A General Web Development Forum?

[penagate]

I think that there is currently a slight gap between the General Developer Forum and the XML/HTML/JS/CSS forum where we could add a new section. I see a lot of topics in both of these sections that don't really fit in either, such as discussion of hosting companies and server configurations and so on, and it would be nice to have a single place to collect all of these discussions.

I realise that the XML forum is titled "XML, HTML, Javascript, Web and CSS" but I feel that it is more oriented towards front-end web development Q&A rather than more general web development discussion.


Thoughts?


- P

[RobDog888]

Maybe reversing the descriptions so Web is first as its more general and encompassing of the other technologies.

"Web Development, XML, HTML, Javascript and CSS"

[penagate]

Yes but it`s already a hodge-podge of different things and doing that will make it worse. I was thinking along the lines of the GD forum but specifically web oriented.

To put it another way: we have several web forums, and they're not very cohesive. It would be nice if they could be grouped together more with an additional general section for the other topics that don't fit into the existing ones.

At the moment, we have one web forum under "Visual Basic", one under ".NET", and two under "Other Languages", as well as the odd web-related thread that gets posted in General Developer.

We could add a new category near (above or below) General like this:


.NET

(etc.)

Web Development

General Web Development
XML, HTML, JavaScript, CSS
ASP.NET (redirect to the existing location, maybe)
ASP, VBScript
PHP

General

(etc.)

Other Languages

Other BASIC
C and C++
Java
Assembly
Other Programming Languages




I know re-ordering stuff usually causes consternation, but this is a change that I feel could be worthwhile.

[RobDog888]

Yes, that would make some better organization but basically separating the "Other Languages" category of forums with a web dev category. You know its not a common thing to reorganize the forums but I remember there was talk before about some other forums moves so maybe is it time if we can be allowed to have a forums reorganization? :)

[RobDog888]

Well how would "General Web Development" differ from the other forums? HTML forum and general web dev are overlapping.

The asp.net redirect is fine IMO and the adding of asp/vbs makes sense. lets see what the others think.

[penagate]

XML, HTML, JavaScript, CSS is for XML, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS - notice the removal of the word "Web".

General Web Development would be for all other web development-related topics, such as discussion of web hosting, server configurations, web application architecture, and so on. These currently usually get posted in either General Developer, HTML, or the forum for the language which the developer is using, although they are topics that are not language-specific. Adding a General Web Development type of forum would give these topics a home and save them from being scattered all over the place.

Adopting this structure would create a valuable resource for people that are searching for information on web development. We already have plenty of such information present in the forums; it's just hard to find at the moment.

[dclamp]

i am all for this change. I think that it should be as Pena suggested.

[mendhak]

I can see what that is, people post in various forums for web development related questions now; But the new forum's definition is still not rigidly defined enough and I think it will be just another forum for a confused member to post something in.

[RhinoBull]

I would agree with mendhak - people post in forum feedback with some language specific question (mostly VB related) so I don't see how new forum structure will help them.
I think it's fine as is. But I did ask to move DB Froum two pos up though... :)

[dclamp]

as pena said, there is not very many specific forums for the different web languages. If i wanted to ask "What is the best webserver software" there is not a good forum to ask that in. Now i know the General > General Development might be the best place now, but that is one potpourri of questions.

[penagate]

as pena said, there is not very many specific forums for the different web languages. If i wanted to ask "What is the best webserver software" there is not a good forum to ask that in. Now i know the General > General Development might be the best place now, but that is one potpourri of questions.
My point exactly. :)

[dclamp]

i think this thread requires a poll. pena?

[dclamp]

so what do you mods/super mods/admin think about it?

[brad jones]

To make a structure change (or ordering change) you need to get most of the mods supporting the idea. The mods often talk about such issues as well.

Bottom line, we generally don't like to change the order of things unless it is going to really make difference. I'm not seeing anyone supporting this at that level.....

Brad!

[dclamp]

well what if we just add a "General Web Development" to the "other languages" section"?

[RobDog888]

I like the PHP, ASP, VBScript and redirect of ASP.NET being in there but the general web forum and the "XML, HTML, JavaScript, CSS" forum may be needing some tweaking.

HTML and General are basically the same category.