New Forum Design: Official Feedback Thread

[hallux]

2) Why when you open a thread with multiple replies, the thread opens to the last reply?

I believe it opens to the first unread post, or it does for me.

 

[nahoku]

I believe it opens to the first unread post, or it does for me.

It doesn't matter for me whether or not the thread is read or unread... all threads open to the last post. But, I think I figured out why it's doing it. It's the link itself on all threads.


It's the words "new post" in the link forcing the issue. So if you right click and copy a thread link and paste it in your browser, you'll see what's below...
(Note... had to malform the links with an asterick to illustrate. Remove the asterick before copy/pasting to see resulting pages.)

http*://forums.androidcentral.com/site-feedback-help/771629-new-forum-design-official-feedback-thread-new-post.html


Remove the words "new post" and the link opens to the very top in all threads...

http*://forums.androidcentral.com/site-feedback-help/771629-new-forum-design-official-feedback-thread.html



Can there be a user setting put in to control how each user wishes to view threads?


Also, what happened to the ability to change font color? Colored fonts are a great way to pull attention to specific text.

 

[Sam_Gs7]

It doesn't matter for me whether or not the thread is read or unread... all threads open to the last post. But, I think I figured out why it's doing it. It's the link itself on all threads.


It's the words "new post" in the link forcing the issue. So if you right click and copy a thread link and paste it in your browser, you'll see what's below...
(Note... had to malform the links with an asterick to illustrate. Remove the asterick before copy/pasting to see resulting pages.)

http*://forums.androidcentral.com/site-feedback-help/771629-new-forum-design-official-feedback-thread-new-post.html


Remove the words "new post" and the link opens to the very top in all threads...

http*://forums.androidcentral.com/site-feedback-help/771629-new-forum-design-official-feedback-thread.html



Can there be a user setting put in to control how each user wishes to view threads?


Also, what happened to the ability to change font color? Colored fonts are a great way to pull attention to specific text.

@nahoku: They removed because
Sammy used too much--Haha!

 

[hallux]

Sorry, I actually quite like that it goes to the first unread post in the thread. It's actually the way it worked on the old layout. Maybe it shouldn't go so far down when there's only one post...

 

[Aquila]

I think it's happening the way @nahoku screenshot depicts because of the "new-post" part of the URL they described because it thinks that they are trying to make a new post and so the focus of the content shown is the new post input box.

I just tested it and can confirm this is broken. When you click on a thread title from a main forum list or search list, the new-post part of the URL is present and it goes to the last page of the thread and to the text entry box. Clicking on that link should instead show the first post of the thread, whereas clicking on the arrow should take you to the last post.

 

[nahoku]

Sorry, I actually quite like that it goes to the first unread post in the thread. It's actually the way it worked on the old layout. Maybe it shouldn't go so far down when there's only one post...

The old layout always went to the top of the thread... although, sometimes it would land at the bottom, in the middle, etc... but mostly to the top. In a way, this part of how the old layout worked has always been broken. This can still be verified if you log out, clear cache, and enter the forum on AC 2012. This new style as is, makes you have to scroll to the top to see what's been written prior to the last unread thread in multi-post threads, or scroll to see the thread title in new posts. I dislike having to constantly scroll every time I open a thread and it actually doesn't make any sense if this is what they want you to do. I can't imagine they did this on purpose.


If it's "broken" as Aquilla states, then it needs to be fixed. If it's by design, then that's not a good thing. Whatever the case, I would hope to see a user option so that you can view the forum as you like, and I can read the forum threads from the top of the page.

 

[nahoku]

@nahoku: They removed because
Sammy used too much--Haha!

Yes, Sammy, I'm guessing you're suffering without color! You definitely had colorful posts... I rather enjoyed that!

 

[pkcable]

The old layout always went to the top of the thread... although, sometimes it would land at the bottom, in the middle, etc... but mostly to the top. In a way, this part of how the old layout worked has always been broken. This can still be verified if you log out, clear cache, and enter the forum on AC 2012. This new style as is, makes you have to scroll to the top to see what's been written prior to the last unread thread in multi-post threads, or scroll to see the thread title in new posts. I dislike having to constantly scroll every time I open a thread and it actually doesn't make any sense if this is what they want you to do. I can't imagine they did this on purpose.


