New Forum Design: Official Feedback Thread

[Aquila]

I think it'd be awesome if there was some way for us to easily see their comments in with ours, like one master sync'd across all sites feedback thread.

 

[sandra_17]

Oops, didn't realize the new design was already finalized, and commented on the wrong thread. I had posted:

Ugh. Dislike the new design immensely. The above/previous(?) design provided so much more info in a clean, easy to read fashion. This new design looks anemic, bland, minimalist. And I DESPISE circles! Very reminiscent of when lollipop was introduced. At least on my phones/tablets I have the option of launchers with options.

Also would like to add, I see no purpose in removing so much useful info and truly dumbing down a class act forum. It feels FisherPricey-iPhoney. Some users truly do know what to do with a substantial amount of info (kinda like the difference between and Android device owner and an iPhone/Apple device owner), and to discount it when many are asking for at least the option of choosing the old layout is offensive.

 

[Robisan]

You'd rather spend money on fixing a pointless feature rather than just throwing it away and spending that money on improving other things?

Numerous posts in this very thread requesting the function be restored refute your contention that it's a pointless feature.

 

[Snareman]

It's very pretty and all, but I think too simplistic in it's appearance. And WHY do threads with new posts not go to the top?????????? How is anyone going to find something you say if you comment on something on the second page? That makes ZERO sense.

 

[Aquila]

Numerous posts in this very thread requesting the function be restored refute your contention that it's a pointless feature.

All of those people are under the assumption that because the feature is there that it is intended to be there and to function. That assumption might not be correct. It is VERY rare for a website to intentionally allow users a way to go back to an earlier UI, so it would be much more likely that the menu was left there accidentally as rollover from the beta test when people were joining and leaving at various times. The feature is pointless unless the developers want it there and to function, then it gains a purpose. It is purposeful only as long as it is intended to be there and to function. A few members wanting a feature is not what determines whether or not it is intended functionality. Once the bugs are worked out of the new UI I'd be shocked if it remains.

 

[Mooncatt]

It is purposeful only as long as it is intended to be there and to function. A few members wanting a feature is not what determines whether or not it is intended functionality. Once the bugs are worked out of the new UI I'd be shocked if it remains.

I don't disagree, but with as many I've seen against the new look, I think it's worth the developers considering leaving in place at least. I'm also one that doesn't care for the new look even without the bugs. I just haven't said much one way or the other because i used the forums app before the change and i plan to keep using it. The website design isn't really affecting me either way.

 

[Robisan]

The feature is pointless unless the developers want it there and to function, then it gains a purpose.

This has it exactly backwards. The forum exists for users, not developers. If users think a function has value and purpose, then, by definition, it does. Developers should be responsive to the extent functions can be reasonably implemented. Needless to say, removing a working function that users valued is not serving the users interests.

 

[Aquila]

I don't disagree, but with as many I've seen against the new look, I think it's worth the developers considering leaving in place at least. I'm also one that doesn't care for the new look even without the bugs. I just haven't said much one way or the other because i used the forums app before the change and i plan to keep using it. The website design isn't really affecting me either way.

I agree completely to the extent that if they intend to leave the menu there, for any duration, that it should work. Whether or not the option should be there long term, the history of websites indicates that it should not. For awhile, sure. But at some point, when everything is done, there's got to be a line where everything just moves forward.

 

[Mark8768]

All of those people are under the assumption that because the feature is there that it is intended to be there and to function. That assumption might not be correct. It is VERY rare for a website to intentionally allow users a way to go back to an earlier UI, so it would be much more likely that the menu was left there accidentally as rollover from the beta test when people were joining and leaving at various times. The feature is pointless unless the developers want it there and to function, then it gains a purpose. It is purposeful only as long as it is intended to be there and to function. A few members wanting a feature is not what determines whether or not it is intended functionality. Once the bugs are worked out of the new UI I'd be shocked if it remains.

I have been administrating and or building forums etc for 12 years( multiple software)....EVERYONE gives their members the opportunity to switch styles. It would be overbearing to say this is the one and only style live with it..... because you will find that your members will just move on and your traffic goes down not up.

It's about giving your membership what THEY want and find useful not what a couple of geeky admins and staff members think looks "cool".

Changing forum software and styles to look more like social media has been tried long long before you folks did it...have yet to see a forum bear fruit with that approach but who knows there's a first time for everything.

Two cents

 

[Aquila]

I have been administrating and or building forums etc for 12 years( multiple software)....EVERYONE gives their members the opportunity to switch styles. It would be overbearing to say this is the one and only style live with it..... because you will find that your members will just move on and your traffic goes down not up.

It's about giving your membership what THEY want and find useful not what a couple of geeky admins and staff members think looks "cool".

Changing forum software and styles to look more like social media has been tried long long before you folks did it...have yet to see a forum bear fruit with that approach but who knows there's a first time for everything.

