New forums

[Algorithm]

Hello Everyone,

 

A few mentions have been made about adding some additional forums, for topics such as GUI Development, Site Comments and so forth. I would appreciate your input on what, if any topics you would like to see new forums created for.

 

Do you find the current structure just right, or do you envision some changes? Perhaps you feel some of the current forums could be combined, or possibly that no changes are needed at all.

 

Please share your thoughts, and we will go from there.

 

Thanks!

[yardman 49]

Hello Darrell:

 

Thanks for asking.

 

It seems to me as though we have a good selection of forums right now. But I'm certain that others may have opinions about making improvements.

 

The two that you mentioned may be useful.

 

 

Best wishes,

[Mark Sanctuary]

You know one thing to think of is the forum structure may want to parallel some of the Wiki structure (when we are done figuring the Wiki structure out). That way there is less thinking and more "learned memory" going on when looking for things.

[Illusion]

Darrell,

 

I think one more topic might be good to have: A forum topic.

 

I have an issue where all the topics and posts show as read, even though I did not view them. Each time I come back to the forum, any new posts that did not get read the last time I was here now show as read. I have found no way to mark topics as unread, and I am having to create a cheat sheet so I know what I have read and what I have not. (I am trying to read every post)

 

I had some questions about PMing but those got answered.

 

I was curious about how you guys were putting copied code into those nice little boxes. (you answered this for me in an unrelated post)

 

A topic dealing with forum related questions probably would have answered all these questions. As UD gets more main stream, and the customer base moves further away from the very technical customer and towards the common Joe, you will be encountering more people like myself. I am kinda new to forums, just realizing this year that that is where the best help in the world is. The downside is that I am having to learn how forums work as well as all the stuff I am going to forums for. You may not have the need for this topic right now as every one here is pretty darn forum savy. I would be willing to venture that most all users are registered on many other forums and have been part of that world for many years.

[Illusion]

P.S.

 

I have noticed that some topics are sized differently than the majority. IE: I am reading topic after topic, and I will come across one that does not fit on my page. Not a huge deal, but something that I would post in a forum forum.

[Algorithm]

Hello Illusion,

 

Thanks so much for your comments in the other thread and here as well.

 

Thanks so much also to Frank and Mark for your feedback.

 

We will be adding some new forums soon, and would appreciate any further comments from our users.

[Algorithm]

Hello Fellow Forum Members,

 

We would very much appreciate your feedback on the following:

 

With our upcoming release of ISY-99u (for UPB), there will be a need to add some UPB-specific forums. Some forums will of course remain common between INSTEON and UPB.

 

We would like to take the opportunity to also add a small number of additional forums that have already been mentioned in this or other threads.

 

Because our main forum page is already fairly long and we don't wish for it to become too lengthy, we would also like to consolidate a few overlapping forums.

 

There are potentially several different approaches possible, including a multi-level layout, and we would welcome any comments and ideas from our members. However, the current version of our forum software does not support sub-forums, meaning that a multi-level layout would require upgrading the forum software. This presents some difficulties which we would prefer to avoid at this point.

 

With all this in mind, we have created the following proposed layout, and would like to have your feelings, comments and suggestions on it.

 

The synopsis is, briefly, to merge the current Specifications & Release/Version Information forum, Current Beta Release forum, and Report Bugs forum to consolidate all release information into a single Current Release, Betas, and Bug Reports forum; to merge ISY Example Programs with How Tos to become How Tos and Tutorials, a place to share all your articles and examples, including example programs; to merge ISY Programming with Q/A to become Questions and Answers, the place to ask all questions (including programming questions) which don't fit one of the other more specific forums; to rename the Communications Errors/Troubleshooting forum to INSTEON Communications Issues since it's intended purpose is for device communications issues rather than network communications topics; and then to create a parallel section of the above for UPB. The X-10 forum will reside only in the INSTEON section, since it is ISY-26/ISY-99i specific, and Everything INSTEON will be renamed Smarthome Channel, also in the INSTEON section.

 

Next, a Common ISY Topics section will have the new GUI Development forum; the 99i/IR forum renamed Infrared (IR), since it is not ISY-99i specific but is shared with ISY-99u; the current Product Requests forum, and the Firewall Issues/XML Parse Error forum renamed Router, Firewall and Anti-Virus Issues, which is basically the place for network communications topics.

 

An Additional Systems section will include the present Linxu, MAC OS, Vista Media Center Plugin and UD Mobile forums.

 

The Third Party Products section will have the current ELK, interfaceGO and EZRain/EZIO/EZSnSRF forums; and the Developers section will have the Developers forum.

 

Finally, a new Site Comments section will have the Site Comments forum and a Coffee Shop forum.

 

The new layout will look something like this (click on the image for a larger version):

 

 

We tentatively plan to implement the new layout this weekend. Please do feel free to share your thoughts!

 

Thanks so much,

 

Darrell

[Illusion]

Looks good to me Darrell. I appreciate the forum forum.

 

Having read through nearly every post in the past couple of weeks, I really like the new format. I came across lots of topics that I felt were out of place. The INSTEON Communications Issues, forum is a great example of a solution to this. The subheadings should help to keep networking issues out of that area, making it easier for other to search for solutions to their problems before having to post.

 

Not too much constructive criticism here, It looks good to go to me.

[upstatemike]

Looks good to me. (Don't forget to put mControl under the third party heading)

[Zellarman]

I was looking for a place to post a question about a third party product not listed. Maybe there should be another forum somewhere probably under third party pruducts?

 

Now I'll post my question hoping it can be appropriately located, since I couldn't find a proper category for it.

 

I came across this line of products

http://www.controlbyweb.com

and was wondering if anybody has any kind of experience with them. I was thinking they might be able to be controlled through the network module. Looks like the X-300 could be used as the radiant heat thermostat I've been looking for.

[brad77]

Same here. Don't forget about the Conductor forums!