First off I LOVE unity answers, well more specifically the users who take time out to help each other. However there are some consistent problems with it that just seem to go on and on…
B - The box you type into to ask a question is very annoying when it tries to ‘assist’ you, by chucking up words and filling the top area with oversized text and blanking out the box I am typing into.
C - The search function is horrible in every way imaginable.
The way the results are listed - Showing multiple results one after an other for the same thread.
Then when you manage to wade through the above problem, you look at a potential solution, decide it’s not the right one, click back… and find yourself right back at the beginning of the search.
I could go on but I’m sure you get the idea. The core components of it are severely flawed in my opinion. Am I the only one to feel this way? These problems have been around for ages and very little work seems to have been carried out in this area. Is there a better place to ask questions?
I think there is a wealth of information in Unity Answers. And the forums. But I feel it’s a horrible way to store information, really. It’s not organized at ALL. And yes, the search function is horrible.
Personally…I’d rather see the wiki get more love, and the official documentation.
I agree with both parts. Answers isn’t inherently bad, but the format is. I have an easier time just Googling “Unity [insert problem keywords here]” than using Unity Answers; as a result, I never use Unity Answers. It’s just not efficient enough.
The Wiki has been a great source of information, but its updated so seldom that it’s useless in its own right. Yet, its the easiest to repair - just a few updates will do the trick.
I don’t usually go to Unity Answers directly, I tend to find that if I want to find something I will go to google and type something like:
site:unity3d.com bezier curves
or whatever the search term is. … then Google gives me all the pages across the whole of the Unity domain including documentation/user manual/forum/answers/feedback etc. I seem to find stuff better and quicker that way.
I’ve never been totally fond of the search on the forum either… I tended to find it would simply not give any results on something you know you there should be results for. e.g. for the longest time typing 2d in the search box would give zero results. But I think they fixed that now.
@imaginaryhuman: That’s the method I have started to use in the last few months, although even Google seems to have problems forwarding me onto the right article at times! Although I doubt it’s google fault.
I asked this question because I find it so hard to believe that Unity would pay so little love to the answers section.
As far as I am concerned it is the main reason why so many noobs (myself included!) have been able to get a foothold on the climb up the Unity mountain. Without it I would have given up LONG ago.
I really hope they give it some love soon, as I feel it can only boost interest and the number of people actively using Unity. Maybe they are a little pre-occupied with Unity 4?
I design and develop websites for a Top 5 Motorcycle Brand here in the UK as my full time job. I would love to give their web guys some direct feedback as a Unity User and experienced web monkey.
Next Week: The Asset store - 101 ways to improve it! (semi troll face)
Unity Answers took a hit when they changed from StackExchange to Qato. Then there were a bunch of improvements, that went some ways to getting the quality back up (but there was still a ways to go). Then they broke a bunch of stuff around the time of the UDN switchover, which pretty much undid the quality gains, and it’s been like that ever since, sadly.
Totally agree. It’s a great resource terribly managed. The same can be said about the forums, in a different way, where the search system went definitely crazy thanks to UDN. I was hoping that the UDN change had been planned along with some time for bugfixing, but apparently it was not
Damn, this unity answers are terribly configured. Terribly, horribly and idiotic. I wrote very long response, i have worked on this response for some time, and after all i get info that my massage must be confirmed. Ok … i waited, but my massage didnt appear. Result = dont try to help others … I cannot even vote up for answer in my own question that helped me, because i dont have permission … rotfl, its really bad bad joke, if you use stack overflow and compare to that one …
I dont use the Unify wiki anymore since all its content gots put under a Creative Common license with the move to Unity as the maintainer. Means you have to credit every fart now, and take care that you dont break copyrigt - for stuff that you have submitted by yourself.
Unify Wiki content needs to be under a public domain license. Not a restricted CC one.
Sorry my bad Tiles, this: “I don`t use the Unify wiki anymore since all its content gots put under a Creative Common license with the move to Unity as the maintainer”. Any idea when that happened?
Ah, you mean the time when they introduced it? This happened with introduction of UDN last autumn. Unity took over the Wiki at that point, and added a CC license to it. There`s even a thread somewhere where this CC issue was brought up. Some folks like i moaned about this CC issue, there were some lame comments like “we will look into it”, and then we got hapily ignored. Thanks Unity.
And thats why i dont use it anymore. I have better things to do than to take care that i really mention every fart that is written there, with source and name in my credits. This was not the intention of the folks that have submitted their scripts to the Wiki. The intention was to help each other.
The current state is that the content of the Wiki is under Creative Commons now. It has become a “please credit me to stay legal” page. And this counts even for simple stuff that i have never used from there, but is listed there. It is written in the Wiki, it is under CC, so you have to credit it. That you may not even know that the scripts exists doesnt change it. Thats no excuse. Law is law.
I should really add a nonsene entry there that you cannot avoid, and then sue everybody who doesn`t credit me for using it. Like a simple example how to use function Update. Hey, the Wiki is made for exactly such kind of things!
