[rwparris2]

The point is that I disagree with you and think people are capable of figuring it all out if they really want to. .

I think hikaricore is a pretty cool guy, eh has a picture of a hampster and doesnt afraid of anything.

[thesoulhacker]

There can't be order in this. this is a forum and works like any other forum. the term newbie means something. It means that you have to work harder than the old guys to get what you need. Just work harder and you'll see that this forum is actually a really organised mess.

[djh_]

In fairness to the OP, he did make clear that he'd moderate (which I assume to mean 'sort out in the manner he described') the forum and was making a quite valid point. Granted, a forum like this isn't really the place to be applying consumer-level logic, but I've spent the last few days wondering if things should really be as crazy as they are now.

Before I read this, I was about to do a post about imposing a feature-freeze on Aeon after windowed trailer support goes in. That would mean absolutely no new views, tweaks or features until a) the remaining dialogs and windows have been done, b) the texture updates for Auriga are finished, and c) a pretty comprehensive optimisation sweep has been done of the existing code.

That doesn't give me any time to hold newbie hands, though, so I'm going to call the OP's bluff. Get together with some other folks, do a really comprehensive FAQ/guide based on what Aeon is and does now, post it and I'll make it a sticky. Your move.

[dedaluz]

I agree with hikiracore, essentially.

But...

I do think that things can be improved here. Creating sub-forums could help.

Making the most of github could help: mantaining a repo for each mod (there are some mods there already, the comic mod, for example, by Tension113), or a repo with each mod in its own branch. Using the issue tracker github provides for bugs. Populating the wiki pages for the aeon repo, and so on.

Or maybe using something better to open, track, comment, prioritize and close tickets, requests and bugs. Lighthouse, for example, which is free (for open source projects) and integrates nicely with github commits. The plex team uses it: https://plexapp.lighthouseapp.com/ as they use github as well.

I think a forum is perfect to talk, to discuss, to present new features or mockups. But there are better tools out there for things like bugs.

A howtos/screencasts stickified thread could be useful also, cause the problems seems to be recursive (the fonts one, the studio and bluray one...) And/or updating the FAQ thread.

I'm sure better tools and organization could make the life easier for Duncan and The Aeon Group, testers and so on.

But I know people don't like to change its workflow. If you are used to this forum for all kind of things, it requires an effort to learn new tools and change your way of working, no matter if it's better. And djh is already making a huge effort on the skin itself and with the git/github thing. Thx for that.

Just my 2 cents.

[thesoulhacker]

In fairness to the OP, he did make clear that he'd moderate (which I assume to mean 'sort out in the manner he described') the forum and was making a quite valid point. Granted, a forum like this isn't really the place to be applying consumer-level logic, but I've spent the last few days wondering if things should really be as crazy as they are now.

Before I read this, I was about to do a post about imposing a feature-freeze on Aeon after windowed trailer support goes in. That would mean absolutely no new views, tweaks or features until a) the remaining dialogs and windows have been done, b) the texture updates for Auriga are finished, and c) a pretty comprehensive optimisation sweep has been done of the existing code.

That doesn't give me any time to hold newbie hands, though, so I'm going to call the OP's bluff. Get together with some other folks, do a really comprehensive FAQ/guide based on what Aeon is and does now, post it and I'll make it a sticky. Your move.

Duncan, I would hope that a feature freeze is not necessary just to help people navigate better on this forum. We've all been there and we're still around. Some people just have to put more work into finding answers to their questions. And no question remains unanswered here.

[djh_]

Not necessary for that, but necessary to achieve any further kind of 'stable' release. If I had 2 cents for every 2 cents that have been tossed around here, I'd be ordering a cinema screen for my living room. And while many of the more constructive suggestions have yielded great features, the line has to be drawn.

[dedaluz]

Roger that. But I was expecting this thread. It is the logical outcome to managing everything through this very forum: chaos. And you deserve that cinema screen, after all.

[tvdb-scott]

Honestly if a brand new user can't get a grasp on everything they need to read more.
There's a simple link on the Aeon website to get the latest stable build Aeon Stark I just don't see what the issue is.
Github also provides 1 click downloading of the latest bleeding edge release.

As for the mods those aren't really something that need be easy.
Mods aren't for everyone and I think the authors do just fine describing how to set them up.

The point is that I disagree with you and think people are capable of figuring it all out if they really want to.

I'd like to chip in. Obviously I'm not a "new user" per say. Nor am I technically inept. However, I switched to Media Stream a while back and am just now switching back to Aeon and I was completely lost. I'm still running an Xbox, so I obviously need a "light" mod for that but with the Stark/Auriga stuff separate plus all the various other mods it really had me wondering if I was combining the correct mod with the correct release.

On top of that, I wasn't really sure which screens of features I liked were in which version or if they were from a mod. Multiplex is a good example. I THOUGHT I did Auriga with the Xbox mod, and thought that would include multiplex, but apparently I either installed it wrong or was mistaken.

In a nutshell, it's very hard to keep up to date on stuff especially if you don't have a ton of time to spend on it. I think most people would agree that my time is better spent fixing/updating my website than trying to tweak my Xbox, but that means I can't try out neat stuff like Stark and Auriga. OP was spot-on, but I understand that it falls back on users to put some effort in as well.

Just donating my $0.02 to your virtual cinema screen, djh.

[g00fy1]

I agree with hikiracore, essentially.

But...

I do think that things can be improved here. Creating sub-forums could help.

Making the most of github could help: mantaining a repo for each mod (there are some mods there already, the comic mod, for example, by Tension113), or a repo with each mod in its own branch. Using the issue tracker github provides for bugs. Populating the wiki pages for the aeon repo, and so on.

Or maybe using something better to open, track, comment, prioritize and close tickets, requests and bugs. Lighthouse, for example, which is free (for open source projects) and integrates nicely with github commits. The plex team uses it: https://plexapp.lighthouseapp.com/ as they use github as well.

I think a forum is perfect to talk, to discuss, to present new features or mockups. But there are better tools out there for things like bugs.

A howtos/screencasts stickified thread could be useful also, cause the problems seems to be recursive (the fonts one, the studio and bluray one...) And/or updating the FAQ thread.

I'm sure better tools and organization could make the life easier for Duncan and The Aeon Group, testers and so on.

But I know people don't like to change its workflow. If you are used to this forum for all kind of things, it requires an effort to learn new tools and change your way of working, no matter if it's better. And djh is already making a huge effort on the skin itself and with the git/github thing. Thx for that.

Just my 2 cents.

These are great ideas and points. With the popularity of Aeon being so high a forum is not the venue to post mods, bugs or feature requests. It's a great venue to discuss these things.

The problem is that the skin is so damn good and in such demand that everyone is contributing to it and beta testing it at almost a frenzied pace and in a forum there's really no way to organize all the information in a logical way. I have the mods I like bookmarked, then apply them to the latest release, not an ideal method since some of them have been added to the official skin.

An ideal solution would be some sort of central repo or something similar to github for all of the mods that are not in the official release, a place where if Duncan decides to implement the mod or feature it can then be marked as being implemented and in what release it's in. This would not only help the end user it would free the coders from having to wade through all of these messages.

Another $0.02 towards that cinema screen.