Topic: A tour or guide after signup might be useful to a beginner (Read 163 times)

I don't think the forum is as complicated as some threads suggest here because the forum is an all encompassing platform with a pool of resources drawn from different varieties of topics and boards to choose from and learn gradually. Aside that, you can use the search bar located at the top right corner of the webpage and type whatever comes to your mind as a newbie there and you will see some results drawn from different related threads on this forum.

As a newbie, my first advise is to take your first few days to tour around the forum, starting from the 'Help' button and skim through the help support provided By the forum to understand the information contained herein.

Secondly, I will advise the newbie to come to the Beginners and Help board to learn some basic knowledge about Bitcoin and FAQs asked about this forum by other beginners in the forum. I learnt a lot about the forum then using the Beginners and Help board and can remember opening the pages one by one till over 10 pages were viewed and each of the board's page have 20 threads on it and l made sure I skimmed through them.

Now, I don't want everyone to go that far from the beginning because that much information alone, scared me away from the forum a bit before I summoned more courage and continue but of course I got knowledge on different things.

Lastly, is the search bar. Always use the search bar to search for a topic you have in mind before creating a new one. You can also use keywords to search for related topics of interest, until you don't find any, then you can create a new thread so you don't have to create what has already been created by someone else.

It is nice your idea but do you not think it would make things a bit cumbersome for the beginners because already there is beginners and help board which is very easier to navigate through.

At first, upon sign up, the homepage is visibly clear for all to see which makes it easier to locate each board of importance or concern to anyone. From the their one can be able to know which board that suits them to open so a to gain further knowledge and information about the platform.

Your plight is well understood OP. Ever since I joined the forum as a newbie, the design of the forum has been like this and I don’t remember any day that I feel the UI design doesn’t suit the taste of a newbie that I was then. This forum UI design is explicitly defined and simple to navigate around as a newbie. If you’re ready to go through the forum and learn new things, it won’t be hard for you to get use to the UI design. If you check other forums, they are not simply user friendly as this one, so requesting for a new face to the forum is not something realistic.

I was about to say the same thing as these things you've mentioned are about as enough guide as a newbie can ask for except he's asking we have a virtual tour guide that will help newbies settle better on the forum.
 That's by the way, though. The forum is a place where you have to acclimate yourself with by taking time to browse and even make research beforw making a post but it's like what most newbies are most concerned with after registering is to make their first post. And sometimes, when these helpful guidelines are being given, they seldom read it and feel they need to be spoonfed every step of the way, hence you find them making blunders.

Tricky, no it is not tricky at all.

What beginners need is time and willingness to explore the forum. They have a lot of time but use their time appropriately to explore the forum or don't do it, it is different among beginners and why they join the forum.

What problems are for newbies?

After signing up, they will have to look around and at the top of page, they will see Search, Help. If they look at those pages, they will find a lot of information.

Need more, they can visit Beginners & Help to find more, ask more. I am realistic that newbies will not know what Meta board is for but with time, they will know it is a board for forum issues, discussions.

Newbies always can see sticky threads that are pinned at top of each board. Their problems come from themselves, do they spend time to read sticky threads?
[Bitcointalk sticky threads] Newbies - read before starting.

Maybe just want to expedite the process of exploration which isn't a bad thing so your own exploration at the least isn't that difficult for you, maybe a little introduction video on how to navigate the forum can be helpful, I'm sure that not all newbies are pressing the HELP tab on the upper left so I don't see how harmless can a small video tutorial can do and if you actually let people at the least watch this before they complete their registration, we might help cull the amount of spammers registering new accounts.

OP, I’ve been on the forum for five years, and it was in this design before me, and I think it will remain so for a long time. The thing is different; it takes time to get used to it. You've found a section for your local board. The next step is to travel here to the section for beginners. Was this a problem? All beginners need is patience. A lot of people have been here for several years, and I am sure that for many, it is absolutely convenient to navigate the forum, knowing where and what section is located.
Have the desire to be curious beyond your boundaries, as well as the patience to learn everything gradually.

fact but I still don't see this as an issue though I won't lie the first time I came to this Forum, the Ui was somehow to me but I spent some of my time in the help page, which did help me grasp some ways on the forum works. I guess most Newbies failed to visit that page though it is clearly seen on the homepage

There is a proposition for this which the admin has been working on for about 5 years now.
Users already suggested what they think should be added when Writing a welcome message. If implemented it will serve as a guide for users after registration to point them in which direction to take.

It is not that straight forward, worse so if they have not used any online forum like this one before. Randomly finding this forum online will be a handful to get around with no guidance.

- Jay -

It should be quite obvious to beginners where to start. There is a board named ‘Beginners & help’. On this very board, there are pinned threads that are attached to help newbies get acquainted with the forum. There’s hardly any technical discussion here and if there is, it will be moved to technical discussions.

I agree that the forum probably needs a facelift to fit the times. If you’re asking for UI change then this topic should be moved to meta.

Did you designed these images by yourself, they look astonishing. I agree with you on this upgrade but as you said there is almost no technical update on this forum regarding to the UI but small improvements are made or maybe I came to know about them recently. This will help newbies but I wonder how difficult it will be for a newbie to understand this forum.

I faced difficulty too because I was not used to such layout, I thought it would be more handy like social media are, I can say one thing for sure is, this platform's view will be difficult for those who used to spend more time on many social media applications and when they will get to use this forum they might find things old and out of date and at the first place they will hate the forum's layout too.
But with time they will come to like it and hate other's like I am hating other forums but loving this layout. Are you an developer, I asked due to your username.

Starting out on the Bitcointalk forum as a newbie is like stepping into a maze of conversations, filled with lots of topics about technical stuff and market talk. Even though the forum is a great place for Bitcoin fans, it can be tricky for beginners. This topic is about the problems newbies face after their sign-up process and why we need simpler screens when you first join. There is contemplation of where to start and how to interact with the forum.  I believe there have not been any technical updates on the forum for a long time now. When I say technical update here, I am emphasizing specifically redesigning the Bitcointalk UI and adding a few onboarding screens to help newbies. In the meantime, I feel like these screens would help newbies find the right topics more easily to learn or start their Bitcointalk journey.