Sunday, November 30, 2014

Colnect Looking Good Everywhere - Responsive Design

Colnect is now dressed to impress on any device in any size. Until now, Colnect's design was nice but not very adaptable to the many variations of screen resolutions such as on mobile phones, tablets and full HD screens. Now we are happy to announce Colnect has developed a new design that will comfortably adjust to any way you'd like to view it.

Have you ever tried browsing Colnect on your mobile? How about your tablet? or even putting it up on an HD screen? Now is the time to try and see how the new Colnect pages react to your choices.
Colnect categories page - Full-HD view
Colnect categories page - MOBILE view

The new design is available to Colnect members with only one click, Click here to try the new design. If you're not logged in, the new design would be the default now.

We welcome you to try the new design and provide us with feedback before we make the change permanent. We have rewritten much of the code related to the site's design and we'll be making many more updates in the coming week to finish and polish what's missing.

What kind of things you will notice in the new design? Selected items of important information has been custom chosen to each screen, so you will always see what you need, no more, no less. List length, amount of rows and image size now all change according the size of screen or browser window. Play with the Colnect browser window size now and see Colnect shrink and grow to fit perfectly. We also needed to address some device specific issues, such as adjusting the Colnect menus to the mobiles touch screen so browsing is made quick and easy and allowing for spacious view on wide screen resolutions without unneeded scrolling or empty space.

If the new design is not working well for you, please report the problems you experience on the forum, along with a screen shot, the URL you visit and the browser you use, and we'll do our best to respond quickly.

Click here to switch back to the old design

Please note that our forum system doesn't support responsive design yet. We plan to upgrade it soon enough though. This means that when you view the forums on your mobile, you'll likely have to zoom in.

So go ahead and give this new design a spin :)

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Get ready for the Colnect Free Premium Weekend!

This weekend all of Colnect's premium services will be freely available to all members. The promotion will begin on Thursday noon and end at Monday noon. Relevant timezone UTC+0.

We've noticed that some Colnect members with large collections didn't have the chance to try some of the important Premium Membership features such as Auto-Matching and Best Matches. During the first trial Free Premium Membership period, some collector did not have enough items in their collection to make use of these features. We want to give all members an opportunity to see how these services work for them, let us know what they think and have fun :)

We also hope to encourage more collectors to consider supporting Colnect either by purchasing a Premium Membership or being given one through becoming a catalog contributor on Colnect.

So get your lists ready and clear your weekend to do some massive collection managing this weekend!

Learn more about Premium Membership in this video -

Read more >

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

It's the 80th Anniversary of the Lego Name, and Colnect Celebrates!

With most of 2014 behind us, which included the release of the incredibly popular Lego themed film "The Lego movie", we can take a look back at the history of Lego. We'll find out that there are more amazing achievements that the company that created this beloved toy, icon and collector favorite has reached this year.



80 years ago, in 1934, Ole Kirk, the founder of a Danish wooden toys company, was contemplating how to name it. He already had 2 names in mind but he was not sure. Eventually he had decided on a name of his own invention - Lego, named after the Danish phrase "Leg godt" which means "Play Well". Little did he know that the name he chose will turn out to be not only a good choice but a prescient prediction of the company future. The word "Lego" in Latin means "I put together" or "I assemble".

"Emmet" minifigure from the 2014 Series: "The Lego Movie", from the Colnect catalog
Jumping forward 30 years to 1964, half a century ago, the Lego Company has launched its first Model Set. The model set has later become one of the most popular and widely recognized features of the Lego company. It is also the corner stone of the Colnect Lego Sets catalog, dedicated to showcasing all sets from the 1960's until this very day.
"Locomotive" Train set from 1966, from the Colnect catalog
The documentation of all Lego Sets in history is no simple feat. From Train sets to Minifigures, from "Homemaker" sets to "The Hobbit" movies themed models, there are so many wonderful details to capture, so much information to add. On a community catalog that is based on volunteers, such as Colnect, this means contributors. Enthusiastic collectors, each adding what ever pieces of information they have. The more help the catalog has, the better and more comprehensive the catalog is. The existence of the catalog enables Lego collectors to gain access to a worldwide community and advanced comfortable collection management tools.
"Horizon Express" train set from 2013, from the Colnect catalog
The catalog has been created and has gone a long way based on the initiative of its coordinator, Graeme Kilpatrick [nzexchange]. He has single-handedly added thousands of sets to what is now a beautiful catalog of sets old and new. It is a remarkable achievement. So now, what about more? :) Come join to make this catalog even greater and let us know your opinion.
"Falling Water" set from the Architecture series 2009, from the Colnect catalog
Have sets in your collection that you'd like to see on the Colnect catalog? Interested in helping develop the Lego Sets catalog? Learn more on the Lego Sets Contribution help page. Want to get even more involved? Would like to help lead the charge to develop this global Lego Sets catalog? Check this out and let us know.
"Electric Train" train set from 1968, from the Colnect catalog

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