Setting up the site for Member Participation
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Discuss In ForumsThis entry is a successful test of a stand alone entry form (SAEF) to enable users to add articles to the blog. Our goal is to turn this website into a more user-friendly venue for exploring focus fusion. Your input is appreciated!
The SAEF is at an undisclosed URL. We’re not going live with it yet. I’m just fascinated at how easily it works. Before we go live, we have to think this through.
Many entries in the forums belong on the website proper.
The SAEF will make it easy for users to post here directly. What’s the best way to do this? Do we set it up as user blogs? Should we distinguish these from the official site posts that cover news and announcements? It would be easy to do this by simply creating a seperate “user weblog” for the job. These can be posted in the member’s profiles, and also in other designated areas throughout the website.
Oh dear. That means we’ll need to format the member profiles to match better with the rest of the site. Right now, it’s just default setting.
We’ll also have to add tags, to improve labeling of topics. The “category” function is limiting. There’s some easy software I can install for that. In fact, see this site - http://www.solspace.com/software/ - for different modules that fit with our current set up.
I like the tags, with the handy tag clouds and so forth.
“Digg” type functionality would be good too. There’s a simple fix to give us this functionality within the site, as well. Ratings might also be a good idea. (The software above has different uses for “digging” and “rating”.)
I also need to scrape the gallery we have now and find a more functional one. Something that enables users to upload images as well as making it easier for us to do so. Right now it’s a little difficult to manipulate the images. Video recommendations and embedding by users is also a welcome idea.
All of this needs to be able to happen on the fly.
A lot of content is not getting on this site that belongs here. We need to develop this site to reach its potential. And by “we”, I mean “me”, unfortunately! Volunteers for web development are welcome! Please!
I will link this post to a forum article so that we can continue to discuss this idea. I’d like to hear more suggestions and requests for functionality.
There’s a lot of energy out there, I can feel it!
The First Shots
Mylar and First Shot update
Comments
I was just thinking the site could do with a bit of a style overhaul. The font used on the menus and the tiled low-res background image don’t really look that good.
It would be really go if we (or you) can bring the forums and main website close together. I agree tags would be good in organising the content much better than the forum and main site categories do at present.
The site home page still needs to have the About & What is pages easily accesible for newcomers, but all the fostering innovation & transition etc should be merged with the forum somehow. So it is all more Articles & comments, rather than random topics & replys hidden in inapropriate category folders.
Hopefully with progress on the experiments & new cameras, the articles can be engageing to a whole new audience.
The member bios & blogs, I think, would help build user trust in the main protagonists, rather than it just being idle chat between inqusitive passers by.
I could probably spare a little time to help out in a week or two (my dissertation dealine is the 25th Sept - so I should be writing that not this…)
First, you’re volunteered! I am easy going with this. Send me css for a better layout, and I’ll install it. The menu could have id=menu, or whatever.
2nd, interesting concept. Article/comment vs. Forum - integrated with forum… As you see, the “comment” function isn’t as versatile as forums. Can’t quote, or edit, or whatnot. But…Hmm. See, this should be discussed in forums….
OK, finish the dis, and I look forward to more brainstorming!
The problems with tags are: who creates them? Who uses them? On 90%+ of the websites I see, they’re simply ignored by almost all users. They’re fine for those who are “into” them, but if you try and base the whole system on them you’ll be talking to yourself.
On the other hand, the “topics” organization of the current forums is barely functional. If the conversation evolves “off-topic” the “solution” is to create a new topic. Which instantly kills the discussion, or is ignored. Not working.
The main problem I have with the site right now is the lack of information. It comes slowly and infrequently, and is not what was promised.
Sorry to be so negative, but the site has become very frustrating in the last few months, the opposite of what was supposed to happen.
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