Improvement for the introduction subforum for new users

zaibon

I think it would come in handy if in the New to Forum? subforum would be a pinned thread on top which contains some basic information to make the start a bit easier.
Like:

Difference between snapshot and stable - maybe with the info how to install Vivaldi as standalone so you can run both side by side
Where to post Feature requests
How and where to post a bug report - optionally with the info to ask in the forum first to save some time and resources for the devs
A short introduction why you can't post links and have to wait - I think it was about 560 sec - until you can post your next comment when you're new or below 2 upvotes
An instruction on how to access the webmail and that the webmail name is bound to the users name

Any other ideas or is this already too much for a new user?

Steffie

@zaibon IMO your idea is excellent. Two remarks:

It might help to also explain the need for cookies for the two specific V sites, given LOTS of us have been caught out by that.
Standalone is only a concept / necessity for Windows [& Mac? i've no idea] - not Linux, for which one simply installs either or both, without any fiddling about needed.

zaibon

@Steffie
To 1.) Very good point I totally forgot about that
To 2.) Well seems like I forgot about that too - I only use the linux version when I visit a friend of mine- so this might be a bit complicated to be included in an "For Starters" thread.

TbGbe · Win: Snapshot Vivaldi 7.4.3671.3

@zaibon Should probably recommend stable (at first) and moving to snapshots when users are more comfortable with Vivaldi and found out how things work.
Could also include links to the "help articles" on installing Flash and Codecs etc.

Maybe we actually need a "New to Vivaldi" article which is linked to by a pinned post and can be updated etc easily.

zaibon

@tbgbe To recommend the stable version first is definitely the best way but I think the snapshot version should be mentioned anyway so users at least know that there is not only one version.

I really like the idea to include the help articles especially the suggestion to have an updatable "New to Vivaldi" article. And I like to add that maybe there could be linked some of the "how to..." posts from the forum to the article like the how to refresh your profile etc.

TbGbe · Win: Snapshot Vivaldi 7.4.3671.3

@zaibon Regarding the "How To" articles, that would probably be better in a similar "Basic Troubleshooting" article - could also include things like "How to edit bookmarks using the panel".

Not sure where a "Theme Editor" article would go though

BTW: Is anyone volunteering to write (and perhaps translate) these?

luetage

I like the idea, and there is already a guide up, which has the perfect placing, but isn't nearly worked out. In my opinion this should be vastly expanded and improved: https://help.vivaldi.com/guide/quick-start/

zaibon

@luetage .... I didn't even know that this exists But yes this needs an update and obviously a better place or more places to be posted.

luetage

No, forget what I said, I'm completely wrong, when I first read this thread a few days ago, I thought the idea was a guide to Vivaldi browser. But there is already the help site I just posted, and there is the Vivaldi Tips website.

What you want is a guide for using the forum.... that's something completely different -- but yeah, makes sense! Shouldn't be hard to setup and it can easily be edited if something comes to mind.

I wouldn't include any help articles regarding the usage of the browser directly, because both previously mentioned sites do this already, and do it quite well. You could setup links to Vivaldi Tips and the official Vivaldi Help site though, so users don't miss out on basic info and guidance. A new to forum article should stick with the forum basics.

zaibon

@gwen-dragon
I knew about the F1 site but I've to admit that my jungle expedition into the unfathomable depths of it is still delayed by ...ehr... let's say: various reasons?!

@luetage "Guide for using the Forum" ^^ nice title

I started to write down something that could become a template for this but to be honest I am a terrible writer when it comes to something more than a mere forum post. I didn't counted but I guess I deleted my attempts already 8-9 times and started all over again. So in case I won't be hit by an idea that enlightens me this will still take a looong time.

zaibon

Sooo, somehow I found some spare time yesterday evening and the monstrous pamphlet below is my first raw draw of how I think it could look like.

This still needs a lot of polishing so you're welcome to criticise and make some changes. Oh and as english ain't my first language please point out typos, spelling errors or sentences that just don't make sense in english because my brain made a one on one translation.

By the way is it possible to build drop down spoiler menus and name them differently - because every new user get's hit by a ton of plain text -.- ?

Thanks for installing/downloading/trying out Vivaldi and welcome to the Vivaldi Forum.

To make your start around the forum easier we have some tips and hints for you.

