Gentle Suggestion to Site Maintainer: Make searching more visible and easier to use!

[kleeman]

I don't know how many times I have answered threads on problems where the questioner has not "bothered" to search the forum for their answer. Often their answer is in a relevant howto or an easily found recent thread. Looking at the layout I think you could improve this situation by putting in a VERY prominent button at the top labelled

NEED HELP CHECK HERE FIRST

Under this could be at least the following:

1) A link to the forum howtos
2) Easy to follow directions (and a box?) for searching
3) Link to the documentation wiki
4)???

[adwait]

Maybe a link to http://www.just****inggoogleit.com/ ;)

[GavinX]

I don't know how many times I have answered threads on problems where the questioner has not "bothered" to search the forum for their answer. Often their answer is in a relevant howto or an easily found recent thread. Looking at the layout I think you could improve this situation by putting in a VERY prominent button at the top labelled

NEED HELP CHECK HERE FIRST

Under this could be at least the following:

1) A link to the forum howtos
2) Easy to follow directions (and a box?) for searching
3) Link to the documentation wiki
4)???
This makes total sense. I've seen what you have said a million times. Also, some posts do not have appropriate titles. As a result, when one does a search it becomes very difficult to identify a relevant post because of inappropriate titles. I believe part of the solution lies in two things 1. On the forums pages, a link to posting guideline should be displayed very prominently 2. giving moderators the power to delete and lock threads which do not conform to the posting guidelines. Among other things, the guidelines should specify making titles of posts appropriate, avoiding cross-posting and instructing persons to search before posting.

[kleeman]

Maybe a link to http://www.just****inggoogleit.com/ ;)
Very funny :) :) but I think user friendliness for the forum would reduce the need to bark google it and rtfm at new users....

[adwait]

Yeah.....I know how everyone makes a big fuss about ther user friendieness of this forum, both inside and outside the Ubuntu community. :) I was just kidding........(ok....well maybe sometimes you really feel like shouting @ people asking questions which have been answered right ABOVE their post)

[az]

wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDocumentation

and wiki.ubuntu.com/forum



Post your answers to repeatedly asked questions there. It is a knowledgebase.

USE IT!

[ubuntu-geek]

I don't know how many times I have answered threads on problems where the questioner has not "bothered" to search the forum for their answer. Often their answer is in a relevant howto or an easily found recent thread. Looking at the layout I think you could improve this situation by putting in a VERY prominent button at the top labelled

NEED HELP CHECK HERE FIRST

Under this could be at least the following:

1) A link to the forum howtos
2) Easy to follow directions (and a box?) for searching
3) Link to the documentation wiki
4)???
Hello,

We actually do link to the wiki in the upper right hand corner of the forums website. From the forums main page you can then navigate to the distro and select FAQ/HOWTO or any other category you may wish to visit.

I do agree the search button could be bigger, I'll work on that.

[kleeman]

wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDocumentation

and wiki.ubuntu.com/forum



Post your answers to repeatedly asked questions there. It is a knowledgebase.

USE IT!

I have no problem doing this azz :smile: :smile: :smile: , the issue really is will the newbies look there too since they are obviously not looking at the forum howtos! It's all about better communication....

[GavinX]

I have no problem doing this azz :smile: :smile: :smile: , the issue really is will the newbies look there too since they are obviously not looking at the forum howtos! It's all about better communication....
I agree.

[az]

I have no problem doing this azz :smile: :smile: :smile: , the issue really is will the newbies look there too since they are obviously not looking at the forum howtos! It's all about better communication....


Ah!


The point is for people to use it too, when answering a question. In the same way that people use a quick reference to the Ubuntuguide.

There is no limit to how detailed this knowledgebase can become. The page will also be as user-friendly as the contributers make it. It is already pretty nice and it has just gotten started!

[hod139]

Hello,

We actually do link to the wiki in the upper right hand corner of the forums website. From the forums main page you can then navigate to the distro and select FAQ/HOWTO or any other category you may wish to visit.

I do agree the search button could be bigger, I'll work on that.

I agree, the search button needs to be larger/more prominent. It took me a few minutes to try and locate the search feature the first time. I would expect (hope) more people would search first if the search feature was easier to locate.

[matthew]

I agree, the search button needs to be larger/more prominent. It took me a few minutes to try and locate the search feature the first time. I would expect (hope) more people would search first if the search feature was easier to locate.
I just noticed it is now on the information bar just below the title bar and tabs. Looks good.

[kleeman]

Hey Ubuntu-geek looks a lot better! Thanks for listening! Some linking of the search area to the forum howto list and the documentation wiki would also be useful IMHO.

[hod139]

Hey Ubuntu-geek looks a lot better! Thanks for listening! Some linking of the search area to the forum howto list and the documentation wiki would also be useful IMHO.

I agree, in addition to the User Documentation Wiki (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDocumentation), you might also want to add a link to the Ubuntu Guide (http://ubuntuguide.org/)