Some forum suggestions. And what about the site?!

This forum is very nice, i like it a lot! ;D

But there is still many things that i would be pleased to see: :

1. The forums:

a 10 most recent posts button and a re-arrangement of some forum topics:
delete “abandonned topics” like:
-JSR-134 Discussion
-Writing Emulators In Java
-Development Related Services
-Java Media Framework
-Java Community Process

The “Jobs Board” & “Your Resumes Here” don’t seem very usefull. And don’t really belong in a forum in my point of view.

Merge similar topics like:
-“Networking” & “OnLine Game Development”

Add a “Other programming related stuff” or “Misc” for questions concerning applets,threads,swing stuff,databases… (And every possibly deleted topic! :P)

Change the “AI” to “AI & Algorithms”
Change the “Game Physics” to “Physics & Maths in games”

2. Make a site! Not only a forum!!!
   Where you could have:
   -news
   -Java demo of the week
   -articles & tutorials
   -ressources (graphics,sound,code libs…)
   -showcase
   -previous & present contests
   -book & software reviews
   -a job/resume section
   -links

All this would really be so great! : really

isn’t it? (well, exept for some “to-delete-topics” where you may disagree)

1. I disagree on deleting some forums, but I agree some could be merged.

2. It requires a lot of effort to contionusly produce content as you describe. I’ve said it before and probably sound like a broken record but a Wiki would let us, the community, create and update content.

I think MisterX is right - there are just too many forums. Merge/delete would help.

I don’t agree.
Well distinguishable forums help keeping it organized which helps in searching stuff for example.

The main forum page should fit on a singel screen w/o scrolling.

A single page might be pushing it, unless you arrange things in several columns or something.

I’m undecided about removing forums. There may be some that don’t have many posts in them now, but doesn’t that just mean they’re easier to look through and have lots of expansion potential for the future? ;D

Maybe the most popular forums could be moved up to the top or something instead? :-/

yup. just look at the forums over at flipcode (http://www.flipcode.com/forums/). crap

gamedev on the other hand has too many forums, but then again you only check those you are intrested in.

[quote]A single page might be pushing it, unless you arrange things in several columns or something.
[/quote]
I think, it would already help to reduce the height of the heading, the action bar below the “Javagaming” heading and the Java advertizing below that. These three regions already take half of the space of my screen.

The blue metallic bar at the top of the page has no function and could be removed completely. That “Hey sma you’ve 0 messages” could be merged with the (not that great looking) heading. The actions could be condensed or even moved to the bottom or the side of the page. With the exception of logout I never clicked on one of the actions. The “discussion forums” title doesn’t need an empty line below it. And so on…

This is version 2 of the javagaming forums, and I have some ideas I’d like to get some people’s thoughts on:

1. The forum is using YaBB. I know there’s other forum software out there… is anyone aware of Java-based, perhaps a servlet-based forum software?

Personally, I’d prefer to see the forum move to PHP-based software, such as PHPbb. That’s my current favorite and what I’m moving my own forums to in the near future.

2. The site: oh yes do we need this. We need a repository of all the information that we’re all creating/distributing/learning… and there’s a LOT of it. I’m so impressed with the helpful nature that most of our members have, and the vast amounts of arcane tidbits of info no one would expect that we all share. Eventually I’d like to see articles written by any and all of us, no matter how small or how arcane. I heard something about a Wiki, would that allow users to post docs to the site?

3. CHAT CHAT CHAT CHAT CHAT CHAT CHAT CHAT!!!
   I know about the IRC room. Been there, till my mIRC client ate itself recently and I haven’t reinstalled. Not enough people, and no link on the forums… means that few if any will go there. Chris and Jeff, what will it take to get a chat system (preferably Java based) as part of the site? I know that for myself I would love the opportunity to talk to many of the members here on java-gaming.org in realtime.

I’d love to help in any way I can. This site is VERY important to me and I’m very thankful to be a member here.

[quote]I heard something about a Wiki, would that allow users to post docs to the site?
[/quote]
Yes I think so, but I find a Wiki tends to be a bit disorganized… It would be worth a shot though.

Way back when the previous software was being retired, phpBB2 was also considered, but YaBB won. I don’t personally see much reason to change to different forum software at this point, and see little benefit in changing to a servlet-based solution. The problems this board has are not deficiencies with the software, but lack of time/resources for the admins to tweak it.

There was a chat application on the site at one time. Actually, it was removed within about 15 mins! ;D We never did hear anything back about that, did we? (time/resources…)

Wikis are great fun, but do require quite a bit of administration. At the moment I see that as a major barrier to implementation! (time/resources… ::))

As there seems to be something games-relating going on at JavaONE, my hope is that after that event the Sun execs will provide some company resource to handle things like this site. If nothing happens then, we’ll have to ask for a few external admins to be appointed, to take some of the load.

Oh, if anyone reading this wants to know what a wiki is, check out the Wikipedia:

It’s a very professionally run wiki, probably the largest and most ambitious one constructed. Well worth browsing, and very easy to add to.