Issue status update for http://drupal.org/node/19434 Project: Drupal Version: cvs Component: forum.module Category: feature requests Priority: normal Assigned to: nysus Reported by: nysus Updated by: nysus Status: patch Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/forum_help_0.patch (5.87 KB) I do think the weight help text should be changed across all of drupal. This can be a confusing option for those who only run across negative numbers once in a blue moon: "Oh, that's right, -7 is comes before +5". Also, the fact is that "weight" is not explained anywhere else in the help file for forums or even in the Drupal handbook section on forums. This is the only place users get any help for this option so I don't see it as a problem if it's a little long. As an aside, I think "weight" is a rather unfortunate analogy used by Drupal. Why mess around with an analogy like weight when you can just call it "List order" and just have a simple list of positive numbers? Forums, blocks, etc. with a value of '1' would go to the top of the list and those with the value of '20' would go to the bottom. It does the same thing and it's easier for most people to understand. The weight analogy is clearly the product of a programmer's mind. It may be clear to the programmer who created it and to most other geeks who understand relative density, but the fact is that most people don't think like this and don't remember high school physics. We shouldn't be forcing people to clear out the cobwebs in their head to use Drupal. All this being said, I changed it per your recommendation. However, I would *highly* recommend creating a sentence with a short example until we can get a lengthier help file up somewhere else. Something like: "Example: A forum with a value of -7 is listed before a value of +5". nysus Previous comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 25, 2005 - 08:16 : nysus Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/forum_help.patch (5.98 KB) Here's some more changes to help text in the forum.module by order of significance: "Parent" selection help text: Added help description for this form item found on "admin/forum/add/container" and "admin/forum/add/forum". The help description is different depending on whether the type of component being added is a forum or a container. This change required the modifcation to the argument list passed to an internal function to forum.module. Removed duplicate help language created by the change above. Cut the fat from the help blurb on the "create content" page. "Weight" selection help text on "admin/forum/add/container" and "admin/forum/add/forum": Improved wording and made it more detailed. Help language for "name" and "description" fields on "admin/forum/add/container" and "admin/forum/add/forum" pages made more consistent and concise. Changed instances of "topic discussions" to "discussion topics" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 25, 2005 - 09:03 : Morbus Iff -1 on parts of this: I dislike immensely your "Weight" modifications. Not only do you make them self-referential ("This setting" - utterly useless text) but you also hardcode their implementation ("+10 is the heaviest"). Likewise, you've made them, IMO, TOO long and TOO wordy. And "Weight" is used for various things throughout Drupal, so if you're gonna "fix" one, you should really "fix" them all. Still, I don't like the way you've fixed it. Your function change is fine with me, but you've got no spaces between your "if"/"else if" and the parenthesied text. You need the spaces to match up with Drupal style. Other than that, the other changes are fine with me.