Site Updates
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Must say I'm not really loving the new site but will be patient and await the full upgrade and try to move on with the site. Never did quite understand IT and forums and the need to upgrade to new formats, I sure there are positive reasons but to the average punter it never is obvious
Is it possible for the text to be larger. Im lucky that I still have good eyes but the current size is like reading the get out clause in the fine print of a contract
Also previously when checking in you could see your name at the top right and also notifications that you had a message, a thread you commented on had been added to and any likes etc. this function seems to have disappeared.
Is it possible for the text to be larger. Im lucky that I still have good eyes but the current size is like reading the get out clause in the fine print of a contract
Also previously when checking in you could see your name at the top right and also notifications that you had a message, a thread you commented on had been added to and any likes etc. this function seems to have disappeared.
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I have increased the font size agree it's a little small.
The only other feedback I can see in this is your alerts up the top.
Are you on a mobile or a desktop?
Anything else you don't like ?
For some context to help here is a bit more info on the decisions behind the scenes.
Firstly I should also state this is the full update of the software.
The changes coming later on relate to branding not software.
To answer your question about “why” the need to upgrade.
The old version of the software prior to the upgrade had been inhibiting us for a fair while things as simple as adding a logo, changing text and branding the site took a fair amount of time.
On top of this pretty much every extra bit of modification we did on the site prior to the upgrade cost us money.
And not a small amount either we were running about 10 add ons to run the site at a cost of anywhere between $20 and $100 per year per addon this also doesn't including hosting.
The upgraded software we are now on is the same brand and company they simply upgraded the software from series one to series two, and did a few important things with this upgrade:
1) Feature parity - They made the new software upgrade equal to the old software from a functionality perspective so everything should be the same nothing has been lost. But it may be slightly different, look different or be improved
2) They incorporated the most required modifications into the core software so it keeps costs down for forum owners
3) They made an infrastructure software backend that is easier and much more rapid to be able to be developed which keeps the site current and also cheaper if you choose to develop custom add ons.
To put that into perspective the Christmas decorations added today took a few days and a fair bit of trickery to get done in the past. It was that difficult we often didnt take the time to do it.
To do it today on the new software it took an hour end to end.
This is a huge improvement for just one thing and it all adds up.
The final bit is the look and feel; this has been changed to make it more accessible to mobile / tablet devices.
Have a look at the stats below, you can see over 60% of our visitors to the site come from a tablet or mobi device.
With this in mind the look and feel was based of material which is Googles research into what makes a friendly and interactive website across platforms.
https://material.io/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1001467 | Material.IO | Global | en | Hybrid | Text | BKWS&utm_term={keyword}&gclid=CjwKCAiAx57RBRBkEiwA8yZdUK9l4-HnQjIUSTF6MoPNSf1jb_AYvwQ2pn_tsfnm661smd_rEHr6fhoCnkAQAvD_BwE
On top of this we have designed a new Forum logo and matched the site style to the logo.
This new identity logo will unlock some cool new stuff which I'll be discussing in the new year.
But other than my crayon attempt at a logo in the past it's the first time in nearly 8 years we will have a true brand identity and site to match.
So there is a few changes all roled up into one.
But technically from a day to day perspective posting, alerts etc should all be the same.
All said and done I hope this provides some background that some thought goes into these things and it wasn’t a small decision and it's taken the better part of the year to implement.
But I understand change is change so let me know of any bug bears and I’ll do my best.
Thanks for listening.
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Thanks for the reply, please don't take any of what I say as critism of your work or the need for the upgrade. Your efforts are appreciated,
I have answered below your question and also added another comment.
I mainly view on IPad but occasionly on iPhone , my comments relate toviewing on IPad.
Now that you have responded to my post I now see I have the little red square up top next to search magnificent glass showing I have had 2 followup posts to my post however previously I could tap on the red square and the new posters or likers would be displayed and then the red square disappeared after reading. Now when I touch on that red square nothing happens neither opens or disappears.
Also on the right hand side bar why are the photos ( or are they called avatars) of the admin and members currently online obscured so can't view same as when you click on the members list the pictures are again obscured out.
Thanks
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No I don't take it as criticism I just like to explain 
.
All feedback is good feedback it helps to build on the site and make it better for you.
Here is what I get when I click on the bell at the top of the screen and it's the same function with it giving you alerts.
I'll try it on an iPhone and iPad in the morning.
Let me know if you are seeing something different.
Has the font size increase helped?
