The page layout inside the threads seems to be much improved, but the thread lists are still undesirable. Only three to four thread titles can be displayed at one time on my screen. Shrink the font and spacing down to get me 8 to 10 at a time and I'll buy you a milkshake. (Next time I'm in Florida)
EvanB said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
I would like to see some differentiation between threads I have and haven't clicked on like the old board had. If the thread title font got smaller after it was read I would read everything.
I just noticed that there is a red dot next to unread threads when viewed full width on my computer. When the width is shrunk to get rid of the side panel or when viewing on mobile the red dots are not visible.
In reply to EvanB :
Interesting. The red dots stay there all the time for me unless I shrink the screen to mobile size. What browser are you using?
And yes, the red dots signify threads with new comments.
bigben said:The page layout inside the threads seems to be much improved, but the thread lists are still undesirable. Only three to four thread titles can be displayed at one time on my screen. Shrink the font and spacing down to get me 8 to 10 at a time and I'll buy you a milkshake. (Next time I'm in Florida)
Are you viewing on a desktop of mobile? On my desktop view, I can see 7-8 thread titles. Have you cleared your cache since the last update?
Using Chrome Version 60.0.3112.113 on Windows 10. I shrink the width to mobile size on my work computer to hide the sidebar.
The red dots do not appear for me if I view "Your Posts". They do show up in "Latest Posts" (I checked the same thread).
In reply to ProDarwin :
Interesting. We'll look into that. Thanks.
I see no red dots on my laptop or on my phone.
Laptop is firefox and phone is android chrome.
So many people
Complain they must do, always
No matter their cost
Nick (Bo) Comstock said:I see no red dots on my laptop or on my phone.
Laptop is firefox and phone is android chrome.
Well, stop using FF and get a real phone.
I keed I keed
Wow checking in here 10-15 times a day? That's some serious something there. I wish I had that much free time each day.
If the new format makes posting pics (especially from a phone) and pasting clickable links easier, which it looks like it has, I'm all for it.
In reply to Ed Higginbotham :
Currently viewing with Chrome on Android. I tried clearing the cache, no change.
Titles and individual thread blocks are just too big. If they were too small, I could zoom in but there's nothing I can do with too big.
I'd post screenshots, but it's too much work to upload them somewhere else just to be able to link them back here.
I can see three threads in portrait orientation and only two in landscape!
Ed Higginbotham
We know you work hard for us
Don't go head asplode.
Was there ever discussion of multiple color pallette styles? Basically keep the white based default, but if you create a GRM identity, you have the option of selecting a darker color based style?
If so, would it help if some of us took the lead in developing that user option? Basically, building a CSS (or whatever) style based off of the current and that you could hand over to the developers as the option?
Im not a massive fan of the change. I mostly browse and post from my phone and found the old format way nicer appearance wise and also in terms of readability.
I don't like the mobile format, its way too big, by contrast if I request desktop mode the layout is heaps better but it makes reading threads harder. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground.
I've cleared my cache and berkeleyed around with settings a bit and there just isn't a happy medium for me at the moment. I'm browsing via crome on an Android phone or tablet 99% of the time.
I know you guys are trying hard, and hopefully in time things find a good balance for the majority of users.
Sorry, I wish I could be more positive and say I love the changes, but I'm just not feeling it.
Edit for added bit.
The classic Motorsports portal work around is great! Its readable, functional and happy making. Hopefully you guys will be leaving it as is till you've finished dealing with the grm forum upgrade teething problem's?
daeman wrote:Im not a massive fan of the change. I mostly browse and post from my phone and found the old format way nicer appearance wise and also in terms of readability.
I don't like the mobile format, its way too big, by contrast if I request desktop mode the layout is heaps better but it makes reading threads harder. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground.
I've cleared my cache and berkeleyed around with settings a bit and there just isn't a happy medium for me at the moment. I'm browsing via crome on an Android phone or tablet 99% of the time.
I know you guys are trying hard, and hopefully in time things find a good balance for the majority of users.
Sorry, I wish I could be more positive and say I love the changes, but I'm just not feeling it.
Edit for added bit.
The classic Motorsports portal work around is great! Its readable, functional and happy making. Hopefully you guys will be leaving it as is till you've finished dealing with the grm forum upgrade teething problem's?
i say just keep classic the way it is. Perminantly.
