Discussion and Feedback on Survival Guide for the forum

[Hagar Delest]

Wonderful information and presentation!

+1.
You managed to tell in crystal clear words what we were all thinking

First, as said before, the survival guide is not my ownership so feel free to modify it if needed!

Second, the problem here is that we tend to complete the guide and its length begins to be a problem. We started by putting the basics and we have now a detailed explanation that has pushed the last post to the second page (that will be hardly noticed as proved above). But the information is so nice that it would be a shame not to implement it.

That brings us to my third thought which is Drew's proposal. I forgot to reply his post few days ago but I like that layout. It seems that whatever the length is, it will stay on a single page, that's a big pro. It also seems to support the links (it even highlight the pointed rule) so we still can have some small introduction leading to a more detailed part. If we remove the survival guide as a global announcement, it will free some space on the page, replaced by the red pointer to the rule, perhaps more visible.

[acknak]

Good point.

Drew: Is is a lot of work to put the plugin on the test site and put (some of) the guide in there, so we could see how it would work?

Maybe there's a site where it's in use? Oh wait, now I see that the phpBB site is using it. Wow, what a lot of rules! I hope we never get that successful!

Yeah, I take back what I said before, that looks like it would work for us. Can we give it a test?

I still like "Survival guide" better than "rules", and maybe we can make it visible without making it red Make it flash or something

BTW: We are talking about the "rules" plugin, right? Not the "knowledge base"?

[Hagar Delest]

Well, I see 2 kinds of rules:
- http://www.phpbb.com/rules/
- http://topgearforums.co.uk/forum/rules.php#f01

Are they 2 different layouts of the same mod or completely different ones?

And, yes, we're talking about the rules.

[TerryE]

I'm not sure the "Survival Guide" should be that document, but there does need to be a "vital information" document provided to everyone who registers.

It needs to be on the forum somewhere that we can easily refer posters to. I can't think of anywhere more appropriate than the survival guide.

[foxcole]

It seems to me that another good location for the Survival Guide would be the "Getting Started" group on the board index. That puts it in front of everyone's eyes when they first visit the forum. I'd flag it too, maybe add a unique graphic or otherwise make it stand out as important.

[TerryE]

Do you guys see how I've changed the FAQ? I was expecting some comments. Maybe we just use this module with an extra options called "Rules"?

[Hagar Delest]

I don't recall ever going to that area before so can't really compare.

You mean have another pointer on the pages specific for the rules or an additional subset of links in the FAQ section for the rules?

[TerryE]

I posted a discussion on this about a week ago: Should we customise the site FAQ?. There is a module faq.php which builds a general FAQ or a BBcode FAQ using text from the language/<local language>/help_faq.php and help_bbcode.php. What I've done is to rework these so that they are no longer generic phpBB files, but are specific to our forum. It would be trivial to add a third page help_rules.php triggered by faq.php?mode=rules. We can make these say anything we want.

[acknak]

I thought Drew was looking at using the "rules" extension module for this?

We can use whichever is easier, but I thought the other extension had some more options for integrating into the forum pages.

It would be less effective if you have to go through the FAQ to get to the Survival Guide. The guide should appear as a separate item and direct link. The FAQ could link off to the guide of course.

[TerryE]

yes, and this is still an option. I started the discussion about personalising the FAQ to this site before this and independent of the the rules issues. The only thing that was holding back my implementing this was first syncing the config to a 3.0.0 baseline. As I made these simple changes, I just observe in passing that you could just as easily use the existing FAQ engine. So this is another option. That's all.

[Hagar Delest]

The main point is that the area should be clearly visible by users (especially new ones). The rules mod from Drew is rather good for that. If it's the same with a FAQ style mod (and if the rules are separated from the FAQ area of course), then, why not? Is it possible to make some tests?

[James]

It seems to me that another good location for the Survival Guide would be the "Getting Started" group on the board index. That puts it in front of everyone's eyes when they first visit the forum. I'd flag it too, maybe add a unique graphic or otherwise make it stand out as important.

+1

I was just about to ask if this could be done, but thought I'd search first to check if anyone had already asked for it. I know it's at the top of the forum once someone goes into them, but I think it would be good if that were their first reading after reaching the Board Index.

[Hagar Delest]

Done.

I don't know where are the icons. I hope Drew has something for that.

Edit: I put the one for site feedback until there is something more appropriate.

[James]

Thanks. I can add an icon, but it's just a case of choosing what would be most appropriate?

[James]

How about

first-aid.png (460 Bytes) Viewed 12240 times

[Hagar Delest]

Quite good indeed.

[foxcole]

I agree! That's great, and it's in keeping with the "survival" theme.

[James]

OK, I don't have access to upload the image (at least I don't think I have), so I'll PM Drew now...

Edit: Done, PM'd Drew and Terry

[James]

As you have probably seen, that's done now

screenshot.jpg (11.68 KiB) Viewed 12186 times

[Hagar Delest]

Yes, really nice. If users don't see that guide now ...

[DrewJensen]

well- if that icon doesn't work, IIRC there is an animated gif of a dancing girl, scantily clad dancing girl that is, available on the net...

[James]

Where?

[foxcole]

That looks great! Nice work. Thanks!!

[DrewJensen]

ah - it wuold be way to much work

1) I would have to find both a dancing femal and a dancing mail gif..

2) I would have to turn on the slot for Gender in thre registration

3) Re-code the basic index page template to pick the approporiate icon

4 ) about that time I will get an email from some speicial interest group demading that I expand this to include sexual-orientation...

just way to much work... I think we stick with the current icon afterall.

[floris v]

Good work!

[kabing]

Hagar, I really appreciate your continuing work on the Survival Guide.

With the addition of at least two other language forums as part of the larger site, I'm wondering if it doesn't make sense to add a note/link about those forums to the Survival Guide point Make your post understandable by others.

kabing

[Hagar Delest]

Thanks! You're right, I've added the links to the forums.

[TerryE]

Hagar, I get a bit tired of saying google "<some keywords> site: services.OpenOffice.org"

Why not change post 1 text:

• Try a search first more
  Try entering one or two words in the search box (upper right corner) or google "<your keywords> site:services.openoffice.org". Think of all the time that you'll save if your answer is already out there!

and post 3 text:

• Other users may already have had the same issue you're experiencing, so perhaps your answer is already available. So why not have a search before posting. Either use our search (there is also a dedicated search box at the top right of the page), or if you want your search to include all OpenOffice.org services including our Wiki why not google "<your keywords> site: services.OpenOffice.org". Think about how others might have phrased the question. Use specific keywords; you can always try again broadening the search range if you get no suitable matches.

I also think that we could think about swapping the order of posts 2 and 3: "try a search first" is the more important message.

[Hagar Delest]

Done!

[henke54]

An example is worth a thousand words. If the problem is complicated to describe, take a screenshot or create a copy that you can post so others can see what you're seeing.

not possible(yet) to upload a screenshot straight from user's comp to this forum?