Navigating planetptc

[f.kohlhepp]

When this forum first opened there was a lot of discussion about the difficulty navigating through the pages and finding the new posts. Several promises were made to improve the system and we were counseled to "be patient."

I have seen (after I log in) the bold type indicating a new post has been added. The "all content" tab, however does not display all content; if I select a sub forum a whole new list with new bold entries appears. If I select a topic to read, I need two clicks on IE's "back" button to get back to the top forum. Then I can select a different sub forum to view. In order to sift for the new posts on the entire forum requires a lot of time and more patience than I usually have; I used to scan the entire collaboratory about twice a day for new posts, now I scan a few of the subforums and quit to do something productive.

Are things still being changed? How long should we be patient? If we stop complaining will the changes stop too?

Is there a way to set up the web pages so that they're easier to sort throgh? Where are those buttons? (I found the ones to share with facebook, twitter, etc.)

Final question: The collaboratory was a great forum for idea exchanges and getting help; problems with Mathcad and with real technical problems could be posed and answers found. Planetptc is going to replace the collaboratory. How many people are going to give up trying to navigate through this web site and stop participating?

Fred

[RichardJ]

How many people are going to give up trying to navigate through this web site and stop participating?

Perhaps the question should be "How many people have already given up trying to navigate through this web site and have stopped participating?"

[MikeArmstrong]

Richard Jackson wrote:

Perhaps the question should be "How many people have already given up trying to navigate through this web site and have stopped participating?"

I've got to agree. It seems some of the regular posters haven't been on here or have given up as you said.

When hitting the 'Post Message' button it seems to take an age to return to the pervious page - It takes even longer if I try to attach a file, I have actually had the page freeze and loose the post, but to give PTC some credit they have installed a retrieve option where text from the frozen post can be restored without retyping it all out..

[jeanGiraud]

MIke Armstrong wrote:

Richard Jackson wrote:

Perhaps the question should be "How many people have already given up trying to navigate through this web site and have stopped participating?"

I've got to agree. It seems some of the regular posters haven't been on here or have given up as you said.

When hitting the 'Post Message' button it seems to take an age to return to the pervious page - It takes even longer if I try to attach a file, I have actually had the page freeze and loose the post, but to give PTC some credit they have installed a retrieve option where text from the frozen post can be restored without retyping it all out..

The retrieve option did work for me, but worked only one time. If a long reply is foreseen, better type in NotePad and the spell check does not work on long message !!!. Why is the site OFF every night for hrs ? Presumably because under repair, it would be convenient having a little message saying "Sorry XXX, the site is under repair , will be back soon. Thanks for your comprehension" . Every collab has to manage his own way, in my case: not too bad because I was so geniously organised that it's only little more., particularly vis the *.zip. The "2 hrs ago" is nice and most inconvenient. I'm not so sure yet that by clicking on "Mathcad" all the categories are there like in Akiva. It's not possible to visit all categories . What that means is that in my case I only click "Mathcad" and if I don't see a question about "calculus" and if it does not appear, then " No monkey see no monkey do " .

jmG

[MikeArmstrong]

Just as I was writing this reply the website froze and I lost everything - NO the retrieve didn't work.

I was writing to explain PTC should be given to time to get the site right, but I'm getting a little frustrated with having to constantly re-type or sit there waiting for the website to post my reply.

Also, there is no option on to paste when I click my right mouse button - how are you managing to paste into the editor?

Mike

[RichardJ]

Also, there is no option on to paste when I click my right mouse button - how are you managing to paste into the editor?

From the edit menu, or use Ctrl V.

[MikeArmstrong]

Well done Richard.

Cheers

Mike

[GuyB]

Richard Jackson wrote:

How many people are going to give up trying to navigate through this web site and stop participating?

Perhaps the question should be "How many people have already given up trying to navigate through this web site and have stopped participating?"

Good question. I can answer that for me, personally: this is the first time I've gone through the site in many (perhaps 6?) weeks.

That's compared to an average of a couple times a day before the move.

- Guy

[Narlin]

I am thus far totally lost on this website, but I will keep trying for a while.

Question 1: I am about to install MathCad 15 on a Windows 7 machine. Interestingly, i am using MathCad 14 on that Windows 7 machine. I was previously led to believe that MC14 wouldn't work in windows 7? Seems thats not so.

