New How-To guide for Ubuntu 10.04, How about a new layout for the Forum?

[tom.swartz07]

Just as a thought- perhaps with the new Ubuntu Guide coming out, we could re-organize the forums here. Everyone seems to have their own 'special guides' and are very knowledgeable about certain aspects. Perhaps we could shuffle things around so that one doesnt have to dig into peoples signatures for helpful guides- we could just make an area of the forums for how-to's, and feature it on the Beginners board.



I thought of this today as I was looking at a thread about Grub configs. Drs305 seems to be a veritable genius when it comes to Grub2 configs. I have some great experience walking through Ubuntu installation/Dual Boots and getting grub to work with them... Im sure still others have expertise in other areas.

What if we made a How-To board, so that beginners could 'self-help' themselves to get through. It could be plain, laymans terms- many times ive seen people scared by the ubuntu documentation, just because its so verbose.


What do you guys think?

[ugm6hr]

I started a How-To stick for beginners some time ago http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=801404

However, keeping the links up-to-date is very difficult. The same applies to most of the Ubuntu documentation projects everywhere.

These days, we try and encourage users to use the community wiki - at l east the wiki format ensures that maintaining the information contained within https://help.ubuntu.com/community

[fancypiper]

I still have trouble re-finding a howto. The BBS search function isn't the best in the world. I get better results searching google than with the BBS search.

[sdowney717]

there is so much searchable old information on the net that either never worked, or no longer works. It is quite tough and wearying to sort it out.

[MasterNetra]

+1 For there being a How-To section. Which should be made up of sub sections to help narrow things down. ^.^ Let people who make the how-to's post they're own thread and let them manage it themselves.

[tom.swartz07]

+1 For there being a How-To section. Which should be made up of sub sections to help narrow things down. ^.^ Let people who make the how-to's post they're own thread and let them manage it themselves.

Just what I was thinking. If we make it so that its a 'breadcrumb trail', users could follow the symptoms and self diagnose. Perhaps it could even be featured in the Beginners Guide as a stepping stone?

I was completely unaware of the Wiki also. Perhaps one of the Mods could post a sticky about heading there?

[Warpnow]

a HowTo prefix for threads would be neat, as you can search by prefixes.

[fancypiper]

a HowTo prefix for threads would be neat, as you can search by prefixes.+1

Perhaps it should be also be checked by an administrator before the post is permanent.

[tom.swartz07]

+1

Perhaps it should be also be checked by an administrator before the post is permanent.

+1 again!

Thats an even better Idea!

That would even allow the forum admins to just collect them in a simple search, rather than having to compile them on a batch scale.

"Masters" of a topic could post a How-To, with the [how-to] prefix, they could be put up to a vote on usefulness or have an admin check them, then they could be moved to a dedicated section.

[ugm6hr]

"Masters" of a topic could post a How-To, with the [how-to] prefix, they could be put up to a vote on usefulness or have an admin check them, then they could be moved to a dedicated section.

Unfortunately, this will not work as you hope.

See the Tutorials Section: http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=100

It was started, and continues to be, a resource for How-Tos ONLY, and all posts are checked by a moderator before being included.

We also try and move old / outdated tutorials to the Outdated section - http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=255 - but this does not stop users from finding them and continuing the threads.

It is also impossible for the moderators to personally check that each Tutorial works, since many of them only apply to specific hardware / desktop environements etc.

The idea of the "Start here" thread wad to try and link to all those resources that are appropriate for beginners - and I think that it still serves that purpose. If you find any links that don't work, or are irrelevant, just report the post with a comment of what's wrong, and we'll correct it.

As you can see, this idea has been considered, but it isn't easy to keep a contemporary list; there is a Beginner Team who are involved in helping out in the ABT sub-forum. It might be worth seeing what their opinions are regarding common uestions etc.