Laboratory for the Future Forum!

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
I'm always looking into new options and ideas for this forum.  Sometimes, it's a small thing, other times it's something big like a complete visual re-design.  To test out various ideas and play with new features, I have a "Test Forum."  This is a safe zone to hammer things out.  If it breaks, no big deal.  If it works, I can cart the idea into the real forum. 

The Test Forum is a kind of laboratory of the future FOG, a think-tank, a playground, a scrap bin of exotic woods.

Whatever you call it, I want to open the Test Forum up to all members.  I welcome all of you to go in and see what I'm working on, comment on it, offer suggestions, ask questions, whatever.  It's totally open for discussion.

Just to be clear: what you see in the Test Forum is not necessrily what will happen here in the real forum.  It might be, but it all depends on what people think.

I won't get into details here about what you'll see in the Test Forum.  I'll just tell you how to get there, then see what everyone has to say.

Here's how to browse the Test Forum:
Go to this address:http://www.festoolownersgroup.com/TestForum
Enter this username: test
Enter this password: test

Have fun!

Matthew

PS: The Test Forum has been discussed before, when we worked on the forum re-design.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Matthew, I think old timers and new comers view the FOG very differently. I really like following active threads by going directly to the Recent Posts list. I hardly ever even see the straight Home page. So, the Test forum page is very foreign to me.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Michael,
Right away, this is already very good feedback.

Do you mean that you go directly to this page:http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?action=recent

Part of what I'm experimenting with is a design that presents members with various information options.  The richness of information available in the forum has grown so much, I feel that a lot of valuable material is kind of hidden, especially for people who have not been here for long.

I'm experimenting with ways to bring more options up front, while making sure it is easy for members to gain immediate access to the features they really like.

What you see as a "home page" in the Test Forum is actually a fluid design that can accommodate all kinds of elements.  Toss something out there, and I can make it happen so you can see what I mean!

As an example, I'll put the "Recent Posts" link up front in a moment.

Matthew

 

[semenza]

Hi,

      The Recent Forum Activity page is a little too scattered , cluttered,  offset multi column, whatever you want to call it for my taste.

Seth

 

[semenza]

Hi,

                  If this is the first page that people will see then I would  remove the donate / PayPal button from it.  I DO think making the donate button more prominent like that is a good idea. Just not on the first page. Many people including myself are immediatly put off when they see that money is being asked for sort of  "in your face".  Not that it isn't worth and I am willing to pay for things.  But it gives me that "Oh this place just wants to collect my dough" feeling.

Seth

 

[Fred West]

Seth, On the other hand I think the donate button looks great right there and the fact that it says donate instead of "give" makes me not care that it is right up front. Not very clearly written but hopefully you get my gist.  Fred

 

[joraft]

When I come to the FOG, I drop down to the "Info Center" on the home page. For me, this is the quickest way to see what has been happening in every thread.

I would like to see the posts I've already read show up in a different color, which would make catching up even quicker.

John

 

[semenza]

Seth, On the other hand I think the donate button looks great right there and the fact that it says donate instead of "give" makes me not care that it is right up front. Not very clearly written but hopefully you get my gist.  Fred

Hi,

   Yes, you have a point there. But the difference may be too subtle for the internet world.  To me the first impression is  "selling something". I saw the image and thats what I thought, I didn't read it. I think that the icon/  buttons  stand out prominence is good... just not on the first page.

Seth

 

[Matthew Schenker]

      The Recent Forum Activity page is a little too scattered , cluttered,  offset multi column, whatever you want to call it for my taste.

That can be reworked so it looks neater.  Right now, I have it set to show that gray header bar on each recent post, and a specified amount of summary text.  That can make it all seem a little scattered.  I could instead make it into a straight listing, or at least have less going on.

I'll just toss another bit out there.  The elements you're seeing go far beyond the home page.  Click on the "classifieds" board to see just one very small example of what I can do with this.

It's a real challenge to convey everything this new feature can do.  I'll get to it a little at a time.

Matthew

 

[semenza]

When I come to the FOG, I drop down to the "Info Center" on the home page. For me, this is the quickest way to see what has been happening in every thread.

I would like to see the posts I've already read show up in a different color, which would make catching up even quicker.

John

Hi,

  If you go to the top right in the header and click Recent Unread posts, only the stuff that you havn't loked at since your last visit will show up.  And then on the bottom right of that page you can click All Unread Topics. That will get you everything that you havn't looked at since it has had new posts.

Seth

 

[Fred West]

Matthew, I just keep the Home page constantly scrolled down to Recent Posts and then the next time I get online just hit refresh. Obviously if it has been a long time this does not work terribly well for me but I am very comfortable with this approach. Fred

 

[semenza]

      The Recent Forum Activity page is a little too scattered , cluttered,  offset multi column, whatever you want to call it for my taste.

That can be reworked so it looks neater.  Right now, I have it set to show that gray header bar on each recent post, and a specified amount of summary text.  That can make it all seem a little scattered.  I could instead make it into a straight listing, or at least have less going on.

