Important Information Panel

It seems a bit ironic to me that all the information we really would like all new members to see is stuck in a tiny, unobtrusive panel in the middle of the right hand side.

Would it be possible to place it more prominently? What I think would be ideal would be at the top of the right hand stack, and perhaps with it's own style elements (different colors, fonts) to make it stand out a bit.

Even the new joiners who choose not to post Intro threads would be able to find the Rules and culture/etiquette of the site without having to ask for directions. And we already know that half the population would rather die than ask directions!

EDIT: About half the links in the Important Information panel omit the www from then URL. Clicking on those links cause the session information to be lost, resulting in "Not logged in" messages.

 

That, is so true

 

Also, perhaps we could add the FAQ to the Important Information pane (one-stop shopping )

 

I think that this would all be really good. As it stands currently, it isn't very noticeable and if it stood out better then maybe it would gain more attention and traffic from not just new members, but all members.

hehehe sorry, couldn't help myself

 

And while I'm picking on this poor little panel, I have always found the Support Us link confusing - it sounds like we're asking for money there. Something more like Recommend Us or Promote This Site might be more intuitive.

 

I actually agree with all of those suggestions, and I do remember that when I was looking for all of that information a while ago it actually took me a while to find it...

 

Yes, I get a lot of "Well how was I supposed to know that?" protests, even over issues that should be common sense (if there really were such a thing! )

If the Important information were more visible (anything short of LOOK HERE, STUPID! ) I'm sure we could avoid a lot of misunderstandings from the outset.

 

I have to agree, I think it would make life a lot easier from the offset as the newbies would know what to do straight away. I'm sure there are some members who've been here a while that haven't even read the rules yet.

 

To answer your questions: I didn't even know we had that information in the sidebar

 

That's a big improvement. Would it be difficullt to give the css class "important" something like a pale blue background so that one pane stands out just a little more from the rest?

 

I think that says it all, its a bit better now.

 

That's great! It still goes with the overall color scheme, but it stands out just enough to draw attention to itself.

 

Absolutely love that change.

 

I think that the change is great and definitely makes it stand out far more than before. It actually drew my attention as soon as I signed into the forum. So it has the desired impact.

 

I am really sorry to sound so stupid but what important informtaiotn panel are we on about ??

 

Right hand stack of panes on the home page, top pane. The one with everything a new joiner needs to know, even if they don't post an intro

 

Ow okii, thanks for pointing that out. I keep forgetting that you can actually scroll across the page, lol.

 

It looks good