2011-02-02, 12:19 AM
This is the forum I created as a place to support my plugins, as well as receive feedback and suggestions on them, and handle bugs and new features, as well as take requests.
http://mattrogowski.co.uk/plugins/
I chose this design as I think it's quite easy on the eyes; it's clear, and easy to read. I like dark themes but some are too dark and make you have to strain your eyes to browse them for any length of time, which I don't think is an issue with mine. The header banner is something I just finished tweaking, I'm not 100% sure on it yet but I'll see how it goes.
One thing I'm expecting comments on is the fact that each plugin has its own forum, which I don't think any other plugin forum has. There's two very good reasons for my decision to do this.
The first reason is that all the other MyBB plugin sites I visit have the same problem. You load the forum, and then have to search around for where the plugins actually are. You might find a forum on the index, or there might be more than one (paid/free etc). Once you go into the forum for plugins, you may have to go into another subforum, or into a subforum for each category of plugins. Then you have to sift through the list of threads, some of which are release threads, some are support threads, some are suggestion threads, some are bug report threads... then you finally find the thread for the plugin you want, but you may have missed something else you might have wanted to find. When I visit a plugin site, I want the plugins to be available to me as quickly and as easily as possible, and that's what I've done here. On the first page you load, you get a full list of all the plugins on offer. Right underneath it, there's a link to download it, and a link to report a bug. All on the index, you don't have to look anywhere. This also means that you may be looking for one thing, and find something else you didn't know about, because it's all there in one place on the first page you load. There's also a plugins list page where you can find all the plugins, with an information page, and download link, all in one place.
The second reason is that everything is far better organised. All the threads on a particular plugin are in the same place. Having a release thread for a plugin, and then managing all support, bugs and suggestions/feedback all in that thread becomes impossible, and if threads about the plugin are scattered across different forums, it makes it even harder to keep track of them. On MyBB Central for example, some release threads got so huge that people can't find any useful support information from them, so end up asking the same questions again, and again, and again. With my setup, every support issue is in it's own thread, in the forum for the plugin. Suggestions are also handled in the forum for the plugin, with prefixes for support/suggestions to differentiate them. I can also post general Information threads, sneak preview threads, whatever, and it's all organised and easy to find what you want.
The plugins page I linked to above just pulls information straight from the MyBB Mods site, and downloads come from the Mods site too; saves me having to update the information and download in two places every time I release something.
That's about it really, the rest should speak for itself. I'm quite happy with the look of the forum right now, but I'm open to suggestions, and really just want to try and raise awareness of the forum. Oh, and before anyone says to have a theme that matches my main site, I don't want to do that, as they're separate sites that happen to be on the same domain.
Any comments, questions or whatever are welcome.
Thank you.
http://mattrogowski.co.uk/plugins/
I chose this design as I think it's quite easy on the eyes; it's clear, and easy to read. I like dark themes but some are too dark and make you have to strain your eyes to browse them for any length of time, which I don't think is an issue with mine. The header banner is something I just finished tweaking, I'm not 100% sure on it yet but I'll see how it goes.
One thing I'm expecting comments on is the fact that each plugin has its own forum, which I don't think any other plugin forum has. There's two very good reasons for my decision to do this.
The first reason is that all the other MyBB plugin sites I visit have the same problem. You load the forum, and then have to search around for where the plugins actually are. You might find a forum on the index, or there might be more than one (paid/free etc). Once you go into the forum for plugins, you may have to go into another subforum, or into a subforum for each category of plugins. Then you have to sift through the list of threads, some of which are release threads, some are support threads, some are suggestion threads, some are bug report threads... then you finally find the thread for the plugin you want, but you may have missed something else you might have wanted to find. When I visit a plugin site, I want the plugins to be available to me as quickly and as easily as possible, and that's what I've done here. On the first page you load, you get a full list of all the plugins on offer. Right underneath it, there's a link to download it, and a link to report a bug. All on the index, you don't have to look anywhere. This also means that you may be looking for one thing, and find something else you didn't know about, because it's all there in one place on the first page you load. There's also a plugins list page where you can find all the plugins, with an information page, and download link, all in one place.
The second reason is that everything is far better organised. All the threads on a particular plugin are in the same place. Having a release thread for a plugin, and then managing all support, bugs and suggestions/feedback all in that thread becomes impossible, and if threads about the plugin are scattered across different forums, it makes it even harder to keep track of them. On MyBB Central for example, some release threads got so huge that people can't find any useful support information from them, so end up asking the same questions again, and again, and again. With my setup, every support issue is in it's own thread, in the forum for the plugin. Suggestions are also handled in the forum for the plugin, with prefixes for support/suggestions to differentiate them. I can also post general Information threads, sneak preview threads, whatever, and it's all organised and easy to find what you want.
The plugins page I linked to above just pulls information straight from the MyBB Mods site, and downloads come from the Mods site too; saves me having to update the information and download in two places every time I release something.
That's about it really, the rest should speak for itself. I'm quite happy with the look of the forum right now, but I'm open to suggestions, and really just want to try and raise awareness of the forum. Oh, and before anyone says to have a theme that matches my main site, I don't want to do that, as they're separate sites that happen to be on the same domain.
Any comments, questions or whatever are welcome.
Thank you.
