General feedback on new site HERE

[Moderator_1]

Hey Crew!

OK, it’s live. Now, we’re sure there will be things that need to be fixed, or things we missed along the way. The developers will be continuing to work on the site, but at some point, you just have to let 'er rip and see how it functions in the real world.

So, I’m going to start two threads:

This one, to provide general feedback and impressions, and another one here in the Help forum for reports of things that aren’t working properly or functions that we’re missing.

Thanks so much for your patience the past few months and going forward as we get this puppy rolling.

Mod 1

[poltroon]

Is it possible to have the topic lists page by say 20 or more instead of 10? 10 topics is really short. If it’s configurable at the personal level and I missed it I apologize.

Thanks for all you do, transitions are always… challenging!

[charismaryllis]

@poltroon

Is it possible to have the topic lists page by say 20 or more instead of 10? 10 topics is really short. If it’s configurable at the personal level and I missed it I apologize.

Thanks for all you do, transitions are always… challenging!

there is an option to do that under your user settings in your account… (or at least i think that’s where i saw it…) i reset mine, but have yet to see if it actually took.

[vineyridge]

I don’t like the all the bright white. It’s hard on the eyes–and boring too. One hopes that there will be simple design modifications to make the site more eye-friendly.

I just went to the Account page. What the heck are “Visitor Messages”? They aren’t the same as “Private Messages”, are they?

Some of the new options are confusing. Will there be an FAQ on them temporarily.

I also don’t like the loss of the ability to select the last page of a thread. And not being able to click on “top” to go to the top of the page is a bummer. For me, that’s the only way to change to the index, especially now that the forum list, also at the bottom, is gone.

I agree that a lot of speed is gone.

[alibi_18]

I’m wondering what the “Styles” are.
I picked Coth Style… What does it do?

Also, do we need a membership of some sort to be able to put a profile picture? If not, how do I put one?

[trubandloki]

@alibi_18

Also, do we need a membership of some sort to be able to put a profile picture? If not, how do I put one?

If you click on your avatar it will take you to your settings and then if you click on the blank avatar it will let you bring in a new profile photo. (That is how a computer illiterate describes the steps, sorry.)

[Jarpur]

Not loving how slowly the new site loads, as compared to the old one, that’s the main aggravation.:mad: Not liking how I can’t easily skip to the last page of a topic I want to check, either. I did re-configure some things on my user settings, but it hasn’t seemed to help, perhaps there’s something else I’m missing that needs to be adjusted.

The other thing is that I’ve been using a simple HTML version of the Forums whilst on my smartphone. I’ve not been able to post from that, but it loaded super-fast, and I could keep up with topics in a timely fashion by reading, then post replies later from my laptop. Now that has gone away.:no:

ETA: went back in to the User settings and took out avatars and signatures, which makes the pages load a teeny bit faster. Also am trying the Latest posts setting, but not crazy about it.

[SlabSided]

Edit: Okay, sorry, just saw I posted this in the wrong thread. :o

2nd Edit: Nevermind…I’m finding most of my questions answered in the thread where this SHOULD have been posted.

Mia culpa.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to include a signature line like we did in the last incarnation of the form? If so, how do we do that?

[StormyDay]

Would it be possible to change the color of sticky messages? The color is very hard to distinguish from the new posts.

[cllane1]

@Impractical Horsewoman

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to include a signature line like we did in the last incarnation of the form? If so, how do we do that?

IH, I can see your sig line, if it’s any help! I know there’s a place in user settings where you can enable/disable seeing others’ profile pics and sigs. From what I can tell, sigs were imported from the old forum.

I don’t like that the indicator of a thread that I’ve posted in is so tiny. It really blends in with the icon.

Also wish there was a way to go to the last page of a thread versus the last post. I liked the page number counter/links on the old site because I could see if a thread had grown since I last checked it and could click right through to where I left off.

Agree with Viney that an FAQ of some of the formatting options would be helpful.

