An issue that has been raised repeatedly over the years by the forum community is that there are too many English language forum categories, and that the scope of some of those categories is not well defined or communicated.
One of the most common moderation actions is moving topics to the appropriate category. The current category structure and documentation may be a contributing factor in users selecting inappropriate categories.
There is a lot of subject matter overlap in the current categories. Since a topic is often about multiple aspects of a project, each with its own category, it can be difficult to decide which of the multiple equally relevant categories to select.
Proposal
I am proposing to reduce the number of English language categories, merging the categories with significant scope overlap. The scope of the remaining categories will clearly defined.
Here is the structure I propose:
Development Tools: Tools for developing and deploying Arduino programs
Uncategorized
Arduino IDE
Formerly:
Using Arduino > Installation & Troubleshooting
Software > Arduino IDE 2.0
Uploading: Uploading sketches or bootloaders to Arduino boards. Arduino board ports.
Formerly:
Using Arduino > Avrdude, stk500, Bootloader issues
Web Editor
Formerly:
Software > Web Editor
IoT Cloud
Formerly:
Software > IoT Cloud
Chrome App
Formerly:
Software > Chrome App
Arduino command line tools
Formerly:
Software > Arduino command line tools
PLC IDE
Formerly:
Software > PLC IDE
Projects: Assistance, discussion, and sharing Arduino-related projects of users
Sub-Categories:
Tutorials: A curated collection of tutorials
Formerly:
Using Arduino > Introductory Tutorials
Programming: Project code
Formerly:
Using Arduino > Programming Questions
Development > Libraries
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Software > Development
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Software > Interfacing
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Software > Syntax & Programs
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Software > Troubleshooting
Hardware: Project hardware
Formerly:
Using Arduino > General Electronics
Hardware
Development > Other Hardware Development
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Hardware > Interfacing
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Hardware > Development
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Hardware > Troubleshooting
General: Topics that involve both project hardware and code
Formerly:
Using Arduino > Project Guidance
Using Arduino > Microcontrollers
Using Arduino > LEDs and Multiplexing
Using Arduino > Displays
Using Arduino > Audio
Using Arduino > Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
Using Arduino > Sensors
Using Arduino > Network Protocols and Devices
Using Arduino > Storage
Using Arduino > Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer
Projects Discussion and Showcase > *
Exhibition / Gallery: Sharing finished projects
Formerly:
Community > Exhibition/Gallery
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > General > Exhibition
Official Hardware: Topics specific to official Arduino products
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Web/Forum/Email/Spam > *
Suggestions for the Arduino Project
Formerly:
Development > Suggestions for the Arduino Project
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > Hardware > Bugs & Suggestions
Project Hub
Groups and Events
Formerly:
Community > Local Groups
Community > Workshops and Events
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > General > Workshops
Bar Sport
Formerly:
Community > Bar Sport
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > General > Bar Sport
Jobs and Paid Consultancy
Products and Services
International
中文 (Chinese)
Deutsch
Español
Formerly:
International > Español
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International > Español
Software
Hardware
Microcontroladores
Documentación
Humor y Debate
Talleres, Encuentros, ...
Proyectos
Français
Formerly:
International > Français
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International > Français
Tutoriels et cours
Réalisations et Projets Finis
Le bar
Italiano
Generale
Formerly:
International > Italiano > Generale
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International > Italiano
Hardware
Megatopic
Software
Nederlands
Português
Formerly:
International > Português
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International > Portugues
Россия - Russia
Scandinavia
Formerly:
International > Scandinavia
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International > Scandinavia
I welcome any feedback on this proposal. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Notes
Categories marked with "" are configured so that topics can not be created directly under them.
These categories serve as a container for subject-specific subcategories.
The categories listed under each "Formerly" section are the sources of the topics of the category. If no "Formerly" section is present, the proposal would not change the topic contents of the category.
The only changes to the International categories are:
Merge of Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International
Merge of International > India into English language categories (the India category is almost never used and all its posts are in English).
In case you are concerned that merging the Forum 2005-2010 (read only) category would result in a loss of chronological categorization, note that date constraints can be specified in the advanced forum search.
Scope of Discussion
Please restrict the discussion in this topic to the following subjects:
What forum categories should we have?
What should each individual category be named?
What should be the scope (subject matter of topics) of each individual category?
Should users be able to create topics in each individual category?
If an existing category is to be removed, which category or categories should its topics be moved to?
What should be the structure of the category tree?
What order should the categories be listed in?
Discussion of other subjects is very welcome, but please do so in the appropriate topic (or create one if an appropriate topic doesn't already exist).
Poll
The discussion has produced three proposals for the new category structure:
Simplifying would be a good idea, some categories might need renaming or discussion on where they fit
For example Projects Discussion and Showcase could be split in exhibition gallery, tutorials and General (formerly Project Guidance)
Regarding languages like French
It is confusing that you can post at the top language category and then you have subcategories (true in some other languages as well like Spanish or Italian). The language should form the container of all subcategories and should be locked,
Français ( : should not be able to post here)
Général
Formerly:
International > Français
Forum 2005-2010 (read only) > International > Français
Tutoriels et cours
Réalisations et Projets Finis. (Needs renaming)
Le bar
having coherence across languages might make sense too
the French Forum basically has a category where all questions go regardless of hardware or software), a category for tutorials, a category for exhibition of finished projects with their code (but no detailed how to otherwise it would fit in tutorials) and the bar when needed to vent or to move away into oblivion non relevant posts
May be something like this could make sense if there is enough traffic in the language. If not, to be future ready I would suggest to lock the language and have one General subcategory. This way if later they want more categories the structure is clean
My first suggestion is to create two categories for the IDE; legacy IDEs are here to stay for a long time; I'm e.g. running the IDE on an 15 year (or so) old laptop with a 32 bit Linux.
