Forum Update

Tixy

When I 'go advanced' on a reply the options/selections are all over the place - most of the buttons are written in text not the usual symbol, the smilies are so far to the right on the new narrow page that they are mergin into the green latest mse news and cannot be selected. not sure if this is just me or common to everyone. Using Windows 7 and firefox. Firefox 6 I think. PS could the white be less white - very glare-y

maddocks2379

not nice, gonna try stretched mode, i have 7" of wasted space on the sides (3.5" each side)

BoGoF

It's terrible, could imagine it giving headaches over a long period. I'm changing it.

WelshPaul

Didn't like the fixed width, everything was squashed in the middle of my screen.

Switched to stretchy.

comping_cat

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Unless there's some error - its not ridiculously narrow its set at standard 1024 type width. Go and check the time or telegraph or guardian and you'll see they're the same size. Its just the fact its not what people are used to here.

I know I can say until Im blue in the face - try it, wait and see, its far better for readability.

The other sites dont look so 'squished' because they either have darker blocks (see twitter/Telegraph) on the sides or not much colour within the website (the Guardian). The fact that MSE is so colourful highlights how small it looks on the fixed width. Now i have the stretchy version, i dont mind, but the fixed site does not look good to me.

Shovel_Lad

I understand the desire for fixed width, it does make the web designing easier; but judging from the comments so far here: people are generally disliking the same thing I do with this view - namely the unnecessary left and right margins.

I hate these blank margins on any web site (yes, even the "big editorial sites") If I want margins I'll change the size of my window, thank you very much. There is so much data displayed (on the main page especially) surely utilising all available space is the way to go?

I really think that if you want to persuade people to go fixed width, you need to review (aka remove) the blank margins.

Just my 1.5 cents.

aliasojo

MSE_Martin wrote: »

We didnt gather opinion - we gave a choice!

Did you not ask for opinion about the pic?

I must go and re-read, but from memory I thought you asked about folded or not folded arms (for example). Is that not gathering opinion?

Edit: Seems like asking for opinion to me.

So I’d love your views. Do you like the overall image of the new masthead? Does the picture convey a friendly enough image – or would a closer up picture be better? Let me know what you think (be gentle).

arcon5

eslick wrote: »

well have to say that I probably wont visit the new forum as much now, as someone who hasnt the best eye sight, the size of the page is terrible and the white background is far to bright, change can be good but this is just to small and to bright for me

ok figured out you can go back to the oldish settings however the background is still very bright, hopefully someone can say how to change that.

Change it to the 'old look' in options then

meher

what a fine start :snow_grin absolutely thankyou

I liked this slimmer version however I'm not sure if the space is utilised well but then it certainly has an effect in it's overall appeal.

MSE_Forum_Manager wrote: »

If you hate fixed width, you have an option to change it

We would ask you to try it for a week. Yet if you really can't stomach it you can revert it - the option can be found under your User CP option > Edit Options > Scroll down to the "Miscellaneous Options" area and look for the option labelled "Forum Skin" > Change it to "New masthead, stretchy".

However it's important to be clear the future will see us developing new features and tools based on a fixed width, so no guarantees can be made for compatibility (although we try our best to make it work).

May be mse could have a mobile version.

The only glitch is that ever since you started working on it, I can see specs, lines, dots and the font going funny over the posts etc. Or I don't know if it has been happening since I switched to the latest internet explorer. I've no such problems on any other websites like gmail. It seems exclusive to MSE site.

MSE_Forum_Manager wrote: »

thanks for all the positive feedback

ps: what was wrong with constructive :snow_grin feedback

JDPower

Martin, the fixed width wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for a chunk of that limited width being taken up with (no offence intended) the guff down the right hand side.

If the forum content took up that whole fixed width it'd be fine IMO. Hopefully part of the forthcoming redesign will look into doing something about the stuff down the right (FWIW a few forums I use have extra content down one side but with a simple close/hide button which then allows the forum messages to use the full fixed width)