# No one is going to mention the new aquarium icons on forum home?



## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

I was debating whether to add them. What do you think?


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## Megil Tel'Zeke (Nov 7, 2005)

I noticed them. and I like them alot.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Still getting used to them. They might need a bit of discussing for some folks that are a bit slower like me  I finally figured out which threads had new posts and which did not.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

They jumped out at me as soon as I logged in :shock: ... I was like wow!

I like them, but it will take some time to get use to them.


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

I'm not sure it is easy to see. When there are no posts, the aquarium is empty. When there are posts, the aquarium is full of plants.


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Ahhh...now I get it.  I was trying to figure that part out!


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Gosh, I always log into the index (I'm a time stickler), so I haven't seen them.....


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

<clapping> I love them!


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## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

I thought it was a neat idea. I figured _you_ would have posted it under announcements or something.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Nice touch Art, but like Jan, I usually go into 'new posts' or the 'today's posts' links.


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## brad (Jul 10, 2005)

I like it. That sets it apart from other forums using the same skin. This way I don`t get confused about where I am.


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

That was the first thing I noticed yesterday afternoon when I logged back on. It takes some getting used to but I finally figured out the difference in the tanks just a few minutes before I found this post.

All in all, I think they are a nice feature that will set this forum apart from others.


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## Sully (Nov 11, 2005)

*Thumbs up*



brad said:


> I like it. That sets it apart from other forums using the same skin. This way I don`t get confused about where I am.


I agree, it makes the forum easier to navigate because everything is spaced out more, seemily. With the more space, and/or better design between the different forums, I can now actually read (easily) the different captions under each, and differentiate one forum from another. One of the reasons I avoid this site b/c of the difficulty to navigate, and read, even with the new posts option. It's just me though, no biggie. Great idea. I'm glad you did it. rayer:

Thanks,

Sully


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Thanks for your comments.

Sully, we are always trying to improve. What is it that is causing you difficulty in navigating?


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## Sully (Nov 11, 2005)

I think I got it. I've thought about it. And This is what makes it hard on the eyes. 

1) stickies - lots of good info, but whoa! 
2) on the main page of the forums under each description it has the subforums, makes the opening page daunting looking
3) Local Clubs - is spread out a lot.

So basically there's a lot of spread, and information. I'm getting use to it, but I'm still initially turned off to the site. hehe.

Hmm, what to do to fix it? :-k Isn't it possible to have something like what Plantedtank.net has for its site. For example, click on local petclubs/clubs/etc. and it's categorized by state, and then have the plant clubs within their respective state as a subforum. It's hard to look at the club stuff, and figure out what club goes to which state. I ended up clicking on several before I figured out which one was close to my location. This would take some cludder off the main forum page, and allow people more access to ask specific questions locally, and aids in promoting regional clubs. You know what I mean?

Second shouldn't _equipment _be under "advance topics" I was looking for equipment section expecting it to be around where "light and substrate" are located but found it in "general interest" section. Maybe DIY could be here are well. :-k

Third, stickies well I guess it's good for lots of information and helpfulness. And since someone mention the clicking "new posts" avoids this problem in another thread, I've haven't frequented specific sections to see the stickies as often. So that is not too much of a problem. But its still daunting. 

Forth, the sponsors for specific forums found in the General Interest section is way distracting. Can't we just put those sponsers on a banner? Oh, maybe they paided extra, I see.

Fifth, not sure about aquapoloza thingy. Seems like alot of more sorted, yet unsorted information. But great idea nonetheless. :-k

Mind you, I'm just responding to the question on what makes it confusing for me. And with my criticism I added suggestions to help clarify what would help me. These are suggestions, and nothing more. I shut up now:-$ I love the plantfinder, and it will always keep me coming back. 

Thanks,

Sully


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

If you wanted to get fancier, you could have a tank with a tiny plant in it next to a thread with one post, and the plant could get larger as the number of posts increased until the plant had filled the tank and was growing down over the sides.


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Sully,

I very much appreciate your feedback. I wanted to address some of your points.



Sully said:


> 1) stickies - lots of good info, but whoa!


I've heard this a lot here and on other forums. From my vantage point, there are some forums that do have a fair amount of stickies. I think the Aquascaping for has seven.

However, these forums have a lot of information that is very valuable yet can be easily buried within the forum. What moderators soon learn once taking on the job is how the same questions keep getting asked over and over again. Perhaps the casual browser doesn't see that as much.

In order to deal with this problem, stickies are used to concentrate information so that members don't have to post the same question over and over or to save them from having to search for the information. It is a matter of efficiency.