Motivation: forces people to select one.
Development Tools: Tools for developing and deploying Arduino programs
Arduino IDE
Legacy Arduino IDE (1.8.x and older)
Assuming that Tools for developing and deploying Arduino programs is going to be the tooltip, I suggest that it changes to Problems with tools for developing and deploying Arduino programs.
A similar comment can be made for Tutorials; I suggest that it will be made clear that the category is not for questions: A curated collection of tutorials (not for questions !!)
I think that Project Guidance deserves its own category directly under Projects.
There is a dedicated category for the official Arduino hardware. It might be an idea to make the above a category at the same level as the official Arduino hardware.
3rd party hardware and microcontrollers Topics specific to non-Arduino products
Microcontrollers
3rd party microcontroller boards
Is this all going to be merged into one category? Or are those still subcategories?
Which brings me to the next point (probably a bit off-topic): the current way that the forum works shows me unread and new topic indications for the second level category (e.g. Using Arduino -> Installation and Troubleshooting); but it does not show this for the third level (e.g. Hardware -> Nano family -> Classic Nano). Personally I think that the 3rd/4th/... level (in the example Classic Nano) should have the indications. I know that I can 'subscribe' to categories but find it cleaner if it would be indicated.
Hi @J-M-L and @paulpaulson. I'm happy to take care of the administrative work of adjusting the configuration of the Français and Deutsch categories. However, the non-English categories operate somewhat autonomously so I would recommend discussing it inside the categories first so that the forum members who use that category primarily have the opportunity to participate in the decision.
I suggest we separate that work from my proposal, which was primarily focused on the English language categories.
This would definitely make life easier for the moderators who constantly have to move non-English topics out of the English categories. I have always appreciated the consistency between Español and Italiano in having subcategories for hardware and software.
I really like the "hardware", "software", "general" approach to categorization used in Italiano
Any simplification is good and this proposal seems to clear the problem that the "Installation & Troubleshooting" section was overused by new users simply because the title seemed to be appropriate for most issues.
If the "Exhibition Gallery" moves as proposed, I hope it is possible to retain the "No Automatic Closure" policy, which is currently in operation there, because many of the projects there may be interesting to others even after the 6 month expiry of normal posts.
I think this is partly due to the fact that people don't see the international sub-forum until they scroll down to the very bottom of the forum. Maybe there is something to do there like a notice at the top of the forum for example..
The text I appended to some of the categories was only meant to indicate the proposed scope.
The category descriptions are very important and need some love. The community is now welcome to propose category descriptions. However, I would like to restrict the scope of the discussion in this topic to the category structure because this is already a very big and complex subject without getting into the descriptions as well.
I'll give everyone the opportunity to review the category descriptions for the revised categories before the category changes commence.
All those would be merged into the single category Projects > General
We asked for this for so looong.
Glad so see some movement at last.
Concur with the comments about international languages been too far down the list and being a primary cause of misplaced posts.
The hardware specific categories do need streamlining considerably.
There appears to be some that are or have little to no use.
The "Microsoft" being a particular one.
The "space "category I would suggest needs to be consolidated possibly into a single one.
I'm very interested in these ideas, but I would like to keep the discussion here focused on the subject of the category structure. Please open new topics for your proposals and I'll look into those.
Please propose a specific placement of the International category relative to the other top level categories in the structure I proposed above.
All topics from the categories listed under the "Formerly" section would be merged into the Projects > General category. Once emptied of topics, the categories listed under the "Formerly" section would be deleted.
I think it makes sense, but I would leave that decision up to the maintainers of the forum's Italian language content. Since it is not related to the category structure discussed here, I would suggest you open a separate topic for discussion of that proposal. Make sure to mention gpb01.
Little bit wary of that particular item as it may affect the way we have to search for items we are interested in.
As far as international languages are concerned, would it not suffice to simply have a link of some form near the top or something similar so that international users can quickly navigate to what they require ?
Without seeing the intended layout I think we nay end up in a situation where the changes are made and we go "OMG thats great" OR "Well that looks darned awful" I would suggest you employ some users selected by all the moderators in the test areas to give an honest opinion.
An Idea I have forwarded many times over the past with limited results.
Just suggest this is NOT RUSHED
No I wont be putting my name on that list as I have done more than my fair share unpaid for the community
I think it is worth exploring. This was also proposed by @fdufnews:
Since that proposal is not related to the category structure, I have requested a separate topic be created for discussion of it so we can keep this discussion focused on the intended subject.
It is an interesting idea, but I don't think it's feasible with the available resources. We need to decide on a new structure and then just go with it. Some minor adjustments can be made later if necessary.
Consider that the current structure is an absolute mess, so this isn't a matter of unnecessary tinkering with something that is already good enough.
: Tools for developing and deploying Arduino programs
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