I'll just toss another bit out there.  The elements you're seeing go far beyond the home page.  Click on the "classifieds" board to see just one very small example of what I can do with this.

Matthew

Hi,

  The other thing that I should have added to my first post is that..  the look of that Home page would not matter a whole lot to me personally because I pretty much never use it.  But if I were using it that is my immpression. Too cluttered.

Seth

 

[Daviddubya]

Matthew, I think old timers and new comers view the FOG very differently. I really like following active threads by going directly to the Recent Posts list. I hardly ever even see the straight Home page. So, the Test forum page is very foreign to me.

The page I always start on is the Home Page, which contains a long list (more is better) of Recent Posts.  I keep all of the forum categories in a collapsed mode, so the top portion of the Home Page is relatively small.  I find that I almost never browse by going into a forum category, like "Festool Tools in General" and then "All Tools and Accessories".  Instead I browse the Recent Posts list on the Home Page.  If I am interested in some specific topic, I use Search.  There are a number of forum categories and sub-categories and a particular topic could easily show up in one or more of several categories.  I don't rely on the categories - Search works far better, IMHO.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

  The other thing that I should have added to my first post is that..  the look of that Home page would not matter a whole lot to me personally because I pretty much never use it.  But if I were using it that is my immpression. Too cluttered.

That's another good point.  Members could bookmark the "Forum" page and bypass the "Home" page altogether if they want.  Then everything continues for you (almost) exactly as it always has.  But for people who want to see the various "blocks" of information on the home page, it would be there.

What can go on the home page is wide open...

One more thing to put out for discussion: the home page does not have to contain recent posts.  It might instead contain recent "articles," which could be the two latest tool reviews or the three latest member projects.  The front page could also be original material written by forum members, even blog entries (yes, with the new system members could sign up to write blogs for the FOG).  Just examples.

This is all just experimentation, not necessarily implementation.

Matthew

 

[mhch]

Would there be a way for the user to define how he wants to access the forum,
for instance I would definitely choose to access the unread post page when
connecting, but others and new comers could do differently

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Would there be a way for the user to define how he wants to access the forum,
for instance I would definitely choose to access the unread post page when
connecting, but others and new comers could do differently

Now we're getting somewhere!!

Yes, what you want can happen.  There is the ability to write "scripts" (little mini programs) on the home page.  So, for example, I could have a block on the left side called "My Options" which has a set of things you have chosen to run.  We could decide what the possible options are to choose from.

For those of you with more technical knowledge, the scripts are written in PHP or Java.  If and when we implement this new forum feature, I'd welcome contributions for various scripts that could run in the home page.

As I mentioned, the possibilities with this new feature are really wild.

By the way, if you want to see a totally different way to use this same feature, take a look at my (under development) journalism site: The Dog Writer.

Matthew

 

[Michael Kellough]

Matthew, I think old timers and new comers view the FOG very differently. I really like following active threads by going directly to the Recent Posts list. I hardly ever even see the straight Home page. So, the Test forum page is very foreign to me.

The page I always start on is the Home Page, which contains a long list (more is better) of Recent Posts.  I keep all of the forum categories in a collapsed mode, so the top portion of the Home Page is relatively small.  I find that I almost never browse by going into a forum category, like "Festool Tools in General" and then "All Tools and Accessories".  Instead I browse the Recent Posts list on the Home Page.  If I am interested in some specific topic, I use Search.  There are a number of forum categories and sub-categories and a particular topic could easily show up in one or more of several categories.  I don't rely on the categories - Search works far better, IMHO.

This is a more accurate description of how I access the FOG. Thanks David.

 

[joraft]

When I come to the FOG, I drop down to the "Info Center" on the home page. For me, this is the quickest way to see what has been happening in every thread.

I would like to see the posts I've already read show up in a different color, which would make catching up even quicker.

John

Hi,

  If you go to the top right in the header and click Recent Unread posts, only the stuff that you havn't loked at since your last visit will show up.  And then on the bottom right of that page you can click All Unread Topics. That will get you everything that you havn't looked at since it has had new posts.

Seth

Hi Seth:

I've tried coming in the way you described, but I find using the list on the home page more efficient. I'm probably like many others here, I don't read every single post, but there are some members whose posts I never miss. For me, that list on the home page is the best quick view of what's been going on, and who has been posting in what thread. If the posts on the list changed colors after I've read them it would be even better.

John

 

[mhch]

The three column style does not appeal to me. That's too much information on one page
and I immediately want to remove most of it.
Same idea as "don't use too many different fonts on a page".

On the other hand, too much programmability is no good and a number
of members may simply prefer to use what they are offered.

More polls to come, I guess 

 

[Dan Clermont]

Hi Mathew,

I visit the forum quite a bit and would like to continue seeing the "Recent Posts" or some sort of Preview Pane. Makes it easier to keep on top of the ever growing forum.

Looks good otherwise. Really appreciate all of your hard work.

Dan Clermont