If it's "broken" as Aquilla states, then it needs to be fixed. If it's by design, then that's not a good thing. Whatever the case, I would hope to see a user option so that you can view the forum as you like, and I can read the forum threads from the top of the page.

There ARE settings controls within the forum structure which the new template MAY override. HOWEVER it might make sense to use them to make where the thread opens to selectable IF enough people want that, and IF it doesn't require more resources than it's worth. I'm with @hallux on this opening to the first unread makes the most sense to me, BUT selectable is NEVER a bad thing if it can be practically done. Mobile Nations has always been known to listen to our feedback especially with regards to this redesign! @David Lundblad can provide more info on this.

 

[nahoku]

Every single thread has "new-post" in it's url and goes to the last post... including "Stickies". What's the sense of having to scroll through 22 posts to get to the top of the thread just so you can read the stickie? It's not so bad when there are multiple pages where you can just click an arrow to get there, but on single pages, this makes no sense to me at all.

Another thing is that if I need to link a stickie (or any thread) to a new user, ie, How to join AC, or how to post a photo, the link will land on the bottom of the thread... making the user have to scroll up or click on the arrow for multipage threads, or I need to fix the link before posting just so the user can land in the right place so he can actually read the stickie.

I don't know what the devs have in mind, but this is broken functionality to me... and it seems, it's on purpose (???). Beyond that, it seems this functionality is broken as it was on AC 2012... some links are opening at the top, the middle, the bottom, or wherever. I just opened a link to a Guide and it took me to post #51 the first time I opened it, and to the bottom thereafter.


There are no settings I've found anywhere to override this behavior. Are you saying I need to PM David Lundblad so he can explain this feature to me?

 

[Aquila]

Every single thread has "new-post" in it's url and goes to the last post... including "Stickies". What's the sense of having to scroll through 22 posts to get to the top of the thread just so you can read the stickie? It's not so bad when there are multiple pages where you can just click an arrow to get there, but on single pages, this makes no sense to me at all.

Another thing is that if I need to link a stickie (or any thread) to a new user, ie, How to join AC, or how to post a photo, the link will land on the bottom of the thread... making the user have to scroll up or click on the arrow for multipage threads, or I need to fix the link before posting just so the user can land in the right place so he can actually read the stickie.

I don't know what the devs have in mind, but this is broken functionality to me... and it seems, it's on purpose (???). Beyond that, it seems this functionality is broken as it was on AC 2012... some links are opening at the top, the middle, the bottom, or wherever. I just opened a link to a Guide and it took me to post #51 the first time I opened it, and to the bottom thereafter.


There are no settings I've found anywhere to override this behavior. Are you saying I need to PM David Lundblad so he can explain this feature to me?

pkcable pinged them by tagging their name. I believe that people are looking at this functionality right now and taking suggestions on how it ought to work.

 

[ManiacJoe]

Two problems with the list of quoted posts in the profile screens.
(win10, all browsers)

1. The separation line between the dates runs through the date.

2. The multiple links (from, to, title) give no indication that they are clickable; they need colors or underlines or something to stand out.

 

[nahoku]

pkcable pinged them by tagging their name. I believe that people are looking at this functionality right now and taking suggestions on how it ought to work.

Well, it's been 11 days... any word on this? I can see every thread is still going to the last post, so is this how it's going to be from now on??? Would be nice if someone would at least address concerns, one way or the other, in a feedback thread... no? Too much to ask?

Am I the only one that detests all the constant scrolling we have to do now? I used to read through 100's of threads a day... now, basically down to just this one waiting to see some kind of response of a decision from anyone!

 

[James Falconer]

@nahoku - what @Aquila said. We had taken a look at this last week. I'm going to follow up with tech right now to see what the status is.

Appreciate you reaching out (and thanks for the patience!)

 

[mogelijk]

One question I have, that I likely saw and missed, is on the view of threads in a forum, what does the number in the box mean, that is next to the link to go into the thread?

And this is still my big complaint, there are a lot of features that are hard to either find or to know what they do -- like the numbers in the box. So many people want the threads to fill most of the page, and have no clue to click on the carat at the top of the page; or how to change from regular to dark mode, etc. This layout, at the moment, is just not user friendly.

