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Web Site Structure |
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A small number of third-level Internet domains will be put in place beside www.lugnet.com to make life easier and to keep URLs simple.
Likely candidates are as follows:
- members.lugnet.com
will contain all community Member Pages, the graphical Community Map, and User Groups and related activities.
(This is basically Phase I.)
Member homepages in this hierarchy will show up in the Community Map as houses and storefronts.
- guide.lugnet.com
will contain all information about official LEGO products and will be both browseable and searchable.
(This is basically Phase II.)
This site may show up in the Community Map as a library.
- market.lugnet.com
will contain all marketplace activities and collected market data and will be both browseable and searchable.
(This is basically Phase III.)
This site may show up in the Community Map as a giant multi-block building or set of buildings.
- gallery.lugnet.com
may contain all member-designed creations and will be both browseable and searchable.
(This is also a part of Phase II.)
This site may show up in the Community Map as an art gallery.
- my.lugnet.com
will be a customizable, personal entrypoint for members but will appear different to each member,
similar to the way my.yahoo.com provides an alternative entrypoint to www.yahoo.com
and the way and my.excite.com provides an alternative entrypoint to www.excite.com.
Subdomain alternatives include info, search, talk, chat, help, auction, trade, creations, cookbook, recipes, projects, ideas, ideabook, library, and news.
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A few subdomains help keep URLs simple
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Customization possibilities for my.lugnet.com include the following:
- Personal settings for
the look & feel of the system (font, color scheme, etc),
message board options,
and other system options.
- Quick access to
favorite user groups,
favorite LEGO-related web sites,
community and local event calendars,
waiting-lists for items other members may be giving away,
and recent relevant marketplace activity.
- Announcements of
new people joining the network,
new models and things put up anywhere on the Web,
and retail store sales.
- Requests from
people wishing to join your auction,
people needing to know your mailing address,
and people wanting to finalize a marketplace transaction.
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my.lugnet.com is a personalized entrypoint to the network
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A copy of the member's ID and password is downloaded automatically to his or her client machine using persistent cookie technology.
Cookies form the basis for long-term sessions which allow members to log in to the system for arbitrary lengths of time,
thereby greatly simplifying day-to-day interaction.
If a member denies the use of cookies or cannot use cookies, repeated authentication will be required for each user-based transaction (for that user only).
Note that it is not safe to track a user based on IP address because there is no guaranteed way to tell whether a given
client has a static-IP address or is using a proxy server, a DHCP server, or a dynamic-IP modem dial-in pool.
Asking the client which is the case is also unsafe; some people will guess, some people will click a random answer, some people will lie, and many people will just plain be dumbfounded by the question.
In any case, power-users can be expected to use a cookie-capable web browser.
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Members log in and out as desired
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Each sub-site will have its own organizational structure and access methods, but all will share a common look and feel.
One possibility might be minifig-style icons for graphical links between major sections.
However, it is possible that one or more of these may cause confusion with icons found at The Official LEGO® World Wide Web Site,
so great care must be taken to avoid potential problems and infringement on trade dress rights of the Lego Group.
It is possible (and hoped) that legal counsel inside the Lego Group may wish to review and provide comments on certain aspects of LUGNET prior to their activation.
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Care must be taken to maintain a distinctive look
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