New look forum post crash

[steve3000]

Thanks for getting the site back up and functioning so quickly.

And I must say the new design does work much better with my phone browser

Just a couple of points when using from a PC... As others have mentioned, having an 'Active topics' link which isn't hidden would be great - and would also help users of NetSurf, which doesn't seem to respond to the new quick-links button at all

Other than that, the only slightly disconcerting thing I've noticed with the new layout is the movement of all the information which was on the left of the screen in the old design, over to the right... The avatars are now on the right, the smilies are on the right and even the 'private message' buttons are on the right. Not a problem, just different

Cheers,
Steve

[1024MAK]

Only a couple of suggestions...

3) Also could you loose the animated logo for topics with multiple pages, I find it draws your eyes to those threads rather than the ones with new content.

Lose the animated logo? Yes please! I confuse it with topics with new posts. I also never liked the way that animated graphics tended to give my browser and CPU a work-out, which is still probably an issue.

The animation takes half a desktop core for me.

What, this little thing:
It's a standard icon used all over the place with this "skin" on phpBB. It is part of the prosilver style. Blame the original author Tom Beddard ( http://www.subBlue.com/ ) if you don't like it . The prosilver style is the default phpBB3 style.

Mark

[paulb]

Blame the original author Tom Beddard ( http://www.subBlue.com/ ) if you don't like it .

He is no longer on my Christmas card list.

The prosilver style is the default phpBB3 style.

It's certainly "fresher" than the other style, but as this is the only "BB" I use, being one of perhaps two forum things in total, you're probably not managing to persuade me of its merits on that basis.

Anyway, I'm mostly happy with the way it is. And now I'll submit this post to stop the animated smilies warming up my CPU.

[Wookie]

Blame the original author Tom Beddard ( http://www.subBlue.com/ ) if you don't like it . The prosilver style is the default phpBB3 style.

Just had a look on his website, one phrase came to mind to sum up his work.... Style over Substance

In the meantime I've just ad-blocked the animated Gif icons, problem half solved

[jgharston]

I do find I'm getting a bit lost with this style. There's another forum I'm a member of which has this style and I've set my user settings to be something simpler. I can't seem to find how to do that here. Every other ppBV forum I'm on has the avatars on the left. It just feels weird having them on the right.

[roland]

After a few days I'm getting used to the new interface. Adding images and attachments is also much easier now. (If you didn't notice yet, just drag and drop the file to the text message area and it is attached).

I'd like also to see the avatars at the left side and like I wrote before, a link to new posts in the header would be very appreciated. Although I clicked so often on the Quick Link button that I probably get used to that also in about a week

[sydney]

I'm quite happy with the forum as it is now. Avatars moved to the left is the only thing I'd change.

[BeebMaster]

Well, I hate it.

It's like logging in to a bottle of mouthwash.

[jms2]

Having used it for a bit, I think I can probably get used to all the new features and different layout etc.

What I can't get used to though, is the tiny size of everything, with the resultant difficulty in reading stuff and clicking on things - mainly on my 10 inch tablet. No other website that I visit is as tiny as this one. I don't know if it's just me, but the text is about 3mm high on my screen.

I find I'm reading the site a lot less, because it's just too much like hard work.

[danielj]

I just tried it (for the first time) on my iPad in both Chrome and Safari - it was fine and I didn't have to zoom to click on anything. What browser are you using?

d.

[jms2]

Just the standard Android one. I don't think it has a name!

[jms2]

Aha.... I just went to see whether its possible to increase the text size. Turns out that you can, so problem solved.

However, I've never needed to do this for any other website. And buttons are still tiny.

[tricky]

On my android phones, about 4.x the text is larger than before, probably because there is nothing at the sides, so I don't have to zoom in where I did before on the same default browser. Only just realised!

[danielj]

Aha.... I just went to see whether its possible to increase the text size. Turns out that you can, so problem solved.

However, I've never needed to do this for any other website. And buttons are still tiny.

Download and install Chrome - it's about 1,000,000 times better than the standard android browser
d.

[daveejhitchins]

Ah! Change . . . Now if we'd all joined the forum with this look and feel there, probably, wouldn't be a problem . . . I'm coping with the new look but believe it could be improved. So, maybe we should 'investigate' other skins? Remember . . . We won't please all the people, now matter what we end up with. My gripe is the 'Quick links' dropdown, a pain, and the fact that it on the opposite side to 'First unread post' - I mainly use the touch-pad on my Mac and it's a big swipe to move across (lazy sod ).

Dave H

[1024MAK]

I notice that the emails sent by the forum when someone has sent a PM, are now the standard/default phpBB forum type, instead of the more detailed type that StarDot used to send (which included the text of the PM)

About the moans...

Yes, some of the features are different, but keep in mind that the previous version of the StarDot forum was rather "customized".
Sinclair ZX World is an example of a slightly older version of this default "skin".
While Atari-Forum has been using the up-to-date version of the phpBB forum software for a while now.
So different, yes. Annoying, yes, until you get used to it...

