RMweb Groups

[Kenton]

Tried again this morning and the Join button doesn't work - Firefox latest version.

I get the cursor change to a hand over the "button" but clicking on it has no effect and there is no url link in the context bar unlike all the buttons that do work.

 

I wonder if this is because it uses the blog format (or that is what it appears to be using) and that doesn't work very well either.

[Jamie]

The GROUP idea looks interesting right now, but as more are added they will surely become lost in the mists of time without the aid of an index.

 

Yep, there is an index... I stumbled across it at some point: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/groups/glist/0-all/ should be it.

 

--

 

What I intend to do is join the groups of most interest, and then 'Suscribe' or 'Watch' the group forum, such that if stuff appears on that subject I should get an email notification and be able to find it. Of course it relies on topics being created or moved into that group, but could be quite a neat way to find stuff you want to read, quickly.

[Kenton]

(sorry Kenton, not getting at you but whth is a 'tag cloud'? PS I am familiar with Tags, even the computing kind as opposed to the railway kind, but not how they get into clouds)

Sorry - it is another one of those terms that is pervading the IT and other business communities. Everything is now handled in "clouds" ... I guess it comes from "blue sky thinking"

 

Tag clouds have been around for several years and have evolved (slowly by some forum providers) as a means of indexing. A graphic panel is displayed with the key index words that are most common (for example) in the index. There are many other statistical weights that could/should be applied. So an example might be in a post about LMS coaches in a thread where the main topic might be Liveries the words "LMS" and "coach" are tagged by the poster. This selection should be as simple as clicking on / highlighting the words. If LMS becomes say the most tagged word then in the "cloud" image it is presented as the largest word. Clicking on that word in the image could produce a list of the topics where it occurs or takes to another cloud image where the words listed are weighed by some other statistic and "LMS" presence. It can be extremely sophisticated or simple - but is very intuitive to use. They are very good in computer based diagnosis and situation analysis.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_cloud

 

A bit basic, and concentrates on the social media side of word grouping. In wider application the "tag" does not have to be a word in text and can be any object / event / relationship

[Penlan]

It seems we have lost Area Groups, which I found useful for local information etc.,

now it looks as if every topic and his dog is going to have a Group as well as the Topics on the main Forum.

 

I see The Noble Realm has made an appeal to stay seperate, and at present it's still there.

 

I want to post something for WAG members as it's a local interest item for them, but now apart from setting up a WAG group, and really that should be divided into North, Cambrian and South Wales, I shall have to post elsewhere.

 

OK, I agree I could put it into Exhibitions, Events & Club/Society Info - Non-modelling Events part of the Forum,

but that would rely on the WAG people looking there or like a lot of us, under Active Content.

 

I dip into The Noble Realm on a regular basis, because it's the area I'm stuck in,

no matter what the interest / topic (and keep an eye on CK).

[Andy Y]

I want to post something for WAG members as it's a local interest item for them, but now apart from setting up a WAG group, and really that should be divided into North, Cambrian and South Wales, I shall have to post elsewhere.

 

You can still post in the same area which can now be found at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/140-archived-group-posts/ but it's still a mix of all of the Area Groups until each one steps up to have their respective Group and I move the topics into their relevant Group. Once those who are interested do so it will be easier to find the WAG stuff than it was before.

 

 

 

[Penlan]

Many thanks Andy, I've sent a PM to br2975 as he seems to be the pro-active resident WAG member, refereing him to this thread,

 

Penlan

[br2975]

Many thanks Andy, I've sent a PM to br2975 as he seems to be the pro-active resident WAG member, refereing him to this thread,

 

Unfortunately, I'm a simple minded soul, and don't quite grasp all this - compounded by lunch in 3 minutes.

 

Do I just open a new 'post' for WAG matters ?

 

If so, where ?

 

Sorry to sound 'dull' but many of us who use this wonderful forum aren't necessarily 'IT savvy'.

 

Brian R

 

Off to lunch now !

 

Many thanks Andy, I've sent a PM to br2975 as he seems to be the pro-active resident WAG member, refereing him to this thread,

 

Unfortunately, I'm a simple minded soul, and don't quite grasp all this - compounded by lunch in 3 minutes.

 

Do I just open a new 'post' for WAG matters ?

 

If so, where ?

 

Sorry to sound 'dull' but many of us who use this wonderful forum aren't necessarily 'IT savvy'.

