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Postnuke.com Site Organization  Bottom

  • I find the postnuke.com site(s) very difficult to navigate intuitively.

    I have figured out where to find some of what I need, but still pull my hair out trying to sift through all of the info to get to the heart of the matter.

    Some suggestions for making postnuke.com a little more user friendly:

    1. Make the default page for www.postnuke.com be 'news.postnuke.com' not the poorly-named 'PNnavigation' area. There really is little relevant navigation to be had here. new.postnuke.com is a better choice for the primary page since it actually tells upfront what postnuke is. A new user investigating and starting from pnNavigation will likely get frustrated...

    2. Maintain a link to a modules list in the menubar of modules.

    3. Utilize the admin messages module for each of the subsites (news,blocks,etc.) to explain briefly what the subsite is for.

    4. Utilize more of the features that postnuke has, such as sections, polls, and quotes. After all, this site should be a model for what PN can do.

    5. Add the question "what is postnuke?" to the Postnuke FAQ.

    6. Rename "Top List" to "Top Articles" since the user doesn't know what the list refers to.

    These are a few thoughts. Some are easy fixes, others are more difficult. Perhaps others have additional comments.

    cheers,
    Dave
  • 1: Actually I think you're half right. The WHat is PostNuke should be moved to the pnNavigator, but I think that the fact that it gathers in all the info from the sub sites makes it a better starting place.
    2: If there was a good list to link to we would. I forget who now, but I know someone is working with Pagesetter to create a list, but I think for the list to be effective, that Pagesetter may not be the ultimate choice at this time due to lack of sort options. (Though this is supposed to be in the process of working on it).
    3: Good idea.
    4: Polls, very little call for them seems like, Sections, we're actually using Pagesetter as it provides more flexibility than sections in the docs site. Quotes, dito Polls, no real point.
    5: THe FAQ Is in a state of offline reorganization at the moment, that is being added. One of the weaknesses in the FAQ is that you can't order the content easily and as such things are being worked on off line at this point to get them in a more organized fashion.

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  • 1. Pretend you are a new user and you end up on the pnNavigate page...Current news stories and no links to static content get you nowhere.

    That said:
    a. Ok, if this is where you want to start, then you need to have the left menubar that is present on all of the subsites, and you should have the "What is postnuke" graphic from the news subsite front and center. You also need the get help, visit the forums banner on the right.

    b. Your front page should look something like the standard postnuke installation. New visitors should see something like what they will get when they install PN. Remember that postnuke.com is a showcase for what PN can do as well as a demo for the basics.

    2. a. What is Pagesetter?


    b. On the modules list, start with a 'top ten' and build from there...pnphpbb2, gallery, postwrap, etc.
  • 2a: A more flexible content manager.

    Now given your ideas and obvious desire to help out, I expect to see your registration at pnCorps.net to sign up to officially help out :)

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  • 1.a we are planning to extend the navigator with more information in future
    1.b there will be http:?/demo.postnuke.com created when the postnuke CVS for .8 has reachd an appropriate stage.
    2.b there is the module registry, but with hundreds of modules changing all the time, it is very hard to maintain, and previous attempts have failed.

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  • daveslc

    6. Rename "Top List" to "Top Articles" since the user doesn't know what the list refers to.

    That wouldnt be accurate since so many other things are listed by this feature. A better choice would be "Most Popular". I saw it in a site I was critiquing and adopted it for my sites as well.
  • Duster

    That wouldnt be accurate since so many other things are listed by this feature. A better choice would be "Most Popular". I saw it in a site I was critiquing and adopted it for my sites as well.

    A great idea, now also stolen by the Geekster! 8)
    Thanks Duster!

    Warm Regards,
    -=dave=-
  • Not stolen, dave, received as a gift. I got it from that site and passed it on to others. Sometimes you get used to things as they are, especially if you're busy fixing something more important, and you come across a site that has made improvements you hadn't considered. I shared my reordered menu and discovered Most Popular. So simple, so right.

    Here's my reordered menu. You may find it useful. The basic menu can be overpowering and there is no pattern to it. My menu has links separated by type of content. There are some site specific optional items and I've indicated one module name in brackets although it doesn't appear on the menu. I just added the Amazon link while testing the module and I'm not sure it will remain as is. I also slightly renamed some listings for greater clarity. This includes not abbreviating statistics as stats so it will be better understood by more people who have English as a secondary language. I did a post on this a few weeks ago that shows how "statistics" is very similar to its translation to other languages.

    Community

    · Calendar
    · Classified Ads
    · Online Events [pnESP]
    · Forum

    Information and Resources

    · Amazon Online Store
    · Directory
    · Downloads
    · FAQ
    · Humor
    · News
    · News Topics
    · Reviews
    · Search
    · Sections
    · Submit News
    · Tips
    · Web Links

    Site Data

    · Contact Information
    · Most Popular
    · Recommend Us
    · Statistics
    · About Our Site
    · Policy Statement
  • Here's more dave, though it is visible only to the admin. I don't care for vague and misleading labels, nor for poor spelling, I know that somehow a mispelled version of referrer made it into http specifications, but that doesn't mean that I have to show it misspelled.

    Here's the admin menu from one of my sites with the original label shown in some cases

    Add News Story [emphasizing the news since it is so casually interchanged with articles which I see as being informative articles in Sections]
    Admin Messages
    Blocks
    Ban [because I detest the misuse of the word censor]
    Comments
    Downloads
    Ephemerids
    FAQ
    Groups
    Languages
    Mail Users
    Modules
    Permissions
    pnesp
    pnmeta
    PN zClassifieds
    PostCalendar
    PostWrap
    ProdReviews [replacing Reviews]
    Quotes
    Referrers [correctly spelled with the http dropped since it looks out pf place alphabetically]
    Reviews [no longer used]
    Search Statistics
    Settings
    statistics
    News Notification [falsely labeled Submit News]
    Topics
    Top Popularity Lists [I'd make it Most Popular except it would be out of place alphabetically]
    User Administration
    Web Links
  • Hi Duster,

    Let's see if I can respond before getting "timed out"! :?

    We covered this a bit last year, but I see you have refined your menus (I'm naturally more interested in what is presented to users) and I like them very much. (Copied and saved to a text file - Thank You). 8)

    The "Most Popular" item struck me with one of those "now why didn't I think of that" moments.

    Warm Regards,
    -=dave=-
  • Me too!

    Slugger
  • Here's another simple change I made, guys. Since the Who's online now block does not tell who is online, I renamed mine Online Now. It shows only how many people are online and whether they are guests or registered. I figure Online Now covers that well enough.
  • Duster

    Here's another simple change I made, guys. Since the Who's online now block does not tell who is online, I renamed mine Online Now. It shows only how many people are online and whether they are guests or registered. I figure Online Now covers that well enough.


    Is it my imagination, or does the latest and greatest version just call this "Online"? The last PN site I setup about a month ago just says "Online", but I can't remember if I changed it, or if that was the way it came.....
  • I've seen some sites that had that, so you may be correct. However, Online Now is more descriptive and conveys the purpose of the block than Online.

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