Any suggestions for the format of the forum?

[Dave]

If anyone has any improvements or suggestions please let me know.
Thanks
-Dave

[thekingpin]

Personally I don't like the way that you have seemed to centred everything. I think that it looks a bit odd. I suggest that you put it back to how it was.

[Dave]

Yes I'm sorry about this, I was tinkering with some of the code and poof! I don't know what I changed but I will revert back to left aligned tonight.

Thanks for noticing
-Dave

[Dave]

Its been fixed!

[twirly]

Already told you about the problem..but now it's working just smooth and fine

[Shady Character]

Could the main banner be made narrower? On my browser it's forcing a horizontal scroll bar. (1024x760 resolution but not with a maximized window.)

[Dave]

I agree the banner is a lil to big...especially if its causing problems on peoples viewing areas. Would you like the height of the banner to be shortened or the length?

[Shady Character]

I think something at most 75% of what it is now should be sufficient in both height and width. It hasn't been too long since I've had to worry about web design stuff, but I doubt many casual home users are using resolutions above 1024x760. (If I'm wrong it's time to ask my boss for a new monitor!)

Apart from the banner the rest of the page elements fit just fine. It's everything above the link line that begins "User CP" that runs off the screen even when the window is maximized--which I resist doing since I've usually got around seven programs open at once.

[Dave]

What size monitor do you have?

I just made a smaller header...go to the bottom left hand of the page. Click on it where it says "small banner". That should solve the problem...I'm not too experienced with web graphics...so hopefully this will do temporarily until I have time and resources to make a better one
Let me know if the smaller header looks better centered or to the left like it is.
Thanks
-Dave

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Hi Dave. I have been growing orchids for about 45 years. I am here because I am unhappy with the 3 other forums I visit. Looking over your forum, I must tell you that there is no way I am going to go to all those sub forums/sections to see what has been posted. (*)I can understand going to a particular appropriate heading to make a new post, so that those that want to, can just look at very specific areas. But what I want is a summary forum that contains all posts, where posts can be responded to, but where we can not start new post, see (*) above. This 'divey it up plan' is what killed the AOS forum before it got going again. If you could have a composit forum, it would make my life much easier, and that of others like me who will be mostly just answering questions of the newbies, with a little jem picked up occasionally along the way. Cynthia

Hi Dave,

I have a suggestion in response to Cynthia's post. It might be in the best interest of the site being so new to take on a "resident" expert until others join. Some of the websites just fizzle out because there is no expertise and lots of newbies. Experienced growers don't usually want to spend their time tutoring and so they don't go/stay elsewhere and the site dies. I think when someone poses a question, it's great to have someone answer the post so folks don't get discouraged and never log in again. Just a thought.........?

Forums are great in concept but some folks need and want real help and responses...

So whatever can be done to attract both experienced and unexperienced growers should be explored IMO.

Thanks Good luck with the new group

kanda

[Dave]

Hi Cynthia thanks for the suggestion. Let me try to understand, you do not like the way these subforums below are setup...You would like these "subforums" to be full forums?
General Orchid Cultivation
Sub-Forums: Growing Cattleyas, Growing Phalaenopsis Orchids, Growing Lady Slippers, Growing Vanda Orchids,

If so I can make the subforums into full forums just Orchid Pests and Insects and Orchid Greenhouse and Sunrooms

As for composit forum, on the mainpage of www.orchidgeeks.com it lists the 15 most recent threads and posts which could be expanded to more if needed. You can also click Statistics - Top 5 to see the top 30 threads. Is this something you were thinking of? Or were you thinking of just say one forum called "summary" which contained all posts and threads for the whole board?

[Dave]

kanda, good point, I was waiting until the forum got bigger but I don't see why we can't elect or start looking for an orchid expert/ Moderator now. I am starting a new job this week, so I won't be able to be on here as much as I would like

I will make a thread for an orchid expert / Moderator

[Shady Character]

That works much better.

[pikespeak62]

I'd like it better if the new posts were first,rather than having to scroll through all the replies to get to the newest.
Anyone else?

i have to agree. the new AOS has made it just too hard to enjoy orchids by limiting interaction. orchid growers are curious folk and willing to help, keep it simple, fun for all, and orchidites will flock.

