Coral and Tim et al,

After all our discussions within all the various threads associated with forum structure, etiquette etc, are there any upcoming developments? Can you perhaps give us a status of implementation and plans or possible outcomes of all the feedback we provided etc?

Lyle

Funnily enough I was going to ask the same question.

Did the discussion, plus no doubt other inputs, help formulate a new view?

Coral and Tim et al,

After all our discussions within all the various threads associated with forum structure, etiquette etc, are there any upcoming developments? Can you perhaps give us a status of implementation and plans or possible outcomes of all the feedback we provided etc?

Lyle

Thanks Lyle,

Yes it is definitely in my court. I have been busy with the management change-over at DBA, so have not had the time to discuss with Coral. However I do plan to do that this week and hope to set out the plans for your views next week.

Tim.

Thanks Lyle,

Yes it is definitely in my court. I have been busy with the management change-over at DBA, so have not had the time to discuss with Coral. However I do plan to do that this week and hope to set out the plans for your views next week.

Tim.

been over a month since now tim. any thoughts/outcomes/plans with all these contributions that people have made.

Hi everyone,

As you may know I am no longer involved with DBA, having completed my contract in March 2006. However I have been in discussion with the DBA Board about taking over the DTV Forum. I am not in a position to make any changes to the forum until the transfer is finalised.

That is almost complete and hopefully I will be able to make some announcement by Friday.

Initially there will be a change of name from the DBA Forum to the DTV Forum and new banner, but all postings and rankings will remain. Julian will still be involved and Coral will still be hosting the site.

It is all very positive as the forum has been my baby for over 6 years and I want to take it to the next stage with informed discussion amongst AV enthusiasts and industry participants and a more effective research tool for newbies.

Please be assured that before any changes occur I will raise them here on the Advisors Forum. Your enthusiasm and contribution to the forum is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your patience.

Tim.

Hi everyone,

As you may know I am no longer involved with DBA, having completed my contract in March 2006. However I have been in discussion with the DBA Board about taking over the DTV Forum. I am not in a position to make any changes to the forum until the transfer is finalised.

That is almost complete and hopefully I will be able to make some announcement by Friday.

Initially there will be a change of name from the DBA Forum to the DTV Forum and new banner, but all postings and rankings will remain. Julian will still be involved and Coral will still be hosting the site.

It is all very positive as the forum has been my baby for over 6 years and I want to take it to the next stage with informed discussion amongst AV enthusiasts and industry participants and a more effective research tool for newbies.

Please be assured that before any changes occur I will raise them here on the Advisors Forum. Your enthusiasm and contribution to the forum is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your patience.

Tim.

Sounds good.

I think I've noted previously that since the scene wrt DTV etc has changed so much, the forum should too (but in a good way, of course!). The concept of "early adoption" has passed its used by date, yet the forum still needs a way to simply cater for first-timers, without degenerating into a merry-go-round of repetition and "best buy" threads!

Santa!

very encouraging to read Tim, look forward to the future developments

Hi All,

Tomorrow you will see some changes to the forum

The DBA website will be removed from the forum homepage banner and a DTV Forum banner will replace it.

There will be a Google ads list on the left hand side - I am hoping that the advertising will cover some of the costs of managing the forum.

I intend to include a notice of change of ownership on the home page - let me know if there is anything that should be added - the current draft is as follows:

Dear DTV Forum Members,

Australia’s most popular bulletin board for Digital Television and Audio Visual enthusiasts has evolved from being the DBA Forum into being the DTV Forum (www.dtvforum.info) now owned and operated by On-Line Forum Pty Ltd. Over the coming months, I will be working with our Forum Advisors to provide you with an even more informative site.

It is still free to register, so get involved and contribute to the discussion. Just a few requests:

1. If you want to ask a question, please use the search facility first to see if the question has already been asked and answered

2. If you want to start a new topic, please ensure it is under the correct topic heading

3. Please always obey the forum rules and report any posts that do not follow the forum rules

Google AdSense is helping to fund this forum – so thank you for the advertising support.

Post any feedback here - I want to know what you think.

Regards

Tim.

Sounds good.

Only thing is that Google may look at the AdSense line as a way of telling people to click on the adverts. I don't think they will though.

As for the banner, what will it look like?

Sounds good.

Only thing is that Google may look at the AdSense line as a way of telling people to click on the adverts. I don't think they will though.

As for the banner, what will it look like?

Yes good point - I might have to clear it with Google.

Here is a link to theBanner Image

Tim.

Here is a link to theBanner Image

Tim.

Would be alright for the time being. A more readable graphic would be better (similar to http://www.kjwdesign.com/dtvforum.gif ).

Would be alright for the time being. A more readable graphic would be better (similar to http://www.kjwdesign.com/dtvforum.gif ).

Like the look of kenneths suggested banner. Pity about the advertising but yes got to fund it someway. thankyou for the update timo. Can you show us what the google advertising will look like and placement.

What is good as provides some future for the DTV forum in not just dtv but for other areas of interest. And it has turned into "Australia’s most popular bulletin board for Digital Television and Audio Visual enthusiasts" !. Good that theres is someone at the helm with its interest at heart.

