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| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 05:02 #1234 | |
BarryM
2158 posts |
Some Feedback. Hi Geoff, Recently a signalling forum in the USA mentioned Simsig. A friend of mine saw this and went to the site. The home page opened up to headings "News Flash", "Latest News" and then "Welcome to Simsig". He saw Simsig Scotland in "Latest News" which interested him so he went to that page and down loaded Edinburgh. He later mentioned to me that the sim would not work. I asked the question about "System Files" and got a dumb look. Obviously he did not read further on. If you fo;llow what he did, there is no mention of "System files" on the Simsig Scotland page. All he was interested in finding and downloading Edinburgh. To overcome this, my feeling is that the Home page should be "Welcome to Simsig" only. At the bottom of the welcome page list all the relevant pages links. Regards BarryM Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Log in to reply |
| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 05:02 #9055 | |
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BarryM
2158 posts |
Some Feedback. Hi Geoff, Recently a signalling forum in the USA mentioned Simsig. A friend of mine saw this and went to the site. The home page opened up to headings "News Flash", "Latest News" and then "Welcome to Simsig". He saw Simsig Scotland in "Latest News" which interested him so he went to that page and down loaded Edinburgh. He later mentioned to me that the sim would not work. I asked the question about "System Files" and got a dumb look. Obviously he did not read further on. If you fo;llow what he did, there is no mention of "System files" on the Simsig Scotland page. All he was interested in finding and downloading Edinburgh. To overcome this, my feeling is that the Home page should be "Welcome to Simsig" only. At the bottom of the welcome page list all the relevant pages links. Regards BarryM Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Log in to reply |
| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 06:02 #9056 | |
Tallington
254 posts |
Whilst not detracting from the general comment about the Home Page needing Links etc. I do think the example needs commenting on. I followed your 'thread' and went to download Edinburgh by first clicking on SimSig Scotland. That takes you to the standard Download/Upload section. The Official Software clickable link is System Files and Simulations. The 1st thing on dispaly is Download first! System Files Before running any of the simulations you must download and install the system files. THEN it says Simulations Download the simulations here. Your friend had gone past the Most Important instruction to download Edinburgh which is why it didn't work as expected. Obviously neither Geoff nor anyone else can cater for every eventuallity BUT when simple instructions are ignored then it is not down to SimSig to change but for users to learn by their mistakes. :: Ken Log in to reply |
| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 06:09 #9057 | |
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UKTrainMan
1803 posts |
Not quite sure what to say about this but I'd like to point out a few things. 1:- Having followed what you said I end up on the Uploads/Downloads page and then the next obvious step is the Official Software page - the first link on the Official Software page mentioned about System Files which must be downloaded first then the second link directs users towards the simulations themselves. 2:- At the bottom of the homepage is a link to the Wiki which has a rather prominent link very close to the top leading to the Contents page. About half way down said page there is a link about Installing Simulations which mentions about the system files as the first thing to do. Can it be any clearer than that? I hope that this post doesn't sound rude - it is not meant to be Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for. Log in to reply |
| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 07:17 #9058 | |
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wulf
27 posts |
While I agree it's pretty clear what to do, humans do have a habit of skimming past information when they're looking for something in particular e.g. "Simulations" in the download list. Maybe the front page should have an article for "Getting started with Simsig" or similar which has this caveat about the system files, links to the install instructions and the downloads? Log in to reply |
| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 07:40 #9060 | |
Peter Bennet
5402 posts |
I've just had a look and it does seem to me that the way it works is fine but it does require the person to actually read and absorb the information they are given. Whichever route I take to get to the ability to download a Sim takes me through the page where it says you must download the system files. If somone has found an 'official' route that by-passes that page let us know and we can look into it. Also on the home page there is a 'want to know more' link to the WIKI. It maybe the case that the WIKI could be better presented etc etc but as it's an open access thing to edit then omissions and clarifications can be added by anyone. Peter I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs! Log in to reply |
| Web Site Home Page 09/05/2010 at 19:49 #9065 | |
GeoffM
6376 posts |
I really don't know how much more obvious to make it clear that the system files are required first. While I don't want people to give up because they can't get SimSig to work, just how much hand holding is required? Is this an isolated case or have others also made the same mistake?
SimSig Boss Log in to reply |