Major website update have been going on today.

First, I updated to the latest WordPress version (3.0) which caused several “maintenance screens” and access errors. Sorry for the inconvenience but everything is back to normal now. I still have to check several things so don’t hesitate to mention me any glitch or error.

Secondly and most importantly, I decided, after a small discussion on the board, to install a wiki in addition to the webiste (Mediawiki to be precise, the interface used by Wikipedia). I realized that copying, editing and fixing posts from the Tutorials section of the board to implement them on the FAQ/Tutorials sections of the website is just too big of a job to handle it on my own. Beside, editing a page or post on a wordpress blog is far from being intuitive and responsive. Therefore, a wiki…

I know, yet another platform, yet another “signing in” form and log-in access, etc. It can get too heavy or complicated but it is for me the best way to propose a full “SmartQ website” experience. This is how I see things :

• The Website : it’s the main portal and that’s where people access our community. It provides the majors links, majors updates and news. Technically, someone who is just interested in firmware updates and in the next devices to come could limit himself/herself to the website; if that someone exists !
  I might consider disabling comments to avoid confusion but as I only had one comment in two months, I don’t think it’s necessary.
• The Board : that’s the heart of the community, where you ask your questions and where they are replied quickly and hopefully, accurately; it’s all about thoughts, impressions, ideas, sharing, etc. The Tutorials section is like an anti-chamber of the wiki although I will encourage more powerful users to use the wiki in the future.
• The Wiki : the place we all have been waiting for ! FAQ’s, Tutorials, Tweaks, etc. The great thing about wiki’s is that everybody can edit a page for correction, updates or getting rid of old and useless information. Because it is so permissive, there is a danger to see our work edited the wrong way but there are protections against that. I’m still very new to the interface and although it is nothing to be scared of if you are used to the Web 2.0, I could still manage to make mistakes or to limit the wiki possibilities without knowing. Please, if you think something is missing or if you detect an issue, report at contact@smartqmid.com !
• The Chat : well, it’s there to test and it confirms that our community is not big enough to offer an instant-reply experience. I will let it live for a while but will delete it if things stay quite.

You can now access the wiki just by clicking on its link in the menu bar. Register and start editing right away ! I insist that only people used to the mediawiki interface or that are willing to learn about it should consider posting and creating pages over there. If you’re unsure, stick with the board Tutorials section for the moment !

Thanks for reading me, that was a long one !