New Off Topic Hobbies Section

[Shock]

Yeah looks better already, down to just 4 page downs (5 counting the two advert banners and menus, which takes up the top page).

Might get it a little shorter still with:
Removing Halcyons name from under every forum in the computer section
Shortening a few descriptions down.

Halcyon looks to be in the global admin group now, so fairly easy to figure it out .

[EEVblog]

Yeah looks better already, down to just 4 page downs (5 counting the two advert banners and menus, which takes up the top page).

Might get it a little shorter still with:
Removing Halcyons name from under every forum in the computer section
Shortening a few descriptions down.

Halcyon looks to be in the global admin group now, so fairly easy to figure it out .

Yep, can certainly tighten it up that way.

[EEVblog]

General computing moved to under Products with child categories.
This is looking more inviting now. Less change of vistors being overwhelmed by the cateories.

[EEVblog]

I'm thinking maybe an Off Topic Hobbies board instead of category, and then Cooking as a child under that?

[Shock]

Yeah that is the best. It looks great btw.

Edit:

I'm thinking it works well to have "EDA" right above "Test Equipment" and "Computers" right above "General Technical Chat" as well, they get almost more exposure by proximity. The same thing happened a while back when you moved "Repair" up.

[Shock]

Now about that color scheme and those icons, heh.

If SMF has themes without requiring the user to logon that would be ideal, as you could store your preference in a cookie and keep using the old theme for old users but new users see some revamped version of the light/dark/black and white theme.

[EEVblog]

I'm thinking it works well to have "EDA" right above "Test Equipment" and "Computers" right above "General Technical Chat" as well, they get almost more exposure by proximity. The same thing happened a while back when you moved "Repair" up.

Yeah, I think it does matter.

[Nominal Animal]

General computing moved to under Products with child categories.
This is looking more inviting now. Less change of vistors being overwhelmed by the cateories.

The number of clicks needed to go to my favourite boards is annoying.  (Just kidding, I keep them bookmarked.)

But seriously, do you really want to cater to visitors who would be overwhelmed by a single flat list of categories?

What I fear, is that that makes it easier to drive-by-post, making more and more throwaway threads that have value only to the asker, and nobody else.

I've seen that happen on other forums, and have left because of that.  I personally love the somewhat-sprawling, but more-or-less on-topic longer threads.  Hmm, I guess you could say that the more unique members participating in the thread, the better it tends to be.  (Even the sprawling threads tend to only get sidetracked by a couple of members who start discussing or bickering some tangentially related detail.  I'm guilty of this too, definitely, but I do try to circle back to the original topic.)

[beanflying]

Now about that color scheme and those icons, heh.

If SMF has themes without requiring the user to logon that would be ideal, as you could store your preference in a cookie and keep using the old theme for old users but new users see some revamped version of the light/dark/black and white theme.

The way SMF themes generally work is they are completely separate in look and design and only registered user selectable. I would love a dark theme as would others but it is not trivial to do even if you made a clone of the current one and you would likely need to tweak it in code to get it looking ok (guesstimate 5-10 hours of tweakage). Most of them only allow limited table changes in the backend not all colours and features.

Tightening up the list length generally  and you wont please everyone.

[magic]

I approve
Thanks to the cleanup I finally found this thread. And yes, scrolling through that long list of boards was getting tiresome.

The number of clicks needed to go to my favourite boards is annoying.  (Just kidding, I keep them bookmarked.)

But seriously, do you really want to cater to visitors who would be overwhelmed by a single flat list of categories?

Yes.
Halcyon was regularly moving threads from "general chat" to "computing", some of them started by long time users. As the list grows longer, fewer people will bother reading all of it.

Another problem with too many boards is that some users don't bother reading mostly inactive ones and end up missing when something gets posted to them.


BTW, I think it was a tradition that "dodgy technology" was at the bottom of the "products" section?
Maybe "computers" should be moved one slot up so it stays that way?

[Nominal Animal]

But seriously, do you really want to cater to visitors who would be overwhelmed by a single flat list of categories?

Yes.
Halcyon was regularly moving threads from "general chat" to "computing", some of them started by long time users. As the list grows longer, fewer people will bother reading all of it.

Ah; so members already were overwhelmed (if that's the right word to use; no negative connotations implied, as this is about usability).  I wasn't aware of that.

(In case it is not clear, I am/was genuinely wondering about it.  I don't have an opinion on this, only vague suspicions I already voiced.)

