AppleInsider › Forums › Other Discussion › Feedback › The new forums seem to be rather nice!
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

The new forums seem to be rather nice!

post #1 of 73
4/19/12 at 8:17pm
Thread Starter 
I got a bit nervous after the forums went down fearing you would screw things up like 9to5 did. So far the new arrangement seems to be very much improved with no glaring negatives. Hopefully after a day or two it will feel fine again.

Thanks for the update.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 73
4/19/12 at 8:24pm

Good, now we have both ends of the spectrum. lol.gif

 

Are you talking about 9to5's most recent switch to Vanilla?

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #3 of 73
4/19/12 at 8:38pm

Love the new look, nice and modern.

 

the "screw things up like 9to5 did" might be a reference to the upgrade back in 2001 I think where we lost our post counts.

 

 

Dobby.

Reply
Reply
post #4 of 73
4/20/12 at 6:16am

each post has too much wasted vertical space, meaning less posts visible on screen and more scrolling.

 

It seems there is about 3 extra blank lines inserted after post text before the quote/reply/etc buttons.

 

Fix that and it will get my thumbs up.

 

Reply
Reply
post #5 of 73
4/20/12 at 6:57am

The advance search has issues as well if you search on user name it only find posting started by that person not all the posting that person contributed on. The advance search in this case is really a basic search.
 

Reply
Reply
post #6 of 73
4/20/12 at 7:31am

Found yet another issue with the new forum, when you spell a word wrong firefox highlights the word with a red underline then you right click it an it would give you possible spellings, well if you right click in the new forum it show a pop up that say paste and if you click on it brings up a window that says to paste your text into this window to insert into the message. This is screwed up.
 


Edited by Maestro64 - 4/23/12 at 7:48am
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 73
4/20/12 at 9:50am

I'm still getting used to the new look and feel of the forums, but here are a few observations:

 

  • Either the load times seem to be a bit longer, or the forum application itself is just less responsive than the old one, making it a little more cumbersome to navigate around
  • I like how the posts are more clearly delineated, but there seems to be an awful lot of empty space at the end of each post
  • I know ads help to keep the site running, but I'm not fond of the additional 2 box ads before and after the "Currently Viewing" box on the right. They're very "in-your-face" to me. If they were smaller I probably wouldn't mind as much.

Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.

(I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.)

Reply

Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.

(I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.)

Reply
post #8 of 73
4/20/12 at 9:59am

I agree about the loading. It seems like four flash ads plus the editor are adding to the load time. I've had very new and fast computers hitching up on scrolling due to the number of flash elements loading and they all seem to hitch up and stop right before the large reply field. Perhap the quick reply could have fewer features and thus less code and folks could go to the more full featured version if they feel the need.


Edited by trumptman - 4/24/12 at 9:45pm

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

Reply

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

Reply
post #9 of 73
4/20/12 at 12:42pm

It doesn't seem like we can really do readable quote by quote replies.  Also, it doesn't seem like HTML tags work.  This is really annoying for me, because I've been used to HTML tags here for 10+ years.   I like the WYSIWYG toolbar in the posting box and other visual aspects.   

To save time, assume I know everything.
Reply
To save time, assume I know everything.
Reply
post #10 of 73
4/20/12 at 12:53pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by SDW2001 View Post

It doesn't seem like we can really do readable quote by quote replies.  Also, it doesn't seem like HTML tags work.  This is really annoying for me, because I've been used to HTML tags here for 10+ years.   I like the WYSIWYG toolbar in the posting box and other visual aspects.   

 

I feel like the whole site is less usable, more cluttered and it feels "broken". I'm sure it'll take some time to clean everything up, but I'm not very happy about these changes as of now. Oh, and the "quote" function suddenly works now... In my last post it didn't work.

 

UPDATE:  It didn't work again on another newer post.


Edited by SpamSandwich - 4/20/12 at 1:33pm

Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

Reply

Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

Reply
post #11 of 73
4/20/12 at 1:29pm

Yeah I love the new look.

Reply
Reply
post #12 of 73
4/20/12 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Good, now we have both ends of the spectrum. lol.gif

 

Are you talking about 9to5's most recent switch to Vanilla?


Yeah, 9to5 got worst if that is even possible! I don't like the new 9to5 all that much as is (site layout) but I find their new forums to be just terrible.

So far I'm seeing mostly improvements on AI. That is a sign of a well thought out update.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 73
4/20/12 at 4:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dobby View Post

Love the new look, nice and modern.

