Forum upgrade and new look

Changes to website and forum will be posted here along with upcoming events offsite that may be of interest!

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Captain Sensible
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by Captain Sensible » Fri Apr 22, 2016 8:51 pm

vito wrote:Eeeeeuuuuurrrrgggghhhhhh

It's all grey and boring like Jeremy Corben ....

But you can't fight progress ..............

I'm just an old fart who doesn't like change ..........

:lol:
As long as it's not hairy and doesn't pull to the left I don't mind.

And no offense but it looks like the XX is waiting to get driven over by the tank :lol:

Just kidding, I think it's ace. :wink:

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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by Tenesmus » Fri Apr 22, 2016 9:55 pm

Well I don't like it on my desktop PC (W10 Firefox). The picture at the top is a waste of space and bandwidth and there's too much empty space overall. I can see how it may be easier on a small device though (haven't tried it on my Windows phone yet).

A lot of websites seem to be going that way though, probably due to the fall in desktop PC and laptop sales.
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by gyrobird » Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:34 am

:evil: the full editor option needs to be selected to use the smileis every time you post.

Before, they were just there. :roll:

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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by vito » Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:13 am

Captain Sensible wrote:
As long as it's not hairy and doesn't pull to the left I don't mind.

:
:lol:
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by soundrediscover » Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:11 pm

I quite like it...
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by scoobyh123 » Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:32 pm

Sorry you lot that only view the forum on toy computers aka mobile devices, i'm in the Old Farts Club with Gaz and Steve on this and whoever else preferred the old look and feel.
Someone mentioned Jeremy Corben, whenever i see him i always think of John Major. Anyone who remembers the "Spitting Image" John Major puppet will remember he was varying shades of grey as well.

Having said that, i do like progress but it needs to be progress in a way we all like. If we could get the old look and feel back or at least something pretty close and keep the ease of use for the toy computer brigade while making pages load fast enough for us rural users to be able to load a page faster than we can read it then maybe everyone will be reasonably happy.

You'll never please all the people all of the time etc but with a very grey looking website, we are likely to scare potential new members away to join the John Major Branch of the Alan Partridge Club. It meets on the 5th friday of the month at a venue that alternates between Huntingdon and Norwich..............

Last but by no means least, an ongoing big "thank you" to James for providing his time and resources!
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by CHR15E » Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:51 am

scoobyh123 wrote:Sorry you lot that only view the forum on toy computers aka mobile devices, i'm in the Old Farts Club with Gaz and Steve on this and whoever else preferred the old look and feel.
Someone mentioned Jeremy Corben, whenever i see him i always think of John Major. Anyone who remembers the "Spitting Image" John Major puppet will remember he was varying shades of grey as well.

Having said that, i do like progress but it needs to be progress in a way we all like. If we could get the old look and feel back or at least something pretty close and keep the ease of use for the toy computer brigade while making pages load fast enough for us rural users to be able to load a page faster than we can read it then maybe everyone will be reasonably happy.

You'll never please all the people all of the time etc but with a very grey looking website, we are likely to scare potential new members away to join the John Major Branch of the Alan Partridge Club. It meets on the 5th friday of the month at a venue that alternates between Huntingdon and Norwich..............

Last but by no means least, an ongoing big "thank you" to James for providing his time and resources!
Toys? :D

I dare say some of the newer phones and tablets are more powerful than the PCs or Laptops being used by people on here?

Personally I think both have their place depending on the task being undertaken.

As you say you can't please everyone, I think as times change and 'toys' become the norm for most people it will be more important than ever that the site looks good on them.

I know I don't frequent here as much as some of you now and obviously it's important to keep existing valued members happy but for the future I think we must move with the times and support change to not be left behind.

