The new forums are FINE! (with the following changes)

[Tickner]

posted by StevieG in another thread on this forum:

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The new forum introduced several bits of behavior that significantly impacted usability:

* Spurious white space in posts reduced ease of reading
* Quoting display used scrollbars needlessly
* Annoying format possibilities for posts
* Search term strikelist includes "re:" rendering useless one of the few ways to improve search results
* Visited links the same color as unvisited links
* Font size made site illegible for some
* Indications of unread posts or new threads far tougher to see than previously


For that we did get some new cool features, including
* Quick quote
* Quotebox with variable header
* Fast link to "My Posts"

And useful layout changes:
* Logical forum reorginzation
* Replacement of the silly green left hand menu

On balance, the new features didn't immediately make up for the losses in usability.

In addition to addressing the speed performance, 2+2 should address the usability concerns before bring the new forum software back online.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this. The new software is awesome, and 2p2 needs the update. The old forums are just so outdated its shocking. Awesome new features were added in the new one.

All you have to do twoplustwo, is keep the upgrade, but change it to suit the problems that were faced. Mostly:

- add a whole bunch of new themes/skins with bigger fonts...
- make it clear which posts youve read and which you havent (this is huge)
- get rid of some of the crappy white space

[Tickner]

oh and most importantly, and its quite obvious...

Make it work fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CharlieDontSurf]

Son of a Monster!

[Colt McCoy]

So you started a new thread just to repost what someone else already posted in this forum? Wtf? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Tickner]

yes, it was burried deep in the other post and I wanted it to be seen. So many people are saying get rid of the "new" forums... I think we need the upgrade, just make the adjustments...


Feel free to post your opinions on the subject

[Colt McCoy]

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Feel free to post your opinions on the subject

[/ QUOTE ]

Just here? Or should I go post them in the six other threads on about what changes are needed to the new forum software?

[downrange]

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yes, it was burried deep in the other post

[/ QUOTE ]
Hmm, I wonder why?

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So many people are saying get rid of the "new" forums

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And now I know.

[KurtSF]

My opinion is that the "new" was crap.

(1) It was visually ugly as sin. Looked generic and unappealing, no matter the skin.

(2) Completely unusable. About 60% of the time I couldn't log in, 90% of the time I couldn't view a thread, and 98% of the time I couldn't post. Do it again, and its likely you won't even be able to hear me complain, because I will be locked out.

Worse than useless.

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]

(2) Completely unusable. About 60% of the time I couldn't log in, 90% of the time I couldn't view a thread, and 98% of the time I couldn't post. Do it again, and its likely you won't even be able to hear me complain, because I will be locked out.

Worse than useless.

[/ QUOTE ]

Although that is a very real criticism, I think it is more important to focus on actual forum features rather than just performance.

2+2 obviously isn't going to tolerate that kind of performance. It's the reason they started looking at the upgrade in the first place, and also the reason they so quickly rolled things back.

So moving forward, let's make the assumption that response time will not be an issue and instead focus on usability issues around finding, reading, and replying to posts.

[KurtSF]

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So moving forward, let's make the assumption that response time will not be an issue and instead focus on usability issues around finding, reading, and replying to posts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is "butt freakin' ugly" a usability issue? Seriously.

I'll give the benefit of the doubt, but no matter the skin I thought the boxed posts format was simply painful.