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Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=43813		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  LanceK [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:21 am ]
Post subject:  Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
I wanted to get a little feed back on a few OLF items.
We have been using the same color scheme for a good long time.
It has served us well. Easy to read and easy on the eyes. Also, it has become recognizable
as the OLF texture so to speak.
With that being said, is it time for a freshen up? A color change? Any suggestions?

Secondly I would like to take about features.
Any good idea on added features for the OLF?
I'm open to discuss anything. For example, a real image gallery?
Maybe a page where each luthier can have their own bio, link to website, pic of guitars etc?
Featured builder each month with a Q&A session?
I am even thinking about staring a OLF Podcast.

I would like to move forward and keep growing. Keep adding things that we would all love and use.

So, in the spirit of that, let me know what you think! [:Y:]
Author:  Chris Pile [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
People hate change.
Author:  weslewis [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
Keep the color, yes to everything else. bliss
Author:  PeterF [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
weslewis wrote:
Keep the color, yes to everything else. bliss

+1 to that. Also a little niggle that keeps annoying me about this forum is that external links don't open in a new tab. Any chance of changing that?
Author:  LanceK [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
PeterF wrote:
weslewis wrote:
Keep the color, yes to everything else. bliss

+1 to that. Also a little niggle that keeps annoying me about this forum is that external links don't open in a new tab. Any chance of changing that?


Peter are you taking about the Sponsor links?
Author:  Colin North [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
PeterF wrote:
weslewis wrote:
Keep the color, yes to everything else. bliss

+1 to that. Also a little niggle that keeps annoying me about this forum is that external links don't open in a new tab. Any chance of changing that?

Windows? Right click and "open link in new tab"
Author:  Zac Stout [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
+1 on expanded profile pages and builder Q&A, I think those are both great ideas.

Color change? I could go either way. Fine the way it is but it wouldn't bother me if you switched it up either.

-1 on what Chris Pile said.
Author:  DennisK [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
PeterF wrote:
Also a little niggle that keeps annoying me about this forum is that external links don't open in a new tab. Any chance of changing that?

There are keyboard shortcuts for that. Shift+click to open in a new window, ctrl+click to open a new tab in the background, and ctrl+shift+click to open a new tab and switch to it.

My #1 suggestion would be to fix the touch() permission denied error: http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=563164#p563164

I like the current color scheme, but wouldn't be entirely opposed to changing it either. Maybe something inspired by the Super Mario World chocolate fortress? :D Slightly yellowish gray for the backdrop, and brown tones for the headers.
Attachment:
Cfort.png


For the image gallery, I would like if we could post comments on pictures. But it would need new programming of some sort to keep them organized, and I'm not sure exactly what the ideal interface would be. The forum interface as it is works well for posting and browsing, so it may be better to come up with an extension rather than a totally new image gallery. Maybe an "expand comments" button on each post, and a simple text entry widget for writing new ones? Or a hidden forum, which automatically creates a new thread for each post made in the image gallery. So when browsing the gallery forum, each post has a link to its thread in the hidden forum, where you can post comments via the normal interface.
Author:  Beth Mayer [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
Hi Lance,
I like the color scheme just fine. I may just be lame, but I often have difficulty finding threads via the search function. Often, I want to use a particular phrase but get all posts that have those individual words instead of the specific two or more-word phrase. Bet I'm just doing it wrong, but if not, could there be a search function that allows you to put a specifically worded phrase in and only get that result?
Author:  PeterF [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
LanceK wrote:
Peter are you taking about the Sponsor links?

No just any link that someone puts in a post.
Colin North wrote:
Windows? Right click and "open link in new tab"

I know you can do that, its just a bit annoying because most other websites do it automatically and I keep forgetting. I'm probably the only one though! :mrgreen:
Author:  Michiyuki Kubo [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
Lance I like all the ideas you just put forth. Right on!
Author:  Lonnie J Barber [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
Well I have this forum on Tapatalk on my iPhone. Tried to go here with my laptop the other day couldn't get in?


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Author:  Nick Royle [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
PeterF wrote:
weslewis wrote:
Keep the color, yes to everything else. bliss

+1 to that.

+2
:)

Podcast and featured builder could be linked... but then a video with the featured builder would be even better but rather more difficult. Not my place to say but maybe those sorts of things are best left to blogs that can be linked here? But maybe I'm lacking imagination.

As Beth said, a full on Google style search would be ideal!

