Official feedback thread for new forum design (beta version)!

[nate0]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Avatars are all distorted on the S7 Edge. Many are two large and float partly behind the text bubbles.

I noticed this too, and at first thought it was how it was. I see now on Chrome for W10 it is not. But I can read the posts really well, and could care less about the avatar...none the less thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Groover1971]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

I'm not sure about all of the forums but when looking at Windows Central, I see the number of "Likes" but it doesn't show who they are.

Also, the Search is hidden inside a small button labelled "Tools" with a 'gear' graphic next too it. It took me a while to figure out that one. Why can't you have a separate button labelled "Search" like most other pages?

 

[nate0]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Not sure why this is or if it has been mentioned already, and if it has then it is still an issue. The avatar on the post after clicked is not able to resize the contents or resize itself for the content.

 

[nate0]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

I cannot get over how blazing fast it is in Chrome now on the W10 desktop. Great job. I usually only use Chrome at work and Edge at home. Scrolls smooth and loads quick. It is pretty snappy.

 

[Matty]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Hello everyone!

Section 1: Thank You and explanation

1. So instead of posting a very quick first impressions on the new look of the forum, i decided to use it for a couple days and then give some feedback. Hopefully this will allow me to give more detailed feedback and i would have had the opportunity to use more features.
   
   As i always say, Big thank you to the whole of Mobile Nations team! Your continued and dedicated support to this community is so appreciated. You always strive to make things better and its always a lovely place for me to come back to! I really mean that. Without you guys, there would be nothing here and i think you deserve a ton of thanks for that.
   

Section 2: Impressions (Things i Liked and did not like)

1. Design (Menus)
   
   When i loaded up the new webpage i was glad to see the same menu bar at the top of the page with just small refinements. It was almost comforting to have some 'old' stuff in with the new to make the transition a easier. So i quite liked that.
   
   Moving on to the second menu just below that. I initially did not like the "Your Menu" section, since i was used to having a list of all the trending threads and unanswered threads and now i just had one line and had to click to expand which seemed like more work. BUT it's now staying open permanently which i like
   
   Giving people choice is always nice to have and now they can either have one line that cycles though all the threads in the list (which saves space) or show them all at once.
   .
   
2. Animations
   
   On some websites, animations are over the top and it becomes annoying but i feel here, things have been done just right. For example, when clicking the 'Love / Like' button. I'm greeted with a simple and elegant animation which i think is really cool! Im sure there are more hidden away and when i find them ill update this post.
   .
   
3. Colour Themes
   
   I think it would be highway robbery if i just used the DARK THEME without giving thanks to you guys! So so awesome. Cant stress enough how great it is. My poor eyes browsing the threads at 2am with this white background brighter than the sun lol. I like the little moon and sun icon. BUT i feel its a little small and slightly hidden. Maybe make the icon a little bigger?
   .
4. Performance
   
   No real complaints here, but thought i would at least mention it. The site absolutely flys and feels very responsive. I can see a lot of work has been done here.
   .
   
5. Visual Aspects
   
   Ill start with the 'Forum' section on the home page. I think it looks clean and pleasing on the eyes.
   However, i still feel like the menu should be just a little wider. It seems like there is so much unused space on each side that could be utilised. Maybe its there to provide space for adverts?
   
   Next would be the 'Latest Articles' on the right hand side. i think this still needs some love. It almost blends in with the adverts and makes me not want to click on them. Maybe if there was a small gap between it and the adverts it would look better? Additionally, i think it would be nice to have the heading 'Latest Articles' stand out a little more? Maybe have its own background colour and give contrast between it and the articles below.
   .
6. Search Bar - Global Search
   
   This is one section where I'm a little confused. Maybe I'm just not understanding. Im not exactly the sharpest spoon haha. Im talking about this search icon (just for clarity)
   .
   
   
   .
   
   There are 2 things that seem a little confusing. The first is, when i click search, it gives me search results for the whole of mobile nations and not just the site I'm on? Is the 'Forum Search now gone? I'm ok with that but i would prefer it to be just searching the forums on the site I'm on.
   
   The other small thing i don't like is that it covers some of the menu icons like 'Shop' and 'Forums'. Maybe have the search field appear below? That would feel easier to me and not 'block' functionality in case i change my mind and don't want to search.
   
   
   .
   
7. The 'Quote', 'Reply' and 'Like' buttons for comments
   
   I really like the cleaner, more simplest look of these buttons. Provides great affordance and i know what I'm doing even if it doesn't explicitly say in writing what the button does. The one thing i couldn't find initially was the 'Edit' button. I honestly thought you guys forgot about it haha. I would prefer having this button at the bottom with all the other functions. Would feel a little more cohesive to me

Section 3: Conclusion.

Overall, i think you guys have done a tremendous job and I'm sorry if i sound like I'm moaning. Just giving my 2c in the hopes we can make this site awesome for everyone! The new design is just what the site needs and will bring new life to the forums. Can't stress enough how much i like dark theme haha. So yeah, if i think of anything more, ill continue to update this post and share more of my thoughts.

