Web Feedback: We're Listening!

Washington Trails Association unveiled its new Trip Report and Hiking Guide formats nearly a month ago. The change, and some performance hiccups along the way, prompted lots of feedback - both positive and negative.

We want to let you know that we have listened and will be making some changes over the next month or so to improve the way it works for hikers like you. These include:

• Speed - By the end of October, pages should open up much faster.
  
• Freshest Trip Reports - Most people preferred how it worked before, so we will be emulating that experience as best as we can within the new format. We also suggest that you try out the Trip Report search page, which is ordered chronologically and can be filtered by region and more.
• Using the Back Button - If you've encountered problems using your browser's back button within a search, we're working with our programmers to fix this issue.
• Adding Search by Author - Like a particular Trip Reporter? We'll be adding a search field to Trip Reports that will allow you to search by author. Currently, you can view their entries by typing their name in the Keyword field of the Trip Report search.
• Improving Photo Uploading performance - There have been reported problems when uploading three or four photos to a Trip Report - both the size of the photo and slower connection speeds appear to be the culprit. We're working to see how we could make this work better for people.
• Login Issues - Can't remember your user name or password? Because this requirement is new for Trip Reports, chances are you don't have one. Try registering at www.wta.org/join_form - if your e-mail is already in the system, it will let you know.
• Design Tweaks - WTA will also be making some small design tweaks that you may or may not notice.
  
• Hiking Guide Entries - Where have the old ones gone? We're working on updating the old hiking guide entries (some were 10 years old!) and including them within the new format. More are uploaded every week.
  
• New Photo Gallery & Backcountry Kitchen - Look for improvements to these popular areas by the end of the year.
  

These all should be complete by the end of the year - if not much earlier. In the meantime, we suggest that you use some of your off-season free time to make additions and edits to our redesigned Hiking Guide.

The Hiking Guide includes standing descriptions and information that are written more like a guidebook entry. It's all wiki - so you and other hikers are indispensable in making this the best online source for hiking info around.

Have some more feedback for us? Send an email to: feedback@wta.org.