Site Format

[Warren]

Hey Shane

I was wanting to post about speedo's and went looking fo the appropriate section, but could workout the best place to do it.

Could we brake up the Technical section a bit more, say like the old site had,

  Engines - How big is yours?
  Radiators - How to keep your cool
  Transmissions / Gearboxes - How do you shift it?
  Suspension - No more guessing 
  Steering - Which way? 
  Brakes - Stop when you have had enough   
  Wheels - What turns you?   
  Lights - From top to tail, they will show the way
  Glass and Rubbers - So we can see, safely 
  Instruments - How would we know what's happening without them?
  Interiors - The secrets of Inner Space
  Exteriors/Body - How do we cure the dreaded Cancer?   
 
I feel that being a bit more specific makes searching for info a bit easier to find.

eg: Interior/exterior seems to large a field

Seeing as how I'm spending more time here now  I'm willing to help do this if you would like.

Just a suggestion, anyone elses commenst ?

Warren
   

[ben]

yeh i think thats probably not a bad idea warren..

[Warren]

This is what is there now, 7 topics

Maintenance - General Bedford up keep.
Buying a Bedford - What to look for.
Driveline - Engines, Steering, Clutches, Transmissions, Tail Shafts, Diffs, Brakes, Wheels, etc.
Electrics, Audio and Security - All things electrical.
Exteriors and Interiors - Rust removal, custom fitouts, dashes, paintwork, body mods, etc.
Campers - All about Camper Modifications.
Miscellaneous Technical -Post here if it doesn't fit in the above.


The old site had 12 specific topics, now in the current situation I would have to put a post about speedoz in the "Miscellaneous Technical" as it doesnt really fit any of the others. Then the Misc one will get bigger and harder to search, remeber as more threads are made the more pages will be neede to display the topics list.

Indexing is a vital way of quickly and accuratly finding required information.

If I want some info on brakes, I dont want to be wading through a whole lot of enfine gearbox post headings trying to find the brake bits.

Not to mention how people might name the original thread.

Call me Analy retentive, but a well structured and organised site can make accessing info easier, especiallly for newbies.

Warren 

 

[Warren]

We don't want to end up with a million different sections but even if we do - we have a million moderators so we will be sweeeet! 

We can still have sub headings under the main headings to make it simple.

Warren

[ben]

yeh i agree.. great suggestion warren

[ShaneJ]

It's certainly possible to add more sub sections but I'm not prepared to have as many as the old forum.

It theory it may seem easier to find posts when you have more categorys, but in practice it just doesn't work that way. If you want to find an old post that you remember simply use the search feature.

Also having to many categorys is a PITA when you're like me and you like to read all the posts made on the forum.

Feel free to give me some suggestions for more categorys, but I'd rather not have any more than 10 on the main page.

[ben]

yeh but what about sub headings? like under drivechain can we have subheadings that come up when you click on it like a folder insie a folder?

ben

[ShaneJ]

Also remember that we would like (with your help) to compile an FAQ to hold answers to questions that come up often. We would also like to add more technical information to the main page(guides, instructions etc) which will hopefully negate the need to be searching for some of the old posts.

[ben]

hmmmm yeh but most of the stuff between campers and vans are the same.. except interior..

[ShaneJ]

A few sub headings are ok, but again if you start adding to many sections to the forum and it takes too long to read them all, people just wont bother any more.

With this being one of over 25 or so forums I have running and have setup for people, I have come to learn a few things that are good and that aren't good for forums. Something that came to my attention over 15 years ago is that most people who visit forums only read the categorys that they are really interested in. However if you keep the forum really neat, tidy and easy to read you will find that those people will spend a little extra time reading the other categorys. And its most likely that one of those people can answer a question in one those other categorys they normally wouldn't read.