Website Survey

Sue Clancy · March 10, 2016, 06:27:29 PM

I'm working with Stu Jackson, Rick Allen and Dave Sanner on some redesign work for the C34.org website which will allow the site to be maintained in an easier way and to improve the way you access the information. We would like to get more opinions on what is valuable or not on the site today and how you use it. Please take a minute to respond to this 10 question survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D5TD253

KWKloeber · March 10, 2016, 06:51:33 PM

Best forum website that I've seen. Is there a problem with it? Maybe tweaks, but be careful.

Oftentimes, website presentation (eye candy) is changed just to be different, and they are not necessarily better for it.
Witness the myriad of websites that are being rewritten to take advantage of Windows "touch." They are terrible, display a tenth of the information that we previously received (have to navigate with your finger not a precise mouse,) are difficult to navigate through material, and the vast amount of info that previously could be viewed at one shot -- is now no longer "inter-rational" because only a small portion can be viewed at one given time. scroll, scroll, scroll. The millennials need to *feel good* about their website -- I need one that meets the needs - KISS. It seems like once a year companies get sold on the idea that what they have is no longer good and needs to be completely revamped -- so a whole new learning curve. Full employment for website coders, possibly.

Finding complete information easily is the key, what the site "looks like" is secondary. It might be helpful to separate search returns into forum, wiki, etc sections.

So, suggest we be careful and "tweak" rather than "change."

JTSO

Sue Clancy · March 10, 2016, 06:55:20 PM

I hear you Ken. This is much more about ease of use and ease of updating content as well as simplification rather than eye candy. Though I am one of those web developers trying to stay in business, since I am not getting paid for this, you can be sure that simple is the name of the game.

KWKloeber · March 10, 2016, 07:31:21 PM

Quote from: Sue Clancy on March 10, 2016, 06:55:20 PM
much more about ease of use and ease of updating content
simple is the name of the game.

Whatever makes it easier for the Assn heads should be priority one. Whatever benefits them in ease of maintenance, will trickle down and benefit members in the end!

Mike and Joanne Stimmler · March 11, 2016, 02:41:54 PM

Frequency of use should not be major factor. Just like the tools in your tool box, some aren't used often BUT when that special job comes along, it sure is nice to have that special tool to do the job properly and easier.

Stu Jackson · March 14, 2016, 11:40:28 AM

We've received some valuable feedback from those of you who have completed the survey.

For those of you who haven't yet done so, please help us to help you by checking it out.

Thanks.

KWKloeber · March 14, 2016, 11:57:00 AM

Quote from: Stu Jackson on March 14, 2016, 11:40:28 AM
We've received some valuable feedback from those of you who have completed the survey.

For those of you who haven't yet done so, please help us to help you by checking it out.

Thanks.

Stu/Sue,

Another comment (observation) - not sure if it may factor into web design.

The forum and the techwiki overlap considerably. There's references back and fourth to each, from each. Gets sorta confuzing at times. I view the TW as kinda the authoritative 'final word' where I look for things, rather than the forum, which may encompass days or weeks of useful/informative bantering over a topic. Once "settled" the TW would be a nice place to store the succinct, boiled-down final result of said bantering. Example - Jon's wiring final result (schematic, write up, material list?) I would see as the TW entry, and maybe that TW entry contains a hotlink reference back to the forum thread for "how we got to where we are" so to speak. But when the only information is 15 or 20 pages of forum thread that show up on a given search topic, it's difficult to find the "answer" I was searching for. I guess encouraging members to write even very brief TW entries could be encouraged - could be relatively easy by copying/pasting parts of the forum posts, rather than leaving it all on the forum. JTSO.

Question - does the main search include the TW? I note that searching on "cir-clip" does not return anything from the TW.

Ken

KWKloeber · March 14, 2016, 12:09:22 PM

interesting:

If I search google:

site:C34.org cir-clip -- the TW entry DOES NOT show up.

use the C34 main search (essentially same as above) -- the TW entry DOES NOT show up.

