Updated look for the site.

_Kaiser_

Just a question to the devs...

I know you've asked for constructive feedback, which many people (including myself) have taken the time to give.

But, what's to be done with this feedback other than bug fixing? It seems to me that the majority of users have major issues with the empty space, brightness and so on - is there plans to do anything about this?

Really what I suppose I'm asking is.. are we wasting our time? Is it the case that this "new look" is the way it's going to be regardless of how much negative feedback you get or has that decision not yet been finslised by the admin team?

If this is indeed the case that this exercise is to "help us live with this", then can you at least confirm if the options of the existing skins will be retained?

I can't speak for others, but I think some clarity in this regard would be a big help at this point in the thread.

Cheers

Setun

Hello all! Just a quick suggestion that I think has been mentioned a few times already - I think there's too much 'empty' space, I personally would much rather a more compact user interface, more posts per screen, perhaps an option to make the font size smaller etc. With the default site skin, there's generally at least 2-3 posts visible on screen - with the new one it's 1, maybe 2 on screen at one time due to the top navigation bar (which is a good idea but could be made smaller), and the increased avatar/user info font size.

Also, maybe this has been mentioned already but clicking on the "Adverts.ie" link on the adverts.ie drop-down menu returns a page stating "Invalid Forum Specified".

star-pants

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

But, what's to be done with this feedback other than bug fixing? It seems to me that the majority of users have major issues with the empty space, brightness and so on - is there plans to do anything about this?

Just on this point, I think Tony mentioned earlier they'd changed the font to Arial and a lot of us shouted up about it (I was most definitely one of them) because it made it so difficult to read & hurt my head!
They took that feedback on board and changed the font back to Verdana which is far easier on the eye.

Whilst I'm sure some of the features are going to be fairly set, I imagine they are cataloging the feedback and will consult over it.
Some things they may have more scope to change/alter based on user feedback than others.

I'm sure the guys themselves will be on to respond to you directly but I just wanted to say as someone was involved in some of testing/bug reporting (as were most of the mods) they do take the feedback on board, they don't just ignore it.

Hobbes

I feel like I am using Facebook.

Menus are a huge improvement though.

Boards.ie: Danny

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Just a question to the devs...

I know you've asked for constructive feedback, which many people (including myself) have taken the time to give.

But, what's to be done with this feedback other than bug fixing? It seems to me that the majority of users have major issues with the empty space, brightness and so on - is there plans to do anything about this?

Really what I suppose I'm asking is.. are we wasting our time? Is it the case that this "new look" is the way it's going to be regardless of how much negative feedback you get or has that decision not yet been finslised by the admin team?

If this is indeed the case that this exercise is to "help us live with this", then can you at least confirm if the options of the existing skins will be retained?

I can't speak for others, but I think some clarity in this regard would be a big help at this point in the thread.

Cheers

First off, we understand entirely that this skin isn't everybody's cup of tea and can be improved which is why this thread exists. We're all very appreciative of all the feedback people have taken time to post.

Bug fixing is of course the primary goal at this time because no matter what colours, direct links, padding and spacing the skin has a bug will remain. We need time to collate your feedback. So far there are 3600+ users on the new skin, more than any other non-default (so not White) skin has ever had on Boards.ie. The number of users who have posted in this thread is 365 - only 10% of people who have switched over have given feedback. There are a few issues you guys are very vocal on like the padding, the contrast etc that may end up going back to design. There's no point in rushing anything, we didn't rush this skin out to the public and we won't be rushing in all panicked to change it.

It's been confirmed several times in the thread that the old skins are staying, but development on them is stopping. There will be no new features added and some minor bugs may go unresolved as effort moves over to getting this new skin right and stable. The plan is that this skin will be a base layer for expansion of our new non-vBulletin design to create a better Boards for you guys, one that's easier to user, easier to maintain, looks better and lasts for the next decade like the previous system

Hopefully this is the clarification you asked for, but if you've any more questions just drop 'em here in the thread over if you prefer a more in-depth/technical discussion then over in Site Development.



Danny

DrNuyenVanFaulk

Web 2.0 Compliant.

Satisfactory. Keep it.

Sleepy

Can someone please take the five seconds to align=center the footer?

