Too confusing

[Xlife92]

You have way too many boards, some that are identical, I know my opinion doesn't matter but you should make it more professional and get read of some boards

Just my opinion

[JBlaze]

After a while, you get used to it and know exactly where everything is

Just takes some time...

[Dragooon]

I don't believe there are any duplicates, what boards are you talking about?

After a while, you get used to it and know exactly where everything is

Just takes some time...

Agreed.

[H]

You have way too many boards, some that are identical, I know my opinion doesn't matter but you should make it more professional and get read of some boards

Which boards specifically?

[cflforum]

I've found it confusing too.

I guess if you take the time to explain exactly what it is that is confusing you start to understand it, and its not that confusing anymore?

There is some overlap with the sections, but its unavoidable. It would be nice if there was some kind of color banding or maybe some kind of icons near the headings, sometimes it all looks like a long blur and I find myself paging back and forth for a few minutes trying to get my bearings, lol.

Yeah, gimme some icons

[Night09]

You can collapse some of the sections you dont need or want to look at using the icon to the left of the title.This will make the board smaller until you get your bearings here a little more.Once your used to it all you will find it fairly easy to get to what you want though.

[cflforum]

yeah, but you cant know what to collapse until you 'know' (and by that time it dont matter )

[Night09]

Well blogs and Archive maybe your not going to need for a start and maybe smf 1.1.x section if your on the new 2.0.You can always use show latest posts as well at the top which I use most anyway and click the relevant board on the link tree if you want to see the specific board the post is on.

Like said above though once you use the site a few times you will soon learn where the most usefull parts are for you to look in.

[metallica48423]

I think part of the issue is that we have a tremendous amount of content to cover, particularly with two major software revisions. 

It's fairly logically laid out though, as far as things go, categorically.

- News/Feedback
- Getting started -- has all your converting/installing stuff.  If you're already installed you can collapse it
- Support - Two major versions for support, plus performance and language specific boards.  If you're not here for general support, collapse it
- Development - Bugs, and features.  If you're not making a bug report or a feature request, collapse it
- Customization - Coding discussion, theme and mod topics, etc.  If you're not coding a mod or looking for a mod's support topic, collapse it

We're open for suggestions, of course. 

[SleePy]

metallica48423,
You can't collapse the Support category

[metallica48423]

Ehh, still   If you're not here for it, you can ignore it

[cflforum]

Maybe a logical re-grouping may help?

Communication FROM smf could be grouped in one section:

• News and Updates


• Team Blog


• Developers Blog

"Scripting help" seems to be the redundant man here

"Test board" ... should be under "Getting started?"

lol...like the "Dewy Decimal System" it might be better to just understand it, rather than reclassify and reshelve all the books in the library.

I think the simplest and best solution would be to have some visual icons -or color banding and maybe a "position fixed" drop down css menu which jumps to the diffferent anchors (which would be the board/category headings) that way you have a quick look of everything always in view. (when I sroll up and down I get lost, lol)

[H]

"Scripting help" seems to be the redundant man here

Scripting help is for scripting that isn't related to SMF code/templates in anyway . Perhaps we should add this to the description

"Test board" ... should be under "Getting started?"

I disagree here . Getting started is more for people who wish to request help. However test board doesn't really belong in general community either

[cflforum]

I think SMF could benefit from some kind of overall 'usability review' the functionality is there, but the way it is conceptualized and implemented often seems to make no sense. It is not the programmers fault - In the same way you have project managers that manage the overal flow of the project, I know we need to have usability managers.

A good example.
Lets say we are designing a website and we want to make it 'friendly'  for people who are vision impaired.
They are not necessarily blind, but would benefit from some assistance, so we tell the programmer: provide a way for the user to make the "text bigger and easier to read"


what's the best way to accomplish this??

I've seen many a 'solution' that consisted of two tiny updown arrows, no further explanation other than a 'A''a' beside em, and all with about 2 pixels of space between.

I really dont see why the layout couldnt benefit from using some carefully designed monochrome*  icons/graphics... I'm starting to think "forum developers" are getting dated (and I dont mean going out with hot chicks!)

[Night09]

Well if you got SMF 1.1.x you look at SMF 1.0 support.

If you have SMF 2.x you look at SMF 2.x support.

If you cant even see this then you should question if your even capable of installing and being admin on an SMF forum.The main page is a doddle to some of the forums ive used,go try Seti forums for a comparison it sucks big time.Maybe people need to simply explore for a few mins before actually going into major structure changes.There are a fair few headings but they are needed really since there are a few topics to be covered.Maybe some icon changes to make it easier for new people but I still stand by the idea if you cant use a forum you got less chance to run one properly.

[cflforum]

Well if you got SMF 1.1.x you look at SMF 1.0 support.

If you have SMF 2.x you look at SMF 2.x support.

If you cant even see this then you should question if your even capable of installing and being admin on an SMF forum.The main page is a doddle to some of the forums ive used,go try Seti forums for a comparison it sucks big time.Maybe people need to simply explore for a few mins before actually going into major structure changes.There are a fair few headings but they are needed really since there are a few topics to be covered.Maybe some icon changes to make it easier for new people but I still stand by the idea if you cant use a forum you got less chance to run one properly.

That is very good advice. A pity the world is not as binary as you suggest. I will note your ideas though and keep them handy, perhaps rolled around a central tube, for convenience
It was interesting to note how you vehemently agreed AND disagreed with all that was said, I'm much the same I suppose, since I agree you're being disagreable

all kidding aside tho, Usability (as opposed to "Accessibility") is often overlooked. Maybe we have too many coders operating just above or close to their limit of ability like a burdened man struggling to stay afloat, or many times we take a 'take it or leave it' attitude to our community?

"Yeah, well maaam, if you cant strap down a seatbelt correctly and your baby flew through the window, maybe you shouldnt be having children huh?"

or

"Stupid driver! you tap the brakes at 20 times per second when negotiating a turn in wet conditions, adding 15 if your gross weight is centered over the rear axle vs the front"
(OR  redesigned seatbelt/car seat interfaces and Anti-lock brakes?)

I recently responded to a thread
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=260759.msg1995310#msg1995310

where the author had a similar problem (luckily a dissimilar attitude) - people felt the site was 'too complex' and were leaving in droves. It was and remains a classic case of functionality (being present) vs usability (being absent).

Designs can always be made better, yes?
How much moderator time is used up moving posts that would have been made in the right place if things were clearer, initially?
Why should there be a 'learing curve'? what about the other shapes that are left out?

[Night09]

My post contains constructive critisism whereby if your looking to run a forum you should spend some time here on the home site getting to know how it should look and how boards are set out for thier specific purpose.If your too wrapped up in your witty answers then I also have no inclination to continue posting in this thread.