[jeffwhit]

So far so good I think, but I'm sure people are going to want some things adjusted along the way. Just thought I'd reserve a thread specifically for that purpose to replace the Local poll in the Alberta forum.

One thing we need now is for someone to start a Calgary Flames thread I think. I enjoy the discussion, but I find the Calgary Puck people generally take themselves too seriously.

Also, the "Art" thread should be moved over here now.

Could this maybe be stickied for a week or two?

edit: woo hoo! Thanks!

[You Need A Thneed]

Perhaps the main threads in each section should have direct links from the SSP Calgary page, to save clicks. Right now there's only 1 or 2 threads with any recent activity in each section, which means lots of extra clicks.

[M II A II R II K]

Perhaps the main threads in each section should have direct links from the SSP Calgary page, to save clicks. Right now there's only 1 or 2 threads with any recent activity in each section, which means lots of extra clicks.

Not sure that would be beneficial. Since that would only link to the first page of the thread and then you would have to click again to the last.

[You Need A Thneed]

Not sure that would be beneficial. Since that would only link to the first page of the thread and then you would have to click again to the last.

something has to be done to make the threads accessible from the main SSP local Calgary page, or I cannot support this change. I suggest following the suggestions made before this was implemented.

The way it exists now, is FAR worse then what had been until the change.

[M II A II R II K]

The proper steps were taken. There was a vote and the move for this change won by a landslide, and there was a discussion about the layout which was agreed upon before it was created.

If this proves to be unpopular it can be cancelled, but only after sufficient time has passed to make that determination.

[Boris2k7]

Mark, I'd like to thank you for the work you are putting into this. Although the Local could use a little tweaking still, most of my key concerns have been addressed.

Also, I didn't see if there was an answer to this one: does the forum technology allow for us to link from construction threads in this section to those in the Highrise Construction section (similar to if you click on one of the "moved" links)?

[CorporateWhore]

Well, not really a fan so far. I have to look at 10 different threads of topics that used to be covered by one. Seems rather inefficient.

[Wooster]

Well, not really a fan so far. I have to look at 10 different threads of topics that used to be covered by one. Seems rather inefficient.

I agree. I just think to simplify things, the main headings of each section - Urban Development and Transportation; Culture, Politics and Economy; and Photography should be the three sections total. No need to break it down further than that.

That would reduce the sections from 7 to 3 + portals

[M II A II R II K]

That can be done of course but that would deviate from the standard local format. Mike K. is the one that's actually responsible for this and I don't think he's even aware this change has occured.

We can give this layout some time, and plus we would need their involvement in this before we go any further.

[stamps]

I'm just a lurker, but I fail to see why a connect2edmonton portal is in a local Calgary forum, if the people in that forum want to make a link to come here then that is there choice, it just seems like connect2edmonton is getting free exposure at Calgary's and this sites expense....if it is really important to have a connect2edmonton link put it in the Alberta forum... I would also like to see a local sports section...just this lurkers 2 cents....

[M II A II R II K]

Sports is included in the culture and dining forum. I didn't want too much fragmentation.

[Boris2k7]

I think the weakest section is the Culture, Politics, and Economy section. I think you could merge both those subforums into just "Culture, Politics, and Economy" and they would do fine. (this would reduce the number of subforums from 7 to 6)

The Connect2Edmonton link being in Local Calgary is just weird.


There's a few threads that could be moved or stickied:

Calgary construction update for Nov & Dec (P&C --> Photos)
Calgary Future Skyline Renderings (sticky)
The Future of Eau Claire Calgary (P&C --> UD)
West End Redevelopment (P&C --> UD)
CALGARY DEVELOPMENT - Media Article Repository (sticky)
Calgary Forum Meets thread (sticky)
Poll: Calgary: Favourite of the big office proposals (General --> P&C)

Calgary Board of Education Centre (UD --> P&C)(Rename:)
CBE Education Centre | 61M | 12F | Under Construction

etc.


