Organizing Your Boards

[myke]

When creating, and building a Proboard, one of the trickiest things to do is to figure out what order to put what boards. There really is no set standard, but there is logic.

When creating your boards, it is always a good idea to have a board for new members. In that board you may have a set of rules posted, an FAQ, and even encourage new members to create welcome threads, where they can introduce themselves and other members of your ProBoard can introduce themselves to the new member.

When creating a board like this, where is the logical place to put it? In the middle mixed with your other boards, or at the very top, like a first stop for new members as they scroll down? The top it is.

Ordering your boards is very important. Unorganized forums with boards of different subject thrown carelessly throughout the forum in different categories can be unappealing to new members, and even to present members.

So if you're going to have an introductory board, the top is the best place to put it.

But what other boards could you have in that category? You could also add your general talk area to that category, if you have a themed board (a board other then a general talk forum). You could add your suggestions board (if you choose to have one) to that category. If you choose an extra board to post your rules, or your FAQ, or anything you want new members to see, you should have them within that category.

So, what comes next? If you have a themed board (ie: wrestling, Harry Potter, Coding & Graphics, etc.) you should but your themed boards in the next category. If you have a themed board, members are likely to register based on interest of your theme, so that should come next, the next stop for members. Remember to stay true to that category. Nothing else in that category should go there except boards based on the theme of your ProBoard.

Next, if you choose not to add a general board into your welcome category, you could have your general category. There you could have your off topic-general talk area, you could have a board for word games, you could have misc. television and film discussions, etc.

Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg, as they say, when it comes to all of the different types of topics that you can have on your ProBoard. The important thing is, when creating and building your boards, use logic when ordering them, and organizing them in your forum.

The easier it is for a member to navigate your ProBoard, the more likely it is they will stay.

If anyone would like to add to this, please feel free.

[Anselm]

I always have a General category at the top. That'll have a General board, Arrivals and Departures, Suggestions board, and possibly a news board. Then there's always a staff board.

It needs to be easy to navigate. You can't have a million boards on the main page. That's why I organise my boards into subboards. I have up to 8 subboards, although the number is normally 4. 4 is a good amount.

I say this a lot in GOAYB, to make the categories a board, and the boards subboards if you understand what I mean. That can really help navigation.

Subboards listed on the main page can also be very helpful. That makes navigation even easier.

[Scorpian]

Also, you can't forget a staff board. If you've got a lot of staff, you need a place where you can all discuss issues in the board. I'd recommend creating a new category (probably near the bottom of the forum) that only staff can see.

In this category, you should also put an archive in. An archive is a password-protected board that only the admin(s) can access. Instead of deleting out-of-date or forgotten threads, move them to your archive.

"But Scorpian, what threads should I archive?"
~Trust me, you'll know. Threads that voted for the MOTM or asked opinions on your last skin are ones that really need to be archived. Another example: after Phazon was discovered to be a ripper, California archived all the graphics he submitted to his database.

An archive is always a good thing to have because you'll never lose a post. What if one of those posts was something you need? Then you can return to your archive, and move it out of it .

[Drewz]

I only have 2 catagories, one is full of boards based on wrestling and the other catagory has a games board, general board and Anouncements. I have a staff-member board that is invisible.

I hate places to have boards for introduce yourself, and even worse a board for premoting sites.

[(¯`•Stormraven•._)]

i think its good to put the announcments boards, then general, also an introductions page so people can introduce themselves, then list all what your boards is about, its pointless putting 'JavaScript' as ur first board cos most people might not know what that means, and they might just log out and forget to come back again, its important to have a general board tho,

[zon]

stormraven said:

i think its good to put the announcments boards, then general, also an introductions page so people can introduce themselves, then list all what your boards is about, its pointless putting 'JavaScript' as ur first board cos most people might not know what that means, and they might just log out and forget to come back again, its important to have a general board tho,

* blinks twices* ummmm, what are we talking about * puzzle faces comes on *

[∞ ConqueringWolf ∞]

zon said:

stormraven said:

i think its good to put the announcments boards, then general, also an introductions page so people can introduce themselves, then list all what your boards is about, its pointless putting 'JavaScript' as ur first board cos most people might not know what that means, and they might just log out and forget to come back again, its important to have a general board tho,

* blinks twices* ummmm, what are we talking about * puzzle faces comes on *

This subject is about how you should go about organizing the boards on your forum in the best way to appeal to your members and draw in new members.

[Dr Evil]

i have an administration catergary with a visible mods board where only mods can see, rules and advice, announcements and suggestions. that works good because new members can see what the board is going to be like and current members dont have to look at them all the time.

i also believe that catergarys are great, if your board is theamed then you could have the themed stuff in one catergary and the unthemed stuff in another. We also have more than just a general board as this really does help to prevent spammers. we have a sport board and music board plus an advertising and philosophy board as well as movies, books, wordgames and art. but just incase we have a "any other random messages board" that works well as there is a place for all.

i think that if you have a coding board that they should be kept to the bottom of a forum as it may scare away new members who are unsure about what it means...

i think that it is also up to the type of forum you have... an RPG ought to have a rule board at the top but some forums like this do not need one.

[SandStorm]

I have one doubt.
My board is all in english. can I create one sub forum that allow members to spoke other language, even if 99,9% of the forum is english?

[Enchant]

sandstormrs said:

I have one doubt.
My board is all in english. can I create one sub forum that allow members to spoke other language, even if 99,9% of the forum is english?

Hello Sandstorm,

Unfortunately for that 1% proboards is an English Only forum. I beleive thier is a code that can be added to your forum, that will allow those who do not speak or read english, to translate the text for them....I am not sure were you can find it, but it is called something like Babel Fish or something....try looking at codes that translate...perhaps ask the coders board. But the original text has to be English to abide by TOS.

[SandStorm]

Thanks a lot.
Best regards

[charlie]

Just backing up what Enchant said, this is the link.

Chaz

[Snakeair]

chazman said:

Just backing up what Enchant said, this is the link.

Chaz

Thanks for the link. I saw it on a forum in GOAYB few weeks ago but never saved the link.

[~!~Kayla luvs ya's~!~©]

transfermktforum said:

I always have a General category at the top. That'll have a General board, Arrivals and Departures, Suggestions board, and possibly a news board. Then there's always a staff board.

It needs to be easy to navigate. You can't have a million boards on the main page. That's why I organise my boards into subboards. I have up to 8 subboards, although the number is normally 4. 4 is a good amount.

I say this a lot in GOAYB, to make the categories a board, and the boards subboards if you understand what I mean. That can really help navigation.

Subboards listed on the main page can also be very helpful. That makes navigation even easier.

i always leave the general and then add like introductions rules and news. i add when like people send me an idea i usualy do what they want done. i think it makes is friendly place

[kelendria]

I organize my boards as often as they come & go.
Every month or even longer I go through my boards, see what topics don't belong & delete the unecessary.
For that I'm told my board is quite organized, I'd hate to browse & not know where I am or where I've just been!