I haven't found a way to do it so I'm guessing it's not there:

Would like to have the ability to "page" through the classmate profile pages. I think this would be especially nice for class members who are new to our class website.

Thx.

Do you mean like a "Next Classmate" button at the bottom of every Profile? What if the next Classmate doesn't have a Profile? Or what if the next Classmate is dead? Would the button just jump only to active Profiles? And if so wouldn't people wonder why we are skipping Classmates? And also skipping deceased Classmates?

We could add it, but would people understand what it's really doing? Would they see it? Would they use it? Or is it something taking up space on the page that is not necessary?

Pardon me for all the thoughts, but sometimes I have to think out loud in these forums. I always want to make sure we're adding something that's wanted, will be used, and will not cause confusion.

I copied your post and inserted my comments:
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Do you mean like a "Next Classmate" button at the bottom of every Profile? Yes but I was thinking of perhaps just a graphic version of ">" like is used on some of the photo album websites.

What if the next Classmate doesn't have a Profile? Or what if the next Classmate is dead? Would the button just jump only to active Profiles? And if so wouldn't people wonder why we are skipping Classmates? And also skipping deceased Classmates?
I was thinking in much more simple terms! Just display sequentially just like they are being displayed should I go down the list and click on each classmate sequentially. The deceased ones would show "In Memory" and the no profiles would indicate there is no profile.

We could add it, but would people understand what it's really doing? Would they see it? Would they use it? Or is it something taking up space on the page that is not necessary?
Quite possibly the latter ! Just a feature I think would be nice where folks want to see what all their other classmates are doing. Yes, I think most folks would understand what it means. Perhaps have a "hover" disply that says "next classmate profile"

It will be interesting to see if there are other comments about this.

Anytime a viewer wanted to move on to another subject of skip around they could click on the navigation panel.

Pardon me for all the thoughts, but sometimes I have to think out loud in these forums. I always want to make sure we're adding something that's wanted, will be used, and will not cause confusion. I'm glad you do think out loud in these forums! It makes us rethink on our guestions, suggestions, etc!
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Thanks for all you and "guys" do to keep this going! Can't wait to see the announcement of the "coming soon" items you've discussed in other threads and forum lists!

Yes, I would like to see the same capability on the "Manage Classmates" Enter/Edit page! In the next couple of weeks, I plan to go through and add birthdays for most of the classmates.

Thanks for hearing me out.
Ruth

You make me think Ruth. And I like that. Keep it coming.

OK, let me play Devil's Advocate with you. Remember, everything we add to the system gets added for all sites. So we have to consider usability issues for all sites in the system.

So....if we make the next classmate button or symbol work as you've described, let's consider a site that has 200 Classmates: 20 of them have joined the site so far, and 10 are deceased.

Now a user wants to go through all the Classmates and read Profiles consecutively....so they start clicking the "Next Classmate" button at the bottom of each profile.

With the scenario above, if they clicked to go through the entire Class List, 170 out of their 200 clicks would take them to a blank profile. And 10 clicks out of their 200 would take them to a completely different part of the site, the In Memory section. We'd have to put a "next classmate" button on the bottom of those entries too so they could get back to the progression. Either that or omit it from those entries, and just leave the Classmate to find their way back to the list themselves.

It just doesn't sound very usable to me... Especially when somebody has never used the feature before, and they click it a few times in a row only to see a bunch of blank Classmate pages and/or deceased Classmates. There's something to be said for the icon system on the main Classmate Profiles page. It tells you EXACTLY what to click on to see content. And it also tells you EXACTLY what not to click on. There's nothing worse than clicking and getting a blank. Or so it seems to me.

Am I wrong here?

You have an advantage, you know how the database is organized! Based on the fact that clicking on profiles sequentially displays different "surrounds" depending on whether there is:
1 - no profile info
2 - some or all profile info
3 - deceased
I wrongly assumed all the data to be in one place and that info in each record was triggering how it's displayed.