C34 cir-clip -- the TW DOES show up

site:c34.org/wiki cir-clip -- the TW DOES show up

Seems like the wiki folders are not included in the main C34 search, unless we specifically include "site:c34.org/wiki" it in the search term. Maybe that can be corrected on the main search function? Or a separate wiki search function added to the main search page so that members know that location needs it's own unique search? (yes I know you can search from within the TW itself.)

kk

Stu Jackson · March 14, 2016, 01:14:44 PM

Ken

Thanks for the feedback. At last week's Officers Meeting we initiated a Site Improvement Committee with Commodore Rick Allen, Vice Commodore Sue Clancy and me. We had our first meeting this morning, interestingly touching on the issues you've raised.

1. The Site search (from the Home Page) is here: http://www.c34.org/c34-search.html As far as we could tell, the Google search does the entire website including the forum. The forum search ONLY searches the forum.

2. Tech wiki & Forum: Yes, there is cross pollination, for sure. But the content is up to the users, not to anyone else. I've used links, both ways, to see if we can try to "not lose" good information. The wiki is organized like a Table of Contents. The Forum is chronological, and that's why the search function is like the Index of a book. Different strokes...

The committee agreed this morning, before we saw your posts today, that clarification of the search functions is on our To Do list. Thanks.

KWKloeber · March 14, 2016, 02:12:29 PM

Quote from: Stu Jackson on March 14, 2016, 01:14:44 PM

1. The Site search (from the Home Page) is here: http://www.c34.org/c34-search.html As far as we could tell, the Google search does the entire website including the forum. The forum search ONLY searches the forum.

2. Tech wiki & Forum: Yes, there is cross pollination, for sure. But the content is up to the users, not to anyone else. I've used links, both ways, to see if we can try to "not lose" good information. The wiki is organized like a Table of Contents. The Forum is chronological, and that's why the search function is like the Index of a book. Different strokes...

Stu,
I don't think I've noticed another instance where the Google search search argument SITE:domain.yyy didn't include subfolder entries underneath "domain.yyy."

This is very strange..... I tried searching for known techwiki stuff again.

If I search on SITE:C34.ORG cir-clip, Google returns no techwiki entries
If I search on SITE:C34.ORG oberdorfer, Google DOES RETURN techwiki entries

I leave it to much greater minds than mine to figure out why the search operates that way?

Ken

Stu Jackson · March 21, 2016, 05:06:07 PM

Thanks to those who have participated.

If you haven't yet, please do.

Thanks.

KWKloeber · March 21, 2016, 07:39:41 PM

Stu,

Another FYI on the search. The search link on the Tech Notes main page doesn't seem to be searching ONLY the TNs as the search page implies.

"Please note that this search searches the Index pages only"
"Search the Tech Notes Index"

it seems to be returning the entire C34 site, which gets confusing because a TN article may be at the very bottom of or embedded anywhere the list (so, get confused going thru pages and pages of search returns and figuring the TN didn't contain the search term.)

Also the TN links to a specific volume doesn't open the PDF in a new page (as do the other hotlinks).

kk

Sue Clancy · March 22, 2016, 12:42:20 PM

Ken,

Thanks for the detail on what is being searched from where. Agree there are inconsistencies that we are looking to improve as part of this effort.

Sue

KWKloeber · March 25, 2016, 09:17:31 AM

Sue / Stu

In case you didn't see in the other post.

On TW.....

There used to be an icon to insert local media, not a web link to media (icon seems to have disappeared in the last software upgrade?)

I can get to when trying to link to a new media (document, pic, pdf etc ) is, creating a new blank page that I link to, and no apparent way to upload the PDF, etc. file itself to wikimedia / and link to it.

The TW instructions provided are out of date and don't reflect the current s/w version (no upload file button exists on the left hand menus).

kk

Jon W · March 25, 2016, 11:00:22 AM

Glad I'm not the only one that can't find a way to link photos, PDF, or Excel files. I have a 17 page write up of my electrical upgrade I want to add to the Tech Wiki. I can add the text but can't figure out how to add the attachments or change the title of the page Stu added after a couple hours of hunting around. The write up should be the difficult part. Jon W.