[answered]Craven

The URLs you posted are for the titles.

I'll take the super-simplistic tack first, probably too simplistic, but bear with me...

Say that there is a "Color" category. It has 6 sub-categories, or forums; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple. You want to post something about... um... whether the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. So you click on the "Color" category. Hey, no "new topic" button! What gives?

"Color" is not a forum... there is no way to post to "Color." You have to choose one of the sub-categories, or forums. So you decide your question best belongs under "Green", and you click on that. Voila! A "new topic" button.

If you use the FORUM INDEX, you shouldn't have any of this confusion, because all of the sub-categories, or forums, are all laid out.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/index.php

sozobe
http://www.able2know.com/a-fun-games.php
is what I'm clicking on and don't find a new title button.

The category group on my screen appears in the following order as:

Fun & Games (title of category) (Can't access)
Jokes, Riddles, (has new topic button)
Trivia & Word Games, (has new topic button)
Fun & Games category at the bottom of the list This is what I'm clicking on and it has no new topic list but does show posts of members on a variety of topics with "reply" buttons available.

On the Education & reference category URL that I posted, it is the last of a series of topics at the bottom of the list in the following order:

Education & Reference (can't access)
Reference, English, (new topic button)
Other Languages, (new topic button)
History, (new topic button)
Education & reference category (no new topic button)

I may have figured out the cause of the problem. Is it possible that the last sub-topic in each of the above topic categories (in bold) should not be listed on the main selection screen? Was the last sub-topic on the list somehow left on the screen or added in error?

If you will look at the main topic category screen you will see what I mean.

BumbleBeeBoogie

Can you point me to the "main topic category screen"? I think that will explain everything, when I know what you mean by that.

A review of terminology:

Category is the larger unit. It contains the smaller unit, called forums. I have also been calling them sub-categories, but they are more properly called forums.

So all of the items in bold in your post above are the equivalents to "Color" in my example. You can't post to "Color"; you can post to "Green." (You can't post to "Education and Reference"; you can post to "History.")

sozobe
sozobe, when I look at the main topic category screen, I notice that all the topic category list boxes have repeated the category topic name at the top of the box and at the bottom of the box as well. Why? That's what is confusing because it appears as though it is a sub-category topic.

BumbleBeeBoogie

Again, can you point me to the "main topic category screen"? (An url.) It will help me if I know what you mean by that.

sozobe
Sozobe, ask and you shall receive:

http://www.able2know.com/index.php

BBB

Thanks, BBB.

First, I will reiterate that I really recommend that you look HERE:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/index.php

It's the same idea, but much more intuitive.

More in a minute, but please please click on that url.

OK.

The screen that you mention is a little counterintuitive if you don't know the terminology. Again, remember, CATEGORY is bigger than FORUM. There are multiple forums within one category. Following me so far?

So on that screen, you see something like this:

General
Announcements, General,
Forum Help, General Category

The colors are approximations, but the first "General" on that screen is not hotlinked... if you click on it, it doesn't take you anywhere. It's just the word on the screen to organize the information.

Everything in dark blue is hotlinked... if you click it it takes you somewhere. It takes you to one of three forums that are within that category -- Announcements, General, or Forum Help -- and then lastly offers you the option to click on the "General Category", which gives you an overview of everything.

I'll pause here to see if you've clicked on the forum index url yet...

sozobe
sozobe, that URL shows the problem. It doesn't match the main category screen from the URL that I just posted. It even has the science and math category that doesn't show on what I call the main screen, which is what I use as it's the easiest and fastest index. That URL does not repeat the category topic at both the top and bottom of the list.

Shouldn't the URL page I sent you match the URL page you sent me re the category topic and forums lists?

BumbleBeeBoogie :wink:

No. They are different.

As you say, it really lays things out more clearly. I highly recommend that you use the one I provided.

Craven can go into why there are two different views of similar information -- I think it has to do with bots and what guests are able to see. But this one:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/index.php

Is much, much more useful. Probably why there is a link to it at the top of every message screen.

sozobe
sozobe, but when I click on "watch your posts" I am brought to the screen with the URL I sent you, not the one you sent me.

If the URL you recommend is the most useful, then why do we receive the URL I sent you when we are tracking our posts or threads by clicking on those choices?

When you log on to A2K and want to track your posts, which screen appears, the one you use or the one that appears on my screen (my URL)?

BBB

I dunno. That's where it gets into asking Craven.

I think both are useful. But for your specific confusion, the one I recommend lays things out more clearly. No?

Oh I didn't see the additional last line.

Here's what happens with me...

I don't log in every day. I have my computer set to remember me. What I have bookmarked is the "new posts" url. So when I arrive at A2K, that's the very first thing I see... the "new posts" list. If I want to start a new topic, I then click on "forum index" which is in black font immediately under "Search found __ matches." Et voila.

sozobe
sozobe, yes, your's is very clear.

But that doesn't resolve the question of why, when I log on and the "user panel" screen appears as in http://www.able2know.com/index.php, which does not lead me to your superior category screen. How does one correct that?

You are so sweet to pursue this for me - thanks bundles from Bumbles.

BBB

Hee hee.

Btw here's what I was talking about... not really that I set my computer to remember me. On this page:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/login.php

It has an option to automatically remember you or something like that. You can check it and then you don't have to log in.

As for the superiority, I think it has to do with breadth vs. depth. The page I talk about is very clear about one specific thing -- the forum index. That's all it has. The page you talk about has all kinds of different tools on it. I think it's just a matter of page design, how to get the maximum amount of info in a finite amount of space and make it all legible and user-friendly.

BBB,

It won't be corrected because it functions exactly as desired. ;-)

Everyone has to log in, people log in for many reasons. Some want to go to the forums. Others want to do something on the page they are logging in on. When logging in, the page one is directed to sometimes depends on the page the user is at. If you log in from the home page you are brought back to the home page.

To get to the page sozobe gave you there is a link at the top of every page labeled "Forums".

Ah, about the superiority of the pages it works like this:

For regular members the forum index is the best starting place.

For a new visitor the home page is designed to make more sense to the guest.

The whole idea for the home pages is to display the information they were looking for in a web serach and allow them to register easily.

Some people are here to post. Millions more are not. So what page is best depends on what you are trying to do on the page.

sozobe and craven
Ok, everybody, I've changed my A2K entry on my favorites list. It takes me to the forum index.

This seems to have resolved at least part of the problem and make it easier for me to be a pesky pain in the butt for everyone. :wink:

Thanks for all the help and for your patience.

BumbleBeeBoogie