Subject:
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Re: Site change suggestion
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw
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Date:
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Thu, 29 Jun 2000 10:07:50 GMT
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Viewed:
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702 times
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs writes:
<snip>
Great thread. A few points off the top of my head, no order...
<user hat on>
Fred Gloeckner's comments aside (let's face it, he's way smarter than most of
us at using these tools) LEdit is hard to use if you're a mouser. To be fast
with it, you need to memorize commands (which I use too many different programs
to do) and be a fast touch typist. My brain is too small for that.
SO having the first thing that newbies find be something that sells them LEdit
and LDraw is just flat out wrong, IMHO. Get them hooked on the format with one
of the much easier to use programs. Such as MLCad.
On the other hand, making the site MLCad focused per se is also wrong. It's
great, it's my favorite by a lot, Mr. Lachmann is a god among men, but there
are other good programs out there, other approaches.
Balance is needed. Organise things so that newbies find their way to the good
easy to use stuff and get hooked, but that all the info is there. In fact, the
"getting started" section should offer alternative ways or paths... one for the
mouser which most of us at this point are and one for the power keyboard user.
On the site itself changing to use fancy stuff.
<system architect and UI expert hat on>
Don't do it.
It's not worth it for the sizzle, and if you're doing it for other reasons,
look into content management systems. There are freeware macro language
extensions that will, for example, let you create and maintain commonly
included things like button bars, the banner at the top, and so forth, *once*,
and include them where they are needed. They generate straight HTML once you
run them through a processor.
Going down a proprietary content creation path is tempting, especially if you
want to learn how to use the tool. Go do that on your own site. Don't do it on
a site that is maintained by others as well as you. Don't do it on a site that
may have high traffic, and that may have users who are differently abled or who
have less capable hardware than you do.
Stick to the standards, avoid gadgets, avoid java, avoid javascript, avoid
flash, avoid media player extensions. Make sure that you are not excluding
users if you can avoid it. Make sure that you are not excluding contributors if
you can avoid it.
My opinions. Not everyone agrees but it's what I advise my clients too.
++Lar
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Site change suggestion
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| (...) Yes. (...) Yep. That's the concensus which I gather from this thread - it needs a good balance between the new and the original, for both types of users. (...) Yeah. After Kidvention, when I start doing some changes to the site, I will (...) (24 years ago, 29-Jun-00, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Site change suggestion
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| Despite the fact that ldraw.org is a site about ldraw, the fact is that any new user trying to build models would almost certainly be better off running MLCad than LEdit. It's user-friendly, and Michael keeps adding more cool new features. It's my (...) (24 years ago, 28-Jun-00, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
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