[PennieNH]

I agree that the most recent should be the first. I am still very new at this (orchid) and like reading all the current questions. It is helping me get a better understand of the care needed. Thank you all again. This is a wonderful site!!

[pikespeak62]

Maybe an option to read posts either new to old.........or old to new?

[jerrymeola]

I agree with Cynthia

You have two types of viewers for these forums. Old timers who like to share their information and newbies that want to know where to look for answers. A listing of all posts allows more experienced growers to browse for questions to answer. Also you listing as "care" etc may frighten off newbies with basic questions if they thing the listing is for posting answers not questions.

also none of the flower forums have anyway of letting someone know if an answer posted by someone after your post was a reply and interesting. Look at www.dpreview.com a photography forum that keeps track of every thread to which someone has replied and marks the thread on your person page as new everytime a new reply is made. Threads can last for weeks with back and forth conversations between members. I always feel bad if a month after I made a statement in a reply to find the person had asked me a question and I never know about it to reply again.

[Dave]

Thanks for everyone's feedback...my new job has me busier than I thought. But Thanksgiving is comming so I will have time to upload some new styles which will show if there are any new posts in forums since last visit. Also I will also see if there is an option or "hack add-on" for a "read posts new to old".

nice site, since i enjoy relating my experiences with others who are learning and enjoying i would like to view an expanded recent posts choice. maybe the last 3-5 days of posts, sometimes it takes a while to formulate an answer and then i forgot where the question was. need i say i have been growing orchids for a while? haha

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Sorry about not coming back sooner, but that points up another problem, the short page length, or any page length at all. I always set google at 100 per page, the largest they allow. I didn't realize the discusion was continueing on the 'next' page. Under 'Suggestions, Feedback, and Site Updates', the order is newest to oldest, and for that level, that is good. Here, under 'Any suggestions for the format of the forum', the order is oldest to newest, and that is good for that level of post. But you have to get rid of the paging. There is no reason to not have a continuous flow. There is nothing wrong with 100 or more posts here, if the thread goes that far. One can always repost to start a new thread if the list gets too long. I feel very strongly about this. The page breaks are the pits.

In my original post, my meaning was exactly 'Or were you thinking of just say one forum called "summary" which contained all posts and threads for the whole board?' (Except for the non-orchid forums. I would just as soon not see them at all. So do what you want with them, but don't mix them with orchid stuff.) Not only all posts, but no page breaks, or atleast very long pages, as there will be a lot of material there to see, and short pages will be just too much work. Back to the ease of use objective. And with newest posts on top, should there be any question. I would suggest you look at the GardenWeb site, http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/orchids/, for an example, which is definitely the heaviest use forum that I visit, with only one forum for orchids, and I count 30 threads before a page break, and no page breaks within threads. If it were not their policy using certain super annoying techniques to get you to look at their advertising, it would probably be the only site I would visit, it is so much less work to communicate with others.

Give me a single forum to visit and post in, and I will be a regular. In fact, I will be proactive, and keep posting these little observations I keep making about orchid culture, which is where my interest is. Cynthia

i must agree with Cynthia, the format used at GW makes interaction very efficient. it is easy to pick and choose without extra keystrokes. those of us who just check in might be tempted to linger longer if this site was unified. i grow many different types of orchids and have been growing a looong time, but it is too much to investigate so many forums just to see if i can address any questions. it is a great effort . looking forward to simplification

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Dave, I just discovered the high lighted word under 'New posts' that gives you all the posts in the last twenty four hours. This isn't 5 days, but if you keep checking every day, it works.

BUT !!!!!! The high lighted word has disappeared !!!!!
/#&%@$**%$(#)@%&* Please put it back, or give us a button to directly get all the posts for the last 24 hours.

