I worry the organisation will leave you with one of those houses that's all white walls and open space and you're wondering if anyone lives here, and if so do they read or watch TV...
Metaphorically speaking.
Heh.
But so, put more on the front page, but organized. For reference, here's Liese's original breakdown: Liese S. "Buffistas Building a Better Board ++" Aug 19, 2005 8:24:57 am PDT. Where I didn't stick to Liese's breakdown, it was just a dumb user error, not a suggested change.
From here down, pretend you're looking at the front page.
----------------
Up top we'll have the logo and the random quote. All the links will remain on the left. All the righthand threads will remain as is. And otherwise you'll see this:
A community dedicated to discussions of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel
and
Firefly
(see our Media Folder below)
with humor, intelligence and obsessiveness. Read our FAQ, then join the fun.
Discussion Threads (in the crimson bar, like it is now)
COMMUNITY (a header)
Natter 37: Oddly Enough, We've Had This Conversation Before. (9496 messages, 3 new)
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, flaming otters, or physics? This is the place.
F2F 3: Who's Bringing the Guacamole? (4484 messages, 87 new)
We've done it before, we'll do it again.
All Ogle, No Cash -- It's Not Just Annoying, It's Un-American (7894 messages)
Spoiler-free discussion for those living in Un-American locations (North Americans also welcome)
Spike's Bitches 25 to Life (7473 messages, 4 new)
[NAFDA] A virtual slumber party where nothing is TMI. Oh, and some of us think Spike is hot. For Mature Audiences.
The Minearverse 4: Support Group for Clumsy People (2688 messages, 1 new)
[NAFDA] Discussion of the collective works of Tim Minear. Wonderfalls and The Inside included. Beagles optional.
Buffistechnology 2: You Made Her So She Growls? (4105 messages, 917 new)
Hive mind tech support.
[insert seasonal Goodbye & Good Riddance thread, when applicable]
FOLDERS (a header -- although it could also be linked to a page with all the folders linked from it, as well)
COMMUNITY (this would be a LINK to a page with all of the above-listed community threads were)
[insert description here of what people could expect to find]
MEDIA (this would be a LINK to a page with the music, movie, show, Jossverse/Other media, and spoiler threads)
)
Want to talk Music, Movies, Comics, or TV? You're looking in the right place
CREATIVITY & LITERATURE (this would be a link to a page with: We're Literary; Bookclub; Great Write; Fanfic; Buffista Fic; and Sang Sacre)
Reading the Great (Un)American novel? Writing it? Pretending you're living it? Here. Here.
Your page requires extra coding, Cindy. Are you married to the idea of a front page which is the same as a deeper folder? Non-technically, why isn't Minearverse Media?
eta: Also, you have some tag stuff happening.
I like the idea of folders. But I like the idea of no one having to do any extra work even more.
Non-technically, why isn't Minearverse Media?
Because I was following Liese's layout (unless I messed up--in which case, then it's because I messed up). Although, if I were picking, not only Minearverse, but B/A and FF would remain in community, because I think it's part of our identity. But really, I'm not trying to campaign for that. I'd just love a little more organization.
Are you married to the idea of a front page which is the same as a deeper folder?
No, I'm just married to a really tired guy who's put in about 70 hours at work this week, and whose boss is hinting that he'd like him to work during our scheduled vacation, but I
whinge digress.
I suggest it as a compromise, between your distaste for all white walls, and open space, and the mess that is now the index page. But, I know nothing about the coding, and if this makes extra coding that another organization wouldn't make, then forget it. Just because I'm nosy, how is this more coding than adding a folder of any kind, for shows/media, whatever?
how is this more coding than adding a folder of any kind, for shows/media, whatever?
Adding a new folder requires no coding. Changing how folders are displayed does.
So is it the naming of them and the descriptions that would require changing how they're displayed?
So is it the naming of them and the descriptions that would require changing how they're displayed?
Currently there are no descriptions -- adding them is a smallish change. Making it so that you display a folder in the list of its own subfolders -- big change, and I can't logic it out at all. Making it so that the front page is a folder with names -- also bigger.
I suspect that if we just tried the folder thing there would be fewer objections (To the folders. There is obviously disagreement as to what should go in them). We seem to be imagining scenarios that are more complex than the reality would be.
I made a Film/TV folder and put LotR in it. It's
just
like the closed threads folder, except not closed. I figure no one will freak out right away. That's what the code does now. There is space in the DB for a slug and description -- I'm just not displaying them right now.
Currently there are no descriptions -- adding them is a smallish change.
Okay.
Making it so that you display a folder in the list of its own subfolders -- big change, and I can't logic it out at all.
Okay, so this is because I have community categorized as a folder? If so, we could not. I don't think that would change the organizational structure much (I mean that from a reader's viewpoint), and we wouldn't have to link to it. People are already there.
Making it so that the front page is a folder with names -- also bigger.
So, of what I suggested (just from a layout perspective), how much could we keep, without lots of extra work.
If we just made changes to the index page, such that we still listed whatever we finally categorize as "Community" threads from the index page, and below that, we had:
Subfolders (in the crimson bar like we do now)
MEDIA (link to whichever threads we'll put in this category)
)
Want to talk Music, Movies, Comics, or TV? See here.
CREATIVITY & LITERATURE (link to whichever threads we'll put in this category)
Reading the Great (Un)American novel? Writing it? Pretending you're living it? Here. Here.
Closed Threads (link, just like we have now)
Does that eliminate the problems you mentioned?
