[wp-forums] Forum makeover

Thu Nov 10 03:31:43 GMT 2005

I just had another crazy idea.... better linkage from the forums front 
page to the codex. Maybe in the side bar, a section called "Common 
Problems" Not quite the FAQ, but things we see often that we wish we 
kept the answers canned in a text file for easy copy/paste. Like the 
problem of the sidebar slipping below the content in IE. Or some common 
problems people have had with adsense. Or where is my Meta Data? In 
addition to answers to the *simple* items, links back to any other 
supporting sites (P.I.E., CSS Zen Garden, Google, other pages in the 
Codex, etc.) Each month revisit the problems commonly seen on the 
forums, put together a page (or edit an exitsing one) on the Codex and 
update the list if needed. Make sure the links are descriptive too. 
There's a lot of info in the Codex, and a lot of people either a) don't 
know about the Codex, or don't know were to look in the Codex. template 
tags makes sense to us, but (for the most part) we're geeks. Joe Schmuck 
isn't. Template tags doesn't mean anyting to him. "Removing meta data 
section from your main page" does. Then you link it to a Codex page that 
explains, in laymen's terms that, "hey waht yo uare looking for are the 
template tags. These are the commands in your theme/template that make 
WP do the things it does." Explain how to recognize the template and 
conditional tags, and provide links to the template and conditional tag 
Codex pages.

Like  I said, it's a crazy idea and probably won't go any further than 
this post, but maybe it'll spark an idea in some one else's head.

-tg

Podz wrote:
> skippy wrote:
> 
>>Matt Mullenweg wrote:
>>
>>>IMO this will never be quite right. The forums themselves are pretty
>>>much useless, they're too broad for really browsing and if you're brand
>>>new there's a strong cognitive barrier to figuring out where your post
>>>should go. This was what tagging was supposed to address, eventually I'd
>>>like for there to be no forums at all.
>>
>>Personally, I find it alarming that the project leader finds the primary
>>support mechanism for his project "pretty much useless". 
> 
> 
> I do and I don't.
> 
> I have yet to use any forum anywhere that I happy with. I have - like
> many here - used a lot of forums, from Mozillazine (huge!!) to Newsgator
> to browsing the incomprehensible Slashdot and Kuro5hin. I like none.
> They all have faults, idiosyncrasies - yet each one will have a group of
> people who do understand how they work and do their best to keep it
> oiled and working.
> I think most people here understand the WP forum.
> It's not perfect, but neither is phpBB <insert big flashy annoying gif
> here> or invision <I'm making you wait for the next screen simply
> because I can> or any other. It's not the software - it's what we do
> with it.
> 
> "they're too broad for really browsing"
> Yes, they are now for a new user. I'd guess I'm not the only one who
> reads many threads though and still learns things. But ...
> 
> "if you're brand new there's a strong cognitive barrier to figuring out
> where your post should go"
> Possibly - I think users hit the mark more often than miss it. but right
> now we have no signposts. Apart from the forum title, we have nothing to
> guide people. Which is why I suggested the use of "What you can post
> here". I know we can't cover everything, and if we do people will
> delight in picking holes. but we _can_ give guidelines and I think we
> should. The forum software can scale - our approach has to as well.
> 
> "This was what tagging was supposed to address, eventually I'd like for
> there to be no forums at all."
> I think this is a very long way off... I actually like the tags (I've
> said so before) because I can home in on topics faster and if they serve
> just to help helpers that's cool by me. But losing the overall structure
> and becoming more freeform ? Hmm.... not yet :)
> 
> We have a tool. We just need to use it a bit smarter.
> 
> P.
> 
> 
> 
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