Site Notes: Flat Mode, Forum, Printing, Vacation

Posted By: Ed Friday, May 25, 2001 7:08:20 AM

There is now a link for each article on the home page that will display that article in flat mode. This means that the entire text of the article and all comments and comment responses are displayed. The link is a small icon () just below the first part of the story. It's also possible to make this happen globally, so that all links to articles open in flat mode. This is one of the options that is set when registering for the site.

The Palm Infocenter Forums have recently been upgraded with many new features. These forums are the place to go to post questions and hold discussions not directly related to a current PIC article.

Ryan has also just added the ability to display articles in a form better suited to printing. This removes most of the advertising and all the comments. It is accessible by clicking on the printer icon in the Story Options and Comments box below the full listing of each article.

Ed will be on vacation in Florida from May 26 through June 2. Ryan will take a break from working behind the scenes to cover Ed's usual responsibilities of posting news. Site updates will resume on Tuesday the 29th, following the holiday weekend.

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Vacation

gpssks @ 5/25/2001 9:14:40 AM #

I hope you enjoy your vacation as much as I enjoy your site.

PatS

thank God for Flat mode from start page

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/25/2001 10:11:58 AM #

here here

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/25/2001 1:06:28 PM #

I agree. That's it. No really, I just wanted to actual drop a comment in this article that would need to use the Flat Mode. I'll bet everybody was hitting that little icon in this article fist then getting bummed out that there was no nested comments.

that's one good deed off the list for today!

BEAR

Have a good time

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/25/2001 10:21:06 AM #

Ed, have a good vacation. You run the best Palm info site around.... we look forward to your return!

Hallejulah!!

mikecane @ 5/25/2001 11:53:38 AM #

I've got the Print Mode I've longed for. But even better, there's now the global Flat Mode!! Thanks, Ryan! Have a good vacation, Ed! (I myself will be offline all Memorial Day weekend.)

Print mode: Awesome!

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/25/2001 12:44:22 PM #

Thanks for adding the print mode. This is one of the features that make a good site great.

Forums

Cheetah @ 5/25/2001 1:07:07 PM #

The improvements to the forums are good, but I think most Forums of this type make a fatal mistake.

The goal of any Forum is to have a lively board and build a "community". The key to doing this is to have a large number of regular viewers and contributors.

However, almost all Forums categorize their Forum areas into subjects. The problem with this, is rarely does a Forum get enough critical mass to create a community and therefore they turn into ghost towns, with few visitors and fewer posters.

I think the key to this problem is to have a SINGLE forum where people can post ANY PDA related comments. This will create lively debates, and a high volume of postings.

Once the board gets more established and the number of posts increase to an unmanagable number for a single Forum, then the board can add a couple of other categories.

As an example, the most lively board I visit is a Cal Sports board at cyberbears.org -- go to this and select the "Growls" Forum from the main menu. It's relatively slow right now since this is the off season, but during the school year there are 100+ posts a day.

Although they have many other forums covering specific topics, they are relatively unused because there is not enough critical mass to make it worthwhile for anyone to check out on a regular basis.

Just a suggestion to get the boards going. 1 or 2 posts to these boards a week aren't enough to attract viewers and participation for me.