Question 2: I have a few files (maybe 200) that are with extension mcd from MC-11 or earlier. Before migrating to MC-15 do i need to save all of these in one of the new XML formats?

I am sure this is an inappropriate place to ask these questions. Just bear with me and I will learn the new website in time. At the moment, i just hope that if someone answers the questions that I can ever find the answer.

Narlin

[Narlin]

Actually, I just went to look at opening each of the mcd files and resaving them as xmcd and discovered that there are more like 1100 of them. Is there a conversion utility?

narlin

[RichardJ]

Actually, I just went to look at opening each of the mcd files and resaving them as xmcd and discovered that there are more like 1100 of them. Is there a conversion utility?

I seem to recall Stuart wrote a script to do this. If you really need it I can try to find it, or rewrite the script. I would just leave them in .mcd format though. I have a very large number of files, and that's my current strategy.

[RichardJ]

Narlin Beaty wrote:

Question 1: I am about to install MathCad 15 on a Windows 7 machine. Interestingly, i am using MathCad 14 on that Windows 7 machine. I was previously led to believe that MC14 wouldn't work in windows 7? Seems thats not so.

Not reliably, I think. Some people seem to have problems, others not.

Question 2: I have a few files (maybe 200) that are with extension mcd from MC-11 or earlier. Before migrating to MC-15 do i need to save all of these in one of the new XML formats?

No. The file formats available in MC15 are identical to those in MC14.

[f.kohlhepp]

One more question:

If this is such a great forum, why is the collaboratory still active on problems with M14 (and M15 now?) I see some issues with M15 being brought up here, but the collaboratory still has an active category, there isn't one here, and Mona is very busy noting and logging the issues but not putting them here for general consumption.

[MikeArmstrong]

Fred Kohlhepp wrote:

One more question:

If this is such a great forum, why is the collaboratory still active on problems with M14 (and M15 now?) I see some issues with M15 being brought up here, but the collaboratory still has an active category, there isn't one here, and Mona is very busy noting and logging the issues but not putting them here for general consumption.

Who said this is such a great forum??????

I'm sure Mona explained that some topics will be left open and in the collab until a permanent home is found. Agree there should be an Mathcad 15 active category here. Will the Mathcad Prime topic be moved to this forum at some point?

Mike

[f.kohlhepp]

I know that "some forums (in the collaboratory) will be kept open." My point is that planetptc has been designed and kaunched as a showcase for PTC products. It is not (and I don't think it ever was their intention) a forum for discussion.

I see nothing but unanswered complaints about this site--no significant attempts to improve its' function as a discussion forum.

[RichardJ]

Fred Kohlhepp wrote:

It is not (and I don't think it ever was their intention) a forum for discussion.

It would certainly be interesting to hear from PTC what their goal(s) was(were) w.r.t. PlanetPTC.

[jeanGiraud]

Don't worry Fred !

This Question is "Possibly Answered"

... Commiserable [Jean]

[jeanGiraud]

jean Giraud wrote:

Don't worry Fred !

This Question is "Possibly Answered"

... Commiserable [Jean]

Fred,

"This Question is Possibly Answered" ... is not completely a joke :

1. I complained for the spell check that was insufficient ... it looks now limitless in size !

2. I complained about the library of avatars that most of them were simply ridiculous,

and that we had only one "user avatar" ... good news, today I could collect 5 or 6 !

Remember in the former collab, features came by burst/ wave/tsunami ... circular/redundant,

then complete black [or white] silence. I'm about sure somebody at PTC is watching for

what is musical chair or not. My next critical complaint is about the lack of contrast in many

items like "Tags". I might be able to read tags, sometimes.

Good things take time.

[f.kohlhepp]

Jean;

I'm glad you like the spell checker and the avatars now, and I hope they get the tags right for you.

I also hope they set it up so I can see only the changed forums (the ones with the new posts) on ALL the forums at the same time, and I hope they give me the ability to add to a post then move on without having to use the back button three times, too.

[jeanGiraud]

Fred,

You are totally right, this forum is not a collaboratory based on the cumulative categories , cumulative by date . There is no search feature by date. Collabs are mobile, absent by period(s), collabs are not bloggers . Collaboration is on-line tutorial, on-line work sheet help. Unfortunately, this web community is a "discussion board" and a data base for work sheets, a good way to backup some precious collection. The truth is that the petty cash is empty for the designers to make it "meet collab specs". At least, many of us are still there.

