Website not user friendly

[mojogojo]

First off I give my thanks that there even is a site like this due to EA's wonderful support. It's sites like these that give life to the game still so thanks.  However, I just registered for this site ,so I could get a BSC mega pack for Simgoobers awesome work, and it was a headache. It took me 15 minutes to get it set up when for Simtropolis it took 2.  What's with all the loops? I have had banks that were easier to sign up for online.  Example. I type in a password.  It says must be more then 8 characters. Okay no prob, now go back retype everything then it says oh by the way needs caps and digits too..great.  Don't believe there is a reason for human verification for this site, dont really know, but the option to listen to the letters was good cause I never would of made it even on a 46' hdtv, at this point I have had to reenter information several times already.  Finally get in and I know what I want and find it but cant download after I already signed in.  Where in simtropolis bam it was plain as day for me.  I foundthe list of dependencies. Took me a minute or so to realize I can't download fom the list but have to go into the lex area. Then bam i have to sign in again. Or so I think. One would figure that since you are already logged in you wouldnt have to log in a second time. Absolutely right.  I had to reregister and validate my email again and was then asked for my real full name. What?  I am redirected through some pages asking for a donation due to the subpar navigation techniques and success!!  Like I said before I know this is free and better then anything I could do, but why does registering to this site and simple flow navigation have to be so problematic.  I have read some posts in this forum so I know I an not the only one.  I posted this in the hopes of a solution so future members wont have all these problems simply trying to get their SC4 fix and will have a better first impression of the site cause the content really rocks. Just my two cents.

[sim-al2]

First off I give my thanks that there even is a site like this due to EA's wonderful support.

I can't tell if your kidding or not but I've heard many horror stories about their technical support.

Don't believe there is a reason for human verification for this site, dont really know, but the option to listen to the letters was good cause I never would of made it even on a 46' hdtv, at this point I have had to reenter information several times already.

The letters are so spam bots don't ravage the site with ads and the like. I didn't find them hard to read but it could be caused by your monitors or other enviremental conditions.

subpar navigation techniques

The cost and processing power associated with running a keyword search would cause the LEX to be much slower. And since everything is in a category, if you know what your looking for it isn't too hard to find. It just takes some practice.

[Grneyes]

Despite all the "loops" as you call them, at least this website loads in seconds instead of minutes like ST. That site, while having a ton more bandwidth and therefore a ton more custom content takes ages to load a single page. I'd rather be here than there. I only use ST if I can't find stuff here.

MaryBeth

[TheTeaCat]

Welcome mojogojo

First off it great that you found the site and I really hope you enjoy your time here.
There are lots of friendly people here who are more than willing to help if you have any problems.

Now as for your post, I am glad that you have got that off your chest, hopefully you will have calmed down a bit and
can enjoy this cuppa I made for you
.

As for a response.

Well now that you have registered, at least you won't have to do it all again. 
It's a one time thing. Was it really that bad?
Did it really take that long knowing that the creations you will have access to,will be of the highest quality?

Now 15 mins really is not that long a time is it? and what's wrong with asking for a secure password especially in this day and age?
And verifying that you a real person and not a 'bot (that may start to spam the site)
Is it not reasonable to ask for a donation at the time of registration? you don't have to give one if you don't want

Just a few things that popped in my head as I was reading your post.


TTC

[Jonathan]

Firstly EA support is nill, they haven't supported this site and I bet they never will.

The letters you had to listen to are standard on most sites you have to register for and are to stop bots from registering 1000s of accounts.

The problem with digits in your password I don't know, I don't have digits in my passwords at the moment but then maybe this was changed in the site updates.

Took me a minute or so to realize I can't download fom the list but have to go into the lex area

If you are talking about this list, I think it's fairly obvious if you click on the LEX, STEX, PLEX or OTHER it will take you to the download page.

It might be slightly awkward having to register for the LEX but as long as you use the same username and password on the forums you don't need to remember it (although some sort of Remember me option would be nice I guess).
I believe the reason the two sets of user (LEX and Forums) can't be merged because either they are incompatible or it is too late and there maybe some trouble with users that either don't have a forum account or their LEX username is different to their forums username.

I can see that for a first time user it might be not as straight forward as other sites, but once you have registered and got the hang of it the benefits are truly worth it.

EDIT: If you want to search the LEX with Keywords then use Google and type this in:

Code Select Expand

site:http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex KEYWORD
Replacing KEYWORD with your KEYWORD you want to search with

Jonathan

[sim-al2]

EDIT: If you want to search the LEX with Keywords then use Google and type this in:

Code Select Expand

site:http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex KEYWORD
Replacing KEYWORD with your KEYWORD you want to search with

Brilliant Warrior!  Could be very useful, except I've downloaded almost everything on the LEX that even a tad interesting (to me,of course)

[jeronij]

mojogojo,

and weren't you brought trough the credit card verification process...    ?¿

Ok, in my home, well educated people's firs words when they go to a new place for the first time, are not usually complains.  All what you have here is for free.  Dont you have what you were looking for?

You could show the smallest bit of gratitude to all the people who make this possible instead complaining about futile matters.

I close this thread because it is a waste of site's resources.

EDIT:  I'll add that, unfortunately, there are technical reasons for having the CAPTCHA registration system set to high security. The spam bots have started to show their ugly faces around the forums, and we must protect ourselves from them.