If any Admin or Staff would like anything more from me. Please send me a message and I'm more than happy to help out where i can. This is a great start to 2017!

 

[taz323]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Like the new look, very clean and easy. looks great in dark mode.

 

[Daniel Gilbert M]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

[BUG]
Post boxes are overlapping the profile pictures.

[QOL]
Dark mode is a blessing for night people.
The posts are like Skype UWA themed. I like it.
But can the dark mode be truly dark ? (Black instead of grey)
Also can this dark mode design be carried over to the main Windows Central website so that it is easy on the eyes for night people.

Wish the menu stayed on top in sight, even when you scroll down to read. So that we don't miss any notifications.

 

[casab1anca]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

I don't have much to complain about the overall look and feel of the new design, however I do have a few usability concerns to point out. On the plus side, I like the new avatar layout and it's also easier to tell where one post ends and the next begins.

Now on to my concerns:

• The breadcrumb navigation at the top (right above the thread title) is difficult to read because the link colour is very similar to the page background.
• The layout could make better use of screen real estate on desktop monitors. The fixed width layout combined with the increased font size in the new design causes more scrolling than necessary.
• I'm not sure what the Tools button is supposed to do, it just takes me to the top of the page. Am I missing something? It's also confusing that it uses the same icon as the (unlabeled) Settings button which serves a very different purpose.

 

[yessuz]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

looks maybe ok, although I am not huge fan of this.

however, now, if you go to forum, you just see how many posts are unread. but for me, the way Thread name in the thread lists was bolded, if new comments were posted, was really useful and nice feature...

Also, at least for me, it is hard to see when there is a quote of the previous post

 

[Ariel Takom]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Love the Dark Theme! Kudos to the design team for the great work.

Overall, the forum's UI looks clean and it's much easier to read. The down-side to this is that, the ease-of-reading is achieved by making most of the elements very, VERY large. I find it too large for my taste. I'd prefer if there were some sort of option for us users to scale down the elements so that we could fit more of the neat looking comment thread in a screen, so we won't have to scroll down a lot (having a mouse with a very poor scroll wheel doesn't help either xD).

Another thing I've noticed is the very large gap between the header bar and the thread title. Turning off AdBlock shows that this space is intended for the ads. However, unlike the old forum, the gap somehow remains large when I turn off the ads. In the old forum, this space would disappear. Yeah, I know. Ads runs this site. Sorry, but with my very slow Internet, loading the old forum + the ads would take decades; perks of a 3rd-World Country lol.

The last input from me would be a bug report of some sort? I'm not sure why, but opening my notifications brings me to the notification page, but in the old forum format, not a new one. Not sure if it's exactly the old format though since the fonts seems to look new, but the tab where we usually see the Trending threads are still in the old forum format, so there's that.

Once again, a yuge thanks to all the personnel involved in the make-over of the forum. Thank you for your hard work, and keep it up!

P/S: I must say, I'm a bit annoyed for having to visit the Android forums to post feedback. #WindowsPhone4Life

 

[Mirko935]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Sorry, but if this "modern", dumbed-down design which displays two messages at a time on a 24" screen will become the new norm, I think I'll stop visiting these forums altogether. It's a disaster, as is "modern", "responsive" etc. design in general. I can't figure out how is displaying less information and requiring a user to scroll five times more beneficial in any way.

 

[effreyj]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

There's a little too much space in between messages for my taste. and a little too much blank space on the left and right of each message. I do like the "chat" look to it.

 

[Kevin Hill2]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

I like it, feels new and refreshed love the dark theme, will let you know more later after using it for a while

 

[otaku2]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Maybe it's just me, but I find it a little hard to separate a quote and a reply.
Maybe the quote should be indented further, or be in a smaller font, or lightly shaded, or something.

 

[David Lundblad]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

yes on HTTPS and good point re: the button

tx!

 

[David Lundblad]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Also, I am big on client access and don't use browsers for forums unless I have to. I dont see this as a yes, but would any changes affect client level access? (Windows Central Apps/Tapatalk/mTalk)

No it will not affect this type of access

 

[David Lundblad]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

One suggestion I would have it to try to scale it better to avoid the tons of dead space on both sides of the main column.

View attachment 250298

This was on a 1080p screen.
On both sides of the white main section there is a ton of blue space that is not used for anything, other then the bit for ads, but even keeping that in there is still a lot of empty.

Another suggestion would be to have the profile pic square and not circular, but that is a personal design preference, I know others prefer their circles, it just reminds me of Apple rather then the tiles of a Windows Phone, since on Windows Central forum.

good point! We will definitely be doing unique styling for each forum but it's probably a few weeks away while we try to make sure everything is operational

 

[David Lundblad]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

This is a great start to 2017!

Man, crushing it with the feedback - thank you so much

 

[David Lundblad]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

Also can this dark mode design be carried over to the main Windows Central website so that it is easy on the eyes for night people.

It has crossed my mind and I will definitely explore this - just quite a lot of work

 

[David Lundblad]

Re: Official feedback thread for new forum design!

I'm not sure what the Tools button is supposed to do, it just takes me to the top of the page.

This is a bug right now