 

the "screw things up like 9to5 did" might be a reference to the upgrade back in 2001 I think where we lost our post counts.

 

 

Dobby.


Not at all it is the result of what has happened to the current 9to5 site, especially their forums. The whole thing is a mess right now and performs terribly on my iPad. AI on the other hand actually seems to be snappier if that is possible.

After some of the comments I received after communicating with the staff at 9to5 I really have to wonder if they even have a clue. In one case they tried to defend their use of Flash on a web site supposedly targetted at Apple users. Pretty stupid if you ask me. But this update takes the cake, it performs terribly on my New IPad and is in general pretty messy.

Now don't think I'm not seeing an issue or two here, but honestly they are extremely minor. I believe in being fair so I will note those issues in a separate response in this thread.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 73
4/20/12 at 4:45pm
Thread Starter 
As a point in reference the info below comes from use of the site mostly from my new iPad. I harp vent used it extrensively from my Mac or any other computer.

Some have complained about the blank space at the end of each posting. Personally I like a little bit of space to delineate individual posts, but this does seem to be just slightly excessive. I wonder if the code is leaving room for a tag line even if one isn't being used. As far as performance goes though this version does seem faster on my iPad. That is probably due to no flash.

One thing that really does bother me is quoting of postings. The entire entry now gets quoted and that leaves us with often more text in the response than we would like. On top of that the layout in the editor box is just plain ugly and difficult to pull out the relevant entry points from. This does need work. My suspicion is it won't be easy to fix either, but a high priority here would be welcomed from the posting users.

Second; taking into account my use of an iPad, forum buttons/links are screwed up. Every button currently requires two taps to do what should happen with one. In between a useless dialog pops up with a bit of text in it. This might be seen as useful if popped up with a different gesture but right now it is highly frustrating for the user. I'm not sure if this is a design error or a programming error but the behavior has no place on an iPad. I haven't breezed through the site on a desktop machine so that is an unknown right now.

I suspect the above two items are teething pains. I've yet to go through personal settings again. It looks like that is a requirement but these two issues I don't see being impacted by personal settings.

Overall though it looks very positive. The forums are nowhere near as screwed up as 9to5's. Oh I like the forums nav bar very much, thanks for that one, it keeps me moving forward.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 73
4/20/12 at 6:42pm
Well I personally despise the new forum look and behavior. I use my iPad almost exclusively to read them.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 73
4/21/12 at 10:07am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alex_kac View Post

Well I personally despise the new forum look and behavior. I use my iPad almost exclusively to read them.

What specifically is the issue? I know the need to double tap every link and button sucks but I take that as a fixable programming error.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 73
4/21/12 at 10:21am
Thread Starter 
One other issue that has cropped up that needs fixing is with the "AppleInsider" logo in the top left corner of most pages on AI. Tapping this should always take you to www.appleinsider.com even if you are on a forum page.

The current behaviors where you are taken back to the forums root page when in a forum is just stupid. I see this on many sites lately and reall have to wonder if the software developers have gone nuts. Consider this use case; you pop up AI after a long day to find a number of interesting articles to read. You read one and want to continue with those thoughts into the forums. You do whatever there and then want to get back to the site root www.appleinsider.com. The convention is that taping a sites logo at the top of the page should do that for you. Instead we end up in no mans land (well the root forums page), that is assinine. I'm not sure what arguement is used to justify this behavior but it certainly docent support common use cases.

That use case is that you read one article, it's comments and then possibly add your own comments before going back to the next article.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 73
4/21/12 at 8:40pm
I like it!
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 73
4/22/12 at 7:16am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post

I got a bit nervous after the forums went down fearing you would screw things up like 9to5 did. So far the new arrangement seems to be very much improved with no glaring negatives. Hopefully after a day or two it will feel fine again.
Thanks for the update.

 

Wow, I have to totally disagree. This new forum program is totally unpolished and it's a functional step backwards from the one it replaced. Why doesn't it remember the HTML anchor tag like the old one did? If you hit the browser back button after posting you're taken to the top of the page making you scroll down through the posts you already read. It gets even worse if you try to come back with a bookmark later. Dumb for sure. It won't let me use my Mac's spell checker to correct spelling. The CSS leaves a lot to be desired. The quoting function within the posting editor makes it much more difficult to split up a long quote. This is just my opinion and has nothing to do with the program's functionality but it's doesn't even look better.

