Site Organization Thoughts

[FuzzFace2]

So you are voting for a Manuals section, Dave?

(IOW, you'd vote the same as Dane???? )

I think yes for manuals

Would this be a tab in documents with Lit. or its own tab up front along with Lit.?

I think what may be happening is things get to deep in some area and we dont "drill down" far enough to find what we need.

So if we had say Documents as a main tab type deal and when in that area had a tab for Manuals and 1 for Lit. I think would be easier.

I want to know how to do something or tq values then go to Manuals.

Anything else to the Lit. area.

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

So you are voting for a Manuals section, Dave? (IOW, you'd vote the same as Dane???? )

I think yes for manuals Would this be a tab in documents with Lit. or its own tab up front along with Lit.?I think what may be happening is things get to deep in some area and we dont "drill down" far enough to find what we need.So if we had say Documents as a main tab type deal and when in that area had a tab for Manuals and 1 for Lit. I think would be easier.I want to know how to do something or tq values then go to Manuals.Anything else to the Lit. area.Dave ----

I think we need to think through this "literature" vs "manuals" thing. To me a manual is a piece of literature. Yes, brochures are literature and aren't manuals. But EVTM's and FSM can be considered literature. So manuals are a sub-set of literature.

 

On that score, I've embedded below the spreadsheet from the page at Documentation/Literature that shows what literature I have and what is on the site. And it says we have "owner's guides", which is what Ford calls the owner's manuals. And we have EVTM's. And service guides. And engine & emission diagnosis manuals. And.....

 

But currently we have the Literature section organized by year, which doesn't make much sense if you are looking for manuals. And while you can click on the Literature page and see that spreadsheet and then click on the On Site links to be taken to the document, you can also just over over Literature in the menu and see the years show up. And if you click on a year in the menu you'll be taken to a page with thumbnails of the documents, on which you can click to go to them.

 

But, we could also categorize them by type, such as owner's manual; FSM; EVTM; etc. So, it could look like:

 

Literature: Factory Shop Manuals Owner's Manuals Engine & Emission Diagnostic Manuals Brochures Etc

 

Would that be better than sorting by year?

 

[FuzzFace2]

I think we need to think through this "literature" vs "manuals" thing. To me a manual is a piece of literature. Yes, brochures are literature and aren't manuals. But EVTM's and FSM can be considered literature. So manuals are a sub-set of literature.

 

On that score, I've embedded below the spreadsheet from the page at Documentation/Literature that shows what literature I have and what is on the site. And it says we have "owner's guides", which is what Ford calls the owner's manuals. And we have EVTM's. And service guides. And engine & emission diagnosis manuals. And.....

 

But currently we have the Literature section organized by year, which doesn't make much sense if you are looking for manuals. And while you can click on the Literature page and see that spreadsheet and then click on the On Site links to be taken to the document, you can also just over over Literature in the menu and see the years show up. And if you click on a year in the menu you'll be taken to a page with thumbnails of the documents, on which you can click to go to them.

 

But, we could also categorize them by type, such as owner's manual; FSM; EVTM; etc. So, it could look like:

 

Literature: Factory Shop Manuals Owner's Manuals Engine & Emission Diagnostic Manuals Brochures Etc

 

Would that be better than sorting by year?

 

Now that works for me :nabble_anim_handshake:Everything is on 1 page so you can see what is available and then you can click what you want (I did not try to click but it looks like it would get me to that item) to get to that item.Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

Now that works for me

Everything is on 1 page so you can see what is available and then you can click what you want (I did not try to click but it looks like it would get me to that item) to get to that item.

Dave ----

Dave - Let me make sure I understand what "that" is, the thing which works for you. I think you mean the spreadsheet. Right?

Also, what if it was "Literature & Manuals"?

And, did you know the spreadsheet was there? Some people never click on Literature and just hover over it to see the pop-out sub-menu. Perhaps we should do away with the pop-out sub-menu and force everyone to click on Literature and then click on the link. There would actually be the same number of clicks - two.

Thoughts, y'all?

[rcarlisle]

Lucas - Thanks, and welcome. Glad it is helping.

However, I saw a comment on FB the other day that said "I can't find anything on that site", so that got me worried. And thinking about how we could do it better. Then the diagnosis book caused a discussion, and here we are.

Thoughts, please!

I say as Lucas did - do it as you see fit - this is your baby, your sandbox. There will be a lot of guests that pass through looking for an answer and may never come back, much less become active. I may or may not be here for a long time myself, but that's me - I don't trade and sell very much.

Folks from FB don't always take the time to really look - look how many posts you see in the 3 bullnose groups where folks can't find the simplest of items or answers. And I see a constant parade of folks there selling their trucks because it did something seemingly unexpected (these are 30-40 yr old trucks afterall).

I agree that sometimes I don't find things as quickly as I might like, but I can usually find it. But I also take time to be a member here and will ask. This is not the quickest place to pose a question and I am also fine with that.

I have no suggestions on way to do it differently as there is so much to do that if you change one thing, it may force a change in other places.

Thanks for all you do for this site and all of us. I consider the membership here to be the true fans and loyalists.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Lucas - Thanks, and welcome. Glad it is helping.