Would be alright for the time being. A more readable graphic would be better (similar to http://www.kjwdesign.com/dtvforum.gif ).

Thanks Kenneth,

You are a marvel.

The banner will be better in larger size and will have some flash. I would like some feedback on the flash - it looks good but it may distract.

Regards

Tim.

Like the look of kenneths suggested banner. Pity about the advertising but yes got to fund it someway. thankyou for the update timo. Can you show us what the google advertising will look like and placement.

What is good as provides some future for the DTV forum in not just dtv but for other areas of interest. And it has turned into "Australia’s most popular bulletin board for Digital Television and Audio Visual enthusiasts" !. Good that theres is someone at the helm with its interest at heart.

Alebonau,

Thanks for the feedback - I agree the forum has moved on from just being about digital television. I have registered www.avforum.com.au and it now links to the dtvforum.info so we may move to avforum being the main URL sometime in the future - what do you think?

Once up and running I will endeavour to get more techies at the CE Suppliers and at TV stations (although they are a rare breed thanks to Eddie's cuts) involved with the forum - probably in an area where the key enthusiasts and the techies can have civil conversations!

I might also try to entice Alex Encel back to provoke some discussion on the World According to Alex!. He can always be relied upon to have an opinion that may be from left field.

The google ads will hopefully be customised for the type of content on the site. Have a look at Google AdSense to get an idea of the look of the page.

DBA will still maintain a link to DTV Forum from the DBA website but will include a disclaimer about the content! I still want DBA to be involved as they will hopefully be able to respond to some of the issues raised and to report on particular reception problems (probably in the Geographic Forums).

Give me time on getting the other suggestions in place - as I would like this to be progressive rather than radical change.

Thanks again for your contribution.

Tim.

I would like some feedback on the flash - it looks good but it may distract.

Flash won't just distract, it will reduce loading times.

The only spot where I see where flash would be good is if a front page with news or links to reviews were added.

Flash on the forum pages (even if the starting frame is a static image of the banner) will look strange and takes longer to load than a static GIF or JPEG.

EDIT: Having seen the animation in person, it doesn't work well (especially as the text always flys in). A static image would be better.

Might also get complaints about speed. The front page has the following connection times:

Connection Rate Download Time

14.4K 72.99 seconds

28.8K 36.49 seconds

33.6K 31.28 seconds

56K 18.77 seconds

ISDN 128K 5.75 seconds

T1 1.44Mbps 0.50 seconds

EDIT: Also might be good to have a smaller banner (80 pixels in height maximum?) so that the content can be accessed quicker.

These changes have been implemented.

The flash animation at 14k is actually smaller than the previous DBA banner of 22K.

One thing that we should keep in mind while thinking about the forum structure, is making things easy for the everday consumer.

I personally thinj that the consumer orientated sections (products and regional areas) should be first with the more tech related sections next and the off topic/forum help at the bottom.

Also, forum names should be descriptive but not technical for the more consumer related forum sections. The description field is really where the technical stuff would more likely fit.

What about a menetion of the etiquette thread in the inrtoduction as well?

Not sure about the print on the blue background. Maybe soften the blue a bit more?

The blue fits perfectly, I think.

new banner looks great. theres still a bit of the old banner still showing to the right though. correction looks liek it jsut got fixed ! well done

think the words on the banner might be taking a little too long to be coming up though.

the announcement in the link posted in the forum

http://www.dtvforum.info/announcement.html

is a bit hard to read given the background colours, think thats what lyle is refering to.

Alebonau,

Thanks for the feedback - I agree the forum has moved on from just being about digital television. I have registered www.avforum.com.au and it now links to the dtvforum.info so we may move to avforum being the main URL sometime in the future - what do you think?

Once up and running I will endeavour to get more techies at the CE Suppliers and at TV stations (although they are a rare breed thanks to Eddie's cuts) involved with the forum - probably in an area where the key enthusiasts and the techies can have civil conversations!

I might also try to entice Alex Encel back to provoke some discussion on the World According to Alex!. He can always be relied upon to have an opinion that may be from left field.

The google ads will hopefully be customised for the type of content on the site. Have a look at Google AdSense to get an idea of the look of the page.

DBA will still maintain a link to DTV Forum from the DBA website but will include a disclaimer about the content! I still want DBA to be involved as they will hopefully be able to respond to some of the issues raised and to report on particular reception problems (probably in the Geographic Forums).

Give me time on getting the other suggestions in place - as I would like this to be progressive rather than radical change.

Thanks again for your contribution.

Tim.

great ideas all of these timo.

Whitened the text

Whitened the text

excellent ! looks great. The banner text still taking a long time to come up.

Yeah I think that's something Tim will need the designer to speed up somewhat in the flash.

Feedback in Suggestions forum is scathing - we could probably use some of you to support the decisions made based on your knowledge of why the changes needed to be made.

One major rule with websites like this forum is that flash banners are not useful. The same animation is seen many times and it just doesn't look good.

EDIT: Another issue is that the border around the banner doesn't work. Also the star is not termanting.

Based on what assumption?

IE/Firefox abides by caching standards regardless of extension. SWF caches identically to JPG or GIF on a disk based level.