The biohack.me forums were originally run on Vanilla and ran from January 2011 to July 2024. They are preserved here as a read-only archive. If you had an account on the forums and are in the archive and wish to have either your posts anonymized or removed entirely, email us and let us know.
While we are no longer running Vanilla, Patreon badges are still being awarded, and shoutout forum posts are being created, because this is done directly in the database via an automated task.
Project Directory Rough Demo
Part of the ongoing site enhancements for this year's goals include exploring opportunities to build out functionality beyond the form, or find ways to incorporate more into the form. Work on the new form is underway, and mmuyskens is currently running a demo over at http://forum.biohack.me/discussion/comment/20658#Comment_20658. Any feedback will be exceptionally welcome (and a HUGE thanks to those already providing feedback)!
Meanwhile I've been spending a little time looking into the problem of project documentation. It can be really difficult to keep up with a project as the thread for it continues to grow, and unless the master post is constantly updated, progress can easily be lost & forgotten. Important details might be two, three posts in. Or pages in, even! Took a glance at hackaday and I've been spending some time trying to build a similar site/tool that might be useful for the sort of work we see here! So, I've got a demo up on my testbed!
http://machinesofbirds.com/wp/
This is a very rough demo setup, and is still being updated and tweaked by the day, but I'm at a point where I'd like to start soliciting some feedback.
Quick rundown of where things are now:
Projects are a custom post type that include a description, category, tags, gallery, list of materials (with the ability to link to sources for them!), step by step instructions, press links, resource links, associated project logs, and comments.
I have a co-author system in place, so users can be added to a project. When added, this gives the user ability to edit the Project page, plus post logs regarding it. When users make a new post, they have the opportunity to assign it to any project they're listed on as an update to that project.
The member directory is still in need of some work, but it has a handy dandy map! Supplying this information is 100% optional, and can be as accurate as a full address or as vague as just the country. No more need to post 300 threads figuring out where people are :)
In addition to a member directory / map, I also have a groups/labs system in place. (UPDATE: the link isn't appearing in the dashboard for new users yet, but you can hit http://machinesofbirds.com/wp/groups/create to try making a group, meanwhile!) I'd eventually like to tie this in to the projects as well, but for now it's just similar to the member directory except for groups of people. Hopefully this will be useful in finding collectives, labs, and clubs near you!
Lastly I also added an event system. I'm hoping it will make coordination for events like cons a little smoother, with the ability to use the 'ticket' system for roomshare planning an additional benefit. Also useful possibly for groups to hold small events, weekly hacknights, etc.
It looks very rough right now, but most of my wants are with the actual system structure. I'd love to know how you'd feel about putting your projects into this structure.... if there's any sort of meta detailing I've left out that you'd like to have part of a project page or any kind of tweak that would make the system feel more usable. This is in no way meant to be a replacement for any discussions here; instead it's a sister system specifically for documenting projects, and providing a directory for some ongoing work as well as the whos and wheres.
Meanwhile I've been spending a little time looking into the problem of project documentation. It can be really difficult to keep up with a project as the thread for it continues to grow, and unless the master post is constantly updated, progress can easily be lost & forgotten. Important details might be two, three posts in. Or pages in, even! Took a glance at hackaday and I've been spending some time trying to build a similar site/tool that might be useful for the sort of work we see here! So, I've got a demo up on my testbed!
http://machinesofbirds.com/wp/
This is a very rough demo setup, and is still being updated and tweaked by the day, but I'm at a point where I'd like to start soliciting some feedback.
Quick rundown of where things are now:
Projects are a custom post type that include a description, category, tags, gallery, list of materials (with the ability to link to sources for them!), step by step instructions, press links, resource links, associated project logs, and comments.
I have a co-author system in place, so users can be added to a project. When added, this gives the user ability to edit the Project page, plus post logs regarding it. When users make a new post, they have the opportunity to assign it to any project they're listed on as an update to that project.
The member directory is still in need of some work, but it has a handy dandy map! Supplying this information is 100% optional, and can be as accurate as a full address or as vague as just the country. No more need to post 300 threads figuring out where people are :)
In addition to a member directory / map, I also have a groups/labs system in place. (UPDATE: the link isn't appearing in the dashboard for new users yet, but you can hit http://machinesofbirds.com/wp/groups/create to try making a group, meanwhile!) I'd eventually like to tie this in to the projects as well, but for now it's just similar to the member directory except for groups of people. Hopefully this will be useful in finding collectives, labs, and clubs near you!
Lastly I also added an event system. I'm hoping it will make coordination for events like cons a little smoother, with the ability to use the 'ticket' system for roomshare planning an additional benefit. Also useful possibly for groups to hold small events, weekly hacknights, etc.
It looks very rough right now, but most of my wants are with the actual system structure. I'd love to know how you'd feel about putting your projects into this structure.... if there's any sort of meta detailing I've left out that you'd like to have part of a project page or any kind of tweak that would make the system feel more usable. This is in no way meant to be a replacement for any discussions here; instead it's a sister system specifically for documenting projects, and providing a directory for some ongoing work as well as the whos and wheres.
Comments
Displaying all 12 comments
-
Sounds nice!