However, I saw a comment on FB the other day that said "I can't find anything on that site", so that got me worried. And thinking about how we could do it better. Then the diagnosis book caused a discussion, and here we are.

Thoughts, please!

I say as Lucas did - do it as you see fit - this is your baby, your sandbox. There will be a lot of guests that pass through looking for an answer and may never come back, much less become active. I may or may not be here for a long time myself, but that's me - I don't trade and sell very much.

Folks from FB don't always take the time to really look - look how many posts you see in the 3 bullnose groups where folks can't find the simplest of items or answers. And I see a constant parade of folks there selling their trucks because it did something seemingly unexpected (these are 30-40 yr old trucks afterall).

I agree that sometimes I don't find things as quickly as I might like, but I can usually find it. But I also take time to be a member here and will ask. This is not the quickest place to pose a question and I am also fine with that.

I have no suggestions on way to do it differently as there is so much to do that if you change one thing, it may force a change in other places.

Thanks for all you do for this site and all of us. I consider the membership here to be the true fans and loyalists.

Thanks, Randy. I appreciate your support.

However, if the organization of the site is left up to me then it may not work for a lot of people. So I'm looking for input on what others think would work. Not everything suggested will be possible, but some suggestions might be just what we need.

Suggestions, please, folks! I might push back if I can't do it or don't know how to do it, but I really need other people's views.

[grumpin]

Thanks, Randy. I appreciate your support.

However, if the organization of the site is left up to me then it may not work for a lot of people. So I'm looking for input on what others think would work. Not everything suggested will be possible, but some suggestions might be just what we need.

Suggestions, please, folks! I might push back if I can't do it or don't know how to do it, but I really need other people's views.

I like the spreadsheet. I did not know or remember to click again on literature to get to the spreadsheet.

I think Literature and Manuals is good also. I also think of literature like Dave said, brochures, dealer items etc.

I understand your concern about comments of not being able to find things on the site. And I like Randy’s points on that.

Some people won’t be happy even if you show them where everything is and then do it for them.

 

[85lebaront2]

I like the spreadsheet. I did not know or remember to click again on literature to get to the spreadsheet.

I think Literature and Manuals is good also. I also think of literature like Dave said, brochures, dealer items etc.

I understand your concern about comments of not being able to find things on the site. And I like Randy’s points on that.

Some people won’t be happy even if you show them where everything is and then do it for them.

Gary, I did a quick check. looks good! 1986 EVTM, bingo, there it was. I will look and see which emission diagnostic manuals I have (I know 1986 is here) but I grabbed a bunch of the big loose leaf ones on eBay. I know some of them are later than 1986, but some of it might be useful for someone who is installing a later engine and controls.

Maybe as you populate this area, add the "pinouts" spreadsheet. I think I can give you the connector layout for most of them if it isn't in the emission diagnostic manuals.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, I did a quick check. looks good! 1986 EVTM, bingo, there it was. I will look and see which emission diagnostic manuals I have (I know 1986 is here) but I grabbed a bunch of the big loose leaf ones on eBay. I know some of them are later than 1986, but some of it might be useful for someone who is installing a later engine and controls.

Maybe as you populate this area, add the "pinouts" spreadsheet. I think I can give you the connector layout for most of them if it isn't in the emission diagnostic manuals.

Ok, I've made the top page "Literature & Manuals". And I've hidden everything below that, so while the pages are still there the way to get to them is via the spreadsheet.

But speaking of the spreadsheet, you may have missed that there are two tabs. One is supposedly for Ford annual publications and the other for Misc things. But I suspect many will miss the tab for Misc, so wouldn't it be better to just put everything on one tab?

Oh, and I've added the Steering section to the '85 FSM. I'd already scanned it in with those sections used elsewhere, so added them to the FSM w/o scanning. I have other such sections and will add them as and when time allows.

Bill - Got your documents today and will put them in the queue.

[rcarlisle]

I think we need to think through this "literature" vs "manuals" thing. To me a manual is a piece of literature. Yes, brochures are literature and aren't manuals. But EVTM's and FSM can be considered literature. So manuals are a sub-set of literature.

 

On that score, I've embedded below the spreadsheet from the page at Documentation/Literature that shows what literature I have and what is on the site. And it says we have "owner's guides", which is what Ford calls the owner's manuals. And we have EVTM's. And service guides. And engine & emission diagnosis manuals. And.....

 

But currently we have the Literature section organized by year, which doesn't make much sense if you are looking for manuals. And while you can click on the Literature page and see that spreadsheet and then click on the On Site links to be taken to the document, you can also just over over Literature in the menu and see the years show up. And if you click on a year in the menu you'll be taken to a page with thumbnails of the documents, on which you can click to go to them.

 

But, we could also categorize them by type, such as owner's manual; FSM; EVTM; etc. So, it could look like:

 

Literature: Factory Shop Manuals Owner's Manuals Engine & Emission Diagnostic Manuals Brochures Etc

 

Would that be better than sorting by year?

 

I don't remember seeing the link to this page previously in this discussion, but I LIKE this layout. I can scroll through and see all the docs available from my 81. I have used this and referred others to it on FB.