New layout feels very chaotic

EndofMysteries

I don't really know how to describe the feeling but I'll give examples, but the new layout to me makes it feel tiring being on for too long.

1. There is the top menu, then a big add between that and the next part, a big ad between the bottom and where you reply, then on the right column you either have 2 ads on top or some type of summary, then ad, then either related posts or other areas. There are no borders, the adds have the same color and text type but larger font, and it all seems chaotically merged into one thing where you need to constantly sort out what you are viewing. What is and isn't an ad, etc. I know you had 3+ ads on the old system but it seemed much cleaner. I also think maybe the ads were around everything vs in the middle and between.

2. I forgot how many topics were shown per page, but it felt like a lot more, maybe 50 vs the 10 now. I preferred less changing pages.

3. I do miss page views. Sometimes I'd reply or post things for the benefit of lurkers, but I haven't noticed thread views on this new system, so no telling if viewed by 1 person or 10,000, so that may discourage some participation if people are unsure if it's a hot topic or for the benefit of lurkers.

In summary I think atleast for me it might just be information overload. The adds inbetween everything, only 10 topics per page with big summaries of each topic and text put it, that there is a lot of work and text to view for 10 posts then change a page that it's at least for me feeling like a lot more work and somewhat tiring.

What I would suggest to try with the new styling would be having the ads on not inbetween but top/bottom/side/etc. Maybe having some lines or visible borders between things. Have the right consistent vs sometimes text on top and bottom vs 2 ads on top and something forum related on bottom. Maybe reduce summary text for each post or just have it listed like it was before and a person clicks on a topic to view any text on it then allowing much more topics to be listed. Bring back page views.

OneEyedJoe

You should be able to go to 20 topics per page. There's a set of buttons on every page (5/10/20) that determines the number of topics per page. Click the 20 and things get much happier.

Finkelstein

There are a few bugs that are being worked out by Simon the owner so don't think this is the final product.

There are some new improvements that people are being appreciative about, one being the easy capability to create their your own avatar picture., a spellchecker available in the posting box., faster more up dated coding to take advantage of the new browsers., easier and better way to post videos from YouTube and pictures.

Simon is battling the flu at the moment so he's slowing down a bit on the bug repairs but he certainly is on the right direction.

Go Simon

Simon

The old system was 20 items per page (both topic listings and posts within a topic). This is an option on the new system as well. You can also turn off the summary text if you want (again, so it's like the old system).

The ads are no longer within the post area which I think is less intrusive. Overall, I believe readability is much improved but it's still work-in-progress and will hopefully be improved further. It's meant to be easier to read (bigger fonts) which is the trend nowadays and more visual because it's quicker to recognize a posters avatar than read the names.

Where I can I will provide additional options (e.g. font sizing) to customize things and already have support for themes baked in but don't yet have time to create additional theme - one could be "old style forum".

berrygerry

First off, as I posted a while back, I do not understand why you simply do not use v-bulletin. It's only about $15. per month, and is crazy-user friendly, and user- familiar. (eg. http://forum.calgarypuck.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34 )

That being said:

3 suggestions that I would make so far are:

1. Having only the first 3 lines of each particular post displayed, with a "Read More" link to go to that post, as well as a rollover feature that displays the full text of that post.

2. The " >> " on most, if not all, forums and searchable sites means "go the last page. (The " > " means go the next page.)

(check page bar http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=100481&page=340 )

3. When submitting a post, most have the Save or Post button to the left, and the Cancel button to the right. (I have already cancelled posts instinctively.)

Londo111

I think the great thing about the old layout was one line per topic.

I do wonder also if there is a need for the Suggested Topic section. It feels like the page is split in two.

EndofMysteries

Ok, I looked REALLY hard for how to remove the summaries like you said simon. Then I noticed "snippets" on the top right, that the whole time I was thinking was part of the ad that it's attached to. (those adds that have things to click on), I'd recommend maybe putting that in a straight line within where the 5/10/20 per page is, etc. And the word snippets I had no idea what it meant. But the far right by default I expect to be ads and since nothing dividing them and in other pages that top item WILL be an ad, it makes it confusing. BUT when I removed the snippets, MUCH better, so I'm very glad you have that, it's a great feature, but I suspect most have no idea about it and may also think it's an ad.

Also incase you aren't the mod who removed it, for those who have the summary on, fyi if a sentence is infinitely long it will put as much text as there is until 3 periods have been posted. But anyway glad that feature is in, I like it much better now.

The ad thing I was talking about are the ads on both sides of the interfaces and the right side mixed in with interfaces or not. Even if keeping them there, just to make things less confusing maybe having a simple border around them.

I love the like/dislike feature. Again would like thread views to be back on.

EndofMysteries

As you see in this screen shot, you have an invisible white box ad above and below the snippets. I thought the ad little box meant snippets was an ad, ans since you have the ad that says, "view new messages" trying to trick the person into going to an ad as if they had messages on this website, thought the snippets button was the same type of ad. And the word snippets I had no idea what it meant. So that's an example of how it's confusing.

But I love the feature, I like it best with none or with the minimum one. O and I love how I was able to add the screenshot without uploading the picture elsewhere.

bsmart

While I am loving a lot of the new features, I also miss the threads, when I click on a particular forum from home page, the mix of old and new is nice and exasperating at the same time. So finding an old thread is available from search but if I know how long ago it was I could just jump back a few pages of threads and be pretty sure to find it quickly.

I have found interesting old threads but it is a crap-shoot.

Awake at last

I am finding it easier to read on my mini iPad. Before I could read the comments but could not see who wrote them unless I made the writing really small, so this is a big improvement for me. Yes, I liked things about the old format but ease of readability does it for me.

Also how does the LIKE button work?

New layout feels very chaotic

Share this