Now that we're in 3.0 and have a general idea of what we're dealing with, I'd like to tackle some things I've been putting off.
The big one, that affects the most Legionnaires, is that I'd like to add some tabs (The black links at the top of the page, like the recently added "James Bond") for subjects with lots and lots of separate threads, like Doctor Who and (I think) Dark Shadows. Or others, that Legionnaires suggest. Godzilla? CK's annual "New Season" posts? Just spit-balling here.
The flip side of this is a single thread with lots of responses. I don't see any reason to give something like the "Invaders" thread, which (I think) was one, single long thread, a separate tab or sub-tab. Just the stuff where there's a lot of material scattered all over. That's what prompted me to create "James Bond" as a category; every time I wanted to find an old thread I remembered, I had no idea where to look for it. So I put them all in one basket. (Well, all of them that the search function and Google found. There may be more I haven't found.)
If we get too many tabs, we can shift some tabs into "sub-tabs." We don't have any examples on the board of this function yet. But with sub-tabs, we could, for example, make it so that when you hover over "Movies and TV," you'd get a dropdown with "Doctor Who" and "Dark Shadows" in it, instead of on the home page directly. I'd like to put "James Bond" there, too, but we'd probably have to change the main tab from "Movies and TV" to something like "Genre Media" or "Books, Movies TV".
I can also add landing pages to each category and sub-category, which I think would make us look more professional. But that would be a lot of work, so I'm not just going to jump in and do it. I need to know you guys want it.
Alternatively, I could do nothing at all and sail along as we have.
Replies
I think it's a good idea.
The absolute place is start is Bob's List of Doctor Who Threads.
Second I would go for former member Border Mutt's List of Star Trek Threads. I have been trying to maintain that one (primarily with discussions I have started) within the body of the discussion. I cannot update the initial post because it's not mine, but you will find much of the work has been done on that one as well.
(Border Mutt also put a lot of work into creating a Movies and Television Thread Index but it hasn't been updated in nearly nine years. He also created Links for Reviews, etc. but that hasn't been updated in over a decade.)
I can save you time on Dark Shadows; there are a few of us who discuss the show quite a bit, but it's all in one big honkin' all-inclusive thread. (I've been meaning to re-do the index but it's a daunting task.)
The Walking Dead might be a contender. We used to maintain a single big honkin' all-inclusive thread for that one, too, but around season five (I think it was) someone suggested breaking off each new season into it's own thread. I was against it because it made referring to previous episodes extremely difficult. It sure would be nice to have those all in one place again. Very few of us even watch the show anymore, but the spin-off with Rick and Michone is slated for February.
Great suggestions!
I've been watching Bob valiantly try to keep Doctor Who accessible despite the enormous number of separate threads. This will make it easier, I think.
Tabs and sub-tabs would be a great addition. Anything to make searching easier.
I have created a "Doctor Who" category with a tab on the front page. As an experiment, I moved one story there. At some point, I'll probably make"Doctor Who" a sub-tab for the "Movies & TV" tab, as I already have with "James Bond." (As a sub-tab, it appears as a gray, clickable box when you hover your mouse over the main tab.) All of this is flexible, and I'm open to any and all suggestions as to organization.
Before we go adding Doctor Who posts willy-nilly to the new Doctor Who category, though, there's another wrinkle. I've made a discovery about something called Landing Pages. I experimented with one some time ago, and it looked like it was creating a new website unconnected to Captain Comics, for which I assumed I'd be charged. And I ran away. Ran, ran away. When danger reared its ugly head, I bravely turned my tail and fled.
Anyway, I happened to ask the Ning help desk about it, and they say this is not so. Landing Pages ARE connected to the main board, and I am not charged for them. I'm not clear on how a landing page connects to the main board, or, really, anything else about it. This calls for [Colin Clive voice] scientific experiments! Once I've figured out the use, if any, of these landing pages, I'll report back. Expect a "Test" tab at some point that I will restrict as much as I am able to avoid confusion.
I tried the Landing Page option and [Edwin Starr voice] Good God, y'all, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'. Ning tells me its purpose is as a selling platform and I can believe it. I created one, and to do so I had to select a template (which I'm assure I didn't pay for, but you know, it says "buy this") and once I had it, I couldn't figure out what to do with it, or how to connect back to this site. It creates a tab to take you from our site to there, but not how to refer back. Maybe it's all there, and I just couldn't find the tools ... but I couldn't find the tools. So I deleted it.
So we're back to our regular programming. We're going to lump all Doctor Who posts under the "Doctor Who" tab. To do this, anyone who has created a Doctor Who post can open it in Edit, go down to the bottom, and click on Doctor Who in the window that shows all categories. I think all Moderators can do this, too.
I have created a "Doctor Who" category with a tab on the front page. As an experiment, I moved one story there.
It looks as if the thread you moved didn't transfer completely, specifically the title. (It should say "Doctor Who Reactions: [Title]" but it says simply "Doctor Who Reactions:".
(I suspect something similar happened when you moved the "James Bond Comic Strips" discussion over to the then-newly-created James Bond forum.)
D'oh! I have no idea why that would be. [Makes note to move more stories and compare and contrast which ones lose the headlines.]
Bob created that, right? He can edit it to what it should be. Or tell me what it's supposed to be and I'll edit it.
Something to watch for.
It appears to be "Seeds of Doom" but better let Bob confirm.
I just wanted to make you aware of the problem.
Yes, "Seeds of Doom" is correct. I'll go in and corretct it sometime when I'm not working.
Thanks! In future I'll check headlines before I move something and then after while it's fresh in memory in case it evaporates.
But don't forget that anybody who created a story can move it themselves -- and I could use the help. Currently I'm moving five years' worth of columns (me, Commander Benson, etc.) out of the Blog area ("Mr. Vertigo's Reviews") and into a Group called "Blog Archives 2009-2013." All that material had become virtually unfindable and I'm doing what I can to make it more accessible. But it's time-consuming, and that's even if I don't edit the ones which have somehow lost their paragraph returns (which is needful, but I don't know if I'll ever find the time). All of this re-organizing stuff is. So any help is appreciated.
What's next after Doctor Who? I'm leaning to Star Trek and Walking Dead, which both have new material coming out currently.
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