 

Brian R

 

Off to lunch now !

[The Stationmaster]

Sorry - it is another one of those terms that is pervading the IT and other business communities. Everything is now handled in "clouds" ... I guess it comes from "blue sky thinking"

 

Tag clouds have been around for several years and have evolved (slowly by some forum providers) as a means of indexing. A graphic panel is displayed with the key index words that are most common (for example) in the index. There are many other statistical weights that could/should be applied. So an example might be in a post about LMS coaches in a thread where the main topic might be Liveries the words "LMS" and "coach" are tagged by the poster. This selection should be as simple as clicking on / highlighting the words. If LMS becomes say the most tagged word then in the "cloud" image it is presented as the largest word. Clicking on that word in the image could produce a list of the topics where it occurs or takes to another cloud image where the words listed are weighed by some other statistic and "LMS" presence. It can be extremely sophisticated or simple - but is very intuitive to use. They are very good in computer based diagnosis and situation analysis.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_cloud

 

A bit basic, and concentrates on the social media side of word grouping. In wider application the "tag" does not have to be a word in text and can be any object / event / relationship

 

Thanks Kenton, I think I sort of understand it (mind you at least the Tags used on BR were very explicit about where something was going, whatever it was).

[Penlan]

Unfortunately, I'm a simple minded soul, and don't quite grasp all this - compounded by lunch in 3 minutes.......Sorry to sound 'dull' but many of us who use this wonderful forum aren't necessarily 'IT savvy'.

That's why I threw it your way, I'm even more non IT.

But I'm sure some nice man will be along in a minute to explain, point etc.,

 

Penlan

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

andy, on my ipad if i click the "groups" tag at the top of the forum i do indeed get the list of groups but in a different format to ypur screengrab.

 

however if i click the "groups" sub forum futher down the page all i see is something similar to what dave777 gets (protected forum) you can see dcc sound and archived posts as little clickys under "group subforums" but groups has no groups listed but says "no posts within the timescale" or words to that effect

 

i think im using safari on the pad?

 

Might be an Ipad thing Jim - I'm using Safari on a Mac and have just managed to join a group although i did have to click the icon a couple of times and things were very slow (and my 'puter is hard wired to the router).

[shortliner]

Andy - I think that problems are being caused by this

 

 

which seems to be totally divorced from this

 

 

which seems to be the only way into the new groups section - TBH I hadn't even realised the second was there until you pointed it out - there is certainly no way in from the "Groups" section at the bottom of the page (at least not in IE8) - and like Pennine I never use "active content" or "new content" either - I just click in the section I want to view

Best

Jack

[buffalo]

...whth is a 'tag cloud'?

 

Mike,

 

To see one in action, take a look at the 'Showcase'. You'll find one about half way down the right hand column. Wave your cursor over it slowly and see what happens. When something gets highlighted by a surrounding box, you can click on it and get to the relevant entries.

 

Nick

[Jamie]

Aha, Andy (a member of all groups) opens "Groups" on the forum index, sees a whole list of groups to choose from. (as post #39)

Shortliner (I think a member of no groups) opens the same option and sees no groups (as post #63). Dave in post #40 has the same view.

 

Now I try the same (as a member of only some groups) and see: only those groups which I have joined.

 

 

Only accessing via the tabs at the top of the page gives you access to all groups, it would seem. Once you join them they are added to your view of the forum index.

[Andy Y]

Thank you Jamie, that had never occurred to me and I've just tested it; you're absolutely right.

 

I now need to consider that.

[coachmann]

Having used Internet Explorer browser, I have just downloaded OPERA. The 'Join Now' to the RMweb GROUPS is now live.

 

Not only that, I now see all the Gallery pictures at the top of the front page, and Recent Status Updates do not disappear when I scroll down the page. It features a spell-checker and is much faster.

[Dagworth]

When I click on the Groups tab at the top of the page the page loads but is showing an error message at the bottom of my screen.

 

 

I'm running IE8 on Windows Vista home basic.

 

Andi

[Kenton]

Only accessing via the tabs at the top of the page gives you access to all groups, it would seem. Once you join them they are added to your view of the forum index.

That's the way I went in - but still the button does not work.

This must be a simple software fault on the system for the join button as I can still send posts and PMs.

