Welcome to the new Forum look – give us your feedback

RG2015

Initially it felt very strange but now it is fine.

Over the last 40 years I have been through numerous IT and software upgrades and they are never easy. I am old school and generally don't like any change, but I have learnt to wait a bit rather than just home in on the initial negative feelings. I have found that I can adapt very quickly to most new systems and processes. 

Say it quietly, but I think there may be some improvements here. The drop-down menus are more comprehensive and the notification dropdown is much cleaner with the number of new posts on each thread included. 

chrisw

Has anybody found a 'mark all as viewed' button? I've searched all over.

BooJewels

brewerdave said:

Can't find the favourite Boards button ? Hate the new layout - anyone would think the site is designed to sell stuff rather than be the home of a helpful forum !!

It's now called 'Followed Content' which either appears in the menu list to the right of the page content or underneath it, depending on your screen size.  I think it also appears in one of the drop down menus from the top of the page  But it seemingly doesn't appear in the same place on different pages.

One thing I'm finding works inconsistently, is the notifications of new posts.  The little bell icon gets a red number for new posts, but it disappears if you visit any other page, as though changing page at all marks them as read.  In the previous incarnation, it stayed red until you'd actually clicked on it.

I'm trying to reserve reaction until I've had time to get used to it and not just react to not liking change, but it does feel a bit form over function at the moment - i.e. it's been designed for how it looks, without checking if it actually works.  I certainly think text sizing needs looking at and how many different fonts are used for headings, content and the posting window etc.

One bit of functionality I hoped would return, was when previewing a post, in the past it showed any new posts above the posting window, which saved several people in quick succession posting similar replies.  

redux

I haven't read all of this thread, so maybe someone has already said this

Only 10 posts shown at a time now. I had it set at 40

redux

According to the pop-up when I click on the account profile logo, I have 6.5k bookmarks (have't a clue why or how), but not a way to my most recent posts (useful for such reasons as coming back here to post this)

Edit: oh, maybe this appears as My Replies, in a Quick Links box near the top of the page

But yes, it is near the top, so it involves scrolling to the top

Troytempest

Pollycat said:

Troytempest said:

May I suggest that MSE get a group of say 10 users (from this board), sit down in a room and come up with a user interface that works within the constraints of what the software package can do. Then make the changes (MSE), test them (the group of 10) and then roll out.

How do yu feel about the new forum?

Has it turned out that all those 'negative' comments expressed before the roll-out have been justified...?

A number of posters commented on the use of emojis as a way of rewarding people on certain threads that have targets - I hope they are not disappointed with this new forum.

Wont go into detail apart from to say its amateurish and I think will lead to far less use of the forum.

Blulu

Troytempest said:

May I suggest that MSE get a group of say 10 users (from this board), sit down in a room and come up with a user interface that works within the constraints of what the software package can do. Then make the changes (MSE), test them (the group of 10) and then roll out.

Sort of did this after the last changes. Some of us put a lot of time and effort into working with MSE to come up with a list of things that most who commented about the changes agreed on. We discussed it with MSE and even showed them why what we were asking for mattered, as in sharing access to the same desktop. Very few of the items on the list were addressed.

You only have to think about how MSE ruined the search facility. They have played around with this a few times, but never sorted it.

We lost so many regular forum users. The board has never recovered from those changes. MSE must have lost a lot of revenue from the fall out too, and they make their money from our clicks and use on the site.

I think that is why they have added all the click bait stuff now. If we accidentally click on a referral link, MSE gets revenue. It’s very common practice and MSE are open and honest about using referral links and skim links.

The irony is, if they would just make it user friendly again, they would draw back the big number of loyal users and would get the improved revenue they are clearly looking for.

Never gonna happen.

Swipe

Please, as a priority, can the forum navigation links be reinstated at the bottom of each page? It's driving me mad having to scroll back up to the top of the page.

boingy

I like the overall feel but there is too much wasted space and too much scrolling - much , much more than with the previous forum.

Pollycat

Troytempest said:

Pollycat said:

Troytempest said:

May I suggest that MSE get a group of say 10 users (from this board), sit down in a room and come up with a user interface that works within the constraints of what the software package can do. Then make the changes (MSE), test them (the group of 10) and then roll out.

How do yu feel about the new forum?

Has it turned out that all those 'negative' comments expressed before the roll-out have been justified...?

A number of posters commented on the use of emojis as a way of rewarding people on certain threads that have targets - I hope they are not disappointed with this new forum.

Wont go into detail apart from to say its amateurish and I think will lead to far less use of the forum.

I can't argue with that.
Pretty much as most of us predicted then.