Close Topic Options

Being Lost In The Community?

One of the biggest complaints I get is the problems users have in navigating (Mostly from novice online users I think). To be honest I really cannot understand what the trouble is… we have tabs at the top and side, a main index with all the Boards, a Site Map, Phone Home… etc. Etc. Is it that people are simply lazy? Is it that I am blinded by something that is unseen? One of the most frequent things I have found is that people just do not want to read, they rather you just tell them…

'How do I do this?'
'Where can I find that?'

Now of course I am not saying that no one will ever have questions, but when you get some like 'Where do I see all the Boards?' or 'How do you reply?' then you know this person needs to READ!

Community The Lost Being

When I joined, the dark matrix skin was the default skin, and I had no problems learning to navigate. When I tried out the executive skin, I had difficulty finding where I wanted to go. I literally had no problems before and lots of problems afterward. I think it depends on the skin because not everything is in the same place for all of them.

Being Lost In The Community? Feedback & FAQ News Community

I am still amazed that with all the helps here there are still users that find 'navigating' here confusing. I believe it is mostly because they do not take the time to read and therefore do not know where they are going like a ship with no destination - no direction.

Community The Lost Being

I would say that most of it would just be people coming in from other forums and not knowing what to expect. It's a lot to absorb to catch on right away. Now, some people are slow and not too quick to catch on but it does take time. Every forum has a different way of doing things and for that reason I think that people coming in would have a bit of difficulty. I like the set-up though myself. Once I got used to it, which would be today, I can navigate through it with ease. I'm still learning though where everything is.

Edited: WearyKnight on 1st Dec, 2005 - 6:22am

Community The Lost Being

From the first few weeks that I have been a member here I have noticed that it is always becoming easier to navigate. I did definitely bonehead a few times myself and had to figure out where it was that I needed to go. JB is right though, the more time that I have spent actually reading and looking around, I have found a lot of easier and more productive ways to navigate.

That is a very good point also. Everyone has certain things that stand out to them such as color schemes, layouts, ect. I myself have found the medieval theme to be very easy to navigate. I actually have not yet tried the other skins but I may one of these days just to check them out a little bit.

Being Lost In The Community?

What do you recommend that should be done to make it easy to navigate for a new user? The Bare Bones Skin has most things taken out to make it simple, but I am unsure if that makes a difference really. Have you ever tried the Phone Home and REM Control Panels?

Being Lost The Community

For a new user I don't think that there is much else to do really. You've done a very good job. The main thing is that this site is larger than a lot of other sites and takes time to learn, and to navigate. They'll get the hang of it. It also just takes a lot of interaction I guess to make a new person feel comfortable. When someone feels comfortable in a site navigating it becomes easier. I'm not sure why, but that's my experience.

Being Lost The Community Community News FAQ & Feedback

Maybe someone new to the internet since there are a lot of topics it could be overwhelming. Hence all the questions from the ones new to the forums. Or maybe they don't want to create a new topic under the wrong board and they are just be cautious?

Now to hunt down how to change themes.