Giving us this revised layout (and I think we are starting to push it with the changes)


Urban Development and Transportation
Projects and Construction Updates
Urban, Urban Design, and Heritage Issues
Transportation and Infrastructure
Non-Development Forums (This name is a placeholder)
Culture, Politics, and the Economy
Calgary and Region Photos
General Discussions
Portals
Alberta
Canada

To me, this setup makes is logical (in the sense of ordering) while still offering flexibility. I'm not sure it needs more compacting than that.

[Boris2k7]

Alternative design using "standard" headings... (imo an inferior design to the previous one i posted).


Urban Development and Transportation
Projects and Construction Updates
Urban, Urban Design, and Heritage Issues
Transportation and Infrastructure
Culture, Politics, and Economics
Culture, Politics, and the Economy
General and Photography
Calgary and Region Photos
General Discussions
Portals
Alberta
Canada

If you look at it our Local, comparing it to the others, it already is much more condensed. Having only 6 subforums (with this change) would make it 2 subforums smaller than Local Halifax, which in turn is 4 subforums smaller than Local Vancouver.

[M II A II R II K]

So that just basically eliminates one forum and combine it with another.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[M II A II R II K]

Yea the latest active threads would be a good idea, but I'm not able to create those.

[M II A II R II K]

DONE






There's a few threads that could be moved or stickied:

Calgary construction update for Nov & Dec (P&C --> Photos)
Calgary Future Skyline Renderings (sticky)
The Future of Eau Claire Calgary (P&C --> UD)
West End Redevelopment (P&C --> UD)
CALGARY DEVELOPMENT - Media Article Repository (sticky)
Calgary Forum Meets thread (sticky)
Poll: Calgary: Favourite of the big office proposals (General --> P&C)

Calgary Board of Education Centre (UD --> P&C)(Rename:)
CBE Education Centre | 61M | 12F | Under Construction

etc.

[CorporateWhore]

Why not just have every thread pertaining to Calgary in one directory? Maybe I'm getting old but I dont see the advantage of having so many partitions for one city (especially when there are what, 15 solid regulars from Calgary?). It seems like over kill.

[M II A II R II K]

To have one single Calgary forum for everything Calgary would be the fall back option.

[CorporateWhore]

To have one single Calgary forum for everything Calgary would be the fall back option.

Seems to me like the most simple (but user-friendly) option. There's not that much Calgary stuff that it needs to be separated into a multitude of directories.

Then again, I remember when the entire site was one big directory, ha! I can understand why the site got chopped up, but after every division, people started paying less and less attention to what else was going on in the world or country, and were focused more and more on their own town.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[freeweed]

To have one single Calgary forum for everything Calgary would be the fall back option.

And a good one.

For instance, the only reason I even FOUND this thread was by random stumbling around through just about everywhere in the Local area, looking for threads that I've posted to in the past, trying to subscribe to them and see what that looks like.

I can tell you guys hands down, I never would find something like this normally. Unless every time I read SSP, I checked all 7 Calgary sub-sections looking to see what's in them. So would I then start posting suggestions to the Construction thread as a default? Maybe I'd hop into the Alberta section and make a new thread to bring up my concerns?

Hypothetical I, referring to people in general. Personally I'd be too lazy to bother. Maybe this change is all part of a master plan to get me to shut up for a change. :haha:

[freeweed]

Just wondering if anyone else who used tabbed browsing has noticed an explosion in the number of open tabs over the past couple of days...

[M II A II R II K]

Hopefully they'll put up that latest active threads thing soon.

[M II A II R II K]

Well we have a more consolidated layout now I would like to try out, maybe this will be more user friendly with less clicks and less dead forums.

[Bigtime]

Just wondering if anyone else who used tabbed browsing has noticed an explosion in the number of open tabs over the past couple of days...

You don't need multiple tabs if you just subscribe to the threads you follow regularly. At most I have only ever had SSP on two tabs.

