Is there any way of having a warning if someone chooses the "Creating Nodes" category? Far too many people are using it when they should just be using "General".
It is frustrating to keep getting distracted when thinking I might be able to help someone with a custom node question only to find that it is something basic about a flow.
I correct the ones I come across but there seems to have been another influx of new starters recently who aren't taking the hint.
I think this whole board has developed into a complete haystack. Everything is just thrown in without careful sorting. If you are looking for something your only hope is the search feature (or if you repeat the question and someone is kind enough to give you a hint or a link)
I miss the traditional board structure where you had everything better organized, more and better defined categories
Now it has grown too big so making a facelift would be a tremendous work
Not sure that is entirely fair. A lot of people are making good use of categories and starting to use tags better as well. Information Management is never easy since everyone thinks differently. Also, there are a few of us doing some moderation and trying to keep things in some measure of order. Considering the growth of node-red, this forum remains incredibly good.
Indeed, the structure is decent I think as I started using the auto-notifications features a while back.
I suspect some beginners think that a node-red program, that I would call a flow, is a node.
Don't suppose it would help much but the General category could be "General - programming in Node-red" and "Creating your own nodes" could be "Advanced - Creating your own nodes".
I agree mostly with what @jbudd says. Some re-wording should be enough
I suspect "Creating nodes" to a new user, fits their own definition/translation e.g. as far as they are concerned, they are "creating" their own something, using "nodes". All words are used but the point is incorrect. Lost in translation so to speak.
I think some clarification / distinction is needed. Perhaps this reads better?:
General renamed to Using Node-RED Help and discussion around using nodes and making flows inside Node-RED
Creating Nodes renamed to Developing Nodes Discussions around creating custom contrib nodes for adding features to the Node-RED platform
I think there is too much just thrown into "General", many times when it is related to a specific node or a programming thing. So what I really miss is sub-categories for nodes, like if you now would introduce Developing Nodes there could be sub-categories below for the specific node in question. In that way you would organize the board much better
Secondly I miss categories for disciplines; Like Video Management, Home Automation etc
Third a Coding Corner where all users could address javascript and other programmatic issues & questions
Part of the problem is trying to make whatever organisation we choose to be obvious and intuitive to users.
We already have a category for questions about creating nodes. We already support tagging questions with the name of the specific node in question (because creating a new category for every node is simply impractical)
So the fact you're asking for things we already have indicates part of the problem.
We chose not to go overboard with the number of categories because it wasn't obvious what would be the right level of granularity. Plus, the more categories we have, the more likely questions end up in the 'wrong' category.
I've no doubt we can improve what we have, but I don't think swinging the other way to having lots of new categories is the right approach either.
It would be worth doing some research on how other popular forums organise their categories and see what we can learn from them.
I wouldn't mind this - though I actually think that General is actually quite a good name for the catch-all category.
Yes please - that sounds good.
Some of the more popular nodes already have tags. Not really any reason why any node shouldn't have a tag. Anything tagged with uibuilder will show up in my notifications for example. But we will still need to be vigilant because most people won't tag with the full node package name and there are lots of similar sounding names in the catalogue.
Might be I have not realized it, maybe not so obvious or it might be just me. Regardless, if you think the "General" section is good as is, then forget, just live with it. I think anyway it is not the best way that everyone just throws any stuff into a big bucket.
I also realize that to keep up a good structure, pretty lot of site management is required, not the most wanted task to take on, but necessary for a good organization. This forum has grown so much, the overview is lost, I even have problems to "quickly" remember where I did put my own comments or questions (I know, search gives me that, but,,,)
MAYBE if in the wrong place that is the default/under the cursor selection.
Or/and - maybe - people just aren't bothered to look. Not meant to be a put down, but more a statement of what is.
It was only a thought.
P.S.
If I scroll the blue bar up and do it again I see this:
Nope, not for me. Not in Edge, nor in Firefox. The window appears above as in your example but always shows the first entry which is "General" at the top of the list.
And if I do that, I still see general at the top as you do. Both show the same thing.