The one thing that sets me off the most(other than the un-designness)
Is how the categories are made.
When posting threads I get confused as to where to put stuff.
I suggest:
General
Other Arduino questions (FAQ is for questions that are...frequently asked, not the case with a forum)
Workshops (keep em)
Exhibition (Keep it)
Bar Sport (Change to NON-arduino related stuff, that's what Other's for)
International
Other Languages (A single forum for the rest, no other changes)
Hardware
Interfacing (Change description to something simpler)
Hardware Development
Software
Arduino Coding suggestions/help ("Syntax & programs" tends to confuse me, anyone else?)
Arduino IDE Development
Mmmh.. I'm fine with the current structure. If I should ask for something, it would be a place, either in the forum itself or in the profile configuration, for people to introduce themselves...
A few do them in the Bar Sport, but having a dedicated field in the profile and/or a dedicated section would be cool, because it's also nice to know what people are doing not only when they're having problems... The only think you can currently know is not to f*ck with people whose name is written in red
(and that I'm cute, small, geeky, and sleepless, but the second assertion is wrong :))
General(Intro's, Bar Sport, Exhibition, stuff not related to helping with Arduino)
Hardware(Hardware mod, hacks, guides)
Software(Coding stuff)
Troubleshooting
Suggestions
News ("Community, Collaboration, Status"?)
Workshops and Events
Exhibition
Bar Sport
PHYSICAL COMPUTING
Getting Started & Troubleshooting
Programming ("Syntax and Programs")
LEDs and Multiplexing
Displays, Audio, etc.
Motors, Mechanics, and Power
Sensors
Networking, Protocols, and Devices
Interfacing w/ Software
DEVELOPMENT
Bugs and Suggestions
Hardware Development
Software Development
Hi,
I guess its too late to start shuffling categories around. There are thousands of posts already. What are you going to do with them? You can't delete them and there is no manpower to sort them into new locations.
You can't improve an already written book, by simply putting up a new Table Of Contents with the chapters that you have forgotten to write when you started the project :
Improving the search capability would be the biggest aid in helping people to find what they want.
Also, adding the capability to view many more recent posts (ten is way too few). Ideally, view all posts since last logged on, but viewing items posted over the last 24 hours would be a big help.
Hi,
I guess its too late to start shuffling categories around. There are thousands of posts already. What are you going to do with them? You can't delete them and there is no manpower to sort them into new locations.
You can't improve an already written book, by simply putting up a new Table Of Contents with the chapters that you have forgotten to write when you started the project :
Eberhard
Lock all the current threads, move em to one "Old Posts" forum, and fix the search?
No, I'm suggestiong to add another one for all the other languages.
And have people append the language to the title, ie
[Russian] Where to find ___ part
Don't think this will be really appealing... If I spoke only Russian and English, I'll talk in English or maybe request a Russian language subsection, but I don't think I'll go in the Babel tower section and hope for someone to read it...
So maybe a good way to do this would be to add a section somewhere, like an "about this forum" section where people could ask for new language-specific sections.
Don't think this will be really appealing... If I spoke only Russian and English, I'll talk in English or maybe request a Russian language subsection, but I don't think I'll go in the Babel tower section and hope for someone to read it...
So maybe a good way to do this would be to add a section somewhere, like an "about this forum" section where people could ask for new language-specific sections.
Problem with that is that there's ~300 somewhat unique languages in the world, and it'd be easier to just have a combined one, and IF a certain language stands out, then send it to its own forum.
Hi,
I guess its too late to start shuffling categories around. There are thousands of posts already. What are you going to do with them? You can't delete them and there is no manpower to sort them into new locations.
You can't improve an already written book, by simply putting up a new Table Of Contents with the chapters that you have forgotten to write when you started the project :
Eberhard
Lock all the current threads, move em to one "Old Posts" forum, and fix the search?
Don't forget to update the 10000 internal links inside the postings to previous threads, or do you really think people repeat themselves over and over again. About 1/3 of my own postings read : Look here , has been answered already last month.
The posts URLs only include the post id, so I think it's possible to move them between boards without breaking links. Still, it would be a lot of work, and I'm not sure it'll happen any time soon. But if it, what would people think about the organization I posted?
But... what would people think about the organization I posted?
Making it easier for posters to select the appropriate category will be a big help. But I wonder how much better the proposed ones will be for people looking far help getting a sketch to work correctly.
I think if I was a newbie struggling with a sketch that interfaces with some hardware, I could have difficulty deciding which category to post for help.
Bugs & Suggestions
Software bugs/suggestions <- this one fits because my sketch doesn't work
Hardware bugs/suggestions <- but this one fits because the software is not talking to the
Hardware
Troubleshooting
Hardware Troubleshooting <- this could fit for the reasons above
Software Troubleshooting <- and this
Software
Arduino Coding suggestions/help <- this fits as well.
Its not an easy problem to solve and I don't think the following fully solves the ambiguity problem but here is a suggestion to spark further thought:
Arduino distribution support
Troubleshooting
Hardware Troubleshooting
Software Troubleshooting
Bugs & Suggestions
Software bugs/suggestions
Hardware bugs/suggestions
Arduino IDE Development
User sketch support
Hardware Troubleshooting
Software Troubleshooting
Hardware
Interfacing (Change description to something simpler)
Hardware Development
I was one of the "silent majority" who isn't bothered by the current layout but I do wonder if the suggested layouts over complicate things (e.g. multiple sub-forums named the same thing).
In some ways I think fewer, more general, sub-forums would be preferable to a proliferation of them.
Also, I sometimes wonder if the FAQ sub-forum gets more questions directed to it because it's at the top of the page?
Personally(and the original idea of this thread) I just think that the descriptions for topics are too complicated.
I dunno if I'm just ___ but some of the topic names intimidate me.(Well used to, when I was still a newbie)
The big one that gets me is
Syntax & Programs
Help with Arduino syntax, specific programs, or C/C++ questions.
I dunno, maybe my brain just can't process it, but when I first saw the topic, in my head I thought that that was the "Advanced" coding section, probably because of the mention of C/C++, so naturally I went hunting, and found nothing else.
So yeah, at the very least, any chance the topic names/descryptions could be altered to be more news friendly?
follower: that duplication is one of the things I tried to address in the organization I posted. I left software and hardware development separate because there is usually a relatively clear line between the two - at least, that's the impression I got when reading over the posts in each. The Hardware Interfacing forum is by far the most active, so I thought it made sense to divide it into sub-topics. Again, I'm not sure who will ever have time to work on this, but it's a good discussion to have.
An easy and fast way to optimize the Hardware/Interfacing forum would be to just split it into Input, Output and Device design sections.... It would be less confusing than having one subsection per "interface category" and would optimize things, as most devices or problematics fit in one (and only one) of these categories, for what I've read anyway.
Anyway, I don't think such a change is needed, as there aren't too much posts and the forum in the current state is very readable.
Anyway, should changes in the forum's structure happens, I'd like to insist about a "self-introduction or similar section, if other people also cares on this matter.