-
Also, just as a generic comments - Since we're looking at different platforms to handle different aspects of the site, we do plan to explore Single Sign On options.
-
Simply nice. I think if that is the "home" page of why mmuyskens is doing then it will be brilliant. So far my only actual notice of issues are stupid simple things like typos (ya I know I'm one to speak..type) and a few odd overlaps. Sign up was stupid easy and fast with activation email. I did stick my little pin on the map and think that's a great addition that needs to be in what ever form the forum (that's fun to type) takes. I'm aware the link to the forum is simply that a link but that initial "hey you found biohack.me!" Page needs to go. It's a useless i between that you've actually put into a very concise page. I will get to looking at it on something other then my tablet so I'll be able to see a few more finer things and be able to pick at your too soon enough ;)
-
I THINK this is going to be like another section of the site, as is the forum. Maybe we will keep the current structure of having just a list of sections on the actual homepage? I'm not really sure we've put thought into that part....
Thoughts?
-
oh gosh, it still needs a good heap of mobile style love. So tablet and phone views will be.... wonky most likely. But It's on the road to fix :) Thank you! I'm hoping to bring a good amount of those style senses onto the discourse theme in the next few days.
It is planned to be a separate section, but instead of landing on a listing page we could have the primary landing as the forum, with the collection of links up top for the projects and procedures and people directories, wiki, eventual documentation sharing if that gets going, etc. Or maybe in the eventual sidebar? And have each of those sections share the same 'meta nav' or at least share links to each other, so getting between is easy enough.
-
so as you will notice I've been jumping around your site like a mad man this afternoon.I still think it has a smooth roll. i will say the account profile editing is in too many places. I was able to do some profile work after clicking the new tab but also able to edit it when clicking settings.I did find that i can make posts although i have no idea where they go too after i submit it which you need to review i guess. that i would suggest changing because you don't want to have to approve 50 posts plus in a day.I was able to do many things with the format for posting which was VERY straight forward in my opinion.I checked out the projects page where i initially tried to make a project using it but the set up was a little bit confusing and i ended up giving up on it. i will try again at some point with a little more patience.I did upload a photo with absolutely no difficulty which if you ever saw some of my posts and how many times i change my photos thats a big deal to me.I tried it on my phone first which is where i changed and added a new photo and it went very smooth but i did have issues adding a background. it simply wouldn't finish uploading.in my post i had tried adding a photo (you should read it i think its comical) which would have been great but i didn't have permission to upload a photo in my own post....All and all i can't really say anything needs to really changing but rather refining. Its got a lot of great features in it that just need to be slightly tweaked instead of ripped redone and then re tested.@birdmachine i personally LOVE sidebars but they can become annoying when scrolling down the page and can become more of a clutter gatherer.I would say under labs i would make sure you can have others other then admin be able to add them because currently i cannot (granted i don't have anything too add yet).
-
Projects are now showing up on mobile a bit better, so I hope that will help. Is there a specific point in the project creation that was especially confusing? If I can streamline that content somehow, awesome.
I wasn't originally planning on having user blog posts have much function outside of per-project logs, but adding a place to view non-project blog logs would be pretty nice, and I can see some use in that. So, working on adding it now :) as well as trimming down all the profile editing access.
I made some tweaks to the profiles, and while the custom background image is gone... that was having mobile problems and even duplicated profile setting access. All profile actions should be streamlined to the dashboard now, and the user control side menu reflects this change
What was the specific error you got when uploading to your post? I changed your role to author (and set the default new user role to author, too) which means you should no longer need approval for posts :) which means that /awesome/ post you made can now be published! Though it won;t really show up anywhere yet till I get the non-project posts displaying. But that's on the way now!
Thank you so much for chewing through all this! Your feedback has been super helpful! Hopefully I can make this a reality for the community very soon.
-
allright, Tab's been added to member profile pages for the member Blog :) It's not terribly fancy, just a post listing. Serves a limited scope purpose though. EDIT: Turns out this is also how to enable the locations system -.- so I might have to set it to profiles can only be edited on the profile view screen.
Also got a button that showed up for logged in users on the Labs page to let a user create a lab. Having an issue forcing it to display in the dashboard, so I'm hoping this will be a valid workaround
-
@BirdMachine thank you so much for the work you're doing, it's already looking to be fantastic. If you need any technical support I Ann willing to help with anything you might need. Just one question, will members be able to add their location, creating a database of members locations so meet ups are easier and can happen more.
-
Thanks so much! And Bingo ;) that's the goal. And location can be as specific or vague as desired, and remains optional, for obvious privacy reasons.
-
I can go through the updates right this second due to some primitive activities in the woods today but I will tonight. Can't wait to give it a true run through again. Off the top of my head I don't remember the exact error message I think it just simply wouldn't finish uploading the photo. I'll see if I can find it again.
-
If I can recommend something, and I totally get that it's still a work in progress, but some of the buttons on Mobile are very dark with pretty dim colors and which makes it hard to read. Haven't been on the site on my laptop. It I will tonight. Very impressed with the work so far however. Will we have to sign up for that websites membership or would it be just transferred from the forum?
Displaying all 12 comments