 

Looking at the code for the page it looks like there is a href missing

<li id="showHiddenContent"><a title="Join Group"><img alt="Join Group" src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/public/style_images/master/page_white_add.png"> Join Group</a></li>

[eastwestdivide]

Another minor layout thing with the groups: at least with Safari 5.05 on a 1280x1024 screen, the Groups navigation panels (Group Navigation, My Navigation)...

 

 

mean that some pictures get horizontal scroll bars:

 

[Penlan]

eastwestdivide, I don't understand these groups, you are showing screen shots which presumably are in the UK Standard Industrial Rlys Group, but when I click on that group it tells me there's no news articles yet.

 

However on the left hand side there's 11 Latest Posts, which if I click on the top 'Latest Post' takes me to a Topic started in January 2011 'South Wales Ind......'. All under the banner of UK Standard Industrial Rlys. Presumably that's been extracted from wherever it was before, because these Groups are only a couple of days old.

 

I have IE8 and I too have horiz. scrolling to do.

[Andy Y]

Presumably that's been extracted from wherever it was before, because these Groups are only a couple of days old.

 

That's correct, the existing topics were moved over there this morning.

 

Re: scrolling, I'll need to go and try and find that specific example but it could be an off-site image that's greater than the available width on your monitor.

 

 

 

[Pennine MC]

Agree about IE6 - obsolete, but corporate standard for many I'm afraid

 

I wouldn't bust yer balls over fixing it, loads of stuff round here doesn't display or work properly on IE6.

 

Andy knows about this, but my work browser is effectively unusable for this forum (though not others) - on average it crashes the whole browser on two out of three threads I try to open. Like you I'm resigned to it, and I do tend to waste less of my lunch break

 

IE6 ... Microsoft ... claim less than 1% share a couple of months ago -

 

I find that hard to believe, given its corporate usage

 

. What it should do though is encourage more diversity of content than repetition.

 

 

Oh I do hope so!

 

Ditto, it should be possible to keep track of things like the chromatic blue myth within the transitions liveries group, though no doubt folk will still ask about it in the main forum

[The Stationmaster]

Mike,

 

To see one in action, take a look at the 'Showcase'. You'll find one about half way down the right hand column. Wave your cursor over it slowly and see what happens. When something gets highlighted by a surrounding box, you can click on it and get to the relevant entries.

 

Nick

 

Thank you Nick - fascinating (and I've had to take another pill as a result of looking at it). But seriously I now have, I think, got the idea - it's catching the b*ggers that's the awkward bit

[Coombe Barton]

I do not see many companies stuck on IE6, despite what has been claimed here. If you're tied in with Microsoft you're bound to keep up to date otherwise many of your other processes just will not work.

[DonB]

At the risk of upsetting AndyY and very much tongue in cheek the advent of Groups with a view to "encouraging diversification" cause a couple of industrial similarities to spring to mind:-

1) Divide and Rule

2) Decentralisation

In the case of the second, should we start a sweepstake on how long before Groups begin to be merged / amalgamated?

 

Sorry...spent too much work-time getting re-organised...and it is Andy's Train SetWeb site!

Got me coat.....off to a Luddites AGM.

[eastwestdivide]

That's correct, the existing topics were moved over there this morning.

 

Re: scrolling, I'll need to go and try and find that specific example but it could be an off-site image that's greater than the available width on your monitor.

 

Yes, but in the "non-groups" forums there aren't any "navigation" panels on the right taking up the horizontal space. I don't think the example in my screenshot is an off-site image. If you click it to enlarge, the source shows:

<a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[393730]' id='ipb-attach-url-98514-0-16897400-1305831979' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=98514" title="CIMG0378.JPG - Size: 1.37MB, Downloads: 6"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_05_2011/post-1599-0-59124100-1305112584_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-98514-0-16897400-1305831979' style='width:800;height:600' class='attach' width="800" height="600" alt="Attached Image: CIMG0378.JPG"

 

I think that code means it's been resized to 800 wide. On a 1280 screen the available width for the "meat" of a groups post (i.e. not taken up by the left hand margin for poster details and the right hand margin for the navigation panels) is about 762 by my rough measuring.

On a non-groups forum and a 1280 screen, the corresponding width is about 1000px (i.e. 1280 minus the width for the posters' name plus normal vertical scrollbars).

 

that screenshot was the last page (post 203) of the 9-page South Wales thread (at least at the time of writing)

 

Does that make sense, or am I barking up the wrong tree?