The Main Forum is the international one but there are lots of other languages available in the Local Forum section.

OPTION A To build the best browser for our friends Vivaldi is constantly "work in progress" to improve this browser even further we like to hear what your ideas are.
In case you feel like Vivaldi is still missing a functionality or you have a new idea that will make this browser stand out even more you are welcome to post your suggestion in the Feature request thread.
This is the place where all suggestions and requests are cumulated. While you stroll around in this thread you hopefully come across some requests that you think need more attention - feel free to put some more weight to it by upvoting the suggestion - as others may upvote your proposals if the like it.

OPTION B In case you feel like Vivaldi is still missing a functionality or you have a new idea that will make this browser stand out even more you are welcome to post your suggestion in the Feature request thread.
This is the place where all suggestions and requests are cumulated. While you stroll around in this thread you hopefully come across some requests that you think need more attention - feel free to put some more weight to it by upvoting the suggestion - as others may upvote your proposals if the like it.

NOTE: The feature request link is one of those who is in need of an update every new stable version or as I did in this text stays linked to the general request subforum.
There is a small chance that you may stumble about a bug - DON'T PANIC - (<--are Douglas Adams quotes still something you can do? ^^)
Try to remember what you just did or what a website did - this will help to track down the error much faster.
To save you and us a bit of time it would be really nice if your next step would be to do a quick search in the forum to have a look if anybody else already ran into this problem you experienced.
If yes maybe there already is a solution to your problem or maybe you can contribute something so the solution will be found based on your additional information.
But it could be that you are the first user who runs into this problem and bugs don't tend to vanish all by themselves (Of course - The exception proves the rule). So go ahead and make a post about that bug - make sure to provide all necessary information - what happend; where did/does this happen; what do we need to do to reproduce this; what are your system specs and what Vivaldi- and systemversion do you use and what extensions do you have installed.
With this information the users in this forum may be able to show you a workaround or even provide a direct solution.
Still there are cases where all combined knowledge don't bring you any closer to a remedy then it is time to file a bug report:
How to do a bugreport for Vivaldi
Report each bug seperately at https://vivaldi.com/bugreport/
Describe the issue as precise as you can.
Add some information about extensions you use.
Add information about the operating system and version you use.
If you have problems with video or audio give us information about your installed codecs and graphics card/GPU.
Add a exact link to the page where the issue comes up and can be tested.
After reporting the issue, you will receive a confirmation mail from the bugtracker.
In a reply to this mail you can add more information and files (like screenshots or testcases) as attachments and it will be added automatically to bug report.
If you have questions about the bug please ask in forum first and do not forget to post the VB-XXXXX bug number (you can find it in the confirmation mail).
(Thanks Gwen - I boldly copied your text)
Why you'll need to wait until you can post your next comment:
This is nothing that should stop you personally - this is a security messure that should stop bots from doing the one thing that they are good at: spamming.
When you earned a certain amount of reputation (I guess at the moment it is 2 upvotes) you'll be liberated from those boundaries.
This is how you can enter your mail address:
You've been given a mail address when you create an account for the Vivaldi Forum. And it is always your-username@vivladi.net.
You can access this by clicking on the "MAIL" button in the top bar of this forum or you can go to webmail.vivaldi.net
You can't visit the Vivaldi Forum with it's own browser?
HELP NEEDED ehrm yes I couldn't find this on the fly - was it only to allow third party cookies or is there something else you needed to do to allow the forum cookies?
My alternative advice would've been to click on the globe left of the url and add vivaldi.net; login.vivaldi.net and forum.vivaldi.net or are there other ways? (Does this even work? I don't work with cookies that much - besides deleting them)
And last but not least here are two sites you might want to visit when you're new and want to find out about the possibilities of this project:
https://help.vivaldi.com/ This is the official help site - You can reach this site by just pressing "F1"
https://vivalditips.com/ This is a project by users to show you the potential that Vivaldi has
https://vivaldi.com/blog/ The official Vivaldi Blog so you stay up to date - You can reach this site by clicking on the "Blog" button in the upper bar of this forum

Okay below is the same text just hidden behind the buttons so it isn't too much words that jump right into your face when you open that post. Still I am not really satisfied.. mmh

You want to take part in improving Vivaldi?

