Forum & Website Suggestions

[Gary Lewis]

Just a few thoughts to kick off this thread. We need to consider a picture album capability for the users. Nabble has one so I'll have a go at it in a day or so, but need to think through where it should go. I'm leaning to it being on a different page than the forum, but.... Anyway, I'll see what it is like.

Next, you may have noticed that I've added Big Blue's pic to the top of the page. That's really just a placeholder for something, and I know not what. FTE has the outline drawings of two Ford trucks superimposed, but what if we had a logo of an outline drawing of a Bullnose truck? WilleyJoe did one some time ago but lost it in a hard drive crash, but maybe we can get him to do another one - if we think that is a good idea. Thoughts?

What else can or should be done to make it feel welcoming?

[CountryBumkin]

I know a lot of people have saved links to Gary's Garagemahal. I've seen links and references to your site on other forums too, like the Full Size Bronco forum.

When I was trying to find this forum, I first went to the Garagemahal but couldn't find any mention or link to this forum.

You might want to consider putting a link there so others can easily locate this forum.

Another suggestion - at the bottom of each page there is a "Edit This Page" link. I was trying to edit my earlier post and click that button. It looks like one could mess up the page with that link. I think it should only be visible to Moderators. But maybe no harm can be done - i didn't try messing with anything on the page.

[Gary Lewis]

I know a lot of people have saved links to Gary's Garagemahal. I've seen links and references to your site on other forums too, like the Full Size Bronco forum.

When I was trying to find this forum, I first went to the Garagemahal but couldn't find any mention or link to this forum.

You might want to consider putting a link there so others can easily locate this forum.

Another suggestion - at the bottom of each page there is a "Edit This Page" link. I was trying to edit my earlier post and click that button. It looks like one could mess up the page with that link. I think it should only be visible to Moderators. But maybe no harm can be done - i didn't try messing with anything on the page.

Mike - Welcome to the Bullnose Forum!

We aren't quite ready to "go live" so purposefully don't have a link in the navigation. As of now we have only 10 members, although two more (Don/WhatsAChevy, and Rick/Lariat 85) have been invited. And, if you know of others that can help us get things "right" then let's invite them. But, when we think we have a structure that works and are ready to help others then we will put a link in the navigation menu. So, please poke around and tell us what we need before going live.

Anyway, we are working on how to organize, and even call, the folder of Resource Links. And the folder of Projects. So please jump in and suggest away!

As for the Edit This Page link, I don't know what harm could come from that. But I'll ask the outfit that does the forum itself - Nabble.

Oh yes, links elsewhere to the Garagemahal. Yes, I know FSB and some others have apparently put links to it on their sites. I've seen referrals to my site start going up, and FSB is one of them.

[kr98664]

Does this forum have a mobile version? I do nearly all my surfing from an iPhone or tablet. The iPhone in particular has a lot of trouble, constantly getting kicked off, forcing me to sign back in multiple times.

[Gary Lewis]

Does this forum have a mobile version? I do nearly all my surfing from an iPhone or tablet. The iPhone in particular has a lot of trouble, constantly getting kicked off, forcing me to sign back in multiple times.

KR - Yes and no. There isn't the very different mobile version that IB/FTE have that looks completely different and doesn't append the signature when you post. But there is a mobile-enhanced feature that is supposed to make things better for mobile users - and I have that turned in.

But, I'm not sure that what you are seeing is really a mobile-device problem. There's a known problem that is under investigation where you are signed on but it asks you to sign on again. You'll know that is the case when you see your handle in the upper right, meaning you are signed on, but it is also asking for your email addy and password. In that case you can usually click on Bullnose Enthusiasts above and go right on to the forum. Or, a couple of times that didn't work and I just clicked on my name and then My Posts.

Does that work?

[CountryBumkin]

I spend too much time on the various forums (DIY, AV, Auto, etc.) and the setup I like is:

1) the main forum is where the member's ask their questions. When you go to the Forum that is the first page you see.