 

[Snareman]

One question I have, that I likely saw and missed, is on the view of threads in a forum, what does the number in the box mean, that is next to the link to go into the thread?

And this is still my big complaint, there are a lot of features that are hard to either find or to know what they do -- like the numbers in the box. So many people want the threads to fill most of the page, and have no clue to click on the carat at the top of the page; or how to change from regular to dark mode, etc. This layout, at the moment, is just not user friendly.

There is a dark mode???

[edit] ok, so I looked and can't find it. Where is it?

 

[Javier P]

There is a dark mode???

Click on the moon icon after you tap on 'Menu'.

 

[Snareman]

Click on the moon icon after you tap on 'Menu'.

View attachment 255306

Ooooooo! That's soooo much easier on the eyes! Thanks!!

 

[Robisan]

Since I complained about this upthread - Thanks for adding back the 'Started by & date' info for the thread listings.

 

[anon(634141)]

Hey everyone - let me try and respond to some of the recent questions.

This seems like change for the sake of change!
Not at all - we've planned this change for the last year with some very specific objectives in mind. We have a very limited dev team and over 10 full sites to manage so if something does not need change...it does not get changed. You can read some of our reasoning here: Our new forums are here! | Android Central

Our absolute main objective was to make the forums more accessible to users who are not used to VBulletin style forums - or more hardcore Forums in general - without loosing any core functionality. We particularly wanted to be more welcoming to traffic coming directly from Google (over 85% of our Forum traffic).

One week in we see that we have improved our Bounce Rate from 37% to 10% - this is a huge improvement and means that thousands more visitors are staying long enough to actually read the content of a Thread.

In addition our code foundation was very old and tough to work with so new features or big fixes were left on the back burner and never got done. A great example of this is the new Dark Theme - something we were able to turn around very quickly thanks to the new code base and style.

So two simple objectives - make Forums appeal to non-forum visitors and update an aging code base.

I hate how this is being handled - you are just doing what you want
We have run a closed Beta for 2 months and an open Beta people could access for the last month. We’ve gathered pages and pages of feedback. Some of it here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/si...ack-thread-new-forum-design-beta-version.html

We’ve also had a private Slack chat room with 40 moderators and ambassadors for the last 2 months where they have given their ideas and feedback

It’s so broken I cannot use it
This is categorically not true but we understand some things are still not working as they are supposed to. This is part of the pain of any launch. We had a perfect working Staging environment but when we pushed live we still saw many issues. This is an issue of course and our developers have worked long days for the last week to fix what is broken.

We also struggled to test everything - there are features some of you use that did not even come up in our 2 month beta testing - VB is pretty complex…we are tackling these as fast as we can.

Everything is too big
It appears as if most people complaining about this were actually using the full Desktop version of the old forums on the mobile. We did not expect this but are building a way for you to force the Desktop version whatever device you are on.

Too Long Did Not Read
The redesign had some very good reasons for happening or it would not have happened - we are working hard to deal with features that broke when we pushed live.

Any update on letting us choose the desktop version on a mobile device? I'm using a Note 4 and always loaded the full desktop site on the old design since it provided a lot more info, in particular the last post date/time. It was a convenient way to see whether there were any new posts in a particular area of the forum (ex. while browsing through forums.androidcentral.com).

Otherwise now on the new design stuck on the mobile version I have to actually click into each area of the forum I may have an interest to see if there's anything new. It's counter-productive and frustrating so I often just bail on the site and don't even bother with it anymore when on my Note 4.

 

[anon(634141)]

Any update on letting us choose the desktop version on a mobile device? I'm using a Note 4 and always loaded the full desktop site on the old design since it provided a lot more info, in particular the last post date/time. It was a convenient way to see whether there were any new posts in a particular area of the forum (ex. while browsing through forums.androidcentral.com).

Otherwise now on the new design stuck on the mobile version I have to actually click into each area of the forum I may have an interest to see if there's anything new. It's counter-productive and frustrating so I often just bail on the site and don't even bother with it anymore when on my Note 4.

Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller? Anyone?