Cheers Fred, 10 years now !

Jean

[f.kohlhepp]

The collaboratory (when it was suspended) was averaging 20+ messages/day.

When I open planet ptc /mathcad/ all, the first item (newest?) was updated 1 day ago.

How many hits is this mathcad forum averaging a day?

[RichardJ]

A related observation:

27 people logged into the Collaboratory today, despite the fact that it has been dead for 3 weeks. I think that says a lot!

There is no way to tell how many Mathcad users logged into this forum today, but I would certainly like to know that number!

[jeanGiraud]

>There is no way to tell how many Mathcad users logged into this forum today, but I would certainly like to know that number ! < [Richard]

_____________________________

I did a quick survey based on my 30 days member and on the new threads that I posted. It averages about 150 visits/day . Adding other collabs and replies, it might well amount > 200 . This large increase vs Akiva is due to the "tag visitors". This sudden curiosity about PTC web community will surely decrease and depends primarily on what's new ... nothing new = no click = no view . Actually, there is handful of active collabs ... upset and saturated of the upload/download that does not work and nothing to check where the problem is. For instance, how do I know which of the the 36 bran new sheets I posted have uploaded ? If I click them back and they don't download , do they really don't download because the download is sick or is it the upload that is sick ?

All in short, the upload-download for Mathcad work sheets is scrap.

At least if Mona reads us, she can report as plain as it is.

jmG

[IRstuff]

Fred, the All Content page lies, since it only lists content from Mathcad's "Mathcad" subcommunity. "Other Subjects" and other subcommunities are not listed in that page.

You should use the Overview page http://communities.ptc.com/community/mathcad?view=overview to see all current threads

[f.kohlhepp]

Eden;

Since I'm only interested in the MathCad section as the "new collaboratory," I think I'm looking in the right spot. I'm sure that PTC has a lot of good and usefull programs (I don't use ProE, but a lot of others at work here do.) But I'm only interested in what the collaboratory used to be: a place where I could discuss, learn, refine the use of a fantastic program and get or give help on technical problems with real world applications; sort of a global seminar. So when I see that the top item on "mathcad/all content" is a day old, I have to disagree with Jean--there aren't 150+ posts/day. Maybe there are 150 "tags," somebody looking. But looking isn't participating, nobody's participating!

My big issue is that the current configuration of PlanetPTC won't let me do that! I cannot easily get an overview of the recent activity in the forum. I cannot see only the new posts. (This topic is now long enough that scrolling to the bottom to see the last posting is becoming tedious; can you imagine what some of the old 300+ posts debating units would be like?

I just got three (3, count 'em) identical emails from Dan Marotta inviting me to join PlanetPTC. My feeble attempts to locate an email address for Mr. Marotta led me to "Linkedin," where (if I join) I could send a message. My next step is to search PlanetPTC to see if he's ever posted in his own forum.

I need to append an apology. Dan Marotta has been watching us; cleverly disguised as "BostonDan." Maybe we can get a discussion about possible changes in function, an estimate of schedule, a "flying fickle finger of fate"?

[RichardJ]

Fred Kohlhepp wrote:

Eden;

Since I'm only interested in the MathCad section as the "new collaboratory," I think I'm looking in the right spot.

No, Eden is correct. That page shows only the new content in "Mathcad", not in "Mathcad and all subforums". I agree that what we want is "Mathcad and all subforums", but that's not what we have.

If you go to the overview page then "All Recent Mathcad Content" shows all the threads that have been recently modified. There is no indication of which ones you have read though, and it does not show all new posts (so the title ia a misnomer). If there is more than one recent post in a thread it shows only the most recent. If you go to the top level, "PlanetPTC community", and the "Your View" tab you will see all new posts, but then you get to see all the Pro/E, Winchill, etc etc posts too. It also does not give you any indication of which posts are new. You can also click on the discussions icon at the top of the page (where is says "Browse"). Then you get a list of discussions with unread ones in bold, but it doesn't actually show all the discussions, so it's kind of useless (for example, this thread does not show). So what we really want is sort of there, but scattered all over the place so that it is almost unusable.

There is no way to view only the new posts, and no way to identify which posts are new when you are in a thread.

I think that about covers the current status.

