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Site Improvements... Suggestions welcome!

cdtoad

Administrator
Got a suggestion that would make this site better? We're listening. Is there a sub forum you'd like to see added? Is there a CAD package you'd like to see have it's own forum? Is there a cool forum tool you've seen elsewhere that you'd think would benefit the MCADcentral community? Let us know! Please leave a comment below.
 
I had already participated in a feedback a few months ago, but have not seen anything happen.. Having said it I would like to have the following...


1. There is no place to post ARTICLES. Though you do have an articles page, the link to post an article is not functional.


2. A place to upload movie files akin youtube.


3. Increase the file upload size to 5 MB


4. Increase the Picture file upload size to atleast 150KB.


5. Search should be multiple levels...


The above are from the top of the mind....
 
Kudos to Srini for solving the puzzle; load this topic from a group other than
Admin to reply.
_ _ _ _ _


I'd also like to see a more sophisticated site Search engine (along with a
Help page for using it). Using Google works with a site:mcadcentral.com
statement seems to work well ~sometimes~. Maybe that could be enhanced thru
some arrangement?


I would prefer pic size NOT be increased. There are enough zero content 'eye
candy' discussions, large pics can be zipped and uploaded. (I have a slow
access connection that biases my preference, too.)


I'd also like to see posting of models vs. pics encouraged. So many topics
go on for days, some never clearly resolved, when they would probably have
been resolved in one shot if the problem file or an example were posted.
(Why are so few SE version files posted? There are people here that can
read them?)


Along those lines; identifying the version (Pro/E) of an upload should be
mandatory.


I use the Active Topics page as an entry point. PLEASE make the screen tips
that appear when the cursor is held over the topic show the first line(s) of
the topic instead of the "This topic started ...." (or whatever) currently
shown.


I would really like to see a reduction in topics that would never occur if
the OP would have just looked fleetingly at the product documentation. How
that can be accomplished, I haven't a clue. Anything to enhance technical
'quality' even at the expense of 'quantity' of traffic.


- - - Thanks for askin'. - - -
 
> from a group other than Admin to reply.


Oops, make that Announcements rather than Admin.
smiley9.gif



(And it appears posts can not be Edited at all?)
 
SRINIVASANIYER1 said:
I had already participated in a feedback a few months ago, but have not seen anything happen.. Having said it I would like to have the following...


1. There is no place to post ARTICLES. Though you do have an articles page, the link to post an article is not functional.


2. A place to upload movie files akin youtube.


3. Increase the file upload size to 5 MB


4. Increase the Picture file upload size to atleast 150KB.


5. Search should be multiple levels...


The above are from the top of the mind....


Thanks Srini for your input. The first thing that jumps out at me is #2. A place to upload movie files akin to YouTube. Well... one of the other sites in the Design World network is a video sharing site. http://video.designworldonline.com Right now it's going though a redesign, we're changing around the way videos are tagged and a new version of the player will be available soon.
 
1). A very difficult and time consuming job I know.... but there are 280+ pages on the modelling topic alone..of which probably only 10 pages are useful. I think a Spring Clean is required. It would certainly help when searching the database, I often get p****d off when searching cos I have to read through pages of crap before I find anything useful.


2). Maybe some kind of official "How to" section. Time after Time I read new posts regarding " how do I use VSS " or " What is a Boundary Blend " etc etc. I user friendly, idiots guide to using basic and not-so basic features would again ( hopefully ) cut down on the amount of similar and poor posts in the main forum sections.


I agree with Jeff, its the quantity that seems to ruin the quality sometimes.


3). Active Admin. It would be good if one of the admin were more active, and could resolve issues, answer questions as and when they cropped up.


4). Monthly Competition: Mentioned lots of times on these MCAD forums and probably a topic which many will hate these days haha... but an active competition every month could be fun. Nothing serious, no prizes necessary, just to inspire people to get active and share methods, ideas etc. Works well on other forums. ??


5). The picture sizing is a bit of a pain, agree that smaller is better ( for jeffs crap connection lol ) but increasing the image limit I would agree with. This would make threads such as the Q&A Render gallery pretty impossibly to use though :)


6) Continuing from No.5... Maybe a Gallery section. There are a lot of handy pro-e people on this site who can produce great works, a gallery section would be cool. CP`s Q&A post is a nightmare to read through now considering its size, but some of the images and renders could be placed in a gallery... with link to the larger file sizes if people decide they want a rendered car as a desktop for example.


7). The "File" section could be encouraged for people to upload any of thier models for sharing / learning purposes. I have a few things I would happily upload ( for noobs :p )


Hmmm.... i will think of more no doubt !
 
Jeff, finally figured out what you meant. Had no idea this post was cross linked to the Rant & Rave forum. Besides not being able to edit, it is impossible to quote using this little trick.

Anyway, now that we CAN post comments, my #1 pet peeve is that there is no way to get straight to the new postings in the active topics. Other forums have a little NEW icon or whatever that scrolls through the post straight to the postings made since your last visit. On long posting that can save a lot of time scrolling down past all the stuff you already read yesterday.
 