[M II A II R II K]

Just got finished creating some sticky mega-threads for the different forums.

[Boris2k7]

Just wondering if anyone else who used tabbed browsing has noticed an explosion in the number of open tabs over the past couple of days...

Not really, I usually only have one open tab for SSP, except in cases where I am looking between the diagrams and the forums...

Otherwise, for me the process is as simple as:

- scan the main local for a general idea of where new activity is
- go into P&C, scan stickies
- go into T&I, scan stickies
- anything else after that

[M II A II R II K]

This has probably turned out to be one of the most user friendly locals.

[M II A II R II K]

Well that's cool. Guest viewers seem to be increasing already.

[M II A II R II K]

Another thing that I have done was to dig up old Calgary threads forumwide and send it here to the appropriate sections. This includes photo threads.

Many of the photo threads in the main City Photos section are long since buried and would never be viewed again. But I moved them all to this photo section, making it far more likely that they will be viewed again. But that's only for old threads. Recent threads are still in City Photos.

[M II A II R II K]

I have added a navigation bar at the top of P&C, I shall create one for the other 5 forums later.

[Surrealplaces]

I like CW's idea of one thread. Either that, or two section; a development section, and a section for everything else. I have no problem having a section with photos, and food and coffee, sports, etc.. all together.

Why not just have every thread pertaining to Calgary in one directory? Maybe I'm getting old but I dont see the advantage of having so many partitions for one city (especially when there are what, 15 solid regulars from Calgary?). It seems like over kill.

[Big Sky]

:previous: That would suit me too.

[M II A II R II K]

I will point out that this layout will remain for at least 2-3 months to see how it develops. What is expected is increased number of members and guest viewership, and maybe there would end up being enough of that to warrant having that many forums, but until that determination can be made this layout shall remain for now.

I've tried to be as accomodating and user friendly as possible, and I will add that this layout does provide more options, such as the option of posting in project specific threads in addition to the construction thread if further discussion is needed, and also allows for their to be more Calgary sticky threads. And when other categories of interest have new posts in them they are easy to access and participate in them, to name a few.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[M II A II R II K]

I don't think the "Latest Active Threads" is necessary with this layout, and that will only add clutter to the main page. It's a given that P&C and Transportation will always have new posts, but the others have new posts sporadically which makes for not much clicking into those sections, and plus I've made navigation alot more convenient with those bars I've added at the top.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[DizzyEdge]

Related to the locking of the obscure thread, would a sort of 'calgary skybar' thread be allowed? assuming it wasn't just random photos but basically just chitchat about random topics that don't fit in another thread?

[M II A II R II K]

Related to the locking of the obscure thread, would a sort of 'calgary skybar' thread be allowed? assuming it wasn't just random photos but basically just chitchat about random topics that don't fit in another thread?

There's a dedicated off topic thread in the main skybar, and a couple of others in the regionals, so it would be allowed here also.

They are for off topic casual discussions that come up at the time, but the key word is "discussions".

That obscure thread was basically spam where people posted in it for the sake of doing so.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[freeweed]

You wanna know why people continue to post random off topic nonsense in threads? Because everywhere else gets locked.

Seriously, that was dumb (even if the thread itself was equally dumb).

[Surrealplaces]

The more I surf through the Calgary SSP local, the more I like the local format. I still think there are too many sections and too many threads.

I'd like to see

- one development section containing the construction thread, along with specific project threads

- one general section for sport, food, etc.. Basically everything other than construction and development topics.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[Wooster]

Just make it two main categories:

Calgary Urban Development and Transportation (basically stuff about urbanism and the physical city itself)
- Construction thread
- Public Transit thread
- Ring Road Thread
- West LRT thread
- Calgary Area Regional Transit
- Individual Project thread
- Art thread
- Heritage thread
- Photo thread
- Calgary International Airport

General and off-topic discussion: (anything else)
- Sports threads
- Food and Coffee thread
- Economy
- Politics
- Random other stuff
- etc.

