How do you prefer to see the forums on the front page?

[David Melik]

Theosophy.net's front page has changed several times, including what you see of the forums. I preferred to see a list of latest topics being discussed on the front page (not just to the side,) but now instead there is a list of all the forum areas. Anyone who really wants to see the forum areas can go to `forum' in the menu. What do you prefer to see on the front page: the topics or the forum areas?

 

I was going to change it back but want to know if there was some admin consensus about this, but more importantly, what all the members (admins and non-admins) think.

 

Maybe if the middle of the page showed topics, those could be omitted from the site news feed at the side. Even if that could not be done, I still think it would be better to have a list of latest topics instead of forum areas, but what do you think?

[Capt. Anand Kumar]

Please allow a couple of days to respond, as it needs some thinking. But it is a good idea.

[Capt. Anand Kumar]

Hello David,

 

Please find the ideas in the attached gif file.

[Joe Fulton]

If you go to "Manage" then "Test Network" you can fiddle around with different ideas and configurations without messing with the live network.

[Joe Fulton]

Oh, and one other thing...no anonymous changes.  The change to this format several months ago was done by someone on a whim, and they never identified themselves.  At first I was overjoyed that someone took an interest, but it became creepy when no one stepped forward and took the credit.

If you have a change, let's discuss it before moving forward.

[David Melik]

I like your picture, Capt. Anand, but do not know why it has both `discussions' and `forum.' Are those actually different? I have not tried the editor yet myself....

[Joe Fulton]

Forums and discussions are the same thing.

[Capt. Anand Kumar]

Thanks Joe and David.

 

The distinction I wass trying to make, was between "Blog Post" and "Discussion". In Discussion, one can attach files but in Blog Post one can not.

Moreover, many a times a newly added Discussion does not show up in the Latest Activities and the members miss that Discussion. Perhpas allocating seperate pane like Blog Post will help. Since a seperate pane is available only for Blog Posts, most members click there and begin a new Blog Post everytime, whereas many a times they should really intiate a discussion.

 

  

[Capt. Anand Kumar]

The Gems form the East section, if it could be converted into a tcker with text continuousl;y scrolling across may free some space as well as put it right on top. Many a times I have found the associated picture to be distracting. Gems are text and we may just leave it like that.  

[Michael A. Williams]

Hi, fellows. I don't know if this is a private conversation between you folks in the Administration or if regular members are allowed to jump in. At any rate, my "two cents" is to leave the "Latest Acitivity" side panel alone, it's fine the way it is. Easy to see what the newest discussions, blogs, forums, and responses are.

As for the middle section of the "Main" page, do what you want with it. I rarely look there anyway.

[David Melik]

As I described in my original post, this is for all members: this is the open forum, but admins have their own place to discuss private things. My original question was about how you prefer to see the forums on the front page--if you use them. The way it has been for months is harder for me.

[Joe Fulton]

Yes, this is definitely for all members. As a suggestion, go and visit other Ning sites (find at www.Ning.com) and see what others have done. When the power is back up I will compile a list of Ning sites. we are not above shameless borrowing .

Sorry, an iPad isn't the best device in the world for typing out lots of stuff. In any case it'll be interesting to see what y'all can dig up. Also keep in mind that we have almost 850 users who like at lot of things as they are, A really good resource on usability issues is Peter O'Lalor, who has impressed me on more than one occasion with his understanding if UI's.

anyone else who wants to chime in with their two cents, by all means please do so!

[Joe Fulton]

Start off with this link:

http://about.ning.com/spotlight/

It has a number of categories, including:

    Brands
    Entertainment
    Music
    Non-Profit
    Politics
    Publishing
    Sports

These are some of the "better" sites on Ning and most have professionals doing the layout.  However, these will give you enough of a  sample to have an idea of what can be done on the Ning platform.

 

Joe