Also as said already, some things are affected by browser settings, like size.

But we do need to be constructive with our feedback, and give the admins time to investigate what they can do to change things.

Mark

[BigEd]

... the 'Quick links' dropdown, a pain, and the fact that it on the opposite side to 'First unread post' - I mainly use the touch-pad on my Mac and it's a big swipe to move across (lazy sod ).

The trick here is not to click on the thread title when looking at New Posts (or Unread Posts) but to click on big round button on the left: that takes you direct to the first unread post.

[nOmArch]

As others have said before,

Yes to New Topics and Active Topics buttons back on the main page.

Big Yes to putting Avatars and stuff back on the left hand side of the page.

Massive thank you for NOT implementing any silly 'Like' buttons.

Text size seems fine to me but I never visit the forum on a mobile device.

Overall the new theme looks pretty good but I would be installing those plugins that were suggested as quickly as possible as they add much needed functionality.

[daveejhitchins]

The trick here is not to click on the thread title when looking at New Posts (or Unread Posts) but to click on big round button on the left: that takes you direct to the first unread post.

Darn . . . That's handy. Thanks for that

I still have to swipe across for the back-to-the-top button

Dave H

[jonb]

Well done to all the mods for getting the site back up. Can't have been easy.

Now to the style. ProSilver is used all over the place, so to me it looks very vanilla. I really liked the old forum because it was so familiar (after being a member for several years). Also, easier on the eyes - less white. However, this being the default setting, and the forum not long restored, it's a little churlish to complain. There are, I imagine, lots of themes to chose from and once they are installed, and you can change to your preference in your user settings.

My suggestion, then, would be to install some other themes so that we can try them out for ourselves. Also echo what others have said re: position of avatar and quick links to "See new posts" and "See your posts". Also, tone the white colouration down and let's sort this <code> colour out once and for all.

[tricky]

I would like the blue version of the red go to first unread to take you to the end as the tiny icon on the right is too fiddly for my large fingers on the phone. I know this wasnt on the old layout, but I think I can manage one more little new feature

[BeebMaster]

I'm getting used to it now I'm back home looking at it on the laptop. On the small notebook screen it wasn't so good.

[paulv]

I'm getting used to it now I'm back home looking at it on the laptop. On the small notebook screen it wasn't so good.

The problem and the benefit of the new design is that it is what is termed in the trade as a "responsive" layout. This means that the site should work well on a wide variety of screen sizes and devices.

The same site works well on mobile, tablet, notebook, laptop and desktop with the proviso that on the smaller screen sizes, some features are either "turned off" or simply hidden away in a menu or behind a link that you may not see on the larger screen sizes because they're not needed because you have the extra space to show the features in full.

Once you get your head around how the site changes depending on the size of your browser window (or screen size if you only have a full screen display device like a mobile phone) then it becomes easier.

I'd argue that some of the features that are turned off on the smaller devices should have been left on and some that are left on should have been turned off. But that's down to how I use the site and what I'm used to. It may not be how others use the site or what they're used to.

Now, onto a general what should we do with the site....

I think the best thing to do now is to give this layout a good chance and say, lets review the situation in three months when we're all in a better position to say what's good and what's bad about the design.

I've already stated what I think needs to change and it's doubtful I'll change my mind on those small points as I work in the web design and development arena a lot so I'm used to seeing and addressing web UI issues. If it doesn't change, for me, it means an extra click or two when visiting the site but it's not the end of the world either way

[tricky]

What has happened to the forum this afternoon?
All I can see on the phone is large text and most of the images missing.
The active topics is about twenty screens high.
I did try logging in with chrome on a different phone, but used up all my login attempts and it said that I had to use the CAPTCHA login, but there wasn't one.

[paulv]

Nothing as far as I can tell, it looks like this to me on my mobile...

Paul

[tricky]

First is how it looked at lunchtime on both phones (4.2.1 and 4.2.2) and the other two, how it looks now on the android 4.2.1 phone, both using their generic default browser. using Chrome on the 4.2.1 phone is better, but although I use Chrome on desktop, it is too resource hungry for my mobile tastes.
Did something about the site change today, or has my phone just gone funny today? All other sites are as they were.

[paulv]

That looks like the stylesheets haven't loaded for some reason (possibly a corrupt stylesheet in your browser cache).

Clearing your cache and reloading the site should fix it most likely. If not, report what's happening after that.

Paul

[tricky]

Thanks, that fixed it, I just need to sort out my password or use PCs that are already logged in

[roland]

Today I installed El Capitan on my iMac (after wiping the complete hard disk - my iMac is like new now ) and while reconfiguring Firefox I found a nice work around for the missing links to new posts and my posts :

It's simple ... just add them to the book marks toolbar. Now they are only one click away and always on screen, even when you're not on StarDot

[1024MAK]

Good idea

But, although I use that type of bookmark, Firefox already has a fast link to Active Topics on SrarDot, it's the top entry under the "Most Visited" tab on the left hand side of that bar. Funny how it's ended up the most visited . Don't know how that happened .

Mark