Reply
Reply
post #20 of 73
4/22/12 at 7:21am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by dobby View Post

Love the new look, nice and modern.

 

the "screw things up like 9to5 did" might be a reference to the upgrade back in 2001 I think where we lost our post counts.

 

 

Dobby.

 

Hahaha at least it didn't lose my whole account like MacWorld did when they redid their site and MW wouldn't let me recreate a new account using my original user name. I had to go under a new name after a decade of using the original one. Then about six months later the lost account and password magically came back to life. Go Figure!


Edited by ljocampo - 4/22/12 at 7:49am
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 73
4/23/12 at 11:45am

I don't like the new forums much at all.  Spacing is terrible, it looks like it was made for blind people.  Everything looks so big and oversized.  It is not a showstopper, but it is a step back from the customizable forums you used to have.  Also, most of the other complaints above are shared by myself except for the quoting and HTML questions.  I have not posted enough in the new forums to know if they are really that bad.s

NoahJ
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi
Reply
NoahJ
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi
Reply
post #22 of 73
4/23/12 at 1:15pm
What promted the departure from vbulletin?

What powers the forum now?

It'll take some getting use to, but it's def a clean modern look!
White Nexus 7 8GB
Black & Slate iPhone 5 32GB AT&T
Reply
White Nexus 7 8GB
Black & Slate iPhone 5 32GB AT&T
Reply
post #23 of 73
4/23/12 at 4:43pm

Guys I hope you 've not committed yourself to the huddler people yet and have not paid them any money. What's with the huge spacing between everything, and the horrible unreadable way quotes appear within replies. And no spell check, or right click for that matter within replies? I checked out huddler's website too, seems to me they are too much about social networking blah blah and fanfare, but if they can't get the forum basics right, what good are they for? Anyway at least if there's a way to fix that spacing thing and the way quotes appear. 

Reply
Reply
post #24 of 73
4/24/12 at 3:40am
I can't find the main feedback thread for the redesign so here are my thought.

AI went from being one of the best forum designs to one of the worst. The problems are too numerous to list.

I've been a member for many years but I doubt I'll be returning much if at all. The bookmark has been deleted.

I have no hatred toward those making the decisions and doing the development work. However the site is now so poorly designed that it is not enjoyable to use.

Thanks for the fun while it lasted. Good bye.
Reply
Reply
post #25 of 73
4/24/12 at 3:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfiler View Post
I can't find the main feedback thread for the redesign so here are my thought.
AI went from being one of the best forum designs to one of the worst. The problems are too numerous to list.
I've been a member for many years but I doubt I'll be returning much if at all. The bookmark has been deleted.
I have no hatred toward those making the decisions and doing the development work. However the site is now so poorly designed that it is not enjoyable to use.
Thanks for the fun while it lasted. Good bye.

 

I find these posts hilarious. I really do.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #26 of 73
4/24/12 at 8:35am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

 

I find these posts hilarious. I really do.

 


As a moderator of these forums, that doesn't seem like the most appropriate response. But I'll probably still stop by from time to time so don't get too teary eyed. ;-)

 

Note that my expression of dissatisfaction was polite. Also note that I have been a member for 10 years and have a masters in HCI. Perhaps it is my obsession with usability and design that make it a big enough deal to seek entertainment and discourse elsewhere.

 

It's just that there are so many good sites on the web that it doesn't make sense to bother with poorly designed sites. Gizmodo? Meh, haven't been back more than a handful of times since Gawker's redesign fiasco.

Seriously, just try browsing the forums on an iPad and tell me it doesn't look and behave like a highschool project.

 

Reply
Reply
post #27 of 73
4/24/12 at 8:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfiler View Post
As a moderator of these forums, that doesn't seem like the most appropriate response.

 

Hey, we don't have any control over the design. If we did, I would have cut all this stupid extra white space out in a heartbeat.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #28 of 73
4/24/12 at 12:06pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

 

Hey, we don't have any control over the design. If we did, I would have cut all this stupid extra white space out in a heartbeat.

 

????

 

Of course you do... old design... new design... AI made a choice.

We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
post #29 of 73
4/24/12 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by island hermit View Post
Of course you do... old design... new design... AI made a choice.

 

Kasper made a choice. We're just mods. Do… do you think we're paid to do what we do?

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #30 of 73
4/24/12 at 1:11pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

 

Kasper made a choice. We're just mods. Do… do you think we're paid to do what we do?

