Looking for user feedback

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
I'm currently in the process of redesigning the front page. I personally think xoops is not the most attractive looking content management system, but it has served its purpose.

I would like to remove xoops in order to avoid any further confusion with multiple logins. Right now I feel as though SF is two sites; a news site and a forum. I would like to unify both and make a nice looking site designed in-house rather then rely on other CMS's.

With all that said, I'm looking for everyone's feedback on the list of items I will try to include on the new page.

News
On the front page I would like to retain all of the news we have gathered and allow for a new method of news management. I'm working with a new script for managing news, and I'm happy to say I found something useful. It has taken me a few weeks to find what I was looking for and the winner right now is ashnews.

In order to minimize different login's, my plan was to have members contribute news via a web form. The news will get sent by e-mail to the staff monitoring news, which is currently Cougtek and myself. With this system it would only require the news staff to remember an additional login and not the members.

Links & Downloads
Link management is another option. From the look of things right now, it doesn't seem as though the SF members use much of the current front-page features. (If I'm wrong, please let me know) Therefore I was going to invest/investigate in a new link managing system and carry over our current links that Cougtek has worked hard to establish. My goal is to find a system that has a user management system and we can establish a member or members to help manage it if need be. I would also create a web-based form for link and download submission, again reducing the need for any other logins.

Polls
I don't see the need for this right now. We currently have the ability to run polls on the main page, but have never done so. There are plenty of poll management scripts available, so if people feel this is important, let me know and I can fit one in, otherwise I will leave this option out. We do have the ability to run polls via phpbb, so we have something to use until the day comes where we need more.

Folding@home
This page is currently under research. I have not been able to successfully implement a dynamic page for members to customize their folding@ home systems. I have not given up, it will just take some time to figure out this page. Once I have developed this page, it can be linked off of the main page.

Chat room
There wasn't much feedback on this by admins, but out of the comments received, this feature will most likely get underused. I would like to enable the chat for the time being so that in the event an issue needs rapid response, we have a chat system for people to utilize at their convenience. The chat room will be php-based; in order to eliminate any possible conflict with OS's or web browsers.

Review Section
I would like to research a web-based system for managing reviews. I have not found one, but I feel this could be a helpful tool for the future. If people would like to see this option, please say so.

Site FAQ section
I would like to implement a FAQ tool for the site. I think this could be helpful in that we can manage the FAQ through the web, rather then editing an HTML page. If this is seen as a benefit, please let me know.

These are my current plans. Along with them will be a new design and a new logo. If anyone objects or thinks this is a bad idea, please say so. I would like to make look more professional, and also design it in-house rather then use a CMS.
 
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