I was thinking earlier of how I usually navigate around CR4 once I come here through the bookmark, then I had a thought: I have a MyYahoo page, with elements on there that I want. Why not a MyCR4 page? Then I could have a page where I can go to the place I want without going through several steps.
Usually, the first place I go is to the Challenge Questions. If the current CQ wasn't listed on the CR4 home page, I'd go to either the Blog Index link, or the General Section link to get there. After reading the current CQ thread, I'd use the Show all Blog Entries link to go to the index of CQ threads to see if someone has added something to another recent thread.
The next place I go to is the General Section, and from there to the General Discussion forum. Once I'm through there, I go back to the General Section to see if anyone has posted anything new to the CR4 Feedback forum.
Someitmes I'll read something on the Latest Engineering News or "On This Day" In Engineering History before gong to the Challenge Questions.
I know I'm doing a lot of page jumping, but to me that's better than subscribing to threads and getting an avalanche of email letting me know of every new post. With a MyCR4 page, I just go back to that page to get to where I want to go next. If my needs and tastes change, I can edit the page and add the items I want, or remove items I don't use anymore.
A MyCR4 page should have the usual menus we see on the right hand side, and maybe GlobalSpec search box. CR4 could also include ads based on the content each member looked at the most. Members could set up their MyCR4 pages to include links directly to the sections, indices, blogs and fora they usually go to.
I'm marking this as a discussion because I have a few questions:
How many other CR4ers would like their own MyCR4 page?
How hard would it be to implement?
Would this result in better use of the CR4 bandwidth?
If this idea does get approved, I know it will take some time to implement and get the bugs worked out. Maybe those who post on here as wanting a MyCR4 page could serve as beta testers.