2) Sub-forum for "FAQ and HOW TOs". Not open to post questions - just read only.

3) Sub-forum for "Everything Else" (Things Not Related to Bullnoses) (place for member questions on forum issues, political discussion, whatever)

4) Sub-forum for "Wanted or For Sale" (optional if not too much trouble - as we discussed on FTE).

5) If you want, a separate sub-forum for "Member Introductions".

** On this forum, I would move all the introductions and non-truck questions off the front page (main forum) to one of the subforums.

 

I would copy some of the HOW TOs from the FTE site over to here (or recreate them) but many of the FTE "How-Tos" and "FAQ" are not worth copying (as they have broken links, missing photos, and too many unrelated posts mixed in. A "How To", IMO, should just be step-by-step instructions and not a copy of an entire thread where the instructions are mixed throughout two dozen posts. Of course its more work to have a clean thread. If you add a "How To" section, I would be happy to help by creating new posts for use here from the subjects/info from the old FTE posts (but leaving out the garbage).

[Gary Lewis]

I spend too much time on the various forums (DIY, AV, Auto, etc.) and the setup I like is:

1) the main forum is where the member's ask their questions. When you go to the Forum that is the first page you see.

2) Sub-forum for "FAQ and HOW TOs". Not open to post questions - just read only.

3) Sub-forum for "Everything Else" (Things Not Related to Bullnoses) (place for member questions on forum issues, political discussion, whatever)

4) Sub-forum for "Wanted or For Sale" (optional if not too much trouble - as we discussed on FTE).

5) If you want, a separate sub-forum for "Member Introductions".

** On this forum, I would move all the introductions and non-truck questions off the front page (main forum) to one of the subforums.

 

I would copy some of the HOW TOs from the FTE site over to here (or recreate them) but many of the FTE "How-Tos" and "FAQ" are not worth copying (as they have broken links, missing photos, and too many unrelated posts mixed in. A "How To", IMO, should just be step-by-step instructions and not a copy of an entire thread where the instructions are mixed throughout two dozen posts. Of course its more work to have a clean thread. If you add a "How To" section, I would be happy to help by creating new posts for use here from the subjects/info from the old FTE posts (but leaving out the garbage).

Mike - Good info & suggestions. Let me see if I understand:

4 Sub-forums: We currently have 6 sub-forums, but I planned for the Startup one to disappear before we "go live", meaning make it visible in the nav menu and open the doors to everyone to see. But, what if Garage/Shop & Tools was turned into a thread called something like Tools, Tools, Give Me More Tools? Or Tool Reviews? Or Tool Discussions? And, Forum Suggestions could either be a thread or at least un-pinned and float down the page until it goes to the back pages. That would actually get us down to three pinned sub-forums. Thoughts?

Intro's & Non-Truck: The intro threads that are currently there will naturally migrate to back pages as we have more threads, but I could delete them if they are a problem. I don't think there's anything important in them, so deleting them shouldn't be an issue.

FAQ's, How-To's, Etc: As discussed elsewhere, I'm hoping that forum can be just set of links to the actual How-To's because we can do such a better job of documenting on a web page than in a thread. The formatting on a web page is dramatically better. And the idea was to have a really clean set of links up top, which is the description of the forum, and then let the users suggest how-to's, and links thereunto, in threads. Then I'd move those into the clean set of links as time allows. But, if you are ready to do how-to's then let's get you a web page set up for each how-to, make you the editor, and go for it. Doing the work is easy on Weebly so, are you ready?

 

[CountryBumkin]

Mike - Good info & suggestions. Let me see if I understand:

4 Sub-forums: We currently have 6 sub-forums, but I planned for the Startup one to disappear before we "go live", meaning make it visible in the nav menu and open the doors to everyone to see. But, what if Garage/Shop & Tools was turned into a thread called something like Tools, Tools, Give Me More Tools? Or Tool Reviews? Or Tool Discussions? And, Forum Suggestions could either be a thread or at least un-pinned and float down the page until it goes to the back pages. That would actually get us down to three pinned sub-forums. Thoughts?