There's quite a few members who rarely post here these days but do post on the Facebook group, which I suspect will have been a lot to do with the previous setup? We suffered for a long time with the site being awkward to use on our toys. ;)

I'm sure James can come up with something though, he us the guru after all. :)
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by Tenesmus » Sun Apr 24, 2016 7:02 am

It's easier to see on the phone now, for sure.
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by traineefarmer » Sun Apr 24, 2016 7:30 am

scoobyh123 wrote:...join the John Major Branch of the Alan Partridge Club. It meets on the 5th friday of the month at a venue that alternates between Huntingdon and Norwich..............
How convenient that you live roughly halfway between to two...

:D
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by scoobyh123 » Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:48 am

CHR15E wrote: Toys? :D

I dare say some of the newer phones and tablets are more powerful than the PCs or Laptops being used by people on here?

Personally I think both have their place depending on the task being undertaken.

As you say you can't please everyone, I think as times change and 'toys' become the norm for most people it will be more important than ever that the site looks good on them.

I know I don't frequent here as much as some of you now and obviously it's important to keep existing valued members happy but for the future I think we must move with the times and support change to not be left behind.

There's quite a few members who rarely post here these days but do post on the Facebook group, which I suspect will have been a lot to do with the previous setup? We suffered for a long time with the site being awkward to use on our toys. ;)

I'm sure James can come up with something though, he us the guru after all. :)
Indeed you're right Chris, phones, tablets, laptops and PCs all have their place, certainly for the time being depending on the task. I suspect you're right that ultimately most people will only ever use their phones or tablets or possibly "phablets" to access whatever they need to on the wibbly wobbly web.
However, apart from a "select few", until recent times most people couldn't justify (or afford) the expense of another device such as a tablet just for the sake of having it so everything was done on their PC or laptop. Conversely, those that "started" their online experiences using a phone or tablet don't see the point in a "real" computer whether that's a laptop or PC - it wouldn't be used enough.

Most people that cut their internet teeth using a PC or laptop now have phones that by default will access the web and some have bought tablets for occasional use. That means cross-platform useability is going to be high on the list for James so it will obviously be a big compromise for all of us. Personally i'd prefer to put up with the compromise on my tablet or phone rather than my PC but i expect those that use a tablet or phone would say the opposite.
traineefarmer wrote:
scoobyh123 wrote:...join the John Major Branch of the Alan Partridge Club. It meets on the 5th friday of the month at a venue that alternates between Huntingdon and Norwich..............
How convenient that you live roughly halfway between to two...

:D
Didn't think of that! :oops: :lol:
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by tonewheeldude » Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:22 pm

I know how time consuming this kind of thing is, Can be hours, if not days of work getting it right. My oppinion is the forum itself is very clean and feels far more current than the old one. Its easy to read and does not test tired eyes. The only thing I would be tempted to change is the header image to a colour photo (if the software allows for it).

The grey works for me as its the colour Rover chose for the 800 series launch brochures and the basis for the look of rover800.org.uk
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by guru » Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:09 am

Good to see the comments, I do agree that a colour header image would probably work better, as said in my opening post if anyone would like to post one or 2 it would be great otherwise I'll just have a hunt through my collection of Sterling pics.

I do like the new theme, it's more modern and I think ease of use on tablets and mobile devices is probably more important then on PC's now. 31% of forum access is now from tablets and phones and this is increasing every month so will probably overtake PC access by the end of the year.

If we're going to get all geeky and staty of the mobile devices used 46% run android, 41% iOS (Apple), 3% Windows Phone and we even have 1 person accessing it from a Blackberry!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to advise the person responsible for the 164 access requests from an XP box to upgrade!
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by mjc9967 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:14 am

Can we have more contrasting shades between posts and topic list entries please?
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by scoobyh123 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 8:26 am

guru wrote: I'd also like to take this opportunity to advise the person responsible for the 164 access requests from an XP box to upgrade!
I know i'm not exactly au fait with all the new devices but what is an XP box? :shock: :?
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Re: Forum upgrade and new look

Post by guru » Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:10 am

A PC still running Windows XP!
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