Website & Forum Suggestion Box

[ArdWrknTrk]

This harkens back to your build thread.
You add complexity in order to make it more durable, or foolproof.

Fools will break a bowling ball if given a chance.
More points of failure will ensure that failure.

K.I.S.S.

[Gary Lewis]

You have/make good points.  I grant that there's an issue/problem here.  And I do want to sort it.  But I think there are a lot of things in play at the same time that I'm not able to tease apart, so it looks really complex.

On the one hand there's a seemingly simple problem where in a thread in a sub-forum, meaning the folders on the main page, there is a menu at the top of the page that includes a link to both the Bullnose Forum as well as a link back to that folder.  For instance in the New Members Start Here folder each thread has this link at the top of the page: Bullnose Enthusiasts › New Members Start Here - Read The Guidelines & Post A Blurb About Yourself.  But at the bottom of the page there's just the link to get back to the sub-forum, meaning New Members Start Here - Read The Guidelines & Post A Blurb About Yourself.

That's a simple problem and is, I think, where you started.  And if that were to be solved it might get people out of the New Members Start Here folder.  Right?

But you are alluding to other problems.  And while I don't doubt that there are other problems, I don't know what they are.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have my buddy from the Nabble Support forum, the guy from the UK that solved the smiley problem, telling me that the whole forum and website are fraught with problems.  

Given the family plans that are on the horizon, I'm not going to get to the bottom of things with my Nabble buddy any time soon, and he holds the keys to sorting out things like the difference in links at the top and bottom of pages.  So can you, Jim, try to put together a list of issues from people on here while I work with Greg/Nabble in the background?

If you want to start a new thread asking for their input please do so and explain that I've asked you to do it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Correct.

Okay.

Are you asking for a list -in and from- new users specifically?
Because we already have this thread, which seems to have some of the best, and most attentive support on the web.  

I guess I didn't quite grasp the depth of the problem I see, which is the feedback loop baked into each sub-forum.

Apologize for not slicing & dicing my reply, as Steve would.
That's really difficult (for me) on a phone.
But I'm sure you get the gist.

[ArdWrknTrk]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Can the posts be numbered?
So it's easier to refer to post#123 instead of trying to quote it or describe the contents of a post. **that may be pages away?

I'm going to bring this up again.
Not because I don't think it registered with you, but because I didn't see any response.

[Gary Lewis]

I've asked the folks over at Nabble if we could get numbering of the the posts.  But to this point only my friend Greg has responded, and he doesn't work for Nabble.  His response was that it probably isn't going to be high on Nabble's radar since they are supposedly developing a new "forum".  But in the absence of that we could use the date and time the comment was posted.

So I was waiting on a true Nabble response.  But apparently that isn't going to happen.  So can we live with the date/time stamp approach?

On the link back issue, Greg has tested a "fix" on his forum and it appears to show the whole path back on the bottom as it does on the top of the page.  I can try to implement that here as well and see if that helps.

But then we will have the world's longest breadcrumb: New Members Start Here - Read The Guidelines & Post A Blurb About Yourself.  Instead the folder's name should be something like New Members, or possibly New Members Start Here, and put the & Post A Blurb About Yourself explained in the info about the folder.  And that's only one of the many helpful suggestions Greg has come back with after studying our forum.

As for how and where to collect the info, I don't know.  However, we aren't getting much help in this thread.  People seem to only respond to new threads.  Perhaps that's due to the way this forum works where you have to be subscribed to a thread, or the whole forum, to get an alert by email that a new response has been posted.

But I'll leave that to you as I'm running out of time very quickly.....

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - I've now shortened the title of the folder to New Members Start Here.  And, I've implemented the change Greg suggested, which now puts the same set of links at the bottom of the page as well as the top.  See if that helps, please.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Gary,
I'm going to creat a post in the new members section, and ask for feedback.
You could put verbiage asking for location or pointing to the members map in the description instead of always asking in your personalized greeting.

If it were down here I can see it sliding off the first page quickly. (That's why this one is pinned, right?)

Let's see what happens.
If it starts to slip, I can always TTT.

And, I will try to use the timestamp, the same way I HAD to use the FTE date to identify the long ago thread you created for Dads Air Cleaner.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Done?

Anything I should change?

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, done.  I responded.  THANK YOU!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Thank you for implementing the link to the main forum beneath threads in the new user sub-forum!  

I think it will help engagement down here

[Gary Lewis]

Welcome.  Hope it helps.  But I know there's more tweaking that needs to be done, and depending on what others say maybe lots more.

[ArdWrknTrk]

And depends on what this platform is capable of....

But every step gets you a bit closer.

[ArdWrknTrk]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Let's see what happens.
If it starts to slip, I can always TTT.

Pinned!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Does anyone else have maddening troubles on mobile when in the edit window?

My 'cursor' jumps around cutting existing text up or deleting it entirely.

I'll even be in the middle of a word and it will do this.

Another thorn in my side....
Highlighting anything in the top few rows creates a pop up that blocks any of the composition buttons.
(Maybe I do want to add a pic or emphasis at the beginning of a post)

It's a pita to 'enter' half a dozen lines to do a simple task, and then have to back out of them.

[ArdWrknTrk]

And ... Is there any way to block that darned title bar from moving down as you scroll the edit window?

Arrrrgh!  

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - I have that on the title bar issue on the list to check out.

However, having been on a Disney cruise and supposedly around pirates, I'm told that the proper term is "Arrrr" w/o the "gh".  

[kramttocs]

Just some thoughts...

While I really like the lighthouse photo and ford prayer, those two things and especially the white space above the lighthouse photo take up a lot of real estate and require scrolling before getting to the actual thread. Maybe just have them on the main page and not all of them?

Not sure how nabble does their page navigation but is there a way to make the url actually match the thread (and page index if multiple) instead of always just being garysgaragemahal.com? If I want to refresh a thread to see if new posts were made I can't refresh the browser or I end up back on the home page.

[Gary Lewis]

I've asked a friend who's done lots of websites to look this one over, and he immediately suggested moving the pic and prayer to a main page.  So that's in the thinking stage.

As for the URL, the issue is that the forum is embedded on the website, so it can't have its own URL.  But, there is a Refresh link above on the right that should refresh the page and not take you back to the main page.  Yes?

[kramttocs]

Ah thanks, I see that now. That actually will work really well if it, as well as the permalink link, could be moved to the bottom and upon clicking it would keep the browser focus at the bottom of the page also.

Edit: not 'moved' but rather duplicated so both links are at the top and bottom.


Does anyone use the embedded google search at the top that is partially obscured by the floating navigation? Might be able to remove it and just keep the local site search.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I think most of this should be in 'website suggestion box'

I mean, the first question and answers are fine, but it is getting tangential to the stated goals of this thread.