PennMUSH Web Resources
Submitted by Noltar on Fri, 2006-07-21 15:30.
I've been thinking about this for a while, and already have some ideas and plans, but it would be nice to hear thoughts from the community at large...
Are there any resources beyond those we currently have available that people would like to see on the pennmush websites? Any improvements to what currently exists? I feel community.pennmush.org is underutilized and could fill many of the possible needs of users. However, it may help to have feedback from the users so that we can highlight the features people are looking for but may not be aware of, as well as look at what is lacking and investigate options for filling the gaps.
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wiki?
Hey Noltar.
Our faq-o-matic is good, but when I see question after question answered on +softcode and +hardcode, I always feel a tinge of sadness as the collective wisdom of our members simply vanishes after the recall buffer is gone.
Why not use a wiki? It seems it would be a a great place to throw in soft-code resources, system-specific help, etc...
Thanks for everything!
Boris
Of course, FAQ-o-matic *is* a
Of course, FAQ-o-matic *is* actually more of less a wiki, as anyone can append to the answers. What would make it more likely that some other wiki system would get used? :)
Wiki is more editable?
I guess some of the benefits I see of a wiki over the faq-o-matic are:
1) We can edit existing entries easily
2) Entries can link to other, related entries
3) Wiki's feel a little more accessible (IMHO)
4) Entries can be categorized
5) Recent changes can be RSS'ed
What do you think?
Warmly,
Boris
Actually, FAQ-o-matic does al
Actually, FAQ-o-matic does all that stuff except the linking and RSS, albeit with a slightly different model. But a wiki's a fine idea.
A Wiki is one of the things I
A Wiki is one of the things I was considering, though I've never been personally impressed with them. The relative familiarity many people seem to have with them may assist in making it more usable for the community than the current FAQ, which hasn't seen the amount of use it probably should have.
Indeed, I didn't even -know-
Indeed, I didn't even -know- there was a FAQ until a few days ago. And i'm still too nervous to use it. It looks intimidating and mean and like it'll eat a small child. A wiki is, well, easier to use, since most people are familiar with them.
Webstuff
One thing that has always driven me nuts about MU* in general is the information is spread out all over the place. You've got +bb in most games to read. Then maybe a web based forum. Plus the web pages. Maybe a wiki. And I have to keep jumping in and out of programs. Someone needs to link all the resourses together in my mind. I'd like to be able to go +blog Noltar in the mush and see the info out here cause I forget this place is even here sometimes. Or even a +blog/comment type command ;). +wiki/add +wiki/search etc etc. IE I'm lazy make it easy for me to get all the info in one place :D
over on ST:F you can do that,
over on ST:F you can do that, the forums on the website and the magsystem on the game are one in the same and you can search through both systems.
Improved Navigation
As someone that doesn't really use this site too much, I'd like to see improved navigation. When I come here, I see recent blog posts that may or may not be of significance, a poll and some articles listed.
I'd really like to see some sort of 'Table of Contents' on the front, to help direct people. My two cents.
What would you put in that
What would you put in that table of contents?
(Note that if you go to "my account" you can configure some optional sidebar blocks that will show you, e.g., all hardcode- or softcode- related posts in a list).
Some ideas I've had...
I, too, tend to pine for a more robust 'face' to this, and other pennmush.org web sites.
I suppose the first useful thing I'd like to see would be a single nav-bar thing which allows unification all of the pennmush.org websites. For example, the five links in the upper right corner (adding the devs Track page as a sixth) could become the beginning of such a 'standardized' nav-bar (i.e., appearing identically on all pennmush.org sponsored pages)... for quickly jumping from one to another.
As for the community.p.o site specifically (this one), I notice that the 'home page' (as well as almost all other pages) has much content displayed 'below' the first screen-full (i.e., if you scroll down, there's lots of stuff in the 'center column')... yet the default sidebar menus are curtailed to just that first screen-full... when there is obviously room for much more (i.e., the sidebars continue... empty). One idea for taking advantage of this unused sidebar space would be menus similar to the 'Recent Blog Posts' menu. E.g., 'Recent Posts' in general could show the 5-10 most recent (feel free to expand this idea to other 'recent content' lists... or generalize it into 'categories with recent posts').
And, finally, if the above ideas are received well, some reorganization of the above concepts -- for example, the collaborative books link could be moved into a similar 'recently modified' menu list (since it's technically part of this same site, i.e., it's an intrasite rather than intersite link).
Ok
Ok, I've done a few things to add some of what you're talking about. There's more blocks in general visible by default, and a new "Postings by topic" block on the left side that may provide what you'd like.
Wiki
Perhaps a link to wikis somewhere?
If the wikis have topics
If the wikis have topics set, they should also appear in the postings by topic