How/where do I upload my .blend file comes up all the time. I suggest adding a button/link to http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ for uploading a .blend file above the text box with the other options like B, Italic, Hyperlink, etc...
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
5
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
7
I think this is a great idea, but we'll need to get SE to add this. We don't have control over much of the help center content.
I propose adding something like this at the end of the "how to ask" page:
- Help us help you
If your question involves troubleshooting strange behavior, the fastest and simplest way of finding the answer is often by providing a blendfile and/or screenshots for others to examine.
And something like this to the ask question page (à la codegolf):
How to Ask
Is your question about blender behaving differently than expected?
Chances are, the fastest way to find an answer is by providing a blendfile for others to examine. If your file is especially large or you don't wish to share its contents, try to pare it down by deleting extraneous objects and/or replacing the actual meshes with placeholders.
Please feel free to edit these and improve wording etc, or propose your own in another answer.
-
1$\begingroup$ Hm, I just noticed the question was mainly about the buttons directly above the textbox, not the help on the side.. I don't think there's much chance of getting anything official in the textbox buttons (we've tried before, but we haven't even got an official
<kbd>button). However we might be able to get text added to the help/ask question sidebar, which IMO would be the next best thing. $\endgroup$– gandalf3 ModAug 7, 2017 at 21:28 -
$\begingroup$ That would be the next best thing. A lot of new users simply arn't aware of blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com and that sharing their .blend is helpful in a lot of ways. $\endgroup$– DontwalkAug 7, 2017 at 22:07
-
1$\begingroup$ Doesn't the wording of that first (and possibly the second) help message go against the general idea that not all questions need a blend and that ideally we would rather answer a well-worded, illustrated question without downloading a file, save for the cases where they really are required? I feel the question was more about letting the user know where the best place to upload a file was, not indicating that uploading is always the best option. $\endgroup$ Aug 8, 2017 at 14:18
-
$\begingroup$ e.g. "If you need to add a blend file to your question use blend-exchange...etc." $\endgroup$ Aug 8, 2017 at 14:21
-
$\begingroup$ @RayMairlot Edited to add emphasis to the "if your question involves troubleshooting" $\endgroup$– gandalf3 ModAug 9, 2017 at 6:50
-
1$\begingroup$ So now we will don't need to remind users to: "Please upload file to blend-exchange..." but "Please read How To Ask page to see how to upload file to blend-exchange". It's better then nothing but I can't see this as a solution. Too often users whom upload file to random hostings also show in different ways that they didn't see any help page before asking question. Or Search box. Or Google. Maybe just something short and clear in sidebar on ask question page as "If you need to upload blend file use blend-exchange..." and there give instructions how to prepare file. $\endgroup$– cgslavAug 11, 2017 at 1:29
-
$\begingroup$ I simply cannot understand how adding for example a simple link with text could be such problem :/ $\endgroup$ Sep 25, 2017 at 19:20
<kbd>formatting tags $\endgroup$<kbd>button, in case you weren't already aware of it. $\endgroup$