The Acer Guy Forum » General Discussion
FORUM UPDATES AND SITE SUGGESTIONS
(13 posts)-
Posted by: Michael Walsh
Key MasterOK, here it is.
I have mentioned in other areas of the site that TheAcerGuy is due for a change and I've already signed off a few of the changes I want to make to the site but I'd really appreciate your help in making this a much better place to find info and support for Acer products.
The Forum has finally reached critical mass and is now the most popular area of the site with nearly 6% of all traffic (sounds small but it's significant) so it's the area where "functional" changes are imperative.
What are your thoughts and requests? What would you like to see here that isn't here now and how would you suggest improving the overall experience of this site as a whole?
Currently on the check list are:
1. RSS to everything
2. Email notifications of updates
3. Causes section (see link above)
4. Updated reviews section (see link above)
5. More emphasis on other social sites (YouTube, FB, Flickr, Twitter)
6. Much cleaner layout with improved visibility for key sections
7. Single sign on (Forum/Site)
8. Contextually relevant content plug-in
9. Beefed up forumPossibilities (wish list) include:
1. Personal info page for contributors
2. Mirroring of Acer drivers (headache but apparently feasible)I also want to open up the content for the Expert Voices section. I believe that the collective knowledge of the TAG community and Acer Support could provide an unbeatable collection of How-To videos/articles but I need to figure out how to open it up. There have been some amazing articles here that DO NOT get to the Home Page where they belong and I'd like that to stop so any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated.
Over to you...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Michael Walsh
Key MasterWhy is no-one adding to this post?
Ferry wrote to me with this suggestion that I think needs to get more attention:
"I think you need to start building forums like this http://www.asp.net/forums (this is the Microsoft standards forum). People can start gaining reputations by answering thread. Each post +2, if it's marked as answer +10. Ask a question +2, mark an answer of his post +1 and moderators get special points for his/her efforts."
Definitely something worth seeing here... (?)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Michael Walsh
Key Master@TechieDiva you took the words right outta my mouth... (rofl)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Starnamer
MemberI'm not bothered about RSS but would like the idean of email notification of threads I've expressed an interest in. I've seen this on the SQLServerCentral.com site. If you participate in a thread, you are automatically assumed to have an interest and get emailed, but you can also tag other threads to be notified about; for example, where you have a similar question, bt don't was to post a 'me-too!' message.
I also like the idea of mirroring the driver downloads (with suitable disclaimers, presumably) especially if they could be grouped by actual component and not just model number, e.g. the fingerprint driver o both the 8920G and 8930G and possibly others.
If you also add profile pages where people could set up the spec of their machine (i.e. model and sub-model number) so they could just get a list of the drivers they needed. Of course, perhaps Acer should be doing this, but unless, as has been mentioned elsewhere, they go to the same level as Dell, where each PC has a unique number which the web-site can use to list exactly what hardware the machine was shipped with, a TAG version maintained by the owner would have to suffice.
Of course, I've must say that I quite like the site as it as been so far, but look forward to any improvements you come up with.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Peter
ModeratorHaving a link in the top "main" portion of the website to the expert voices would help people find older articles.
I do like the idea of a more visible way of splitting the forums so it is easier to keep relevant topics grouped together. Which has the added bonus of the forums being easier to search with will hopefully mean not answering the same question over and over again.
The ASP forums are fugly. Please don't go there Michael!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Michael Walsh
Key Master@Starnamer Can you be a bit more specific regarding the "Areas" request?
Do you mean the possiblity of users starting a thread and creating their own section (like Tips and Tricks etc) or did I miss the point?
I've signed off the site updates and the forum functionality is the last piece of the puzzle so get your ideas in fast.
As far as User Profiles are concerned, that's something we'll probably look into for the next update (unless it's "relatively" cheap Lucia!!). Mirroring will take a LOT more work and I'm not sure if Acer will approve it. Still we could always lobby them...
Thanks for all your input so far!
Oh and @Peter, @TechieDiva, I agree with you 100% on the looks of ASP. Have already passed that on...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Peter
ModeratorWell we could always ask if we can have direct download links to the Acer servers for driver files.
But you're right, to do so would be a massive undertaking with very little real world benefit. It really isn't hard to go to one's respective Acer website and download the drivers and software for their machine. If someone isn't willing to do that then they are expecting everything to be given to them on a silver platter which isn't realistic and isn't something we should try to do.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Starnamer
Member@Michael. The "Areas" bit I mean is when I click to start a new thread there a dropdown box "Pick a section:[]" just above the [SendPost] button. Options are "General Discussion", "Problem Corner", "Advice & Sugestions", "Tips & Tricks" and "Smartphones". However, when you open "Forums" you get a combined list anyway, so I don't feel the sections are used; this is probably good in one way, as I don't think people always know which section someting should go into. For example, a recent question about a problem with BIOS passwords is in General Discussion, a query about hard drives is in Problem Corner and a question about display drivers is in Advice & Suggestions, but these are all people with problems to solve.
@Peter: To some extent, I agree that it's not that hard to go direct to Acer, but it would be helpful at times to have a list grouped by actual device (e.g. Validity Fingerprint sensor, which are common to both the 8920G and 8930G, at least). Sometimes a newer driver is available for one model but not the other, which presumably means it's just not been tested for all models.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: dacooner
MemberI think it would be pretty sweet if you guys did the driver download thing for example on my driver download site there are 3 different drivers for my crystal eye cam, each one from a different manufacture. It doesn't say on the site which one i should download. Unless I do some intense searching on my computer I wouldn't know. Some people aren't the smartest when it comes to those things especially since acer doesn't include a manual with your computer detailing all the specific hardware and their names included with your computer. Just my opinion.
Although it would be alot of work to make this come about. But if you did manage to do something like it or close to it I bet it would be better than Acer's.Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted by: Michael Walsh
Key MasterOK, I've taken stock of all your requests - now it's in the capable hands of The Blog Studio.
Thanks all of you for your input but please don't stop here. This is your place so anything that'll make it better works for me!!
Fingers crossed.
Posted 2 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.