hard to support them when they won't ship to Canada.
You should try getting sponsored by MiniZoo in Australia! They're very good for the international market

AnimalToyForum · November 04, 2023, 11:08:32 PM

Quote from: sbell on November 04, 2023, 09:59:24 PM
Quote from: animaltoyforum on February 22, 2023, 06:18:08 PMI've added Happy Hen Toys to a new category "Supporters" in the blog's links. They are generously providing AnimalToyBlog reviewers with samples to review, so show Happy Hen Toys some love by visiting their online store, they have an excellent range of dinosaur figures: https://www.happyhentoys.com.

It's hard to support them when they won't ship to Canada.
You should try getting sponsored by MiniZoo in Australia! They're very good for the international market

You might not support them, but they support the blog by sending review samples to USA and Canada based reviewers. This was their idea, they approached me

. Perhaps they'd consider shipping to customers beyond the USA in the future, but I suppose the shipping costs prohibit it. As a Brit I never purchase from Ebay USA for the same reason, shipping is astronomical from the USA and there are often hidden import fees. On the other hand, items on Ebay.co.uk shipping from China are often free and arrive without any import fees.

sbell · November 04, 2023, 11:31:57 PM

Quote from: animaltoyforum on November 04, 2023, 11:08:32 PM
Quote from: sbell on November 04, 2023, 09:59:24 PM
Quote from: animaltoyforum on February 22, 2023, 06:18:08 PMI've added Happy Hen Toys to a new category "Supporters" in the blog's links. They are generously providing AnimalToyBlog reviewers with samples to review, so show Happy Hen Toys some love by visiting their online store, they have an excellent range of dinosaur figures: https://www.happyhentoys.com.

It's hard to support them when they won't ship to Canada.
You should try getting sponsored by MiniZoo in Australia! They're very good for the international market

You might not support them, but they support the blog by sending review samples to USA and Canada based reviewers. This was their idea, they approached me . Perhaps they'd consider shipping to customers beyond the USA in the future, but I suppose the shipping costs prohibit it. As a Brit I never purchase from Ebay USA for the same reason, shipping is astronomical from the USA and there are often hidden import fees. On the other hand, items on Ebay.co.uk shipping from China are often free and arrive without any import fees.

I didn't realize they send figures to Canadian reviewers... if only they'd sell here.
But yeah, eBay is rarely worth it for Canadian buyers too. Same problem --their shipping consolidation works fine within the US, but everything else pays massive brokerage and tax fees, even if they otherwise wouldn't have any charges.

bmathison1972 · February 28, 2024, 11:51:29 AM

Is it just me or are images appearing larger on forum posts?

@AnimalToyForum

AnimalToyForum · February 28, 2024, 11:54:12 AM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on February 28, 2024, 11:51:29 AMIs it just me or are images appearing larger on forum posts?

@AnimalToyForum

Yes, I bumped up the image size from 800px to 1200px. Shall I put it back?

bmathison1972 · February 28, 2024, 09:19:53 PM

Quote from: AnimalToyForum on February 28, 2024, 11:54:12 AM
Quote from: bmathison1972 on February 28, 2024, 11:51:29 AMIs it just me or are images appearing larger on forum posts?

@AnimalToyForum

Yes, I bumped up the image size from 800px to 1200px. Shall I put it back?

Curious what others think. I only use the forum on a desktop/laptop (not a phone) so they seem really big to me, but might be more helpful for people who use their phones?

AnimalToyForum · February 29, 2024, 12:52:54 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on February 28, 2024, 09:19:53 PM
Quote from: AnimalToyForum on February 28, 2024, 11:54:12 AM
Quote from: bmathison1972 on February 28, 2024, 11:51:29 AMIs it just me or are images appearing larger on forum posts?

@AnimalToyForum

Yes, I bumped up the image size from 800px to 1200px. Shall I put it back?

Curious what others think. I only use the forum on a desktop/laptop (not a phone) so they seem really big to me, but might be more helpful for people who use their phones?

People on phones shouldn't notice a difference because the images will be full width for them either way. Only people with screens wider than 800px will notice any difference.

bmathison1972 · March 10, 2024, 03:39:06 PM

@AnimalToyForum - not sure if it's a temporary glitch but the last two posts on the ATB don't have voting options (and I know I already voted for the one posted on 3/7).

EDIT: I can vote on the post itself but not from the main Blog page (which was possible previously)

AnimalToyForum · March 11, 2024, 12:50:02 AM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on March 10, 2024, 03:39:06 PM@AnimalToyForum - not sure if it's a temporary glitch but the last two posts on the ATB don't have voting options (and I know I already voted for the one posted on 3/7).

EDIT: I can vote on the post itself but not from the main Blog page (which was possible previously)

That's a bit of a mystery. I haven't made any changes recently so I'm not sure what's going on, all of the settings seem okay. Let me investigate...

AnimalToyForum · March 11, 2024, 12:58:46 AM

I worked out what was going on. @sbell had input an excerpt in the excerpt field, so it was using that (without the star rating) on the blog main page, rather than generating one automatically from the first paragraph (including the star rating). I've deleted the excerpt and the stars have returned!

I'll make sure I delete the excerpt field from the side bar to avoid this happening again.

I can see why he did this, to make the second paragraph (the review proper) appear on the blog main page rather than the general intro about migrating the fish reviews. Maybe the solution is to move the general statement to the bottom of each review instead.

sbell · March 11, 2024, 02:18:09 AM

Quote from: AnimalToyForum on March 11, 2024, 12:58:46 AMI worked out what was going on. @sbell had input an excerpt in the excerpt field, so it was using that (without the star rating) on the blog main page, rather than generating one automatically from the first paragraph (including the star rating). I've deleted the excerpt and the stars have returned!

I'll make sure I delete the excerpt field from the side bar to avoid this happening again.

I can see why he did this, to make the second paragraph (the review proper) appear on the blog main page rather than the general intro about migrating the fish reviews. Maybe the solution is to move the general statement to the bottom of each review instead.

That's exactly why I did it -- since the boilerplate intro for the Yujin walkarounds didn't make much sense as intro words on the main page.

I'll need to go in and clear...a lot of them...

sbell · March 13, 2024, 01:07:11 PM

Hey, I just noticed that 'scale' as a category is being included in the Dino toy blog now.

Would we consider including this for the ATB as well? It's a question that comes up frequently and would probably be helpful to make it searchable.

I'm pretty sure every post includes that information already.

Just a thought.

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Animal Toy Blog changes