OPTION A To build the best browser for our friends Vivaldi is constantly "work in progress" to improve this browser even further we like to hear what your ideas are.
In case you feel like Vivaldi is still missing a functionality or you have a new idea that will make this browser stand out even more you are welcome to post your suggestion in the Feature request thread.
This is the place where all suggestions and requests are cumulated. While you stroll around in this thread you hopefully come across some requests that you think need more attention - feel free to put some more weight to it by upvoting the suggestion - as others may upvote your proposals if the like it.
OPTION B In case you feel like Vivaldi is still missing a functionality or you have a new idea that will make this browser stand out even more you are welcome to post your suggestion in the Feature request thread.
This is the place where all suggestions and requests are cumulated. While you stroll around in this thread you hopefully come across some requests that you think need more attention - feel free to put some more weight to it by upvoting the suggestion - as others may upvote your proposals if the like it.
NOTE: The feature request link is one of those who is in need of an update every new stable version or as I did in this text stays linked to the general request subforum.

There is a small chance that you may stumble about a bug - DON'T PANIC -

Try to remember what you just did or what a website did - this will help to track down the error much faster.
To save you and us a bit of time it would be really nice if your next step would be to do a quick search in the forum to have a look if anybody else already ran into this problem you experienced.
If yes maybe there already is a solution to your problem or maybe you can contribute something so the solution will be found based on your additional information.
But it could be that you are the first user who runs into this problem and bugs don't tend to vanish all by themselves (Of course - The exception proves the rule). So go ahead and make a post about that bug - make sure to provide all necessary information - what happend; where did/does this happen; what do we need to do to reproduce this; what are your system specs and what Vivaldi- and systemversion do you use and what extensions do you have installed.
With this information the users in this forum may be able to show you a workaround or even provide a direct solution.
Still there are cases where all combined knowledge don't bring you any closer to a remedy then it is time to file a bug report:
How to do a bugreport for Vivaldi
Report each bug seperately at https://vivaldi.com/bugreport/
Describe the issue as precise as you can.
Add some information about extensions you use.
Add information about the operating system and version you use.
If you have problems with video or audio give us information about your installed codecs and graphics card/GPU.
Add a exact link to the page where the issue comes up and can be tested.
After reporting the issue, you will receive a confirmation mail from the bugtracker.
In a reply to this mail you can add more information and files (like screenshots or testcases) as attachments and it will be added automatically to bug report.
If you have questions about the bug please ask in forum first and do not forget to post the VB-XXXXX bug number (you can find it in the confirmation mail).
(Thanks Gwen - I boldly copied your text)

Why you'll need to wait until you can post your next comment:

This is nothing that should stop you personally - this is a security messure that should stop bots from doing the one thing that they are good at: spamming.
When you earned a certain amount of reputation (I guess at the moment it is 2 upvotes) you'll be liberated from those boundaries.

This is how you can enter your mail address:

You've been given a mail address when you create an account for the Vivaldi Forum. And it is always your-username@vivladi.net.
You can access this by clicking on the "MAIL" button in the top bar of this forum or you can go to webmail.vivaldi.net

** You can't visit the Vivaldi Forum with it's own browser? Here's what you'll need to do**

HELP NEEDED ehrm yes I couldn't find this on the fly - was it only to allow third party cookies or is there something else you needed to do to allow the forum cookies?

And last but not least here are two sites you might want to visit when you're new and want to find out about the possibilities of this project:
https://help.vivaldi.com/ This is the official help site - You can reach this site by just pressing "F1"
https://vivalditips.com/ This is a project by users to show you the potential that Vivaldi has
https://vivaldi.com/blog/ The official Vivaldi Blog so you stay up to date - You can reach this site by clicking on the "Blog" button in the upper bar of this forum

luetage

This spoils everything v

test
test
test

> This spoils everything v
>> test
test
test

Ayespy

@zaibon If you'd like, I'm happy to go thru it and turn it into literary US English. I do write reports and informative articles as part of my profession, and have been published in US magazines.

Sooo... if you'd like...

zaibon

@ayespy Hehe yes I do thanks a lot

@luetage Thanks I'll try some version to see if this will make this look a bit less heavy weighted

Ayespy

@zaibon I fiddled with it some. It's after midnight here, and I will be retiring. I will resume my adjustments to the text when I'm back at my keyboard in the morning.

zaibon

@ayespy Thanks and please no hurries ; )