I'm posting this in the M&A forum instead of the Test Site forum, because this is as much about ideas as it is about technical aspects.
I've been installing the new versions of the site software, and experimenting with the new features to see how we can improve the site. I guess that's the first point of discussion: Do we need improvement? I think we do.
We have a lot of content on the site. At the core are the discussion forums, where people ask questions and other people answer. That won't change. But much of what we post to the forums isn't really a discussion. Take Ernie's series on building a harpsichord. This was about showing how to construct the various pieces, not asking for advice. Likewise, we have Announcements that sort of hang out at the top of the page. They take up room on every forum page, which really impacts the space we have for the actual discussion stuff. Likewise, Doug's recent "From the President" message was more of a blog post than a forum post. We talked about maybe closing that thread right away, but how that would look somewhat unfriendly, something we wouldn't have with a blog post. Also, we have a Download Library that is heavily underused, probably because most people don't know where to look. Finally, we sometimes have forum discussions that are gold mines of information, that we'd really like to preserve. There was a thread about 6 months ago I think where Max In Graham talked about soundproofing a room. Everything Howard Acheson writes is worth saving too. I think Scott Smith and Doug brought this up before, how it would be great if we could harvest that information and turn it into articles.
I also think our site is too cluttered, with 16 ways to reach the same page. And cosmetically a face lift wouldn't hurt either, just to keep things looking fresh.
I put a mock-up together on the test site, with a fake article/ announcement, a Youtube video where John demonstrates his spring pole lathe, and some dummy forum posts. Now that's the kind of home page I'd like to see when I come to the site!
There is a lot of layout and design work to do here. For example, there is a menu bar at the top (Home Forum Blogs etc.), with a sub menu below it. What goes where? I also put some links on the left side of the screen (they duplicate the sub menu items), just to give an idea of the options. Where do we put info about wood suppliers? Policies? Woodworking schools? Discount program? Then there's the center content. How much space do we devote to the "most recent" forum posts? Do we bring back the photo gallery (we disabled that because it killed performance with the old software)? Should we include the most recent classifieds here too? Where do the ads go?
So, lots of questions. Our current site has grown organically over the years, with some items thrown together in a haphazard sort of way. It's not bad, but it could be better. Tracy, Jim, Chad & I could probably take a crack at it, and put something together halfway decent, but our talents lie with [STRIKE]woodworking[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]computer programming[/STRIKE] playing fetch with the dog, not graphical design. So, this is where we may want to bring in an expert. It would be great if we could find someone within the membership who is experienced in web site design/ vbulletin, but sometimes you're better off hiring a pro.
I'd also like to hear what your ideas are. If we do want to go the route of splitting our content a little into different categories, we as the staff would need to manage that. Certainly more fun and a welcome break from just having to do moderation, but work nonetheless. I could also use some help with building "demonstration" content for the test site, so that we have something representative to work with. Yes, you can do layout with an "article" that just says "blah blah blah blah", but it's hard to really get into it that way. No programming skils required for this, it's all via the vbulletin admin panel, not that much different from writing a forum post. If you're interested, let me know and I'll set you up on the test site.
I've been installing the new versions of the site software, and experimenting with the new features to see how we can improve the site. I guess that's the first point of discussion: Do we need improvement? I think we do.
We have a lot of content on the site. At the core are the discussion forums, where people ask questions and other people answer. That won't change. But much of what we post to the forums isn't really a discussion. Take Ernie's series on building a harpsichord. This was about showing how to construct the various pieces, not asking for advice. Likewise, we have Announcements that sort of hang out at the top of the page. They take up room on every forum page, which really impacts the space we have for the actual discussion stuff. Likewise, Doug's recent "From the President" message was more of a blog post than a forum post. We talked about maybe closing that thread right away, but how that would look somewhat unfriendly, something we wouldn't have with a blog post. Also, we have a Download Library that is heavily underused, probably because most people don't know where to look. Finally, we sometimes have forum discussions that are gold mines of information, that we'd really like to preserve. There was a thread about 6 months ago I think where Max In Graham talked about soundproofing a room. Everything Howard Acheson writes is worth saving too. I think Scott Smith and Doug brought this up before, how it would be great if we could harvest that information and turn it into articles.
I also think our site is too cluttered, with 16 ways to reach the same page. And cosmetically a face lift wouldn't hurt either, just to keep things looking fresh.
I put a mock-up together on the test site, with a fake article/ announcement, a Youtube video where John demonstrates his spring pole lathe, and some dummy forum posts. Now that's the kind of home page I'd like to see when I come to the site!
There is a lot of layout and design work to do here. For example, there is a menu bar at the top (Home Forum Blogs etc.), with a sub menu below it. What goes where? I also put some links on the left side of the screen (they duplicate the sub menu items), just to give an idea of the options. Where do we put info about wood suppliers? Policies? Woodworking schools? Discount program? Then there's the center content. How much space do we devote to the "most recent" forum posts? Do we bring back the photo gallery (we disabled that because it killed performance with the old software)? Should we include the most recent classifieds here too? Where do the ads go?
So, lots of questions. Our current site has grown organically over the years, with some items thrown together in a haphazard sort of way. It's not bad, but it could be better. Tracy, Jim, Chad & I could probably take a crack at it, and put something together halfway decent, but our talents lie with [STRIKE]woodworking[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]computer programming[/STRIKE] playing fetch with the dog, not graphical design. So, this is where we may want to bring in an expert. It would be great if we could find someone within the membership who is experienced in web site design/ vbulletin, but sometimes you're better off hiring a pro.
I'd also like to hear what your ideas are. If we do want to go the route of splitting our content a little into different categories, we as the staff would need to manage that. Certainly more fun and a welcome break from just having to do moderation, but work nonetheless. I could also use some help with building "demonstration" content for the test site, so that we have something representative to work with. Yes, you can do layout with an "article" that just says "blah blah blah blah", but it's hard to really get into it that way. No programming skils required for this, it's all via the vbulletin admin panel, not that much different from writing a forum post. If you're interested, let me know and I'll set you up on the test site.
I don't go to Wood Central a lot, but SMC and WoodNet are required stops.