Author Topic: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors  (Read 4701 times)

Offline Rotary-Motion

  • Wiki Editor
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 2875
Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors

too many links spread out all over the place

need to simplify back to basics me thinks... before it gets to intense over time to sort it all out.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/1082/89573256.jpg

« Last Edit: December 11, 2010, 10:20:41 AM by Rotary-Motion »

Offline Julian

  • Administrator
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 6391
    • Used Cooking Oil Collection website
  • Location: East Surrey, UK.
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2010, 10:34:21 AM »
Paul, I tend to agree, but I've looked at it so much I've got a handle on how it's laid out, but for newcomers, yes I think it probably is confusing.

It's not a "normal" website as such and I think we may have to pay a price for having a format anybody can access.  However we may be able to simplify it by having the automatically generated contents in the body of the main page and doing away with sub-categories.  I think we need an instant "This site is about ..." graphic at the top of the main page, but still can't come up with any thing suitable.  Tony seems to have a good idea how the categories work, maybe he can advise if this is possible.

I think in a way it's good that the site is evolving slowly and carefully.  If we were blitzed with contributions it would be difficult to keep up and I think quality would suffer.  What we are doing seems to be working it just needs polishing around the edges and posts like this help immensely, the one great thing about the wiki format is that it's a collection of peoples knowledge, thoughts and opinions.
Used Cooking Oil Collection website ... http://www.surreyusedcookingoilcollection.palmergroup.co.uk

Offline Rotary-Motion

  • Wiki Editor
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 2875
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2010, 10:48:14 AM »
I think we need an instant "This site is about ..." graphic at the top of the main page, but still can't come up with any thing suitable.  Tony seems to have a good idea how the categories work, maybe he can advise if this is possible.

i hear ya there,

and yes a sort of home page as soon as you drop in...?

Offline Chug

  • Administrator
  • Oil obsessive
  • *****
  • Posts: 787
  • Location: Herts
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2010, 12:10:39 PM »
It's great to see this coming together, keep the ideas and suggestions coming, the effort you good folks are putting in to get this right is awesome. I've got a bit on at the mo so cannot be here as much as I would like but everytime I'm checking in it's getting better.

Offline Tony

  • Administrator
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 5114
  • Fo' shizzle, biodizzle
    • Southampton Waste Oil Collection
  • Location: Southampton
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2010, 11:27:36 AM »
Maybe having sub-categories is too deep/confusing and we need to flatten it a bit.

There's no reason why we can't have the Biodiesel Processors category as one on it's own rather than a sub-category of biodiesel, or, simpler still, not have a processors category and just bundle it all under "Biodiesel". This would remove some of the complexity.

I don't know about auto-generated front page listing, but I find it hard to believe it's impossible.  May just require some reading up.  The template system is immensely powerful and there are all manner of extensions available so I'm pretty sure we can come up with something given some time and effort.

Offline Julian

  • Administrator
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 6391
    • Used Cooking Oil Collection website
  • Location: East Surrey, UK.
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2010, 12:33:30 PM »
Agree to a flatter structure, anything to make life simple in the long run!

Can we leave that to you Tony?
Used Cooking Oil Collection website ... http://www.surreyusedcookingoilcollection.palmergroup.co.uk

Offline Tony

  • Administrator
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 5114
  • Fo' shizzle, biodizzle
    • Southampton Waste Oil Collection
  • Location: Southampton
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2010, 01:57:19 PM »
Yep no probs

Offline Rotary-Motion

  • Wiki Editor
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 2875
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2010, 06:23:26 AM »
nice one

Offline Tony

  • Administrator
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 5114
  • Fo' shizzle, biodizzle
    • Southampton Waste Oil Collection
  • Location: Southampton
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2010, 09:28:46 AM »
Do you think it's a little more understandable the way it is now, or do you think there is room for improvement?

I've not had much luck finding some way to automate displaying category contents on a page as of yet though.

Offline Julian

  • Administrator
  • Oil baron
  • *******
  • Posts: 6391
    • Used Cooking Oil Collection website
  • Location: East Surrey, UK.
Re: Cause for concern re: site growth and ease of use for newbies and editors
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2010, 10:20:58 AM »
Just thinking around "processors" for example, where we will have several designs.  Would it be better to call the pages "Processor - GL" and "Processor - two drum"  That way they group alphabetically.
Used Cooking Oil Collection website ... http://www.surreyusedcookingoilcollection.palmergroup.co.uk