**** P L E A S E ****

Cynthia

i'm enjoying the site in general but it still takes too many clicks to get up to speed when you take a few days off. new posts would be sooooo much better if the number of days were increased. i for one would post more often, not that i'm all that, but i do enjoy the orchid community concept. if no change is possible i will try to use the site as i can. if this is a dead horse, sorry, thanks for your effort

[machiela]

I'd like to see a general orchid related chat category... another forum calls it 'Orchid Soup' . You could call it something like 'Orchid Related Chat'... or whatever.

just checked 'new posts and it seems to include several days, much improved imho, thanks

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Dave, isn't there some way to remove all page breaks within a thread? I just discovered that I responded to the last post on page one, when I should have been responding to the first post on page three. I feel like an idiot. Why do we have page breaks anyway? They are nothing but a darn nuisance. Cynthia

cynthia so true! i hate to just jump to page two without reading the beginning of the thread but the extra clicks just break the continuity.
there are many interested orchid fans that have registered for this forum so why is the traffic soooo slow? small things are stumpling blocks. if no one has used a forum or group of forums why not combine them under one heading? other plants for example could ealily be combined thereby increasing traffic. and i must be mistaken about new posts because it seems to include only the most recent. i commend the effort but it could work so much better.

[Dave]

Thanks for the feedback, I just adjusted the page breaks so it shouldn't be a problem...I know it can be annoying by having to click on the next page ect. I will look into further condensing the forums to make them more user friendly.

great, thanks for the effort

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Dave, I think you should increase the size of the lettering of the post title just above the post text. If no one changes the title, which is an option, it wouldn't matter. But on the thread about resizing pictures, I put in an explanation of how to change the quality level in Windows. Unfortunately, the info on what the post was all about was in the title line, which is so small, that it is normally skipped over. Therefore, people start to read the post without having a clue what I am talking about. For now, I will edit the post to repeat the title line on the post. Cynthia

[Dave]

Good idea, I'll look into how to changing it.

Originally Posted by duhhdog

i'm enjoying the site in general but it still takes too many clicks to get up to speed when you take a few days off. new posts would be sooooo much better if the number of days were increased. i for one would post more often, not that i'm all that, but i do enjoy the orchid community concept. if no change is possible i will try to use the site as i can. if this is a dead horse, sorry, thanks for your effort

so funny to quote myself, but i still feel the same. there are a very good number of members now, moderators are great. my take : there should be alot more traffic on this board. please revisit lengthening the new posts to more than 24 hrs. cynthia's suggestion of 5 days would be great.

some of the subheadings havn't been used in a long while. thanks, dd

[joan gero]

This again is an OLD thread/discussion, but I don't know where to put this suggestion, if not here: why is it so difficult to discover how to start a new thread? It's very obvious how to "reply" to an on-going thread (as I'm doing here), but I'm at a loss as to how to open a new topic! Thanks for specific help here... and for making the forum easier in this regard...

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

You need to click on 'ENTER ORCHID FORUM' at the top of your display, then choose an area appropriate to your planned question or comment. After navigation to the right kind of topic, you will see, probably at the bottom of the page, something like 'start a new thread/topic'. I am sure you will know it when you see it.

[mayres]

Another like forum has added in the right upper corner a couple more profile lines - Type orchids grown _______ and Orchids Grown In _______ which is a nice touch - not that you necessarily want to copy them, but it's nice to see what kind of conditions might be influencing others who are asking questions or giving suggestions.

[joan gero]

Thank you so much, Cynthia. I looked for a long time before asking about new threads and now I've got it (and used it already!), JOan

[jay]

I may be in the minority here, but I would like to see a section for hydroponic/semi-hydroponic. It seems that we have a growing number of users that are trying or moving to S/H.

Jay

[fred]

jay
I think this is about the 3rd or 4th time a member has asked for a section for hydroponic/semi-hydroponic so now the section had been listed as part of the forum.

I will start to move posts into the new section asap so we can keep all the information in the same section.

[jay]

Wow,

I just posted that about 15 minutes ago. Thanks and I am sure this will help newbies find this information easier as well.

Jay

[WIB]

Dave: As quite a new member, and one who has lurked a little at other orchid sites, I find this one friendly in several senses. I don't know enough to make suggestions on formatting the site, but I haven't had trouble with page breaks, font, or headers. And I certainly have liked the general feeling of the forum and the willingness of some of the more experienced and knowledgeable members to help those of us who know less. Sometimes a thread seems to lose its way among members who seem to be chatting with each other rather than posting stuff of general interest. On the other hand, the tone is so friendly it's hard to mind.