"Folders" or at the very least some new categories?
Hi Mods/Admin's,
There seems to be quite a bit of threads that are dedicated to Game Maker and Unity. So how about making a Folder or Category that all these threads can be grouped in?
Or maybe any other Engine's that you guys here mostly use :)
What do you think?
There seems to be quite a bit of threads that are dedicated to Game Maker and Unity. So how about making a Folder or Category that all these threads can be grouped in?
Or maybe any other Engine's that you guys here mostly use :)
What do you think?
Comments
The question is if it'll help people.
1. Are people actually using the categories on the right? If not, is there reason to?
2. Would using the categories help the needs of some people?
I think splitting events to CT and JHB etc may help IF people are actually checking things out like that and if there are SO MANY that it's hard to. Heck, right now it's easier to just be clear about where events are - using [CT] [JHB] in the topic is easier for the reader AND the writer than to use a different category, really. More prominent and doesn't need more stuff that could lead to mistakes.
I like the folders option, because it would be nice to see questions answered or tips/scripts given around specific software, especially when you are starting out. Don't know if I'm even making sense here. I know this is not about me and my needs, just thought it might be helpful.
The categories are very helpful but are probably not used more because they are so out of the way, when you consider the mobile view, these don't even feature at all. If they were at the top of the page like sticky threads then it would be much better.
My opinion anyways :)
I think the Unity/Gamemaker stuff could already be grouped under the Q&A category, or maybe "Programming help"? Or "Code help"? Or something to that effect?
But I check MakeGames most days, perhaps the categories are getting clogged for less frequent visitors? Is anyone finding sorting through threads a hassle?
1. Are the newcomers/infrequents using categories?
2. If not, why not?
3. Can we get newcomers/infrequents to use the categories simply by naming them "well"?
4. If not, how do we help them discover topics that they want to see by using categories?
I think half of the answers may come in the homepage... Which I understand is going to get some love soon. But we still should answer these questions first before we make any big changes.
Will see if I can get access to analytics now that we are working on the new site :)
I think you should scrap that particular category, and then add some more.
I think it would be super helpful to have a Game Maker category, and a Unity category, which would then group things together nicely, and allow sub-communities to spring up around those engines.
The only problem is what to do with posts that are about other engines, to which I would say they stay in General until there's enough momentum behind a specific engine (eg. UE4) for us to create a new category for it.
My 2 cents.
Events are redundant as they are usually stickied. Also I recommend tagging guideline. EG [Event] in the title is useful. As is [Prototype]. I imagine [Portfolio] would be similarly useful.
They are de-emphasized, and on a second line. Your brain mostly doesn't read those when scanning. On the other hand "[title tag]" is something your brain processes in the same step as parsing the title.
And no, that doesn't mean that labels should be given more prominence. Also, colours are harder to identify because you have to learn what the color means first. Don't make me think! ;)
That they're on the second line is not the point, they can be above the title and you would still only read the title, if that's what you're inclined to do.
That [] tags are the thing that your brain processes with the title means that you'll have to read each and every title to find what you're looking for. I think, personally, that defeats the purpose of "i'm only looking for events" - you then should be able to not read everything and find events. Unless the function of "I'm only looking for events" is inoperable, which you're proposing to be the case... So we should fix it, not create redundancies and further add to things that people not use.
Do people not use these features? Or do not want to/need to?
Proposal: the best solution would be to have neatly lined up labels and titles. Whether that's part of the coding possibilities or not is beyond me:
1) Move categories. Immediately your eye sees the categories and you will most likely make more use of it. And then you easily move right along to the threads if you don't need the categories
2) Remove the [category] from the headline and use the []'s as sub-categories (i.e (PROJECTS) [Prototype] Thread title). Also I changed the colours slightly to bring out those categories by the thread titles and moved them up. See the 1st thread in image " Super Friendship Arcade..."
What I just realised I would like a category separate from the Competition/Jam category for the results/collections that I and others write up. It'll make find past things easier.
I'm going to split up the Jobs & Portfolios category. I'll do some work to shift the existing threads but if you see yours is in the wrong place, feel free to move it.
It seems a bit unnecessary to have a separate category for "comp judges" or "comp feedback"?
1) might work, but it might also not. I know people read left to right, and all that theory, but I'm not sure if that alone is enough. Worth a try though, if it's not too much trouble to implement.
2) Was basically what I was talking about doing, replacing the square tag with the tag that was supposed to do that job anyway. Though I believe that if we can tab/indent the title to be separate from the tag it'll read much better (like my example made with text :P)
How hard is it to ignore portfolio posts when you're looking for specific jobs? I'd argue "not very".
Also, why do people keep wanting more categories? Like, we *know* that having too many categories for a community forum like this is death. What's the urge that leads people to solve problems that aren't really there with more pigeon holes to "organise" stuff into?
Recall:
This is what the categories are currently used for. Recollection, Archival, Filtering, Broad based search. Useful when you have a specific purpose in mind.
Contextualization:
This is useful for scanning the front page deciding what you want to focus on now. Currently this is the purpose the [] tags are serving.
I agree we should cull categories, not make more!
Personally I don't think categories should "replace" [] tags. For instance "[Prototype]" is a useful distinction within the category Projects. Not sure how we could consolidate it without making it less useful.
But I now realise I've reached my internet forum meta argument limit for the month. :) I defer to whatever the people who actually have to implement it want to do.
This will definitely work. Whether coding is easy/possible/etc is unknown:
Also, with a single thread, what if more than one person needs help at the same time? Replies to multiple people become interspersed with each other. This gets confusing and harder to follow a single train of thought.
I think that maybe I'm just OCD about encapsulation.