While I agree with he comments on creating a how to section and increasing the quality of postings, what I would not want to see happen is where new users come in and ask an obvious question and they get blasted with "use the search!" with no real help. I've bee on too many other forums where asking a question is a calculated risk. Did I search adequately to avoid getting blasted? Those kind of laces turn into old boys clubs where no one new comes around because it's too painful.


how about a user admin board with broad, but limited, privileges over the Pro|E part of the forum? These are folks in the trenches, using the software and the forum and therefore better in tune with the users. If they had the ability to rename boards, add boards, merge boards, configure the site, move posts, change titles on posts, moderate posts, etc. it would become a better place for all. That's more traffic and more ad revenue for you too.
smiley4.gif



I'd like more control of my subscriptions. Now, a forum subscription gives me a notice of each and every post or reply, but nothing but the title. Not real useful. I'd like to see:
<UL>
<LI>The ability to only get notifications for new topics in a board not all replies. (but leave the 'all replies' option)</LI>
<LI>The text of the post in the notification or at least the first couple of lines</LI>[/list]


My ideal work flow would be to receive an email of a new topic. Scan the first few lines to see if I want to go to the site to read it. If not, delete and move on, if so I go read. If I want to keep track of replies I click the 'watch this topic for replies' to subscribe to the topic itself.


A couple of little things:
<UL>
<LI>Put the page count at the top and bottom of the post.</LI>
<LI>Increase the visibility of the 'Post Reply' button. Several times I've types a nice response and then hit the bold 'New Topic' button instead, losing all my work.</LI>[/list]


On this thread - by default, the email link takes you to the announcement area where no one but admins can post. As noted, if you 'sneak in' through another board (polls for example is where I came in), user can then post. I suspect that's the reason that folks can't edit is that once you post, it dumps you back in the announcement area (I'll check after I post this). Fix that, it's frustrating to be asked for feedback and not be able to give it.
 
Well, I was partly right. It does dump you back in the announcements area after posting. Navigating back through polls, I see the edit button, but clicking it takes me back into the announcements area where I have no permissions.
smiley7.gif



That's broken.
smiley21.gif
 
dgs said:
While I agree with he comments on creating a how to section and
increasing the quality of postings, what I would not want to see happen
is where new users come in and ask an obvious question and they get
blasted with "use the search!" with no real help. I've bee on too many
other forums where asking a question is a calculated risk. Did I
search adequately to avoid getting blasted? Those kind of laces turn
into old boys clubs where no one new comes around because it's too
painful
no doubt, this guy put it right. I do belive this is true essence of forum - You must be patient for fresh members.

For all mentioned above I would love to see extended member profile page. What I mean - I would like to see(without going into Search tool) all topic interested which, me member started and attended. For me it is so natural to expect that such information should be placed at profile window, I am still confused Mcad misses it.


The rest is up to users - youtube movies embeded, chats, challanges. etc - to use existing ways to solve their needs. I am afraid making a tool for everything will last with having a tool for nothing
 
I would like to see a "Click here to mark this message for deletion" link inside of each message that gets posted.


The readers could really help clean out unnecessary messages this way.


The admin would actuallly do the deletion if he agreed that the message can or should be deleted.
 
Eliminate those threads / posts with "email me at ....... and I will send you tutorials & stuff"


These are very annoying.


Ifthat personreally wants to sharehe/she can upload the files here or to a share file site and post the link here.
 
The edit button is not working, sorry for double posting.


One more thing : I for one don't like the same thing over and over, I like changes and new stuff in every area of life, so I would like to see a site design change..
Edited by: cdtoad
 
Maybe we could have a "sticky" section entitled " Commands & Thier Descriptions " or something which gives simple descriptions of every command in Pro-e. Starting with even the most basic which would help new users.


I ask this because, most days I seem to read about and find new commands which I have previously not been aware of.


?
smiley9.gif
?
 
I dont think I am the only one who has troubles uploading files ??... Everytime I try to upload the page ends up failing.


Give it a kick up the backside ?
smiley36.gif
 
The search on the site is now using Google's index. Now when you search for a term using the search box at the top the request goes out to Google and returns what Google has in it's index. Pretty simple change over.:)
 
Add a General Discussion Page. Maybe we could discuss films, sport, interests etc and allow the members to get to know each other a little more to increase friendly activity around this place
smiley4.gif



I started a thread about the HULK in the modelling section...regarding other packages such as Maya, but without a " General " thread its difficult knowing if and when you should post such things, without heckling from the other members for blocking up the modelling pages with Crap
smiley36.gif
 
Not a bad idea, but instead of 'General', call it 'Off Topic' since you're talking about stuff not related to Pro|E. General could still imply that it's related to Pro|E, but in a general way.
smiley17.gif
 
Guys,


If you look at Eng-Tips, they have a few areas that are similar (General/Off-Topic) to what you are talking about, and mosy users make a lot of use of these areas.


Many informative and helpful discussions have started with a flipant/funny question. (Even here discussions on aircraft and moving runways lead to quite a few disparate ideas, all entertaining)


Or to put it another way, sign me up, sounds like a good addition to the site


Kev
 

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