The above notwithstanding, I do believe that a sticky should only be used when having it is warranted based on the above. I will ask the mods to review their stickies to see if we can trim down on a few.



Sully said:


> 2) on the main page of the forums under each description it has the subforums, makes the opening page daunting looking


Would having subforums like the once under Site Feedback make things less daunting in your eyes?

Hiding subforums doesn't work because "out of sight, out of mind" kicks in.



Sully said:


> 3) Local Clubs - is spread out a lot.


What do you mean by this? The local clubs is not showing the forums by default. Only if you click on the arrow on the right, the forum list becomes visible.



Sully said:


> So basically there's a lot of spread, and information. I'm getting use to it, but I'm still initially turned off to the site. hehe.


Hmm... Would you have realized the scope and breadth of information we have if we presented only a small handful of forums?

I'm interested here. Are you new to forums in general? Planted aquarium?



Sully said:


> Hmm, what to do to fix it? :-k Isn't it possible to have something like what Plantedtank.net has for its site. For example, click on local petclubs/clubs/etc. and it's categorized by state, and then have the plant clubs within their respective state as a subforum. It's hard to look at the club stuff, and figure out what club goes to which state. I ended up clicking on several before I figured out which one was close to my location. This would take some cludder off the main forum page, and allow people more access to ask specific questions locally, and aids in promoting regional clubs. You know what I mean?


I do, but I would think that a long list of states is more clutter, not less. Typically, the clubs have names and a small description under the name. This provides information on the clubs and their location.

Moreover, the idea of presenting the Local Clubs forum by default in the "don't show subforum state" was to remove the clutter from the home page.



Sully said:


> Second shouldn't _equipment _be under "advance topics" I was looking for equipment section expecting it to be around where "light and substrate" are located but found it in "general interest" section. Maybe DIY could be here are well. :-k


Equipment and DIY are not in advanced topics because they are general in nature. Advanced topics is left for scientific discussion of the science behind some of the more general concepts. For example, lighting in advanced topics would contain discussions about wavelength, kelvin and their importance. Discussions about the so and so lighting fixture should go in equipment. Am I explaining myself correctly?



Sully said:


> Forth, the sponsors for specific forums found in the General Interest section is way distracting. Can't we just put those sponsers on a banner? Oh, maybe they paided extra, I see.


 I wouldn't say distracting, Sully. Why don't we say that their banner catches your eye more. These sponsors have generously decided to sponsor a forum that relates to their product or service. They are telling our members that frequent those forums that they care about them and APC.



Sully said:


> Fifth, not sure about aquapoloza thingy. Seems like alot of more sorted, yet unsorted information. But great idea nonetheless. :-k


What do you mean unsorted? The point of Aquapalooza is to be a more organized way to find planted aquarium sites. Do a search in Google and you'll see unsorted information. By having a human-edited directory, you are able to quickly find sites relating to what you are interested in.

Now, if you think we should add more categories to make it even more specific, that is another story. I would encourage you to help us out by submitting those that you are interested in and would like to see.



Sully said:


> Mind you, I'm just responding to the question on what makes it confusing for me. And with my criticism I added suggestions to help clarify what would help me. These are suggestions, and nothing more. I shut up now:-$ I love the plantfinder, and it will always keep me coming back.


I find your constructive criticism to be very well thought out and conveyed. And, I thank you for it. I truly wish more people would do the same.

APC is here for you. Please tell us what you like AND what you don't like. This helps us improve and make things better for everyone.

Thanks again, Sully.


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## Sully (Nov 11, 2005)

Art,

First off, thanks for taking my comments as just comments and suggestions. I've seen some suggestions in other plant forums "flamed down" because the moderators didn't like the ideas being tossed around. In my case, you took them for what they were. Thank you.

*Stickies* 
I've noticed some of the stickies have been gleaned off. Makes viewing each forum ten times better for me. I understand that was probably a difficult process because you are absolutely correct, lots of good information shouldn't be buried within the forum. This is no longer an issue for me.