I know it's very OCD, but it's driving me mad every time I look at it!

the groutch

so Danny, you'll be making a two-tier Boards.ie, one for those who go with your new layout, one for those who are happier with this one.

28064212

DrNuyenVanFaulk wrote: »

Web 2.0 Compliant.

Satisfactory. Keep it.

Pfft, it doesn't even pass the W3C validator

28064212

the groutch wrote: »

so Danny, you'll be making a two-tier Boards.ie, one for those who go with your new layout, one for those who are happier with this one.

It already is (at least) a two-tier Boards.ie. Try going on the site with IE6

seamus

I instantly prefer it.

Though I think the text is one size too big. Maybe go down by 1.

Boards.ie: Danny

the groutch wrote: »

so Danny, you'll be making a two-tier Boards.ie, one for those who go with your new layout, one for those who are happier with this one.

I cannot predict the future direction of Boards and any attempt to do so may only mislead the users but if we address your concerns and feedback will there be a need for the old styles?

Danny

28064212 wrote: »

Pfft, it doesn't even pass the W3C validator

When you're dealing with vBulletin templates, validation is the least of your worries

smash

the little arrows to expand/reduce the message input field don't work any more for me.

Boards.ie: Danny

smash wrote: »

the little arrows to expand/reduce the message input field don't work any more for me.

I'm sorry, what?

If you could follow the bug report template in the OP, and attach some screenshots to help us that'd be great

28064212

seamus wrote: »

Though I think the text is one size too big. Maybe go down by 1.

? Same size as the previous skins on my screen. The old one was measured in distance though (10/72 of an inch), whereas the new one is measured by pixels (13px), so if you have a low resolution, the new size will appear to be bigger



(...I think I have that the right way round)

Dub XV

When viewing the full site on my mobile I can't access the user cp. I just keep being brought to my PM's

Dub XV

And......

The Adverts.ie link at the top of the page brings me to "an invalid forum" message.

Blowfish

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

I'm sorry, what?

If you could follow the bug report template in the OP, and attach some screenshots to help us that'd be great

It's happening to me too on Win7/Chrome. It's the highlighted bit here in the quick reply/newreply.php:

howardmarks

Clicking on my forums pm notifications everything doesn't work. Site has become unusable. Appears to just open new window to here?

Boards.ie: Danny

Blowfish wrote: »

It's happening to me too on Win7/Chrome. It's the highlighted bit here in the quick reply/newreply.php:

Thanks, can you confirm it only happens on the quick reply box? It is a bug but in Chrome you can also just drag the three lines at the bottom right of the text box to make it bigger

Blowfish

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Thanks, can you confirm it only happens on the quick reply box? It is a bug but in Chrome you can also just drag the three lines at the bottom right of the text box to make it bigger

Yep, just seems to be the quick reply, newreply.php is working fine.

Macers

Any chance the 1st post can be edited to show some of suggestions felt are best by Tony etc?

ScouseMouse

I find it very hard on the eyes.

The bright background and thin letters make it sore on the eyes.

yimrsg

I'm not sure if what I'm saying has already been said so apologies if I'm only adding to the clutter.

Type: Bug

Issue: Missing feature

1)Embedded Youtube videos won't go full screen anymore, though that happening on the old skin too and on when I tried different browsers using the 2 skins.

2)Large pictures seem to be off centre and go off screen rather than being centred.

Type: Design

Looks wise, it's ok. It hasn't grown on me yet and I can't see it happening due to it being overly bright. I'd prefer if the drop down menus (Arts, Biz (has only 1 column), Edu etc.) were arranged so they were in a single long column rather than 2 or 3. The blank sides seem wasteful and look like they're adblocked areas like when you open mail on gmail.

Issue: Reply to thread
As I'm writing this reply, I noticed that the reply to thread screen looks poor. The greater prominence of white has made the message area in the reply to thread box seem even smaller (even though it's probably the same as before). Perhaps if it was a different colour rather than increasing the vast expanse of whites/greys it might sway my opinion. A line from Spinal Tap comes to mind; "None more black white."

The additional options box looks poor to me aesthetically having the list of valid file extensions in plain text, rather than having them in a boxed area. It looks like copypasta from a spammer in the prison former.

