Remember: This is just an initial idea, don't feel what I say has to go, if you have ideas you think are better then please share them!
Pages the system needs
- Tutorial viewing page
Tutorial submission page
Tutorial editing page (for mods/admin)
Tutorial search page
Tutorials home page
Tag editing page
Tags/Categories the system needs
I think having 3 main tag/category types would make for a really useful sorting method:
Format - the software/hardware/techniques used in the tutorial e.g. Reason, Logic, Mic recording techniques, MicroKorg
Genre - e.g. Drum and Bass, Trance (If possible, have sub-genres which automatically select their parent genres e.g. selecting Liquid Drum and Bass would select Drum and Bass).
Technique - The technique being taught e.g. Lead Synth, Guitar Recording, Mastering, Music theory.
Multiple tags can be selected for Format, Genre and Technique.
Other Tags
Boyinaband Tutorials (displayed with a different colour, this can be used to show the official BIAB tutorials, since a few people have expressed concern that they might not be able to find them easily.)
Moderator Approved (for when a mod has confirmed it's a high quality tutorial) - Should this display the name of the moderator that approved it?
Video/Text - Whether the tutorial is a video tutorial, text tutorial or both.
Here are more in-depth descriptions of what each page would need.
Tutorial Page Content
- Title
Tutorial Author - clickable link to their website/youtube channel
Tutorial Submitter - clickable link to their biab profile
Embed the video for the tutorial if it's a video.
Link to the original tutorial.
Display all tags in an easily understandable and clear format.
Rating system (5 Stars)
Next tutorial/Previous tutorial (If it's part of a series of tutorials)
Related tutorials (Ones with similar tags)
Related samples/files (That might be useful in the tutorial)
Comments and Comment Box
Tutorial Submission page Content
The user should be able to input:
- Title (Is there any way to automatically generate this from the title of a YouTube page to save time when it's a YT link? Since I assume most tutorials will be YouTube vids.)
Tutorial Author
Tutorial Link (Youtube video or Other website if no YT available)
Tutorial Text or Description (if there is one)
Format Tags
Genre Tags
Technique Tags
Next/Previous tutorials (link to next previous tuts that are on the boyinaband site)
Related Tutorials (can choose tutorials that are on the biab site, otherwise they are dynamically generated on the tutorial page)
Related Samples/Files (Links to any samples/patches etc used in the tutorial)
I think the easiest way to make this would be to cannibalise the wordpress post page (or if there's a video blog theme/plugin that has already done so we could use that) as a starting point.
Then it's just a case of giving the PHPBB3 users permissions for using that part of the wordpress admin page.
Tutorial editing page
Very similar to tutorial submission page, with the ability to change all the above plus:
"Mod Approve" the tutorial - this gives it a stamp and moves it higher up search results
Delete the tutorial.
Tutorial search page
Allows to pick a tag for format, genre and technique, as well as specifying if you want it to be a boyinaband tutorial and if you want it to be a mod approved tutorial.
The tags need to be easy to apply, since that's one of the main reasons for having this system - a good implementation would be similar to this one I saw in the awesome To Do list App "GQueues":
Except instead of "create/add" at the top it might say "search" so you can start typing "ba" and it'll come up with "bass", "backstreet boys" etc in the list.
Should be able to sort by rating, comments, views. Mod Approved tutorials should appear at the top, as should official boyinaband tutorials.
Tutorials Home page
A page for displaying featured tutorials, latest submitted tutorials and popular/most viewed tuts. Maybe use a jquery slider (or something similar) to scroll through the featured tutorials in a cool, tactile way.
The vids should all have the tags displayed near them so people can search quickly too. Maybe have a list of "most searched-for tags" or just "popular tags" for ease of use.
Tag editing page
Wordpress already has an awesome tag editing and category system, maybe we can just copy it for use with the tutorials?
Clarifying the admin/moderator/user access to the tutorial submission back end
Essentially what I have in mind is where the wordpress admin page has the posts, media, links, pages etc. sections down the side
We simply copy the "Posts" section for a "Tutorials" section. That section would be pretty much the same as the posts one.
Users could only see the "Add New" section.
Moderators and Admin could see all 4 sections ("Tutorials", "Add New", "Categories" and "Tutorial Tags")
Other ideas
Have a log of what moderators and admins have done.
Users can submit their own tags, but moderators make sure tags are tidy.
Common misspellings of tags can be easily programmed to be corrected automatically when recognised by a moderator.
Quick tooltips/explanations of what each tag type means should be accessible, since some people might not know what the tag name "Format" refers to etc.
Things to decide on - Let me know your ideas!
How should the tags be ordered? Should the Genre, Technique and Format be tags or categories? How should they be organised in the "Tutorial Tags" admin page?
A way to display all tutorials of a series? Or to tag tutorials as "7 day songs" or "multi-part tutorial"?
Should users be able to edit tutorials they have submitted?
Should users be able to flag submissions to say if they're in the wrong place/tagged incorrectly? How would that system work?
How to name the tutorials so they're SEO friendly? Like the wordpress blogs?
Those are my thoughts, however, it's always good to get other people's ideas too since that can result in completely different concepts, so you can either post your ideas of how you'd like the tutorial system to work here, or start bouncing ideas off each other. Whichever you'd prefer
