Emmanuel,
The ideas whippetsleek and I exchanged were primarily meant to improve "user comfort". It's unavoidable that some people will go straigth to the forum and ask their question(s) without taking the trouble to search for an answer first.
That said, the layout of the website (in the sense of navigation) could use some improvement. I'm fully aware that it's probably impossible to design a foolproof navigation strcture, but based on what I've seen this last year, this is my attempt for the forum:
PROBLEMS
- installation
- video drivers, graphics card, two screens, crash in preferences
- other problems, crashes, crashes on loading, damaged files, red models/boxes
- is this a bug? (strange behaviour, localization, etc)
HELP
- help and announcements on SH3D (with fixed first topic)
-&- help and announcements on plug-ins, extensions, player and external renderers (with fixed first topic)
- other questions
- models and textures
- wishlist (with fixed topic "Roadmap" ?)
- gallery
- (discuss anything) (MMmm.. I don't like such a vague topic, but I can see its use)
LANGUAGES
- French
- German (you will most likely get an answer because we have active members here)
- Spanish (you will most likely get an answer because we have active members here)
- Other languages (no guarantees here)
In two places I put "with fixed first topic": here you always can find a direct link to the latest version/beta of SH3D or one of the plug-ins. Now you have to search where that link is buried.
It might be a good idea to have "fixed topics" in other sections as well. They can serve as a kind of FAQ. Where it says -&- that topic could be combined with the previous topic.
The "User Guide" page would be more accessible (and easier to reference to) if you added a few extra anchors to subjects in the Other Features section. Over time this part has become rather long and you can easily get lost. Also, when answering questions in the forum, it would be easier to give a more precise reference/link.
As to the Documentation link: it took ME (I know, I'm not too smart) 3 or 6 months to discover I could click that link. A simple solution would be to insert directly underneath the chapter name a link that is called Documentation. The fact that you have twice the word Documentation wouldn't win any beauty contest, but it would improve clarity.
Beginner / Start Here... yes, I agree that's a bit vague. When we have a problem, we're a beginner for that subject, otherwise we wouldn't need help. Improved navigation might make such a section obsolete.
As always, these are just ideas and suggestions. Use what you think is useful, forget about the rest. Finally, if you need translations (and they're within my abilities NL-FR-SP-EN-GE and Google) don't hesitate to ask.
Hans
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Hans
new website - under constuction
hansdirkse.info
