Categories, please!

You could try replicating some of your main blog categories. That may be a good transition over to the forums. Or, the forums could be completely different, your call!

With Ritz Camera (who operate 130 boaters world stores) seeking chapter 11, maybe a economy category!

Multifunction Displays, GPS, Electronic Charting, Radars, Sounders, Radios, Auotpilots, Instruments, EPIRBS, PLBs, Weather, Entertainment, NEMA2000, NEMA183, Proprietary Protocalls, Battey chargers,Inverters, DC and AC Electrical, New Devices on the horizon, FCC, USCG, Accessories and mounting systems

most of those above should be sub's of 'hardware'..

N2K should have some sort of Integration category, as many devices do not fully interoperate..

SeaTalk, SimNet, all those 'nearly n2k' protocols should be a sub of 'N2K', assuming the average boat is a hodgepodge of equipment and will remain so..

how bout a 'Post your Network' section?

Yay forums, just in time for my spring refit!!

I'm scrapping a bunch of 1989 era systems (but keeping some) and laying a Mini N2K backbone and enough gear to make a passage up the east coast to new grounds.

woot!

Good category suggestions all, but I'm worried about having too many and thus confusing things. I figure that most Forum users will gravitate to the current topics or search for specific gear.

The conundrum then is what categories would be useful for browsing; should it be types of electronics or types of uses like sail--maybe racing and cruising, power--maybe cruising and trailerables, fishing--salt and fresh. The headache is coming back...

I think it's a much better to have equipment categories instead of application categories.

We all use chartplotters and VHF, most use sounders, radars and AP. We may end up in a large number of paralell discussion about more or less the same topics if the forum is divided into application categories.

>With Ritz Camera (who operate 130 boaters world stores) seeking chapter 11, maybe a economy category!

Actually how about a category for "legacy systems" where people could find help and parts for "old" (like I just bought it last year!!XX) electronics from vendors who are now out of business or no longer support that model?

Not sure about actual categories, but please keep the number of categories to a minimum and no "sub-categories" (if it is allowed), makes really hard to navigate. I suggest starting with a couple, then add more if the content seems to follow a pattern.

I like JohnnyBoats suggestion for "Legacy Systems" like NMEA0183 systems.

One guess I maight make is "Integration", specifically "cross brand integration" i.e. getting Garming to talk to Simrad to talk to Raymarine, etc. etc. I am really interested in success (or failure) stories in the NMEA2000 camp

Past – Making the most of / How to get by with

Past – Technology Graveyard / Product Duds

Present – Now Shipping .. Good / Bad / Indifferent

Present – Applied technology / Actual applications / Bragging Rights

Present – Help / Has anyone made this work ?

Future – Product & Technology improvement threads

Future – Predictions and Rumors

Also :

It's Friday / Beach Babes

Some good suggestions, but Westsail42 is really onto something important. In databse design and user interface design, a good rule of thumb is to strive for the "shortest meaningful list" you can get away with.

If one catch-all is good enough, then use one category. It probably is not QUITE good enough, so pick a few really broad categories, and subdivide them later as it becomes necessary.

Also, don't think you're going to get it right the first time. You're not. Starting with fewer, broader categories makes the taxonomy easier to iterate as you learn more about what's really required.

With these things in mind, you could go by general function (navigation, communication, safety, integration), but there's a lot of overlap. Which is precisely why excessively granular taxonomies will fail, by the way. Nobody will know where to look!

So you could step back and just split all "hardware" talk from all "scuttlebutt" talk, and call it good enough. I think that's what I would do, and plan on revisiting the question after six months.

Caterories are old thinking, as long as the Google search can find it :-)
Put the newest stuff at top of the page...

Dan, don't you get enough of that at SA?

All good points Tim.

This has nothing to do with categories ... but it would be neat if it was clear that the person writing was a power or sailboat owner, and of what size; and their involvement in the marine industry (manufacturer, rep, installer, etc.) as I am reading a comment.

Example, sailboat 39 feet ...

b393capt -s39

Well, at least this thread demonstrates how complicated forum categories really are (;-), and it was helpful when I slapped together the ones you see now. Thanks all!

I'm hoping the few categories I created will work out, but I can change them fairly easily. I discover that there's an alphabetical order issue, though...if you care about how they line up.

Dan, I do plan to add user info fields like you suggest to the registration profile. The idea is that they will show up when you click on a commenter's name, along with all relevant posts on the blog and forums. Have you tried it on your own name...kinda cool.

I suggest starting with a few categories as possible. See what develops, then add as necessary when the clearly active threads will not fit on a single page. Fewer threads means more chance that I will come across something that I was not looking for, but which I do want to read - aka serendipity.

In the existing categories I see AIS and Installation Issues (among others). But what if I have an installation issue with my AIS?

My suggestion is four categories:

Communication
Navigation
Instrumentation
Other

Give it two weeks and see what happens. If you have to divide Comm into VHF, SSB, WiFi, Cellular, etc then do so, but if the number of threads stays reasonable, let them be. If there is clearly a set of threads that show up in "Other" than should have it's own category, create one.

Certainly we interconnect all these things and yet we may want to see a DSC target plotted on our radar, or place a DSC call to an AIS target, but I think the primary issue of the threads can fit within these four groups for the next 2-4 weeks.

One feature that I really like from SA is the ability to subscribe to new topics and/or threads. This allows me to monitor what is happening without going there. Maybe not as many hits for the advertisers, but much more productive for me.

Wiring examples - Interconection - etc.

Allow others who have made their equipment work share the documentation.

Let's not forget AIS! Should be a category all by itself.

Categories... the bane of my online existence! And don't get me started on tags.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't see any facility for posting any materials other than a text message. There is no way to upload graphics, Dan's Friday pictures, schematics, installation pictures, etc.

Is it here and I don't see it?

Hey I was joking ... I have no Friday pictures!

Sorry, Russ, no photo or attachment uploads possible on the forums, yet. But it will likely be possible once more sites use Movable Type forums, and MT adds features (or someone writes a plug-in). In the meantime, you can link to pictures online elsewhere, like:

https://www.panbo.com/New_Morning_data_network_small1.jpg

Allow users to add a categories as part of the posting via a list box etc.
You can then sort them at a later date into your new system.