 

When you said we it sounded as if you were speaking about AI.

We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
post #31 of 73
4/24/12 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
It is interesting to see all the posts about spacing, for me I really like the layout of messages. I might be inclined to tighten up spacing for signatures but that is not critical. A forum should be pleasant to read, while there are infinite options formatting wise I don't see the sight as being especially bad. Like I said it is far more readable and navigable than 9to5's.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoahJ View Post

I don't like the new forums much at all.  Spacing is terrible, it looks like it was made for blind people.  Everything looks so big and oversized. 

Actually I did notice an issue with the font sizes on my iPhone but I don't access forums much on my iPhone. So I was slow to notice that font size is less than ideal. Again most of my access is via my iPad and there things look really good to me. I find the visual layout to be very pleasing.
Quote:

It is not a showstopper, but it is a step back from the customizable forums you used to have.  Also, most of the other complaints above are shared by myself except for the quoting and HTML questions.  I have not posted enough in the new forums to know if they are really that bad.s

Actually in that regard things are pretty bad but for me that is just a programming issue with how quoted text is thrown back at the user in the editor. I don't consider it a big deal because it is mostly a formatting issue. Another words something easily overcomed.

I'm all for customization, but that is a far bigger programming effort and does impact server load. I'd love to have custom font sizes (getting old), back ground colors and the like but to the best of my knowledge these have not been available in previous releases.
Reply
Reply
post #32 of 73
4/24/12 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by island hermit View Post
When you said we it sounded as if you were speaking about AI.

 

Oh, I can see that now. Sorry for the confusion.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #33 of 73
4/24/12 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
You see I don't grasp the issue with white space. The layout might not be perfect but what layout ever is? I'm much more concerned about usability on iOS devices, that is properly handling touches and the like. More so in this editor the text quoted below looks like hell.

Again though I see some of these issues as simply bugs to be ironed out. I'm certain there are long term goals with this update and I do think it will grow on people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by dfiler View Post
As a moderator of these forums, that doesn't seem like the most appropriate response.

 

Hey, we don't have any control over the design. If we did, I would have cut all this stupid extra white space out in a heartbeat.

Reply
Reply
post #34 of 73
4/24/12 at 5:00pm

Well, one thing that happened for sure... the new layout has sure limited the number of comments on the forums. It mainly seems to have shut out a whole pile of Android posters...
 

We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
post #35 of 73
4/24/12 at 9:36pm
Not trying to be rude here, but the new forum looks like dog crap on my iPad.

I'd pay someone $50 if they can decipher the laundry list of blue boxes to the right.
>
Reply
Reply
post #36 of 73
4/25/12 at 7:14am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Postulant View Post

Not trying to be rude here, but the new forum looks like dog crap on my iPad.
I'd pay someone $50 if they can decipher the laundry list of blue boxes to the right.
>

 

I hear that it looks terrific on a Xoom...

 

j/k

We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
Reply
post #37 of 73
4/25/12 at 7:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Postulant View Post
I'd pay someone $50 if they can decipher the laundry list of blue boxes to the right.

 

What blue boxes?

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #38 of 73
4/26/12 at 8:28am

Is there a way to show the posts I haven't seen yet or the posts in the last 24 hours?  I can't seem to locate how to do that. I'd rather not have to read all the posts I've read before just to get to the ones I haven't read.

ADS
Reply
ADS
Reply
post #39 of 73
4/26/12 at 8:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sequitur View Post
Is there a way to show the posts I haven't seen yet or the posts in the last 24 hours?  I can't seem to locate how to do that. I'd rather not have to read all the posts I've read before just to get to the ones I haven't read.

 

The New Posts button in the top right.

 

Screen Shot 2012-04-26 at 11.31.49 AM.png

 

I'm quite happy with the way Huddler handles that, because now I can actually have that link in my Top Sites and go straight to it instead of having to click through the main forum page first. So much wasted time with vBulletin…

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
Reply
post #40 of 73
4/26/12 at 1:05pm

I am not a fan of the new forums to much lost space.  and they seem very slow also.  I like some of the new features for post editing but two many ad's eating up space on the screen. 

 

Can't really use it on the iphone like to could the just not a good use in screen space.

 

This was a daily stopping point for me on the web but not anymore.

 

 

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Feedback
AppleInsider › Forums › Other Discussion › Feedback › The new forums seem to be rather nice!