HCI Issues

[Jerry]

I would like to suggest a change in the hierarchy of the home page.

Two module which appear to be the most used and more interesting are "below the fold" or low on the hierarchy: Recent Forum Posts and Who's Online.

I suggest to move the recent forum posts to the top right where the search module is and the who's online just below it.

[Ryan Lintker]

I know this is going to make me sound like a constantly antagonistic and pessimistic person, but having those modules at the bottom also force users to scan the whole page.  If it is a busy week in the news department and many news items are posted, important stories could be missed because of some quick clicking.  If just the headlines were offered at the top with the written stories completed below, then putting all of the most frequently used modules at the top wouldn't be as detrimental in the news story aspect.

[Jerry]

True, but you have to get someone to buy the paper first.

People who do not know these modules are at the bottom may never scroll to find them, and consequently may never be a part of the CAOS scene.

[Chris Swingler]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who rarely looks at the weather, uses the search, or consults the random event on the calendar.  I think it would be easiest to move the Recent Discussions up there, push those modules down below the fold, and possibly add a few more slots to the Recent Discussions.  I've also seen a few boards that have a full Active Topics page, where they drop a cookie on your system and then create a page of every discussion that has occured since your last visit, so you don't miss anything important :).  (The 68K MLA comes to mind, see http://www.literatureclassics.com/68kmla/active.asp.)

--Beanie