Forum Reorganisation 2015

Rys

Graphics @ AMD
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All,

As you can see, the forums have been comprehensively reorganised, with a view to making it easier to know where to post and find threads in the four basic top level categories of Graphics, Console, Mobile and PC.

As part of the reorganisation, some old forums have been retired and made read only, in a new section called The Archive. No posts were harmed in the creation of the new setup, so if you think something's missing check The Archive or use the recently improved search capabilities.

We've been discussing the reorganisation behind the scenes for a long time now. The main driving force is I wanted to trim the number of forum categories down, make it clear what each category was about and why it exists, and tidy up how we post to keep things more on-topic and cut down on the number of rambling mega-threads that have a tendency to appear. The latter is a moderation thing rather than a reorganisation thing, of course.

I also wanted to properly promote and raise the status of the Console and Mobile sections. As far as statistics go, combined they're the fastest growing parts of the forums and I wanted to bring that to the front to let new visitors know they're things we love to discuss here. Mobile in particular (not least because it's an area I'm immersed in for a living, but it's growing quickly on its own just by virtue of the industry) is a boon area, so the single old Handheld Technology sub-forum has been spread out quite a bit so it has room to grow.

Anyway, if you think a thread is in the wrong place, post here or message a moderator so they can move it. If you're unsure where a new thread should go now, just let us know. Basically, just ask about anything to do with the changes.

It'll take some time to adjust to the new layout and structure, but hopefully it simplifies and focuses what the forums are all about. Change is OK. Embrace it.

Love you :love:
 
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Oh, quick thing I forgot to mention. The top bar now has links to each major top level category, plus The Archive. It's the only place where The Archive shows up as a link, so use that to drill down into the retired stuff.
 
Sorry about that, forgot to move some of the active GPU product threads out of their sub-forum. I've moved those out now.

What don't you like about the new layout?
 
Btw, since this is 2015, can't we have a thread appears in 2 categories or more? Is it possible? It would be nice if we can have something like that.
And I don't know if this is the intended behavior, but when I clicked a category, it just shows the main page with the category i clicked being positioned (scrolled) on top. I'm expecting something like an own page when I clicked a category. Even when I click a category on the page itself (not on the top bar), it just scroll the page so that the category presented at the top.
 
It would be interesting to see the usage stats and growth stats for each forum - perhaps in percentage terms if you prefer not to reveal absolutes.

Btw, since this is 2015, can't we have a thread appears in 2 categories or more? Is it possible? It would be nice if we can have something like that.

That would be handy. It would allow game threads which invariably include discussion on all platform versions of the game to not get pigeonholed in the console forum.
 
That would be more of a search engine and less of a forum, is a thread showed up in multiple forums...
 
I'll take a look at whether a thread can appear in two or more forums at once, but I doubt it. I've added it to the list though.

As for the category links, there's a potential solution for that which I'll look into. Added to the list too!
 
It would be interesting to see the usage stats and growth stats for each forum - perhaps in percentage terms if you prefer not to reveal absolutes.
I'll poke around in the analytics and see if there's something worth saying. The stat I do remember easily since it stands out, is that often the Console forums are over 50% of the post and view traffic in a given week these days.
 
I'll take a look at whether a thread can appear in two or more forums at once, but I doubt it. I've added it to the list though.
As a mod, one can move and leave a redirect link. So creating a redirection link at post time in a forum seems conceptually valid.
 
The stat I do remember easily since it stands out, is that often the Console forums are over 50% of the post and view traffic in a given week these days.

So you have demolished that most popular section of the forum into several different parts? Meh.
 
So you have demolished that most popular section of the forum into several different parts? Meh.
Nope. I didn't do anything to the console forums other than hoist them out to the top level in their own section. There's always been tech, games and industry sub forums for them.
 
I thought we were all in agreement that the console forum was a dark, sinful place that should be purified in holy fire.


But I like the way things have been reorganised, nice work Rys.
 
I just noticed something odd. The behavior when I maximize my browser vs floating is different. When I maximize my browser (chrome), the top bar sticks (forum, member, categories, etc) on top, but when floating, it didn't. I'm hoping that it can stick along with the "new posts" link so I can easily click "new posts" without having to scroll all the way up.
Also I would like for "recent posts" to be up there so I can easily go back to read some of the latest thread that I've read. The current "recent posts" is basically a sub link on the "new posts", so you need to click "new posts" then you click on the "recent posts", which is one click too many :)
 
It would be nice if Console tech and Console gaming links would still also be found within Console industry, but other than that, looks very nice.
 
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I just noticed something odd. The behavior when I maximize my browser vs floating is different. When I maximize my browser (chrome), the top bar sticks (forum, member, categories, etc) on top, but when floating, it didn't. I'm hoping that it can stick along with the "new posts" link so I can easily click "new posts" without having to scroll all the way up.
Also I would like for "recent posts" to be up there so I can easily go back to read some of the latest thread that I've read. The current "recent posts" is basically a sub link on the "new posts", so you need to click "new posts" then you click on the "recent posts", which is one click too many :)
I'll have a look at making the top bar a bit more functional, consider your requests added to what I'll think about if changes get made. It does change its behaviour based on the size of the viewport, so that it doesn't take up too much screen space on smaller screens. How wide is your floating window?
 
I'll have a look at making the top bar a bit more functional, consider your requests added to what I'll think about if changes get made. It does change its behaviour based on the size of the viewport, so that it doesn't take up too much screen space on smaller screens. How wide is your floating window?
A bit wider than half the screen on a 1080p monitor.

Edit: btw, maybe you can steal some of the terminology from Tapatalk, so new posts become unread (posts) and recent posts become timeline.

Also, when you're not logged in (and at least on mobile), the choice became recent posts instead of new posts (which is understandable since it doesn't have the history), but I also like recent posts...

Anyway, the top bar only stick when the window is maximized. In non maximized state, it wouldn't stick no matter how wide the window is.
 
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The not sticking no matter how wide the window is is weird, since it's sticking for me right now with my browser only on half the screen. I'll look into it. The rest I'll note down but I'm not immediately bothered by.

Appreciate the feedback!
 
Would it be possible to customize the order in which categories are displayed, instead of always having Graphics Forums first, Console Forums second, etc.?

There are forums that let you collapse a category (thereby hiding its subcategories and reclaiming most of its screen real estate). That would be fine too.
 
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Would it be possible to customize the order in which categories are displayed, instead of always having Graphics Forums first, Console Forums second, etc.?

There are forums that let you collapse a category (thereby hiding a subcategory and reclaiming most of its screen real estate). That would be fine too.
Yeah, I think that's doable at some point (latter might be easier).
 
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