Profile pages more like a social networking site? Not that I use such things. They could allow for individual "blogs" on some scale... Profile pages could be made ot be more of amarketing tool for the pros and experienced amateurs... Peronslised banners like Facebook "pages".

Ooh, I actually thought of a good one. A list of a user's build threads on their profile page. The user could self select a bunch of threads they want to show on their profile page?

I'll put my thinking hat on.. Right after I take my sleeping hat off! Good night
:)
Author:  StevenWheeler [ Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
PeterF wrote:
I know you can do that, its just a bit annoying because most other websites do it automatically and I keep forgetting. I'm probably the only one though! :mrgreen:


No you're not Peter, I've been meaning to ask Lance about this for some time now.
Author:  Tom Dowey [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
How to build page, an acoustic guitar from scratch.

I think it could drive people to the site. Realistically a person could probably navigate through the site today, as there is already plenty of information to be able to build from this website.

I am talking about a step by step approach. Almost a book online. You could also add some "how to" video links.
Author:  James Orr [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
A podcast would be fantastic. I don't know how much use the other features would get.

One thing that would be nice would be to clean up and organize the forum categories, keeping the most used up top.

Lately I've noticed that whatever rover.ebay.com is slows down page loads quite a bit.
Author:  Heath Blair [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
Can we go back to the previous OLF version? Call me sentimental.
Author:  PeterF [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
One more thing - threads on this forum never seems to appear on google searches. The only thing you can find is a link to the main forum. When you search a question in google, it will come up with links to individual threads to the AGF, for example. Would it be possible to do that here too?
Sorry I know this isn't really adding to the OLF, but it reminded me of the things that I wished were different... :)
Author:  dzsmith [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 6:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
I like the colors - easy on my eyes.
Author:  Lonnie J Barber [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
I don't remember how I located this forum. It's a lot easier to do on an iPhone then my laptop. That's for sure


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Author:  DannyV [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
I must be getting old. I like the familiarity of it all. One thing that I always thought would be useful would be a tool review sub forum. Never have I seen a group that has such diverse woodworking tool interests. From the most simple, time tested hand tools to the likes of CNC and beyond. I think it would be great to have a tool reviewed by someone who's opinion I respect and trust. Or if not that at least I would be able to ask them why or how come. We collectively got a lot of tools.

Still the only forum I have time for. Thanks again Lance!
Author:  Michiyuki Kubo [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
DannyV wrote:
I must be getting old. I like the familiarity of it all. One thing that I always thought would be useful would be a tool review sub forum. Never have I seen a group that has such diverse woodworking tool interests. From the most simple, time tested hand tools to the likes of CNC and beyond. I think it would be great to have a tool reviewed by someone who's opinion I respect and trust. Or if not that at least I would be able to ask them why or how come. We collectively got a lot of tools.

Still the only forum I have time for. Thanks again Lance!



I would like to second that a review area where people can add their own reviews on a product would be a good thing.

The how to build page would certainly help new fellows assimilate quickly. I think though it is a whole lot of work to be offered for free. People sell books and classes for that after all. I am not sure whats the answer on that. The tutorial areas should be linked in each section/step that is available.

I think a podcast is a fantastic idea, i listen to the fretboard journal one as sometimes they feature luthiers. To have a podcast focus more on the luthierie side is a small niche but has great opportunities as there doesnt exist one yet. We have plenty of people that can participate and would love to share their story.

A subforum with interviews or articles would be great it doesnt really have to be a subforum even just a page for resources.

A better search function (not sure the answer) I have tried to get some thoughts on this and failed.

I think its a balance between community and resource here at the forum and we have a lot of ways to take advantage of it to grow.
Author:  Mike Lindstrom [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
I also like the colors. If you were to change them, I'd vote for darker.

I also am irritated when I click a link in a thread and I lose my spot on the forum. I much prefer having extra tabs open so I can jump around and back easily.

And I've been frustrated with the search for years. Minimum 4 character words is a significant limitation. For example if I search for OLF MJ, there are zero results. Not very helpful to the people who bought the Stew Mac plans and are trying to read past posts so they aren't jumped on for failing to search.
Author:  Lonnie J Barber [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
Really? No wonder I've never gotten anything but zero results found.


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Author:  Lonnie J Barber [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:39 am ]
Post subject:  Thinking outside the box.. Adding to the OLF
I have an idea you may all laugh and that's your prerogative. If the experts would consider taking just one subject. Like for instance "putting a Radius on a fretboard".Kind of a basic "Primmer"on how to do it correctly. They could perhaps write something or accept a PM from someone who is doing their first.


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