Talk Upgrade: Tuesday, 28th of May

• by vrooje admin, scientist

  We've been talking about it for a while, but it's finally here: Galaxy Zoo is moving to the new version of Talk this Tuesday.

  What does that mean for you? Talk may be down for a short time while everything is moved, and once it's back up things will look a bit different. (To get an idea of what it will look like, check out Space Warps Talk.) All of your posts and comments and collections will be moved as well, though some of the discussions may need to be re-sorted into the new category system (the mods will be busy!).

  The new Talk still has object-specific notes (which are 140 characters or less) and longer discussions. The hashtags still work. Much of the functionality is similar, even if it's arranged a bit differently. And many things are improved. The home page list of recent topics now includes thumbnails and comment snippets. The shorter and longer discussions are better integrated on a given page. The collections are great. The search is really useful. There are smileys!

  I expect there will be a bit of a learning curve -- there has been one for me too -- but I think it will be an even better tool than it was before. As ever, please feel free to post comments/questions here, and report bugs either on the Interface Bugs thread or directly to the support_at_zooniverse e-mail.

  Thanks,
  -Brooke

  Posted May 26, 2013 9:00 PM

• by JeanTate

  Hooray!

  The day is upon us; any idea of when, during today, the change-over will happen?

  Also, during the change-over, does that mean we will be unable to discuss anything we're classifying ("Would you like to discuss this object?")? I assume that the classifications can continue without a break ...

  Posted May 28, 2013 8:16 AM

• by vrooje admin, scientist

  I'm not sure exactly when the changeover will happen; the development team has it scheduled for today but the precise timing will depend on a few things. I expect it will be on Chicago time, though, so during the day in North America and the evening in Europe, but even that incredibly vague timing may change a bit for technical reasons.

  I believe the main classification interface won't be affected, but if a user clicks to discuss a galaxy while Talk is down they will indeed not be able to do so.

  Cheers,
  -Brooke

  Posted May 28, 2013 12:08 PM

• by arfon

  ...and we're done!

  Posted May 28, 2013 8:22 PM

• by vrooje admin, scientist

  Hooray!

  Posted May 28, 2013 9:54 PM

• by JeanTate

  There seems an awful lot of functionality, that was in the old Talk, missing in the Upgraded version! Link to NED, equivalent of the Examine page, raw data/multiwavelength viewer tool, RA and Dec, ... Has all this permanently disappeared?

  Posted May 29, 2013 2:44 AM

• by vrooje admin, scientist

  Nope, not permanently. I think the first priority was to get the core functionality up and running, but look for the extra tools to return very soon!

  Posted May 29, 2013 9:39 AM

• by elizabeth_s in response to JeanTate's comment.

  Am I to understand there is no link to NED?

  Posted May 29, 2013 9:51 AM

• by arfon in response to elizabeth's comment.

  That will be back later today or tomorrow.

  Apologies for this omission.

  Posted May 29, 2013 6:46 PM