Forum Update

MaggieBaking

SSA wrote: »

I completely hate this `new` look...I have poor eyesight & I can`t always log on so I lurk but its simply TOO SMALL TEXT!

The new fixed width means that the screen is impossible to read unless I log in & faff about in user CP. I do feel that this is discriminating against people like me....even on a 21inch widescreen!!

Thanks MSE for this step backwards & alienating folks like me who now will not be able to use the site. I didn`t feel my poor eyesight was a disability but I now know just how that feels.

Clearly you have not listened to the majority of feedback anyway so I`m not sure why I even bothered posting this.:(

On the masthead design....personally couldn`t care less although it looks very boring now.

The size of the writing and buttons etc isn't any different with the new layout - it just looks a bit smaller if you're used to the stretchy version.

Nothing to do with your eyesight you just need to take your time to get used to it! There's no discrimination in there at all.

And if you don't like it the instructions are very clear. Perhaps you know someone who could help you alter it? The User CP is a good thing to get to know, there are lots of other things you could change that might suit you better too I have made the change so it looks like how it used to (I like having to scroll less) so I know it is simple following the instructions.

MaggieBaking

Trinitrotoluene wrote: »

Now that I look at in depth, I'd put forward the idea that MSE News completely replaces the real estate that is currently taken up by the Main site links that are auto generated at the top. I think you are wasting a lot of potential space with the "IMPORTANT! THIS IS A MONEYSAVINGEXPERT'S OPEN FORUM" box. Why on almost every page are there two boxes for signing up to the weekly e-mail in the first portion of the first screen that every user see's on every page of the forum? In my opinion it makes the site look cluttered and too busy.

I decided to mock up what it would look like if some of that was removed:

What the forum display would look like: http://i.imgur.com/HJXsN.png
What the top of any thread would look like: http://i.imgur.com/8eOJM.png
What a series of average sized posts would read like: http://i.imgur.com/TnrpO.png

In my opinion, this looks a lot cleaner. I'm sure it would satiate and benefit all users who are logged in to be able to turn those columns off. By all means leave them on for people who are not logged in.

All that aside, this IS a free site, those people who are moaning about the functionality they are getting on a free site which has (at least in my case) saved me hundreds of pounds really have to look at how entitled they think they should be for them to moan at a completely free of charge, ad free website, and undoubtedly one of the best resources on the internet.

Your suggestions do look very smart - and I thought your figures on the screen size chosen was interesting.

I agree with the suggestion of minimising some of the links on the right hand side, I'm guessing MSE Towers will have info on what is used and what is not.

Perhaps the right side bar could be condensed and the information moved to replace the "open" forum etiquette etc zone near the top?

However, I actually find the information on the right hand side useful and would rather they were there making the screen condensed than not there at all.

Just thought I would give my thoughts to your thoughts, it was an interesting work around to the fixed width problem!

Trinitrotoluene

SSA wrote: »

I completely hate this `new` look...I have poor eyesight & I can`t always log on so I lurk but its simply TOO SMALL TEXT!

There are at least 6 different ways I can think of off the top of my head for you to change the text size (which incidentally has not changed at all anyway). You can either use your browser to do it:

Internet explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/ie9/default.aspx
Firefox: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Accessibility
Chrome: http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=96810

Or you can do it within the operating system:

Windows XP: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsxp/default.aspx
Windows 7: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windows7/default.aspx
Mac: http://www.apple.com/accessibility/macosx/vision.html

Or you can change your resolution to something more suitable (lower to make everything bigger)

Windows XP: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/display_change_screen_resolution.mspx?mfr=true
Windows 7: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/Change-your-screen-resolution

The new fixed width means that the screen is impossible to read unless I log in & faff about in user CP. I do feel that this is discriminating against people like me....even on a 21inch widescreen!!

Four clicks to permanently change this, and your browser will keep you logged in unless you log out is not faffing about.

Thanks MSE for this step backwards & alienating folks like me who now will not be able to use the site. I didn`t feel my poor eyesight was a disability but I now know just how that feels.

I think you are going a bit too far here? The site blatantly doesn't discriminate against people with poor eyesight. The font size it uses is used by nearly every major site in the world.

[Deleted User]

Wow, really not liking the forum in fixed width. Its giving me a headache. I don't seem to have the 'forum skin' option in my user CP. Where else can I find it?

Swan_2

[Deleted User] wrote:

Wow, really not liking the forum in fixed width. Its giving me a headache. I don't seem to have the 'forum skin' option in my user CP. Where else can I find it?

user CP, edit options & it's right at the bottom of the page

thumperrabbit

I like it, I think it looks crisp and clear!

2010

Fixed width is hardly new, I remember when this site first started about ten years ago, that`s how it was then.

If you have a wide screen monitor, fixed looks awful, gone back to stretchy. :T

John_Gray

Now that the first-day dust has mostly settled, I wonder whether I can ask the question why the MSE web designers thought it was so necessary to have a fixed-width format for the MSE Forums?

I think the volume of negative responses is not simply a matter of resistance to change ("Constant change is here to stay...") but includes an element of surprise that such a fundamental change wasn't flagged at all in all the consultation about the mast-head, and that for many people a fixed-width forum format just does not "work" well.

Websites are significantly different from Forums, and there could be good reasons why a fixed-width format might be necessary to fix the various text, graphic, etc, website components in a specific location.

But forums are simple constructs, being composed essentially of a header plus a quite-small number of columns (six for the thread listings and two for the posts within a thread), with multiple rows within both. This lends itself ideally to a variable format, where the full width of whatever screen is currently being viewed is used to display the (mostly) text. Whereas 1024 pixels was a very common screen width some years ago, it is difficult now to get a PC screen other than the 1920x1080 HD format, and laptop screens are usually wider than 1024 pixels.

I'm afraid I cannot see any compelling (or even good) reason why a designer would choose to specify a fixed width format for a Forum, since the header can easily be set to scale, and the content seems best scaled according to screen width.

Perhaps Martin could ask his web designers to respond, please?

ic

I've also immediately dropped the fixed width - even on my laptop's paltry 14" screen I was seeing a good 1/3rd of the screen as blank space - at work it was half the screen! Has this been designed only with old non-widescreen monitors in mind? The days of 800x600 and 1024x768 displays are long gone. What about supporting mobile devices too?

fermi

Edinburghlass wrote: »

MMonkeySaving? no offence but I've reported your post to get the screen shot deleted as its really not helping the discussion on this thread.

Oddly enough, now I've forced the width via css/stylish to 90-95% of screen width, my browser now auto-resizes that image to fit.

Wish the forum would normally be set like that.