[Ian.M]

On the front page, its not obvious that 'Computers' contains 'Embedded Computing' which is a problem because the description of:

Microcontrollers
General discussions about microcontroller hardware or software. Use the Embedded Computer section for single board computers like RPi etc

refers to it.  Its probably easiest to fix it  to something like "... the Computer: Embedded Computing section ..." though it would also be worth mentioning SBCs in:

Computers
PC's, Macs, Tablets, phone thingoes etc

[Ranayna]

While you are at it: Fix the "Click Here to Subscribe" link in the description of the Supporters Lounge, or remove it. It does not do anything for quite some time now.
Other than that: I like the new structure.

[tautech]

While you are at it: Fix the "Click Here to Subscribe" link in the description of the Supporters Lounge, or remove it. It does not do anything for quite some time now.
Other than that: I like the new structure.

Not visible to me and FYI with 1k posts or Supporter status you have rights to access the Supporters Lounge.

[Ranayna]

Oh, i was not aware that the description actually changes when you are an active supporter.
As far as i know, originally, that link redirected to a paypal donation feature. But for a looong time now, the link just redirects to your profile. I have attached a picture. My mousecursor is not visible, but i'm hovering over the link, the target is shown in the statusbar.

For reference, the target of the Link as well:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=subscriptions

[tautech]

Oh, i was not aware that the description actually changes when you are an active supporter.
As far as i know, originally, that link redirected to a paypal donation feature. But for a looong time now, the link just redirects to your profile. I have attached a picture. My mousecursor is not visible, but i'm hovering over the link, the target is shown in the statusbar.

For reference, the target of the Link as well:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=subscriptions

Dave accepts donations on his main EEVblog site that qualify for Supporter Status and therefore access to the forum Supporter Lounge:
https://www.eevblog.com/donations/
BUT, I do now offer an automatic supporters section of the forum for donations over $25/year. So if you want that added extra, please donate through HERE (link) instead.

[Ranayna]

I know
But that Paypal thing did not really work for me, when a couple of years ago i donated 50 bucks, even though i mentioned my forum name. 
I remember opening a thread about that back then, but nothing came of it, except thatthe Paypal donate is not really supported anymore for donations.

I already reported the not working link on the supporters section back then, but again, nothing came of it. Now that a restructuring happed, maybe it would be a good opportunity to fix or remove it

EDIT: I just checked the donation page, found the sentence you quoted, and surprise: That is actually the same not working link as on the description of the supporters section.

[tautech]

I know
But that Paypal thing did not really work for me, when a couple of years ago i donated 50 bucks, even though i mentioned my forum name. 
I remember opening a thread about that back then, but nothing came of it, except thatthe Paypal donate is not really supported anymore for donations.

I already reported the not working link on the supporters section back then, but again, nothing came of it. Now that a restructuring happed, maybe it would be a good opportunity to fix or remove it

EDIT: I just checked the donation page, found the sentence you quoted, and surprise: That is actually the same not working link as on the description of the supporters section.

OK, notified Dave using the best direct method by reporting your post and he'll have a read and hopefully sort it out.

[RoGeorge]

What a mess, please undo it Dave!   

[Halcyon]

The above has been noted. Waiting for a response directly from Dave.

[Shock]

Two sections that accounted for approx 2% of discussion were taking up 30% of the page, they have been reverted to child forums (which Eevblog has always used). Other than that, the forum descriptions are shorter. I'd be surprised if it wasn't negatively impacting the forums participation and growth.

[magic]

Pretty much how I feel about it too and I even suggested pruning some of the computing boards that get three threads per month and merging them into "general computing" aka "computers".

And I posted this suggestion in "computers" because I didn't know that this board exist because it was buried in the middle of nowhere somewhere at the bottom of the forum; I can't even tell where it used to be.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/general-computing/idea-just-nuke-the-computing-child-boards/

I also found it a little weird that "computing" and the low-traffic "EDA/CAD" sections were above "EEVblog-specific", on the EEVblog forum of all places

[EEVblog]

BTW, I think it was a tradition that "dodgy technology" was at the bottom of the "products" section?

I think the child sections looks better at the bottom of the category.

[EEVblog]

There are now two standout sections with less than 1000 posts. Robotics and Automation, and Mechanical Engineering. Maybe a merge?

[EEVblog]

And should General Chat board go up the very top before Beginners?
This is after all an Electronics forum, and the general chat section is for general electronics/technical chat.
Although IIRC the argument before for not havign General Chat at the top was so people would see and use the other categories before they consider GC?
And the General section renamed to something else perhaps?