Please read - new Forum homepage and rules are live

thingamaBob

Coupon-mad said:

I can’t see how to search just one forum board. ‘Search the forum’ is absolutely pointless as it searches all boards!

No improvement on the ruined search facility that the last update caused.  Before both updates we used to be able to search one board and get results with the most recent first.  Now you get rubbish from 2014 interspersed with slightly more recent results but this is worse than useless if you know a post exists but MSE’s broken search function has made finding it like a needle in a haystack. 

Please restore the ‘Search THIS forum’ facility that existed before both updates. 

@Coupon-mad You click the little red box with a magnifying glass at the end of the line of page numbers at the top or bottom of the page.
On the List page this searches that board and when in a thread it searches that thread.

They have advised that a revised/updated search will be introduced around the end of July.

spendaholic

I've not really had time to navigate everything, but I wanted to add my threepenn'th to what others have said so far.

1. I always use MSE on the desktop, so therefore a desktop layout is far better for me, and also, I expect, for many other users who either can't afford the latest smartphones and tablets (or don't want to buy them), or who use a desktop for health and mobility reasons (eyesight, user-friendly interface, big buttons, mouses, etc). I think when the conversations are being held with the techies, could they be asked to bear in mind inclusivity and users who have other needs?

2. Even the most basic of blogs and websites now have the ability to change how they look depending on how they're being viewed, i.e. there are buttons to see what it looks like on desktop, on phone and on ipad. I think they call it 'mobile-friendly'. Perhaps we could also think 'desktop-friendly'. Does the new interface have this option for the developers?

3. The layout and the colours are fine on my phone and tablet (I went to look especially, but I don't usually use these for MSE) if I'm in portrait orientation. If I'm in landscape orientation, the layout is not so great. But either way, the font is too small and when you zoom in, instead of the text adapting to suit the zoom, you have to keep moving from left to right just to read something properly, because the full text is outside the screen area now. (I'm sure there's a technical term for this, but I can't think of it at the moment.) (Is it screen optimisation?) 

4. Aside from the grey space and the small font already mentioned, I don't have a problem with the look of the new colour scheme. And I agree with the others that, if MSE really do need to keep all of this potentially useful clickable stuff in a sidebar, (a) could it be moved to the right-hand side, as we read from left to right, and (b) can it be populated all the way down to the bottom to get rid of all of that grey? For example, I have 'How this site works' along the bottom of the screen which, if you're keeping the sidebar, could potentially go there too. The other alternative is that whatever's in the sidebar scrolls down with the screen as the user is, well, scrolling down. I think putting the essential stuff along the top is better so long as it stays at the top and doesn't move down with the screen, because as with the sidebars reducing the viewing pane to a strip down the middle (or to one side), a moving essential info bar will squash the viewing pane from top to bottom. (Sorry for the waffle there, I hope it makes some sense.)

5. I like the new home page, I think it really 'pops'. But the boards aren't very easy to navigate because it's not as clear what's on each board as it used to be. Could this whole board guide area be made bigger to accommodate more information regarding the boards?

6. I also like that "search" seems to default to what used to be "advanced search". Or it looks exactly the same as advanced search to me, at any rate.

7. Oh, and (sorry) when I go onto a board, it takes me to the last one I last saw, it doesn't take me to the first one ... that's correct, isn't it? 

Apologies if I'm repeating anything, but if that's the case, then I'm supporting what others have said. When I've had chance to look at the feedback form, I might transfer some or all of this to there too.

Thanks so much for keeping us in the loop on this one! 🥰

Misslayed

@spendaholic Please do use the feedback form, it really helps the Forum Team to have all comments in one place. Here's the link

https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90352118/MSE-Forum-2021-redesign-feedback

spendaholic

Misslayed said:

@spendaholic Please do use the feedback form, it really helps the Forum Team to have all comments in one place. Here's the link

https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90352118/MSE-Forum-2021-redesign-feedback

Thanks for the link.

I've said that I will, just as soon as I have time. The form's restricted to 100 words, so that would need 6 of them ... so I'll do it when I have the time. 

Jenni_D

Misslayed said:

@spendaholic Please do use the feedback form, it really helps the Forum Team to have all comments in one place. Here's the link

https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90352118/MSE-Forum-2021-redesign-feedback

They may find that they run out of words allocation if they try to use the form.  

spendaholic

Jenni_D said:

Misslayed said:

@spendaholic Please do use the feedback form, it really helps the Forum Team to have all comments in one place. Here's the link

https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90352118/MSE-Forum-2021-redesign-feedback

They may find that they run out of words allocation if they try to use the form.  