*Main Page Subforums*
The subforums on the main page is visual pollution to me. This is because the subforums are spread out underneath each main topic horizontially, while the rest of the main topics are in linear fashion. I suggest putting the subforums in linear format to make it coincide with the main topic format and deleting the bolded word "subforums". 
_For example,_

General Plant Discussion
New Plants to the Hobby
Tank of the Month
APC Polls
Plant Identification
Aquascaping

Aquascaping Contest

Instead of what it looks like now: 
General Plant Discussion 
Subforum:*New Plants, *Tank of the Month, *APC polls, *Plant Identification
Aquascaping
Subforum*Aquascaping Contest

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_*Next*_, the first couple of times I visited the site, I was looking all over for the shrimp section. This is the result of scanning for the main bolded titles like "general plant discussion", and rarely reading the captions, and never bothering to read the subforums titles. Anyways, the shrimp interest has gotten large enough to possibly merit its own forum section; with a location for it right underneath "fish for the planted aquarium".

*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
_*Furthermore,*_* I suggest revising the legitimacy of having the following subforums*

PPS Analysis and Feedback - I noticed it doesn't get posted in often, and many people have turned to EI. Yet, I recognize that there may be some who are interested, and could use it. So I'm undecided whether or not I could recommend removing it.

Members Birthdays - nice that the site recognizes b-days, but how many people actually care to look or respond.

All of the Site feedback subforums
Since these bugs are hopefully few to none. I can't justify having subforums dedicated to each major component of the site. I think these Error reporting forums are checked enough by a moderator/administrator, and since there are few bugs/errors reported, then these postings can be addressed in promptly without having separate forums. 
I realize I might be getting confusing. This is what mean: how many errors are reported each day that warrant separate error reporting sections. I suggest having only one subforum for errors, or better yet, just let error threads be in posted in "site feedback" since that's what I imagine feedback is for.

*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
*Local and Region Clubs*
I didn't notice those open close tags, for the sections. Or maybe I did, because everytime I opened the site, it had the clubs tab open, and so I was scrolling down the main page for seemily forever. I closed it now, so that's not a particular issue for me anymore. Thank you for pointing it out.

I still believe that APC hobbyists would benefit with a forum section that says Local Clubs, Plant Societies, and Pet Stores with a List of states inside, then Plant Clubs subforums in each state.

_For example,_

Local Clubs, Plant Societies, and Pet Stores 
Alaska
Eskimo Plant Club

California
Scape
Coast

Delaware

This allows a hobbys to click on a state, where they would likely discuss topics like "where's the nearest co2 fill up station, find others near them, discuss local pet stores, etc." And while they are discussing these things in their state, they will notice that there are plant clubs in their state. They will click on the plant club subforum, and now they can now join and discuss plant club topics in their specific plant club subforum. Does that make sense?
And even if there are no clubs in a respective state, it allows people the chance to find people in their states to start a club ideally, if not, they will at the very least find the best pet store near them.

*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
*Those are my current suggestions.*

You adequately addressed the reasons for sponsor banners next to various topic forums. You also addressed, the issue with "science behind fertilizing, lighting, etc" stating that those topics where for the science behind those topics and not for "is this fixture better than this one" questions. I think someone actually renamed the topics to the "science of..." which provides a huge clarification. 
My comment on the Aquapalooza as "sorted, yet unsorted information" means that it's going to be a great resource in the future, yet, because as it is I see a collection of aquarium topics that are semi sorted. As you said, categorizing the topics is another subject and task. I'll have to ponder that one further as I've only visited Aquapalooza briefly, and immediately turned away b/c it was too much info with too many captions to read, and no topic struck out at me.

Those are my suggestions to help make the site more user friendly, and hopefully helpful for others. Thank you once again for listening and considering any of the above and past suggestions.

-Sully


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Sully,

Again, thanks for your extremely well thought out response. We will analyze your suggestions.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Interesting ideas, I wish others would offer suggestions when pointing out perceived flaws.



> I still believe that APC hobbyists would benefit with a forum section that says Local Clubs, Plant Societies, and Pet Stores with a List of states inside, then Plant Clubs subforums in each state.


Sully your location is not listed so for all I know you may be from a big state where club members will all be from the same state. However many of us also live in smaller states where clubs such as GWAPA and NEAPS draw from many states. Might we better served by regional subdivisions as used by the census bureau then by individual states for the US listings.

I do not think at this time splitting the 10 Local Club listings in to 50 State listings will reduce clutter but in fact do the opposite. In the State Listing proposal a clubs usch as GWAPA would need to be listed in the Delaware, Penn, Maryland, Virgina, West Virgina and Washington DC subforums.

While many of your suggestions are good and worthy of discussion and possible implimentation, this one I feel falls out of range for now. With a greater number of clubs the current design would become unweildly. Something to revisit when more people "see the light" and we need to distingush between the Northern Rhode Island Aquatic Plant Club and Southern Rhode Island Aquatic Plant Club.


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