Lima Hotel Foxtrot Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 After exploring the new site for a bit now, I have to say I am slightly less than whelmed but have not found it fully underwhelming. - Ads are WAY too big and interrupt the flow of the forum threads. - This reputation and post liking thing: I dislike it intensely. I've run into it on other forums, and it just leads to chasing votes by self appointed experts and wannabe ego maniacs. There are enough members here with an overinflated opinion of themselves already and it is not something that should be encouraged. Although, if it can be taken into -ve figures I am game for the challenge of first to -100! ;D - Grey text, white background. I have good eyesight and it's hard on my peepers, so I wonder what it's like for others here. White or black text on a soft grey background is much easier for viewing onscreen. - I was going to rant about the missing Latest Posts option, but setting up your own feed actually works quite well in clearing out a lot of what I don't care to read. - Pretty certain the poster byline to the left could be smaller; it seems to be the main culprit for very deep post boxes and leads to a greater degree of scrolling, which I'm clearly not the only person to find irksome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaunie Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 I’ve been holding off commenting but this new site appears to be awful. as many say, far to much white space. I used to be able to dip in, look at the latest posts, comment if I wished and leave. Absolutely everything seems to be double spaced. Finding what’s happening is such a faff I just leave again. I hate to be so negative but that’s my first impression, sorry. I’ll pop back in a bit to see if things have improved. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 It's a work in progress and is getting better and easier to use. It does take a bit of getting used to. Over the last two days I have changed my opinion and now think this is so much better. No double posts for one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Carr Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 14 minutes ago, EarlyBird said: It's a work in progress and is getting better and easier to use. It does take a bit of getting used to. Over the last two days I have changed my opinion and now think this is so much better. No double posts for one! I agree. At first I thought end of an era but it gives so much more functionality, what we’ve all been asking for for years. Hats off to everyone involved behind the scenes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Hats off the the members as well, been helping others and highlighting issues, it's appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham R Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Sorry to be negative but I really finding it hard to say anything good about it. Very tiring on eyes giving me headaches, far to much whitespace. Old site was clear and easy to navigate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 The mods have spent most of their waking hours on the site all week without noticing any particular discomfort but we've been aware that opinions on the visual appearance have varied - usually either strong liking for the lighter and more modern look or the exact opposite. It may depend on your viewing platform or personal visual characteristics. What are you viewing it on Graham? In terms of usability, yes it is different from the old site but it's encouraging that I've seen a number of posts where people who were very wary or even openly anti, have come back after a day or two's familiarity and told us that they are now enjoying using the enhancements and their reservations are either gone or greatly diminished. In terms of navigation, try to forget the previous site which, to be fair, attracted constant criticism for its quirks and old fashioned capabilities (or rather lack of capabilities) and try some of the new methods of navigating. Most people have found that after a short steep learning curve, the advantages have soon become apparent. We are listening to all observations and several points have been rectified or improved. The new forum is a work in progress and we welcome all reasonable opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cooper Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I appreciate all the time and effort which must have gone into developing the new site, and all of the buttons and features work fine on my main PC computer. . However, the site is noticeably poorer on my mobile devices. On (modern) mobile devices, some features are absent and the performance is slow. . It is a bit like driving a car with a busted turbo charger, a fuel leak, and with very faulty steering...... plus the occasional puncture thrown in for good measure. Hopefully it is still a work in progress. . . and I really want it to work. I shall keep looking in from time-to-time to see if there is an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I’m struggling with the typeface also. Larger thicker font wouldn’t go along way. Getting used to it. this time next year we’ll all be dab hands at it, the font needs addressing. There’s no point being on the forum if it gives you a headache every time you read it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 It would be nice if we had the choice of displaying the 'activity' information on the right of the screen, or turning it off Grey font on desktops certainly needs addressing - quite surprised that was not found, and fixed, early in testing It will be nice when images are sorted out, so we can either add to albums (or be able to choose to delete them and start again But, the majority, including me, have no major issues. Having implemented thousands of IT changes in my career, I know it is impossible to please everyone. Again, well done all GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham R Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Martin, Thank you for your response. I view the pages using a MacBook Pro. I know that I do have medical problems with my eyes - cateracts removal, laser surgery etc. What I feel would help greatly is a slight increase in font size, change of font colour and much less white space. This page for example - almost half the page is blank and causing glare. colour needs to be introduced back to the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i12fly Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 11 minutes ago, Graham R said: Martin, Thank you for your response. I view the pages using a MacBook Pro. I know that I do have medical problems with my eyes - cateracts removal, laser surgery etc. What I feel would help greatly is a slight increase in font size, change of font colour and much less white space. This page for example - almost half the page is blank and causing glare. colour needs to be introduced back to the site. Agree 100%, font size appears grey and is very wearing to read. Everything else, getting/got used to it and I think is positive -its just the font, not distinct enough, can't get used to it although have spent quite some time on the forum, finishing up with headache. Please take some action. You mods must be worn out..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Muir Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 If it's any help to Firefox users who are struggling with the grey text, it is possible to override the web site's fonts and colours with your own choice. Go to the Firefox menu at the top right (looks like three bars), click and choose 'options'. Then scroll down until you find 'language and appearance'. Under 'fonts and colours' click on 'colours' and you can choose to have Firefox replace the site's colours with those of your choosing. If you click on 'advanced' you can also change the fonts and text size. The only drawback is that it will do this for all websites and although it works very well on this one, it doesn't always look so good on others. It is easy to leave the options open in a separate tab though and switch back and forth. I wouldn't be surprised if other browsers had this ability too. By the way, this is my first post on the new site and I think it is huge improvement. Well done to all involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 My other interest is older Land Rovers and have been a long time Landyzone forum member. It's format is very similar to this one, however the background is two bands of grey one light and one medium and is a lot better on the eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Wow that's better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Mr Ashby has been tweaking a few settings....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Oh dear - there goes the nice new light airy appearance and back to the content compressed into 2/3rds of the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 This just looks so bad 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I like the new appearance to a point but why so much wasted space down the sides compressing everything into a 50% band down the middle, then compounding it by huge post frames containing nothing but space. On my PC seeing just 3 one line posts per page is tedious scrolling through and then when one picture is included that takes up half the available viewing area. I Dred to think what a pain scrolling through a build blog will be like. Don't get me wrong change was required but on a forum with less topics I can live with the wasted space but here where there are so many to scroll through and navigate around, compact (to a point) content in one screen is very important and this format personally missies the sweet spot by a mile. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 This is the cause Which I could live without. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 (edited) Pus one on above. Grey background better.? Edited February 13, 2021 by J D 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 This is without it. What do you think, better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 New threads look great at the moment, with the text spread right across the page. Then they become really bad when the "league table" appears and compresses the text in the thread to make room for it. It needs to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil McCavity Posted February 13, 2021 Author Share Posted February 13, 2021 Yes, please get rid of the "Top posters" box, I've not yet seen a post to keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Yes folks, it seems that the 'Top Posters' box appears after a certain number of posts - perhaps after one page worth? - and it results in a random appearance to the pages, depending on the thread you're viewing. We're working on it but, being the weekend, may not get it solved just yet. Bear with us.... Pete 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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