OOAK Table Tennis Forum

We have some really great projects and resources here on this forum, providing a great information for both our members as well as visitors. Examples are our blade weight and blade composition lists, our reviews index, our clubs map, rubber mass database, video index, and the list goes on.
I thought a great way to make people aware of these lists would be to have some banners at the top of the forum (or in other locations) to highlight the project or list, so that more people will become aware of it and use it, but also to encourage more participation to add to the resource, and the people that maintain the list might feel a bit more appreciated as well!
Most people can weigh their rubber or blade after they buy it, so why not remind them to add it to the list?
The banner would simply point to the thread in question, so that a click would take you directly there. I would propose a banner for each project/list, and on every page load a new one appears, and this way we rotate through all of them. Banner are only for internal forum projects, lists or events.

Three example banners are shown below:






The banners are not big, and will add only minimal time to load. They fit in with the forum colours, so it should not detract from the forum view.

Do you like the idea?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Good idea. Spreading it in time instead of spreading it on screen.

That way we get reminders for all the useful stuff without cluttering the display (like global stickies would).

I like the idea, but for users of mobile units (including me at times) the added loading time and data size (however small) may be significant. Perhaps a checkbox in the user profile to toggle this element?

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My blog of failures, etc., also containing equipment list at "resurrection" (referred to in a few of my early posts), and my current lineup
Rating in the middle/low range in the region.
Moderating the LP Attacking subforum in the Technique section.

Didn't even think of it in those terms, but you're quite right!

I'll see if it's possible to exclude mobile viewers. The banners above are only 11kb, which is quite small, so it's probably not a great impact anyway, but I'll check.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Didn't realize we had a review index. Hm......I guess that makes my vote a yes!

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Happy Holidays 'round the world!

I think these banners could be really useful. It's so easy for vital information to get lost. I'm all for organising the best features like this.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

There sure is, and you can find it here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5367
li2so4 has been looking after it and maintaining it, doing a great job and it's a great resource, so all the more reason to make more people aware of it so that they will use and appreciate it!

Thanks guys, sounds like you agree it's worthwhile! Although I'm sure a lot of people have not seen this thread, they certainly will as soon as the first banner goes up, so if there are strong objections, they can make them then and there.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I've added three of the banner. Does it look OK? Not too intrusive? A click on the banner will take you straight to the section.

I can move the banners to other positions too, like underneath the first post of a thread for example, which means you'll only see it when you're reading a thread, and won't see it on the home page. Possible banner positions are:
Above Header
Below Header (current position)
Above Posts
Below Posts
After First Post
After Every Post Except First
Above Footer
Below Footer

For any of us that are well aware our our projects and resources, and/or who does not wish to see any of these for whatever reason, just let me know and I can disable them for you. Anyone that accesses the forum via phone may wish to be on that list too, as the small screen makes space a premium.
You can also do this yourself, by going to your Control Panel, go to user Groups and join the "No-banners" group.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Looking good! First I thought I wasn't logged in and that it was an advert. I reckon I'll get used to it. I think it's the start of something really useful ... perhaps other main threads will get their own banner. If that's the case, then they might have to made smaller. Just a thought.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear

Yes I can make a banner for any topic that we feel are worth extra attention. We can either display them all randomly, or display one at the time for say a week (so that it gets all the attention), and then go onto the next one.

I'm fully open to suggestions here... this is just an idea that I felt was worth trying,, and it can easily be changed or even removed.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

The banner looks OK, but the positioning is unbalanced between the text at the top and the text at the bottom. It doesn't look right.

We need a MNNB Blog banner.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Perhaps I can just centre all the text to make it look more balanced?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

This is what I mean. The top is the way it is currently. The bottom is equally balanced.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Ahh I see what you mean... it's hardly noticable on my current screen as it's very wide, but on a narrower screen like you've shown it's more obvious.

Don't know how hard it's too change that, I'll have to have a look, but if it's too hard I'll just try a different position on the page, see if that's more balanced.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Perhaps we prefer not to have the banner on the home page, but only shown in a thread?

I've moved them to be shown only after the first post of a thread... better?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I think centred text would be more balanced.

I wonder if the best place for these banners is on the Board Index. When I visit the site, I usually go to 'View active topics' and then Board Index. Just a thought.

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Weapon 1: Andro Kinetic Supreme Hinoki/Zylon OFF-; Andro Hexer HDs (FH 2.1/BH 1.9)
Weapon 2: Ross Leidy 'Smokey'; Friendship 729-5s
Club1: Daylesford - since 2010
Club2: Ballarat - since 2011
Blog: A Naked Bear