I see your points!

We have a class of 340 with only 10 for whom we have NO information so it made sense to me. And, a quick click back to the navigation panel would get out of "paging" mode.

In my mind, I don't think of an entry with no profile information as blank, I see it as a classmate with no profile info.

And, since we're closer to your Mom's age than most of your "webmasters", we've come to accept that we are not as immortal as we once thought!!!

And, yes, the list of names has the "profile checkmark" to say which ones have checkmarks so it's easy to see which have profiles, I just have to remember which one is next when I go back! Hmmm! Maybe that's a good brain exercise for an oldster!

Bottom line: I'm lazy! Why make two clicks when there could be a way to do what I want to do with one click!

Therefore, based on your knowledge of the database organization and your knowledge of your audience, and guessing that the vast majority of the audience is closer to your age than mine, I concede!

Thanks for the open discussion!

Ruth

Well, we could always make it an optional feature people could turn on if they want it. I shouldn't haven't said it has to be all or nothing -- anything new can always be made optional.

Note, when you click on a Classmate's name, and then come back to it, the color changes to a lighter blue. So you really don't have to remember the last name you clicked on.

I'm with Ruth on this one. I think it would be useful to prevent having to go back and scroll down the list to click on separate profiles. Clicking through will show who is on the site, who isn't and it just may prompt someone to add that email address to send an invite to a person with whom they're still in contact.

I think the current system on the classmate profiles page may make it easier for people to be complacent in not notifying other classmates if they see they haven't registered. They just may skip the profile altogether thinking someone else will do it.

I'm going to have to implement a new forum rule: No siding with Ruth! For now on, those who side with Ruth will be treated badly.

Ok, knowing when it's not wise to argue with BOTH Ruth and Cathy, I'm caving in. Ugh! I just put this on the programmer's Task List. I put it as a priority 5 out of 10, so I'm gunna estimate roughly Thanksgiving for this feature.

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When you click on the edit button next to Classmate Profiles, this is our second radio button:

Show Classmate details even if Classmates have not created an account.

Please add a checkbox right under that, that reads:

Show "Next Classmate" button at bottom of each Classmate's Profile

If somebody turns this on, on the bottom right corner of each Classmate's Profile put a text link that reads:

Next Classmate Profile >>

Make the entire link "Next Classmate Profile >>" clickable to the next Classmate Profile alphabetically on the list. It should go to the next profile whether the person is a non member or member. And if the person is deceased, it should jump to their in memory entry.

Brad Switzer wrote:

I'm going to have to implement a new forum rule: No siding with Ruth! For now on, those who side with Ruth will be treated badly.

Hmmmm Canada just announced they ran out of Pure Maple Syrup!!

He he he. Mmmmmmmmmm, pancakes!

Found a couple of little "tricks" today while editing some 250 or so profiles:
1 - It's not necessary to scroll down to click the "Save" button. Hitting will do the same thing. Thus with mouse near the number pad on the keyboard, thumb can reach over easily!
2 - After or "Save Changes", hitting the "Back" button (I have one on my mouse) twice will take me back to where I was with the page I was last on outlined in little dashes! Just don't hit "Back" before saving.

Yes, it was more clicks but they were easy clicks and it allowed me to, on the way back, verify my changes!

Just call me lazy!
Ruth

ps - I'll copy this to the tips section!

And I'll copy it from there to our FAQs. Thanks Ruth!

Thank ya dahlin'!

Where do I put it in the "tips" section? I just realized that "Share Tips" goes to the same place as "Forum List"... and, I don't see a forum category on "Share Tips" (is that the equivalent to what bartenders do?")...

Thx.
Ruth

Put it in the Suggestions and Feedback forum, and I'll copy your post from there into our FAQs. Thank you Ruth.

One thing this "Next Classmate >>" will show is the Yearbook Photo if one has been uploaded. The current product will show the yearbook photo when a classmate is clicked on even if no profile data has been entered by the classmate