This would basically follow more along the lines of the Calgarypuck format - two primary sections: On Topic of the purpose of this specific forum an and Off Topic section where anything else can be discussed.

[freeweed]

What Wooster said.

[CorporateWhore]

Sounds good to me....let's make it crappen. How's in charge of this stuff around here anyway? I assume we don't go knocking on Dylan's door anymore.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[Surrealplaces]

while we're at t could make the construction thread, international airport thread, and the public transit thread into stickies within the urban development section?


Just make it two main categories:

Calgary Urban Development and Transportation (basically stuff about urbanism and the physical city itself)
- Construction thread
- Public Transit thread
- Ring Road Thread
- West LRT thread
- Calgary Area Regional Transit
- Individual Project thread
- Art thread
- Heritage thread
- Photo thread
- Calgary International Airport

General and off-topic discussion: (anything else)
- Sports threads
- Food and Coffee thread
- Economy
- Politics
- Random other stuff
- etc.

This would basically follow more along the lines of the Calgarypuck format - two primary sections: On Topic of the purpose of this specific forum an and Off Topic section where anything else can be discussed.

[Wooster]

I would sticky:

Calgary Construction
Calgary Public Transit
Calgary Roads
Calgary Photos

[WhipperSnapper]

The current setup works well given the forum traffic and number of projects. However, I don't really see it growing beyond what it is either.

Urbantoronto switched over to individual project threads with structured titles earlier this year. I find it much easier to navigate requiring fewer clicks as I only click on the threads that curently interested me. It effectively killed SSC Toronto and attracted entirely new audiences including investors. It does require a team of moderators mostly in keeping the investors in check. However, the investors have already attracted representatives of some of the city's biggest developers. It's no longer just a fan site and could conceivably influence future design (once the ridiculous market simmers down) Just something to ponder.

[Cowtown_Tim]

I'd like to see the changes as some have suggested already. The only difference is I would be happy with just one Calgary section having all the threads, and the four most popular threads made into stickys.

[Distill3d]

I think you should stop letting ex-Calgarians living in Vancouver into the forum....but wait...then I wouldn't be able to see whats happening in Calgary. Cancel that request...:haha:

[korzym]

-Having "Calgary" in every thread title is a bit redundant, your in SSP:Calgary...what city are you expecting to find?

-it would be rational to have the construction forum, transportation forum, and a third off-topic/politics/anything goes forum. When your in the construction forum, you can advertise links to the transportation forum better..place the navigation pane somewhere more prominent, etc.

[KONYS]

I also want to throw my support behind Wooster's idea of following the Calgary Puck format.

[Aegis]

Large images on Page 1.

They were much nicer than these tiny little renderings we have now. I genuinely enjoyed browsing the front page before, rather than the pop-up separate window renderings.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[Melroy]

I'm new here, but I'll offer my ideas. I would suggest having less sections, maybe only one section. I don't frequent this forum that often, but when I do I can never find anything, whereas if all the threads were in one or maybe two sections I could do a simple page search to find the thread I'm looking for.

[Aegis]

^Page 1 of what?

Sorry, should have been more clear. Page 1 of the Calgary Construction thread.

[Wooster]

So what happened to the idea of rejgging this thing?

[freeweed]

Got buried in cupcakes.

[DizzyEdge]

Is it possible to have the posting time/date beside the thread titles in the 'Lastest Active Threads' list? If you're checking a few times a day you'll know if one of those active threads has changed since you last visited without going into it.

[M II A II R II K]

Is it possible to have the posting time/date beside the thread titles in the 'Lastest Active Threads' list? If you're checking a few times a day you'll know if one of those active threads has changed since you last visited without going into it.

Not at this time, or we'd already have it, but it would be implemented as soon as there's a way.

[Vascilli]

I demand the hare thread be stickied.