Browser and OS:
Browsers are Chrome 19.0.1084.56 m. and Firefox 13.0.1. OS is vista.

Screen resolution:
1680x1050

_Kaiser_

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

First off, we understand entirely that this skin isn't everybody's cup of tea and can be improved which is why this thread exists. We're all very appreciative of all the feedback people have taken time to post.

Bug fixing is of course the primary goal at this time because no matter what colours, direct links, padding and spacing the skin has a bug will remain. We need time to collate your feedback. So far there are 3600+ users on the new skin, more than any other non-default (so not White) skin has ever had on Boards.ie. The number of users who have posted in this thread is 365 - only 10% of people who have switched over have given feedback. There are a few issues you guys are very vocal on like the padding, the contrast etc that may end up going back to design. There's no point in rushing anything, we didn't rush this skin out to the public and we won't be rushing in all panicked to change it.

It's been confirmed several times in the thread that the old skins are staying, but development on them is stopping. There will be no new features added and some minor bugs may go unresolved as effort moves over to getting this new skin right and stable. The plan is that this skin will be a base layer for expansion of our new non-vBulletin design to create a better Boards for you guys, one that's easier to user, easier to maintain, looks better and lasts for the next decade like the previous system

Hopefully this is the clarification you asked for, but if you've any more questions just drop 'em here in the thread over if you prefer a more in-depth/technical discussion then over in Site Development.



Danny

Hi Danny,

Cheers for taking the time to reply in detail.

I'm not against change myself but I think there are a lot of valid concerns that have been raised repeatedly that should be satisfactorily addressed before the new look goes "live" (the brightness issue and the wasted space being the 2 key ones I think). Once that's done hopefully it'll also kill most of the current problems people have with it.

Of course, I'm just another user so who am I to make demands but it is reassuring to see that you guys do seem to be listening and responding to the complaints/questions and reports of the users.

Thanks again

Tayleur

personally I like it. well done:)

Quazzie

Are there any plans to make it so that it confirms to browser window size rather tna having a set width. Most of my browsing is done in a minimized window as stated previously and since the change over its very annoying constantly scrolling left and right to read posts. The old way was much better in this regards.

Rubecula

It looks ok, no probs with the way it looks at all.

However, might I ask why change it?

I have seen a few places that have changed their layout and appearance and they seem to do it because they can. Nobody stops to think "Should we?"

Being able to do something is all very well of course, but why?

I have never had a problem with the old (current layout) and I have grown to like it quite a lot. (Even been telling other folks to come along and see how it should be done.)

This is new and will take getting used to. I can't recommend it to anyone, at least not for some time, until I am happy with it.

Can this new format do things that the old one can not do? Or is it just something done "Because you can"?

Whatever, I wish you all the best luck with it if you persist.

PS. If you are changing things a little bit more colour in this Beta version may look nicer?

hoodwinked

I know you guys didn't develop it for tablets but I'm using it on an iPad right now and as much as I didnt like it on the desktop I love it that much and more on the iPad, I'm not accidentally clicking things, it has perfect usability!

Just letting you know my opinion!

Boards.ie: Danny

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Hi Danny,

Cheers for taking the time to reply in detail.

I'm not against change myself but I think there are a lot of valid concerns that have been raised repeatedly that should be satisfactorily addressed before the new look goes "live" (the brightness issue and the wasted space being the 2 key ones I think). Once that's done hopefully it'll also kill most of the current problems people have with it.

Of course, I'm just another user so who am I to make demands but it is reassuring to see that you guys do seem to be listening and responding to the complaints/questions and reports of the users.

Thanks again

Hey there,

No problems at all on the response

People with negative feedback will always appear to be the loudest in a crowd. That isn't to say they are to be ignored or anything - It would be a foolish for us to ignore concerns so heavily mentioned on thread. We do need a balance though which is why we're hesitant to react with core changes (e.g. background colour, padding sizes) immediately following launch.

And I'd just like to point out that we never underestimate the value of our users; while you may be "just another user" this site is nothing without you and others like you who provide the content. We do aim to please more than just ourselves here in HQ, recognising that by failing to get this right we could end up like Digg and other sites who suffered "death by redesign".

Danny