shuffling some forums around

[Lady M]

Thank you! I was just saying yesterday to my husband, "I love all the new changes... I'd like to see them get rid of some of the extra sections though..."

I have 6 entire sections of this board collapsed on the main page because honestly it's all too much for me to keep track of. Condensing even some of it would really make a real difference for me, perhaps I could reopen a section or two.

Again, thank you Steve and Chris (and the mods!) for all your hard work in keeping this place running smoothly.

[Dixiecat]

Just had a look at the shuffling of the forums and if I may state my opinion, I don't think I like where the Kilt Makers' forum was placed. It just doesn't seem to fit the section in general. I'd like to see it back to it's own section as before or a new section created that would lump all the DIY-type forums together.
Example:

DIY Section:

Kiltmaking

Jackets, Waistcoats

Sporrans

Hose and other Knitting Projects

Miscellaneous DIY Projects

What think you?

Otherwise, I'd like to say, thank you for making this site a better browsing experience.

[wildrover]

Good work on the new look!

[Dixiecat]

Steve, I can't say as the sections you've been mapping out are any better than they were before. In fact, I think you're complicating the sections too much instead of making things simpler as you mentioned.

I used to QA usability of websites and this one just got more involved for the user instead of less.

Also, naming the section Help for Our Professionals and Advisors is misleading. You're implying that only your professional people can post or advise on those forums. It seems to be making that section a bit more 'elite' than it really is.

A handy technique for creating sections is to write each forum down on it's own index card and sort them out into logical groupings. You also need more than one person to do this and to record the groupings to find commonalities and to make allowances for individual variations. Right now forums are being hodge podged all over the place making things needlessly convoluted.

I don't mind changes, but when changes are affecting usability, you're gonna run into problems.

[Steve Ashton]

DixieCat,

Would you mind sending to me via PM your suggestions on making the forum listing simpler.
I'm willing to look at almost anything right now.
We currently have far too many forum sections. With all the US States and Canadian Provinces just loading the pages for each time a member logs in is using incredible bandwidth.

If anyone knows of a good mapping system available today I would love to replace our current system with some sort of map. We used to use frapper maps but they have not kept those updated. No one uses them anymore.
I would be great if we could replace all the separate sections with one map. Then if someone wishes to announce a Kilt Night or Meet-up it could all be done on one map.
Any suggestions?