Tip of the Day

[CalBoy]

So I had this idea that I thought would fit in well with the purpose of this site and to make the site more neighborly.

Obviously the title is pretty clear, so I'll elaborate on it.

Could it be possible to have a "Tip of the Day" section on the forum main page (near the "Today's Birthdays" part) and basically have a small tip for any current Apple product (any tip for OS X, iPods, iTunes, iPhones, etc) would work.

This thread has a lot of tips, and I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to compile a list of tips (a minimum of 366 would be needed, with a healthy target number of about 700, with periodic changes as new tips become available).

I figure that this would be a nice "feature" of the site that wouldn't require too much (I'm willing to manage the list of tips-free of charge o/c ) extra work.

The one question I have is how complicated the software side would be. I'm sure the mods/gods will come along and burst my bubble, but that's ok.

So what do you guys think? Yay? Nay? Would you like such a feature?

 

[Luis]

I think it'll be a nice way of discovering neat tricks, like the ones in the various tips and tricks topics.

I say Yay.

 

[EricNau]

It's a neat idea, but I wonder if people would actually read it. After all, if they're looking for tips they could just read the thread you linked to.

I think finding a place to put it would be the hardest part. It would need to be placed so people would notice it, but also unobtrusive at the same time.

Personally, I would forget to read it if it was near the Birthday list, because I forget to read that too!

 

[CalBoy]

Personally, I would forget to read it if it was near the Birthday list, because I forget to read that too!

I had thought of that too, since it's all the way at the bottom.

If anyone has any good placement ideas (where to put it on the forum page, or even a different page altogether) please provide them.

I toyed with the idea of having the tip display near your "login status" area.

Here's a pick to show you what I mean:

Obviously the area to the left is open to have a small "tip" display there, but I'm sure there are good reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea.

 

[themadchemist]

Obviously the title is pretty clear, so I'll elaborate on it.

Haha, I'm sorry, I just found this line funny. "Obviously, it's self-explanatory, so lemme go ahead and explain it."

But seriously, I think it's a good idea.

 

[CalBoy]

Haha, I'm sorry, I just found this line funny. "Obviously, it's self-explanatory, so lemme go ahead and explain it."

Yeah, but I did want to propose a better plan than, "I have a tip of the day, now let someone else do all the leg work."


And now that I think about it, the area to the left of the status window is too small. I don't know why I thought I could squeeze it in there (I think I was imagining a word of the day box ).

 

[themadchemist]

Yeah, but I did want to propose a better plan than, "I have a tip of the day, now let someone else do all the leg work."


And now that I think about it, the area to the left of the status window is too small. I don't know why I thought I could squeeze it in there (I think I was imagining a word of the day box ).

I'm looking at it, and it seems like it would be plenty of space, if it uses the same font size as the status box.

 

[MrSmith]

Perhaps daily 'life' tips, too. Like 'pants then trousers'.

 

[CalBoy]

I'm looking at it, and it seems like it would be plenty of space, if it uses the same font size as the status box.

I'm thinking that we'll hit a character limit with some more complex tips. Plus we don't know how big "Tip of the Day" will be when put in. People with smaller screens (macbooks, macbook airs or 12" iBooks/Powerbooks) might have a hard time reading the tips.

But, this is all just conjecture. We need Doctor Q to weigh in!

Perhaps daily 'life' tips, too. Like 'pants then trousers'.

So that's what I've been doing wrong...

 

[Mechcozmo]

This is obnoxious. Forgive me.

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[MrSmith]

How long did that take?

 

[mkrishnan]

This is obnoxious. Forgive me.

I was thinking the same thing, albeit less obnoxiously. MacOSXHints.com does an amazing job of this already....

 

[CalBoy]

This is obnoxious. Forgive me.

I was thinking the same thing, albeit less obnoxiously. MacOSXHints.com does an amazing job of this already....

I don't know, it seems cheap somehow.

For some reason I feel that a "home grown" feature would be better. It should be a genuine MR product, like the guides or the Buyer's guide. *shrugs*