Some of you may have noticed tutorials popping up in resources. If not, well, now you should. 
While doing some tech reading I learned the resources module of Xenforo (our forum software) is intended as an instructional repository as well as for downloads. This actually makes some sense. Resource pages have a larger text allowance (100,000 characters vs 25,000 for posts), they have a robust cataloging and filtering system for finding items, and of course allow you to attach large downloads for demonstration purposes. There's a couple of other benefits too, like having a quick tag line to give you an idea what the tutorial does, and requiring registration to read in full.
Additionally, we already had exhibition modules and demonstration scripts in resources, which are effectively tutorials themselves, while also having a separate section for written tutorials. Just from an organizational standpoint it makes sense to bring them together. Due to the cataloging feature mentioned above, I think this will also eliminate the need for the various tutorial lists out there. Those lists are a good idea and well meaning, but inevitably suffer from link rot, or just get so monolithic to read it defeats their own purpose.
Anyway, to get this tarted I've taken the following steps:
Hope this helps a bit,
DC
While doing some tech reading I learned the resources module of Xenforo (our forum software) is intended as an instructional repository as well as for downloads. This actually makes some sense. Resource pages have a larger text allowance (100,000 characters vs 25,000 for posts), they have a robust cataloging and filtering system for finding items, and of course allow you to attach large downloads for demonstration purposes. There's a couple of other benefits too, like having a quick tag line to give you an idea what the tutorial does, and requiring registration to read in full.
Additionally, we already had exhibition modules and demonstration scripts in resources, which are effectively tutorials themselves, while also having a separate section for written tutorials. Just from an organizational standpoint it makes sense to bring them together. Due to the cataloging feature mentioned above, I think this will also eliminate the need for the various tutorial lists out there. Those lists are a good idea and well meaning, but inevitably suffer from link rot, or just get so monolithic to read it defeats their own purpose.
Anyway, to get this tarted I've taken the following steps:
- I've renamed the Scripts sub category of OpenBOR resources to Samples and Tutorials.
- Added a Tutorial prefix for resources. Exhibition remains for modules designed to show off new concepts.
- Migrated a few existing tutorials over to Resources. The old tutorial post becomes a discussion thread associated with the tutorial resource.
Hope this helps a bit,
DC
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