New forum...

[Mr Cob]

Well, we do need to compromise somewhere though. We are talking about adding an Education button and a Newsletter button. That means we need to remove some buttons, otherwise we quickly end up with a cluttered menu bar.

To remove the Chat button and Blog button does not mean those features will be gone from the site.

Please remember, not everyone surfs the net on the same screen resolution or browser. If you put your browser to 1024 x 768 and are on a standard 17" monitor you will quickly see there is not room for 2 more buttons.

Try this: Make your MAAST browser window "free" and size it to something smaller and see what happens to the menu bar. Pretty nasty.

[Europhyllia]

Blog can go
What's New can go (it's the same as Forum so sort of redundant)
Or fine you can sacrifice chat...

[StevenSeas]

i think theres a better more simple option:
everybody just get a better bigger screen and fix your resolution to make it fit. that way we can fit everything this wonderful club does on there.

just kidding of course. But I agree with what Karin said about which buttons can go

[Mr Cob]

Personally, I feel that the top menu bar should relate to our Mission Statement and be a useful navigation tool to the information people NEED. It's what people see first when they come to the site.

Chat is one of those social features that in part could add to some of the problems we had with getting approved for Non Profit. If we focus on structuring everything around education then we will have less problems in the future and our statement will be clear. It's been a bit blury in the past.

That's my opinion.

[Mr Cob]

"What's New" and "Forum" are not the same.

"What's New" shows anything new on the site...including blogs, posts/threads, galleries etc... "Forum", lists all of the forums...Not post/threads.

[Europhyllia]

That's a good point Rob about the education part. I definitely like that Education and maybe even Newsletter buttons will be added.

I still think Blog and What's New would be the buttons that can be dropped. What's New is the same as Forum and like you said nobody blogs.

To me Chat and Forum are just two different vehicles for conversations to take place. Like I can call you on the phone or I can mail you a letter. In both conversations I can convey something equally educational. Chat isn't necessarily more 'social'. It just makes it easier to discuss certain subjects because of the immediate nature of response (hence the phone versus letter analogy) ;)

[Mr Cob]

Just keep submitting ideas...the Board will document and weed through our mess...LOL!