I don't think it's necessary. I would really love it, though, if on the "tracker" page it said "Type ID Board" instead of "Forum Topic" in the column on the left. That "Forum Topic" label is completely useless as it is. Practically everything is a "Forum Topic".

I think it would overcomplicate things. Most of the people asking for Type IDs aren't very knowledgeable about type (which is why they're here in the first place), so I can see a lot of requests being miscategorized.

Plus, I don't want to have to check five separate places to do IDs.

What I would like is the "Next Thread" and "Previous Thread" links back (lost in the previous redesign).

Also, maybe include some help text next to the "Title" field when creating new threads to help minimize the "ID THIS FONT PLEASE!!!" titles.

- Lex

A great point, Lex. What guidelines shall we draft for the title field?

What Mark and Lex said. Categories won’t help (even a distinction of sans and serif seems to be too tough for some of our guests). They even would slow down things, as we then had to go through various index pages.

Better (= distinguishable, ideally descriptive) thread titles would be a real improvement. For the guidelines: There used to be a sticky post with FAQ (which nobody actually read). They included this paragraph:

What do I enter in the “Title” line?
Try to define your type ID request as clearly as possible. For example “1960’s newspaper headline face” or “Lost in Translation movie logo” or “retro script” will do nicely. Whereas “Please help me identify this font” is pretty pointless as that’s the only thing we do on the Type Identification Board. Compare it to a newspaper where every single headline would say “Stuff happened!”

F

I think the best guideline for titling a thread would be to include what the sample actually says. So while "1960's newspaper headline face" is good, "MAN WALKS ON MOON" would be even better.

- Lex

All said. I just want to affirm, what Mark, Florian and Lex have said.

And I would like to have a RSS-feature which works as comfortable as the one in the Whatthefont-forum. Which updates not only the original post but – much more important – also the comments.

I read Typophile via RSS feed so I see the latest new threads and via the track link on my profile to see replies to threads in which I have written. I'd find it helpful if the titles were tagged with something like "ID:" or "[ID]".

Andreas

See how the RSS-Feed in the Whatthefont-forum works (screenshot from my NetNewsWire application):

Each thread has a single line (in the window above). In the window below you can see all the comments of a thread which is clicked. If a thread is updated with a comment it is marked (the bold line above).

Pretty nice and comfy.

Here on typophile if you click a thread you only can see the original post, nothing more. And you never know if a thread was answered until you open the thread in the browser. Not ideal.

I agree with everything said above and don’t have anything to add.

{sorry, edited}
I've always liked that «What do I enter in the “Title” line?» paragraph from the FAQ. About how to make more people actually read it, how about a «?» icon next to the Title field (when starting a new thread) that displays that sort of explanation text via a tooltip on hover?

An option to search only in one's own "tracker"? (it would help locating already answered IDs)

"...instead of “Forum Topic” in the column on the left. That “Forum Topic” label is completely useless as it is."

I second what Mark said. This label is useless. It would be better if that column would instead say "Which Forum" as in "Type ID", "General," "Build" etc.

ChrisL

Maybe some real real simple REQURIED fill-in fields could work when posting something, that would give some more info, to make it easier for people to foolow the guidelines. Like: Font appearing in:______ Approximate year:______ , and so on. (I'm no copywriter and not an English speaker so forgive my terrible and boring copy. I think you get the idea anyway)

I second Karin's suggestion. A fill-in-form for Type ID's would great! And a designated link on the frontpage.

I like the idea of making them check some idea of what font they are looking for: Serif, Sans, Script, Blackletter, and Other. Something must be checked in order to post the thread. Also provide a place for letters/words from the font you want ID'd, which also must be filled in. Too many times we are not even sure which font they are trying to get ID'd.

For me, and I know this is probably asking too much, knowing the age and country of origin of the sample would be a great help.

- Mike Yanega

Set up the title field to reject the post if it contains the word "help" or "ID".

Check boxes for catagories are a nice idea but should not be mandatory; if someone is not sure, you really don't want them to check a box willy-nilly in order to post.

Pre-sorting is not a good idea; that will just make it harder for those responding to the post.

I'd love a thumb like the WTF forum has, also agree on the RSS feed system they have.

Something which would also be nice is Karin's system for fields helping people inputing their request, instead of calling it "FONT ID PLEASE!".

Text:__________ Style:__________ Appeared:___________

If the forums wants to, there could even be a checkbox for threads which have been solved, kind of like this:

SOLVED?: [__] SOLVER:__________

OK, the definitive list:

__Sans __Serif __Script __Display __Blackletter __I Don't Know
Do you know you cannot use Help and ID in the title line? __Yes __No
Text:__________ Style:__________ Appeared:___________
Age of Sample _____ Country of Origin__________
Sample from __Book __Newspaper/Magazine __Corporate ID (Logos/Labels/Ads) __Signage __Other
Did you Google first? __Yes __No
Have you tried Whatthefont? __Yes __No
Are we doing your homework for you? __Yes __No
How soon do you need an answer? __Yesterday __Immediately __ASAP __No hurry, just curious
Solved? __ Solver:__________ Font______________
__Not a Font Match: __Exact __Close
If we come up with an answer, will you post and tell us how truly, madly, deeply grateful you are? __Yes __No __Maybe

Insert witty comment in reply to Renaissance Man's post here:_______________________________.

I think his post is witty enough.

- Mike Yanega

I am with you, Mike--his post is witty as is.

ChrisL