Intro's & Non-Truck: The intro threads that are currently there will naturally migrate to back pages as we have more threads, but I could delete them if they are a problem. I don't think there's anything important in them, so deleting them shouldn't be an issue.

FAQ's, How-To's, Etc: As discussed elsewhere, I'm hoping that forum can be just set of links to the actual How-To's because we can do such a better job of documenting on a web page than in a thread. The formatting on a web page is dramatically better. And the idea was to have a really clean set of links up top, which is the description of the forum, and then let the users suggest how-to's, and links thereunto, in threads. Then I'd move those into the clean set of links as time allows. But, if you are ready to do how-to's then let's get you a web page set up for each how-to, make you the editor, and go for it. Doing the work is easy on Weebly so, are you ready?

Gary,

The Garage/Shop & Tools sub-forum (as currently titled) is a good idea. I like that. i forgot about it when I was posting my thoughts. I don't expect here will be a lot of activity (i don't recall much Tool discussion on the other forums I frequent) but it may help someone.

I don't know how much space or bandwidth you have for this forum, but if you could have the important FAQs and How Tos residing on this forum rather than a link, it would be better, because then you can be sure the info is always available if the link disappears (you have no control over the info on the other end of the link). Point being - most of the FTE How Tos and FAQ seem to be broken.

But you can start with a "listing of links" and then just deal with issues and broken links as they come up.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary,

The Garage/Shop & Tools sub-forum (as currently titled) is a good idea. I like that. i forgot about it when I was posting my thoughts. I don't expect here will be a lot of activity (i don't recall much Tool discussion on the other forums I frequent) but it may help someone.

I don't know how much space or bandwidth you have for this forum, but if you could have the important FAQs and How Tos residing on this forum rather than a link, it would be better, because then you can be sure the info is always available if the link disappears (you have no control over the info on the other end of the link). Point being - most of the FTE How Tos and FAQ seem to be broken.

But you can start with a "listing of links" and then just deal with issues and broken links as they come up.

Mike - Since this forum is on my web site any how-to's we create on this site will always be there. But, the forum itself is only one page on the site, so the how-to's can't really be "on the forum" - if that makes sense.

However, since the forum is on my site and we have the navigation menu available when you are looking at anything on "the forum", we could create a page called something like How-To's that would shown in the nav menu, and then have each how-to under that page.

Hmmm! If this site were dedicated to Bullnose trucks, then the nav menu could enhance or even replace some of the "stickies". Currently it is probably confusing that there are other nav items beyond our trucks. Yes? Would or could that help?

[CountryBumkin]

Mike - Since this forum is on my web site any how-to's we create on this site will always be there. But, the forum itself is only one page on the site, so the how-to's can't really be "on the forum" - if that makes sense.

However, since the forum is on my site and we have the navigation menu available when you are looking at anything on "the forum", we could create a page called something like How-To's that would shown in the nav menu, and then have each how-to under that page.

Hmmm! If this site were dedicated to Bullnose trucks, then the nav menu could enhance or even replace some of the "stickies". Currently it is probably confusing that there are other nav items beyond our trucks. Yes? Would or could that help?

I'm not sure what your saying - but I trust that you know the best way to get all these forum parts working.I was only thinking that if you only provided a "link" from this forum's "HOW TO" page to another place the internet, if that other place ever goes away, the link is no good and the info can't be reached.For example "How to swap in a 3G alternator" - that info could be in step-by-step instructions in a separate on this forum (such as in a thread called "3G Swap" where you open the thread and everything is there (all the pictures, etc.). Or you open the thread and you see something like this "for doing a 3G swap click here https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1120352-3g-alternator-swap-with-pics-parts-tips-and-costs-2.html " in which case all of the info is on someone else's site.Maybe it is not possible to have the actual step-by-step and pictures on the this site in a single thread - and it is just more efficient to link to someone else's site. I suppose as long the person gets the info the need it doesn't matter where the info came from.