Discussion re layout of site

G'day @BlueBells,

Good to read your post. Nik (from SANE) has told me that "we are coming up to a redesign of the Forums in a few months". And I think they might let me be a player in their "participatory design methodology". In anticipation it might be a great idea for you (and every longer-term Forum user you know) to think carefully about: (1) the sorts of features you've found valuable in other places; and (2) the sorts of features that you've dreamt about and would love to see implemented here.

Once thought out, please try to state your request as simply and clearly as possible in Plain English (not tech-speak). Perhaps give links to web-pages that illustrate what you're talking about. Try not to say 'how' you want things done but rather 'what' you'd like done. (Please don't be concerned if you don't understand what I mean by this).

And remember, SANE has (in fact all of us have) limited money and will have a budget to spend on an updated Forum. Plus this Forum has strong privacy contraints that don't always exist on other Forums (think of how risky it is to be on Facebook).

xNeil

G'day @Sahara,

I read you say "My rsi makes the continual scrolling etc too hard, so rarely come here " and wonder how you might be given easier access to this Forum.

To make my requests of others clearer (and way increase my chances of getting stuff) I've learnt to state 'what I do want' rather than 'what I don't want'. With RSI limiting your ability to scroll, is there some software feature you've experienced on another website that overcomes this difficulty for you? Might a different sort of mouse or trackpad or joystick or ... make scrolling really easy for you?

xNeil

G'day @Silenus,

I think I understand what you say because I also have an IT background but I probably don't have as much experience of Forums (does Whirlpool count?) as you and others do.

I suspect your suggestions, arising out of frustration, are pretty good. But if there's to be any chance of having this Forum become any more usable (at least by your and my standards [are we right?]) then I believe we need very much to be clear what we do want and not what we don't. To this end I'm very keen on not using expressions like 'look and feel' or 'thread' because these may not be understood by non-technical humans, and even you and I may differ in understanding what they mean. So if we want (and I very much do) other Forum users to submit and comment on change suggestions then I believe we owe it to them to use Plain English language that they will understand.

I hope we may eventually get a much more 'pleasing' (easy to use, ...) Forum but I'm not forgetting that each one of us will have our own idea as to what 'pleasing' looks like for us. While 'ideal' software is usually able to be adjusted to somewhat suit each individual; the ability to do this is expensive. 😞

I understand that the purpose of the SANE Forum is for Carers and Lived Experiencers to support each other. If the Forum facilities interfer with the achievement of this purpose or, worse still, frustrate users such that they don't use the Forum, then this is unfortunate and disappointing.

Onwards and upwards. xNeil