.All feedback is good feedback it helps to build on the site and make it better for you.
Here is what I get when I click on the bell at the top of the screen and it's the same function with it giving you alerts.
I'll try it on an iPhone and iPad in the morning.
Let me know if you are seeing something different.
Has the font size increase helped?
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@expanda, on the old site, when you hovered the mouse over the alerts, a drop down menu of only unread alerts appeared. You could then click on the alert you wanted to read. If you clicked the mouse on the alert bell it brought up a list of all your previous alerts. Now you have to click the mouse on the alert bell to see the drop down list of the new alerts. I don't see it as a problem, just a difference.
Hi,
if I remember correctly, all the items on that bar (Home, Forums, ..., Inbox, Alerts) would display a menu on a mouse hover event. Now, thay all require a mouse click.
Is the difference intentional or a feature of the upgrade?
cheers
Mike
if I remember correctly, all the items on that bar (Home, Forums, ..., Inbox, Alerts) would display a menu on a mouse hover event. Now, thay all require a mouse click.
Is the difference intentional or a feature of the upgrade?
cheers
Mike
Thanks @chartrock for the clear and detailed explanation make sense.
Yes I understand ill explain at the bottom as this question relates to both comments.
Yes that is correct @mikerezny and @chartrock I understand.
To be clear I will say I don't entirely have a view on wether this was the right or wrong call this is just a play by play of what happened and why.
First I draw your attention to exhibit a:
Only 39% of our users access our website on a desktop 61% access it via a table or phone and yes I have used this image a few posts back
!This fact is not only on our site its across the web, its true now that mobi devices have surpassed desktop users from an amount of time access perspective.
With this in mind the developers made a call that "HOVER" was not a good design position as it catered to a smaller audience and the preference of priority was given to building a robust navigation system that suits mobile.
On a mobile its all click, you click to reveal a slide out menu there is no such thing as hover on mobile devices.
So what does all this mean? Lets bring it all together, mobi users out surpass desktop user across the interwebz and the developers made a call to remove hover to reveal and decided to instead focus on what is non as an off canvas (slide out) menu as it caters to a wider user base.
Was it the right call? I'm on the fence to be honest I hadn't really noticed it up until it was mentioned although it was debated during the development as the software forum company ran an open beta program which triggered many debates. But I am hardly on the forum on a laptop only when development work is required.
Will it come back? Unfortunately not at this stage as it requires custom development but I am not personally against finding a way if its possible.
Hope this makes sense.....
Hi @expanda,Thanks @chartrock for the clear and detailed explanation make sense.
Yes I understand ill explain at the bottom as this question relates to both comments.
Yes that is correct @mikerezny and @chartrock I understand.
To be clear I will say I don't entirely have a view on wether this was the right or wrong call this is just a play by play of what happened and why.
First I draw your attention to exhibit a:
View attachment 58609
Only 39% of our users access our website on a desktop 61% access it via a table or phone and yes I have used this image a few posts back
This fact is not only on our site its across the web, its true now that mobi devices have surpassed desktop users from an amount of time access perspective.
With this in mind the developers made a call that "HOVER" was not a good design position as it catered to a smaller audience and the preference of priority was given to building a robust navigation system that suits mobile.
On a mobile its all click, you click to reveal a slide out menu there is no such thing as hover on mobile devices.
So what does all this mean? Lets bring it all together, mobi users out surpass desktop user across the interwebz and the developers made a call to remove hover to reveal and decided to instead focus on what is non as an off canvas (slide out) menu as it caters to a wider user base.
Was it the right call? I'm on the fence to be honest I hadn't really noticed it up until it was mentioned although it was debated during the development as the software forum company ran an open beta program which triggered many debates. But I am hardly on the forum on a laptop only when development work is required.
Will it come back? Unfortunately not at this stage as it requires custom development but I am not personally against finding a way if its possible.
Hope this makes sense.....
thanks for the detailed explanation. That all makes good sense and I cannot fault the reasons for decisions that were made.
I don't have an issue either way and I will soon get used to clicking. So don't go to any extra trouble to restore the feature on my behalf.
best wishes
Mike
I would use tablet, desktop and laptop mostly with the old format, using phone was a pain but this new format is very phone friendly and I find the click on a tab better than hover, overall so far its great and the Emoticon's load way better......the
Only one thing I need to query
There is no way of telling what posts are "stickies" Maybe it's me
There is no way of telling what posts are "stickies" Maybe it's me