Some interesting points ... Here's my opinion of them ...
1. Adding complex icons could simply make things more confusing. I'm not convinced that threaded and flat modes can be conveyed properly through icons at all (at least, not to the degree that a complete newcomer would understand).
2. A solution to icon confusion would be to enable text only links in place of the icons. This is something I proposed a while ago (and then Muhammad provided me with his text buttons). Now that I'm getting more proficient with WWWThreads it is something I may look at again. The user should have the ability to choose between graphics and text.
3. I agree with the map idea but I would go for a simple text version. My site uses this throughout so adding it to the forum is on my list of things to do anyway.
4. As I put in my reply to your original, this would work but I personally hate JavaScript and not all browsers support it. This doesn't mean, however, that it should not be included. However, descriptive text links and perhaps a glossary of 'technical' terms at the bottom of screens would be a neater approach (allow the user to show/hide the glossary).
5. I am indeed going to be working on this!
6. True (but you can always edit the language files yourself).
7. A summary page of new posts would be good.
8. I never use flat mode so I can't really comment on this. I find flat mode horribly confusing and, although I can see why Rick allows both flat and threaded, perhaps the webmaster should be able to set one of them and not have the other available to users. After all, if a lot of them are new to the net will they know any better? If you are providing a forum for more technical people then let them choose.
9. Perhaps a drop-down list of sort options would work. I personally think that the sorting facilities are fine.
10. Tricky to implement ... Perhaps idea 8 covers this one.
11. It's not that long! From home I have a slight delay (56k modem) and from work its instant (ISDN). Perhaps you are referring to the confirmation screen?
12. Agreed. Maybe the instructions should incorporate the FAQ. The last section of my instructions is almost a FAQ and is short because of the existing FAQ.
13. The search facilities could do with being beefed up (including the page selection system at the bottom which is missing in search screens but displayed in normal forum views).
14. This can be set in your config file but the subject text box should be wider.
15. Refreshing can be annoying. If you are looking at an index and the screen suddenly refreshes then you wonder what is going on.
16. The coloured icons are not ideal for new users to see new messages. Text links/notes would solve this ('New' next to a yellow icon rather than an orange icon).
17. I actually agree with this. When someone's title changes their old posts should be updated. Perhaps this should be configurable by the webmaster.
18. This should be changing soon with Gerrit's (I'm fairly sure it's Gerrit who did this!) modifications.
19. I removed the location info from my Who's Online screen. I want to do a hack to show more readable information if possible.
20. I have no idea what AOL Instant Messenger is! It should be added in addition to ICQ if at all.
21. I agree. I've got lots of notes about this in the instructions and on my forum information pages. It needs to be clearer.
22. A 'replies to your postings' would be useful and shouldn't be too hard to knock up. It is just a filtered version of a 'new messages' sscreen.
23. I think you can do this already.
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You have a lot of good points and most are do-able. Whether Rick himself does them himself or other people step into the breach remains to be seen but I am guessing that some, if not all, will be covered at some point.
There is a real danger, as Rick has said, of making the screen too cluttered and confusing and people should be very aware of this.
One feature I would like to see would be some sort of Wizard option to help people register, log in and then configure their options. Obviously this should not be forced upon people but rather it should be a feature that people can easily find and use.
One of the great things about WWWThreads is that people can jump in and start posting without messing about with their options but the options do then allow more confident people to tweak the system to their liking. The biggest fault is perhaps the icons (the text versions help a lot) and perhaps the option to use text-only links would help this.
Simon Wolf,
Webmaster,
Access All Areas
<A HREF="http://www.athree.com" target="_new">http://www.athree.com</A>