[rnislick]

Hi all. Dan and I work closely together monitoring and participating in PlanetPTC Community. I know many of you have come over from the Collab and have gone through this transition to PlanetPTC Community. We know what you guys want to see and how you want to consume content on this site. We are working on a plan to get the filters in place to make that happen for you.

The Collab is still "open" for a few topics like bug reporting that you mentioned until we determine a permanent place to continue that function. The ultimate goal is to close down the Collab in its entirety because as we've discussed in similar threads, Akiva and the Collab are not supported and haven't been updated since 1999. And in fact, more recent versions of Akiva are more similar to PlanetPTC Community's functionality and are less like the out of date Collab.

I know this has been a disappointment to some, but Dan and I are always open to suggestions on how we can improve this site. We want to encourage participation around the themes of Showcasing your work, Networking with peers, and Inspiring others. And we know that other topics and content will be posted in parallel as well.

PM me or Dan with questions and input any time.

Rachel

[IRstuff]

And in fact, more recent versions of Akiva are more similar to PlanetPTC Community's functionality and are less like the out of date Collab.

Just because Akiva strayed off the trail and is drudging through the underbrush is not a reason to join them. As a counterpoint, I refer you to http://www.eng-tips.com/ , which is closer to the Collab than not. Their file upload is a bit more complicated than even here and the linear threading complicates discussions, but people deal with it successfully most of the time. Note that ET doesn't even have products of its own, yet easily garners 50 times more postings than here. I won't mislead anyone; ET has plenty of gripes about a litany of problems, perceived or otherwise.

ET has evolved over the years, but the thread structure has remained the same.

And, the converse here is that files and images are easier to upload, but that's really about it.

TTFN

[RichardJ · Accepted solution]

The Collab is still "open" for a few topics like bug reporting that you mentioned until we determine a permanent place to continue that function.

What's wrong with here? The bugs are going to get reported here whether you have a specific forum for them or not. I can say that with a high degree of certainty, because the Collab did not always have a suspected bugs forum and the bugs got reported there. And, unless you have no interest in listening to your customers, I can't figure out what you would have against a feature suggestions forum.

The ultimate goal is to close down the Collab in its entirety

Yes. Hopefully after you have transferred the remainder of the content. Think of that as our "Library of Alexandria", which we spent years building. You have transferred less than half the content to the "new library", doing a fair amount of damage in the process (in particular, all the broken hyperlinks). The new library unfortunately has such a poor indexing system that it is not only difficult to find old material, it's difficult to find new material too. Now you are telling us that you intend to burn down the old library, complete with everything you left behind during the move. Don't be too surprised if you don't make any friends in the Mathcad world when you do that.

And in fact, more recent versions of Akiva are more similar to PlanetPTC Community's functionality and are less like the out of date Collab.

What do you mean by "out of date" (that's a real question - I don't know what you mean by it)?

We want to encourage participation around the themes of Showcasing your work, Networking with peers, and Inspiring others. And we know that other topics and content will be posted in parallel as well.

I'm sorry I have to say this, but I think that is one of the root causes of the problems. Who decided that those should be the goals of the new forums? You and Dan? Someone else at PTC? Some consultant? The marketing department at Jive Software? It doesn't really matter who did decide that though, because I know who didn't. Us. Your users. In fact, your customers. The cardinal sin of product development is to build what the engineers want to build, and not what the customers want to buy.

Mathcad worksheets are not like pieces of art. You don't hang them in a gallery and "showcase them". They are tools, and usually highly specific ones. People take pieces from them for their own use, but rarely use a worksheet in it's original form. Some worksheets are of course worth showcasing, but it's a small minority. As far as "networking with peers" goes, my professional network is on LinkedIn. I have no interest in trying to maintain another one that only reaches a tiny subset of the people I want to connect with.

The nature of Mathcad means that most of the interaction occurs when someone runs into a problem and can't figure out how to solve it. The best type of forum for that type of interaction is one centered around a discussion forum. No need for videos, blogs, Twitter feeds, social networking features, etc etc. As a discussion forum, the Collaboratory may be based on very old software, but the fact is that it is much better than this forum.

[jeanGiraud]

>No need for videos, blogs, Twitter feeds, social networking features, etc etc. < [Richard]

_______________________

100% agreed the all content of your reply, particularly this comment above.

Yes, collaboration is not chat, rather a "telephone conference" in work sheets.

To another extreme for Planet PTC: why not a webcam + chocolate gogogirls.