We crossed! And yes. Also, I'd need to fill in another load of forms once I've tried to actually navigate everything. :-) These are just my initial thoughts, which we've also been asked for.

Robin9

Why are you so hung upon stats ? eg 62.6KPosts   8.1KDiscussions

What use is it ?

Former_MSE_Laura

Hi Forumites!

We’ve received some brilliant feedback from you over the past few days since launching the changes to our Forum.

Standout things you want to see tweaked - font size, the grey space on the left, layout across different devices and a slight re-jig of the category boards. Fear not, we’re on it! And just in case you missed it, the much-needed improvements to the Search function are due at the end of July.

As ever, thanks for your feedback and patience 👍

We'll be closing this thread over the weekend, but we'll be back on Monday! And remember, you can still use our feedback form.

Enjoy your weekends, 
MSE Laura

Bellroyd

This practice of closing threads because staff only work Monday to Friday, I find rather arrogant and disrespectful of Forum users, as is the business of only wanting feedback on a feedback form. 

If people have some feedback to give, in my view there is no credible justification for wanting this only on Monday to Friday. It may take someone a little longer on a Monday to read through weekend feedback, but what’s the problem with that? People don’t expect a weekend response or any response at all, other than taking note of their feedback.

The Feedback form is a single open entry field, as is any contribution to a thread, so is there any real hardship involved in receiving feedback here? As others have said, the feedback form is limited to 100 words - it’s almost as if you don’t want to have it, or read it ,or take any notice of it, or allow us to see the feedback of others.

I may have 10 or more pieces of constructive feedback, each one of which may use up to 100 words or more. Do you really expect your users to submit 10 or more feedback forms? If I have feedback to give, I want to give it when and how is convenient to me and if feedback is important to you, you should surely be willing to facilitate that. I should not have to type it out in a separate file, save it and then copy and paste it into the thread after the weekend, as I have done with this.

And as for the main issues that forum users have pointed out to you, I’m sorry, but these are very basic. Too much grey space and a font too small for people to read are almost schoolboy design errors. You should never have accepted this from your provider and presented it to Forum users in this way. The broken Search function taking until the end of July to fix, when it hasn’t been working satisfactorily for months. Really? I wouldn’t accept this level of performance from any supplier of service. Either you have allowed them to categorise MSE as a low priority customer, or they don’t have the technical ability or they are just fobbing you off.. Another likely scenario is that they have been over-promising and under-delivering. Is there no Service Level Agreement with them? Maybe you are just not being tough enough?

Just to put things in perspective, many active forum users, to their credit, have gone to considerable lengths to try to help you and the continuing unresolved issues represent something of a kick in the teeth to them. Most of us love the main site and will continue to use the forum despite the so-called improvements being seen as a retrograde step. Other valuable contributors to the forum have left or will leave and that should be a real concern to you. The majority of forum users that choose to comment seem to feel that they are being sold down the river and that Competition Time, your most popular forum, will never recover to what it was in terms of user satisfaction and will inevitably wither on the vine. If you accept that as being the case, then you shouldn’t hold out false hope to your loyal following. There are other good Competition Forums around, but it would be a real shame if MSE were to let down such a huge number of regular users. There is a real frustration apparent across the site community. 

I have submitted a feedback form, but it would have taken the submission of 7 separate forms to provide this feedback - feedback which I feel is important for me to give and for you to receive.

cloud_dog

Bellroyd said:

Other valuable contributors to the forum have left or will leave and that should be a real concern to you. 

Whilst I would not consider myself anywhere near a valuable contributor, this absolutely is the logical end point.

People / MSE should not be focussing on the cosmetic issues (as annoying as those may be, although I fear this is all the MSE Forum owners will look to change due to its relatively simple resolution and it is a tangible 'look we are listening to you' message); it is the functional deficiencies the way the redevelopment has made it that much more convoluted to navigate, to see items, to quickly jump in and offer some help (even if it is not your primary focus).

Just to put some anecdotal context to the possibility that 'contributors will / have left', I would say my attendance on these MSE forums is probably only 20% of what it historically has been, and possibly more importantly, because of the navigation changes I have simply added a couple of forums to my favourites and have bookmarked my favourites MSE page on my devices, thereby reducing the/my visibility of the site.