Two cents

Just to be clear, I'm not part of anything making these changes and I have absolutely no skin in the game. I'm just a little bored with seeing people attack the devs rather than try to help.

 

[raino]

This new skin seriously blows. To top it all off, I can't even change back to a previous style. I did once and it stayed, then it reverted back to the new style.

And how the hell do I multi-quote in this new, childish scheme now?

 

[jimd1050]

Thursday, Friday and Saturday Morning (2/25), I could change back and forth to any one of the three layouts with Firefox then it just stopped! Reverts back to MoNa Style no matter what I select! Not sure what happened but I really would like 2012 back PLEASE?

Also, you changed the Avatars from square to round after lots of people designed them to be square - it chops off the lower title of my truck! Just Nitpicking but not a lot of thought went into that decision either!!!

Hello... Guys? Any progress? I'm not hearing any replies here? What the hell happened - you had it working with three different interfaces which could/would have been fine with a lot of us, I think!

 

[blueyestm]

man, here I thought I'll go back and chat on the android forum to get away from this new design but noo lol. Here's my screen shot of the wasted space on a 23" monitor and the top section overlapping itself.

 

[hallux]

This new skin seriously blows. To top it all off, I can't even change back to a previous style. I did once and it stayed, then it reverted back to the new style.

And how the hell do I multi-quote in this new, childish scheme now?

To multi-quote - highlight the text in the first post you want to quote and click the little quote button that pops up. Then highlight the next text you want to quote and click the button there. Once you've done it it's not too hard, though it's not intuitive the first time.

There's a description of this either earlier in this thread or it was in another one we were using during testing.

Give it time, it'll grow on you. My first reaction was the same as yours when I started testing it but I've adapted.

 

[Aquila]

man, here I thought I'll go back and chat on the android forum to get away from this new design but noo lol. Here's my screen shot of the wasted space on a 23" monitor and the top section overlapping itself.

Click that big black thing on the right side.

 

[Almeuit]

Found this post on AC's sister site Crackberry from their Mod Team Leader regarding the style chooser:

New Forum Design: Official Feedback Thread - Page 2 - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com

"02-26-17, 09:15 PM

right now there is no way to go a different skin. Tech is aware of that though so expect a fix.

Its mobile web and desktop web only no app changes were "made."

There are issues when clicking links from CB10, Tapatalk, Android apps to the open forum mobile view. These will need fixed still.

Thanks for feedback and we are trying to get to everything as fast as we can"

I keep waiting for you to re-enable the AC 2012 style. I've tried the new one and I still don't care for it.

Hello... Guys? Any progress? I'm not hearing any replies here? What the hell happened - you had it working with three different interfaces which could/would have been fine with a lot of us, I think!

From my understanding the 2012 template is gone. The selector at the bottom will be removed as they make updates since they want to go forward with this template.

That being said they are going to do more optimizations to fix the "overall big" look to the forums (mainly on desktop).

 

[mogelijk]

From my understanding the 2012 template is gone. The selector at the bottom will be removed as they make updates since they want to go forward with this template.

That being said they are going to do more optimizations to fix the "overall big" look to the forums (mainly on desktop).

That seems like a huge mistake, to me. I understand it is extra work to ensure multiple templates work but there are so many of us that really don't like the new design.

 

[Almeuit]

That seems like a huge mistake, to me. I understand it is extra work to ensure multiple templates work but there are so many of us that really don't like the new design.

I believe it would stretch the team thin to cover multiple templates -- especially when trying to make improvements / fixes to the new one so more will enjoy it.

 

[jimd1050]

From my understanding the 2012 template is gone. The selector at the bottom will be removed as they make updates since they want to go forward with this template.

That being said they are going to do more optimizations to fix the "overall big" look to the forums (mainly on desktop).

Well, thanks for the feedback Almeuit... it's an answer, even though it may not be what we want to hear. Why would... never mind! Why does anyone change what works without asking the consumer what they think first? It happens on a daily basis - I guess we should be used to it!

Meanwhile, I'm off to Photoshop to re-design my Avatar to ROUND so it will WORK with the NEW ANDROIDCENTRAL! Geez, maybe I can just take the square truck avatar and apply a fisheye lens filter... DUH! Yeah, that's the ticket!

 

[Robisan]

Click that big black thing on the right side.

Well, that helps bigly. Thank you. Of course, AC/Mobile Nations loses the advertising page views, but it's clearly evident from this redesign that driving web traffic and page views within the AC/Mobile Nations ecosystem is not relevant to their business model.

Honestly, if they'd just add back the thread 'started by & when' info and the recent AC content feed I'd be OK with this design. The removal of the recent content feed is baffling - it's almost like they don't care about driving traffic, page views or having people actually read the content they produce. smh...