I have been using classic almost exclusively. The problem as I see it is two much contrast in the font sizes. It makes the new format not easy to read. Instead of font size changes use bolding and italics or both to segregate things. The jumbled text sizes looks like something a jr high school kid formatted. It does not present as professional. There are actually books about this stuff. It is something I am very picky about in my professional life. Anything that leaves my company for public consumption I make sure conformed to these standards. Multy size fonts and lots of color in my professional world imply a you don't have actual content and comes across as not professional. The last think I want to see is GRM adopting something that degrades there professionalism. I hate to say this but you are a publishing company. I would think you all would know this and not have let this mess out for public consumption. I own a architectural firm and presentation of our product is of utmost importance. If My guys can not make our product look good on paper or on the computer screen a client sure is not going to want me designing there building for frear of what that would result in being built.
I really mean this as is as constructive criticism. That is why I took time out in the middle of my day and spent a good bit of time working with fonts font sizing and spacing on the jpg image of what I hope would be at least a push in a better direction for this site. It is far from perfect. I also assume that you have some developers that will not take kindly to my comments. I deal with this at my job a lot as it is my job to run the company I own and maintain my vision of what my public appearance is and sometimes this does not always jibe with what so called experts think. But it is my reputation not there's that is on the line. Same goes for GRM. Who ever created this forum software will fade away if it flops and there will be little if any recourse to there buisness. GRM is frount and center in this mess. It is there name and reputation and public image that is being messed with here and that is something that should be handeled with the utmost care and caution. I really think that this should be handeled similarly to how we handel this type of thing. That is a pier review. Meaning I would go get another architectural firm to look over my work and asses it. You should do the same with this site. My fear is that you are looking at the functionality of the back end of this software and while it may have some cool stuff it has clouded your vision a bit with respect to the front end.
Again in I fully understand that my long dissertation here is going to may be make me unpopular but I am only writing this because I care. I know what it takes to build a buisness from nothing so I look at other businesses with that bent.
I respect your position and appreciate all the feedback, but another aspect of this was making the site conform to modern design standards a little better. Have you seen an iPhone lately?
It’s tough to strike the design balance between staying with the times and not upsetting current users with too much change. It looks like Ed and his army of developers are getting closer and closer to that balance, and I definitely like the new format better.
I've always been a proponent of "form follows function" and "substance over style". I recognize that I am out of step with the times. The forum as currently implemented simply doesn't work as well as the old format. If we were to take a picture of it, blow it up to poster size, hang it on the wall and ogle it, then yes, the current format might find favor among art afficionados the world over. If on the other hand, we want the forum to be convenient to read, well, that's something different from what we have now.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
I'm not going to sugarcoat as much as you. This is a horrible implementation of a forum. On a level that even municipal government doesn't fail at. It has always been feature "adverse" but now it's ugly and awkward. I'm not really a quitter so while I do try to bitch about it constructively only in the threads for bitching about it... it's kinda the same basic mess if I wear sunglasses and grow callouses on my scroll finger as it's been since ... what 2007? Only more scrolley and less good. So I'm using it.
If I'm still posting then I guess I'm not too terribly affected... but I'm not reading as much as I did before. So, my already shallow disposition is going down in rich creamy content. So there ... , well ... er... , take that!
VAGINA!
Problem is Tom, that there's pretty much as many Android users out there as there are iOS users these days, and the new format just doesn't look anywhere near as good on a chrome browsered android device as it does in those iPhone screen shots.
If it did, I'd wager a good deal less of us would be moaning about the change.
I'm a longtime lurker. I didn't like the new style at first, but the improvements have helped, and using it for a few days has also helped. I read exclusively on chrome on Android.
I actually preferred it the iteration before last.
So you are designing your site to work the best on the least used mobile os. WTF. If my employee did this someone would be coming to my office and they had better have a really good explanation. This is where being the boss counts. People get fixated on things and forget the big picture. Who cares if it works on iOS. It should work perfectly on chrome and android and then maybe iexplorer.
You are trying to design the perfect all season tire of a web page and in the end it is going to at best be just ok doing everything or as I like to say all season tires suck in all seasons.
Some statistics for you.
Of the 432 million smartphones sold in the last quarter, 352 million ran Android (81.7 percent) and 77 million ran iOS (17.9 percent)
from here
Tom Suddard said:I respect your position and appreciate all the feedback, but another aspect of this was making the site conform to modern design standards a little better. Have you seen an iPhone lately?
It’s tough to strike the design balance between staying with the times and not upsetting current users with too much change. It looks like Ed and his army of developers are getting closer and closer to that balance, and I definitely like the new format better.
Seriously?
Have you perchance noticed that all the other professional web forums (and most of the amateur ones) look and behave the same pretty much across all platforms?
Nutty right? What could they possibly have in common?
"Modern" and Apple centric design don't mean they're better.
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