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The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the XOOPS developers, core team, or membership. Please take them as such.
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Many members of this site have exerted an enormous amount of effort in trying to make XOOPS as user-friendly as possible. There is an abundance of information available on this site that, if used, will answer the vast majority of newcomer questions. The problem is, the resources are not getting used. There are still a lot of forum posts that ask questions that have either been answered in the documentation and FAQ, or have been answered several times in the forums.

I realize that to some, there is too much information on this site and that sorting through it all can be tedious and quite time consuming. However, it’s these already answered questions that are flooding the forums and making it increasingly hard for members to get answers to questions that *haven’t* already been answered.

I’ve been trying for some time to come up with a suggestion for presenting the documentation in a more noticeable, more user-friendly way, but the truth is, the Admins have done a great job. I mean there the links are at the top of the page on the left side. The search box is on the top right side. It’s really not that hard to find the information.

To the newcomer,

It’s understandable if you are nervous about working with Xoops. At first it can seem quite overwhelming, especially if you are unfamiliar with web design. However, as someone who has dedicated an enormous amount of time over the past few years learning web design, I can assure you, XOOPS is the easiest way to get a site online fast.

If you are completely new to web design, I highly recommend that you take some time to learn a few basics before you begin working with Xoops. While every effort has been made to keep things simple here, there is still a lot of language used that someone who is unfamiliar with web design will most likely find very confusing. I recommend visiting http://w3schools.com/ to get your feet wet in the basics. To get started with Xoops, all you really need is to have a basic comprehension of what HTML tags mean. You don’t have to know how to code a site by hand! Of course, a basic knowledge of CSS and PHP would certainly be helpful as well, but baby steps first. As you work with Xoops, you will learn more.

All the information you need to work with XOOPS is clearly documented on this site in the FAQ, on the Xoops Documentation Site, or in the Forums. Based on my experience, the vast majority of the time, you will get your questions answered faster, and you will learn so much more if you just use the resources that have already been laid out for you. Of course, nothing is perfect and there may be a time when you cannot find a solution to your problem in the resource that are available, *that* is what the forums are for.

In short, if you want to have a website (Xoops or otherwise), you are going to have to invest a little time into it. If all you ever do is copy and paste the answers given to you in the forums, you may never learn anything. If you take a little time to do some homework, you’ll find that you’ll be better equipped to get the most out of Xoops, and eventually you’ll be able to help others.

/2¢

Very well put. I do believe this should be stickied at the top of nearly every forum.

We have already had stickies like this, jackj did a good one months back, cblue and others. I have thought about writing something similar to this, but realised, it soon gets below the attention level and "the blank page ..." questions are back. It's an ongoing challenge to present well managed information so that users can find it, even without looking, because some users, simply panick and call for help.

Maybe a shortened version of this post inserted as a pre-screen page after pressing NEW TOPIC? make it available to all users below 50 posts. Mmmm... I wonder how many people would abandon unnecessary posts?

Anyway, thanks JMorris, you have expressed the feelings of many, especially those who work hard to serve the community.

Quote:

I like the way you think! Probably wouldn't be that hard to change the New Post link to redirect to a page that listed a shorter version as well as the links to the appropriate documentation. Kinda like a "Have you checked here first?" page. Then, if the person still wanted to post, they could just click a "Continue" button. It would be a mild annoyance to some, but as annoying as redundant questions? Probably not. Perhaps the Admins will consider this modification.

BTW... Thanks for the kind comments guys.

yes nicely put indeed :) altho as said, it'll probably go un noticed. some people even missed the big blue words at top saying Download HERE to get XOOPS lol.. maybe we shud issue people with contact lenses too.. lol

but it's definitely frustrating repeating the same questions and seeing the same questions asked over & over again..

Quote:

totally agree. the "blank page" problem is the most popular question here.. XOOPS core staff should do like what you've suggested.

If you can boil it down to a smaller paragraph, we can put it on the new topic/reply page with no problems (for all users, though, we cannot show or not show based on user posting without modifying the Newbb code - which we won't do )

Good points are raised but a common problem is most forums.

I have made use of the signature space to place some useful links so that others may notice them and read more. It is also a good reminder for an idiot like me

so something like ...
[quote] Before you post have you checked for a solution in

Xoops FAQ ?
Xoops documentation ?
Have you Searched the site ?

Or find a quick answer to the most popular issues here:

1-Blank page on site?
2- etc . etc maybe top 10 most asked Questions

Forum posts are usually answered with priority given to unique and specific questions not already covered before.

Save time and get the best answers from the above or

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

Couldn't have said it better myself, carnuke.

Mithrandir, thank you for giving this serious consideration.