[trubandloki]

Things do seem to be running slowly. Slower than the old forum did (using the same computer and internet).

Edit to add: Cllane1, thanks for the heads up about signature lines. It appears to be unchecked by default.

[Wonders12]

I miss the “Today’s Posts” feature. Since I’m involved in several different forums, it saved a lot of time.

Agree with the page count mentioned by cllane.

I would also love the option to reduce the Quick Links in the left side bar so the entire page fits better without having a left-right scroll to it.

I agree the Topic Pages need to have more than 10 posts per page. 20 at least. It would be nice if that adjusted with the “Posts Per Page” setting.

[alibi_18]

@trubandloki

If you click on your avatar it will take you to your settings and then if you click on the blank avatar it will let you bring in a new profile photo. (That is how a computer illiterate describes the steps, sorry.)

That’s what I tried and it’s not working… oh well.

Thanks.

ETA : I’ve been able to modify my avatar and add my signature line from a computer. Just not from my phone!!!

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

@cllane1

IH, I can see your sig line, if it’s any help! I know there’s a place in user settings where you can enable/disable seeing others’ profile pics and sigs. From what I can tell, sigs were imported from the old forum.

I don’t like that the indicator of a thread that I’ve posted in is so tiny. It really blends in with the icon.

Also wish there was a way to go to the last page of a thread versus the last post. I liked the page number counter/links on the old site because I could see if a thread had grown since I last checked it and could click right through to where I left off.

Agree with Viney that an FAQ of some of the formatting options would be helpful.

Thank you so much! I will review my settings! I will definitely enable them because I like to see everyone’s!

And make me a “me three” about having an FAQ regarding the new formatting options!

[bascher]

Any way to see how many pages a topic is currently at when you go to the home page of whatever forum you are in? Used to be able to click on page 1,2,5, etc and see how long the thread is as well jump directly to the page. Thanks!

[smoofox]

@vineyridge

I also don’t like the loss of the ability to select the last page of a thread. And not being able to click on “top” to go to the top of the page is a bummer.

---

I agree that a lot of speed is gone.

The ability to go to the last page/first unread post is still there.

Speed seems to working just fine for me…

[cyberbay]

I’m with Vineyridge. I really liked the green and the smaller post boxes. Now the screen is larger and way, way less concise than the original. It is not as pleasing in appearance. I don’t need to see someone’s blurry picture of their cat, their dog, whatever, every time I log on. There are actually people on these forums who use the i’net and are not used by the i’net, and don’t need endless distraction. Also, you have to clean up the typos on the Profile page. Come on, computer people. Learn English, thank you. Yeesh. (Hint: In the sentence about sharing emails, etc., see about removing that incorrect comma and inserting a period. Try it. You might like it. Or, have Jennifer Calder or one of the good writers there at the mag review your copy. We, the users, deserve accurate copy. Txs.)

[trubandloki]

@cyberbay

I’m with Vineyridge. I really liked the green and the smaller post boxes. Now the screen is larger and way, way less concise than the original. It is not as pleasing in appearance. I don’t need to see someone’s blurry picture of their cat, their dog, whatever, every time I log on. There are actually people on these forums who use the i’net and are not used by the i’net, and don’t need endless distraction. Also, you have to clean up the typos on the Profile page. Come on, computer people. Learn English, thank you. Yeesh. (Hint: In the sentence about sharing emails, etc., see about removing that incorrect comma and inserting a period. Try it. You might like it. Or, have Jennifer Calder or one of the good writers there at the mag review your copy. We, the users, deserve accurate copy. Txs.)

You can set your profile settings so you do not see the cat, dog or other blurry photos that are annoying you.

[cyberbay]

Thank you, TandLoki. I like your pet picture, though. And I had a cat named Loki (the Norwegian goddess of mischief? She came with the name). When I have the time, I’ll go in and reset my settings. Right now, I am taken up with complaining, so it may be a few days…