Feature Requests and Wishlist Thoughts #2

Is it possible to notate when a game is unrated in your list of games on your home page?  Much like when a blog post is unpublished (in red italics) -- look at the third game listed in the screenshot below - -maybe something like this?

Feature requests for blogs:

1. The date listed for when a blog entry is submitted is actually when the entry was first created. I think it makes more sense for this date to be the publish date rather than the initial creation date. Allowing the author to edit this date is one way to go. (Edit: Looks like the date listed once it is published is the publication date, sorry.)

2. Can we have something like tags or categories? This is pretty standard on other blog services like blogspot or wordpress. 

[ERIK says: i will do this at some point. but only if we can get some chess bloggers to agree to use blogs more, and if we can get a full review of features needed to make chess.com blogs better.]

3. The number of views includes when I preview my unpublished blog entry. I would eliminate all author views from this count. 

I hope I don't get in trouble for two in a row :-).

I would like a simpler way to retrieve the pgn of my completed games. I would like something like when you post a diagram and you can click the FEN/PGN button and text of the pgn comes up  under the board. That allows me to simply copy and paste the PGN into another program (Fritz is very good at allowing you to paste in pgn, it even makes good guesses at what to do with games with mistakes in them). This seems much more convenient for handling a single game, better than downloading a file. 

 ya i know, but some times the trackpad on my laptop is too sensitive that it does not wait for me to tap it

Great to see such an incredible site is regularly getting better.

TINY requests.

Mentor hint box - make it a little bigger - always having to scroll and plenty of space to enlarge (I know:  I'm Using hints .....)

Chat Entry box in Turn based  is too small, tough to proof read and again plenty of room.  It could be three rows high or something.

I will be OK is these tiny thoughts are not implemented

[ERIK says: added to the list]

 like...

Allow us to sort (by clicking on the column headers) the games listed on our home page; and use that sorting criterion for the definition of "next ready game."

[ERIK says: not that easy. added to the list, but way down there.]

I posted this already in its own thread.  I'd like a Claim Draw button in Live Chess.  I repeated a dead drawn position countless times today and just had to wait until my minute or so ran out.  I got the loss.  Bummer!

[ERIK says: you already can, but we will make it easier to understand]

When I view the current game position on my turn, it shows my opponent's last move (which is nice), but is there some way it could indicate that one of my pieces was captured on that last move, and what the piece was?

This info is available by going to the moves tab and clicking backward...but sometimes I'm lazy.  

Here's a small one -- It seems odd that I have to click a link to make the rating adjustment appear in the same spot the link was (under the "Details" tab).  Wouldn't it just be simpler to always show the rating adjustment?

[ERIK says: no. that is actually a really "expensive" query to run. (meaning, it would slow down the page a LOT on loading and would be really cumbersome on the database.] 

I don't know if this is possible but - a spell checker for the title of a topic to be posted would be good. There are very many topic titles that have spelling errors probably because of the high number children and english 2nd language members. It's a little bit ugly to see.

[ERIK says: we have now put in a trigger where if you misspell, you are banned from Chess.com immediately. just kidding. no we can't really do this.] 

Can we have a theme for open discussion group please?

[ERIK says: i will make you an admin and you can make the theme :)] 

It would be great to be able to save Live Chess games to PGN with one click. I really like to go over my blitz and rapid games to see what I missed.  Thanks. great site. 

[ERIK says: coming in the next 6 weeks :)]

Here another for Live chess -- on a couple of occasions I've had rather rude opponents simply sit on a lost position until time ran out rather than resigining or playing it out.  In a five minute blitz game it's a minor annoyance, but in a longer game it would be a real problem. 

Can a setting be added to establish a maximum time per move as well?

 there ever been any thought towards an input system for people without a mouse? or ability to use one... be it through physical disability, constraint or simple happenstance.

something where you could substitute click dragging peices for input chess notation type moves.  through keyboard input or speach recog software.  

would also have the benefit of helping people using mobile platforms.  was stuck at a trade show with my ipod touch, and couldn't find a chess interface that let me play without clicking or dragging.  was kinda annoying.  Made me think... what if i couldn't use a mouse... not just happen to be stuck with a device that doesn't have/support it.  That'd be really lame.

probably wouldn't mesh with the current design of the site.  but...just a thought 

In Tactics Trainer, could you add a FEN/PGN button to permit us to download the position and play the position against a computer (to test possible alternative solutions)?

[ERIK says: give me 3 days...] 

Single click access to analysis board.  I use it on virtually all my turns, and have to click on Moves tab first before opening that one up.  Or better yet - allow me to move the pieces on the actual board itself, so that I don't need two windows open (this would allow doing away with the analysis board)

[ERIK says: it's hard to know what to put where. we could jam it all on one huge column, but i think this is nicer. i will consider. also, we can't do analysis on the same board - many of us play touch-move! :) ] 

just FYI - there are a LOT of good suggestions, but of course we have to prioritize. we could spend years making small tweaks, but we have to stay focused on things that make BIG impact. for example, our entire chess videos section is silly. we are going to added REAL chess videos there at some point - quality stuff by grandmasters. those kinds of projects take priority over most of the minute stuff.

thanks for understanding!