New Forum Structure

the filter buttons/tags are really garish. text based links would be more in keeping with the design of the rest of the site

 

hmm

okay how do I find the linux section? or an os section? or a software applications section?
this prief version of the old forum isn't doing it for me to the point.
Someone mentioned a filter but I can't find any filter, shouldn't web site design be done in such a way that it is effortless to find what you are looking for?

 

Liking the new look, but it seems like the area to the left of posts (where the name/details are) is a lot bigger. I liked it when it was smalller and took up less room.

Edit: love that you no longer have to load a new page upon posting and editing.

 

Nice eye candy. Personally, I find it difficult to find relevant threads now, because of the forum mergers.

 

The filter tag buttons (graphics, cooling, etc) could use a better resolution version, so as to be bigger on our big screens and to be more readable (allusion to the sreen size poll^^)
I like it with the dark design though. Great work !!

 

You can keep removing the posts of people who absolutely detest it, but I still hate it.

Can we have the good ole' forums back please? Even as an option?

The filtering system is awful, why can't we just have the different forums listed as before?

 

re-do of tags int he Bit-tech button style

Well I was going to do the tags but at the time I was too busy with exams etc but this morning I made the tags from the hardware forum in the style of the bit-tech buttons, I was contemplating colour coding them but this what I've done so far:



Imo, this considerably better than the current tags, but if these were colour grouped I think it would look superb, eg "hardware, oc'ing, graphics, displays and cooling" all with blue backgrounds etc.

Thoughts ?

-Fr4nk

 

On the reply box size, my Firefox 2.0.0.4 opens reply with the box as simon w's screenshot but it then quickly auto-enlarges to full width. So a "feature" he has set different to me.

Smilies - showing 30 of 37. There's plenty of room for the other 7.

 

That's awesome. I'd much rather have these than the current ones.

Also another thing - I think one thing that makes it look a little cluttered is the fact that you have 2 columns of boxes/images before you get to the thread title. On SA, they don't have that column to the left of the tags, and IMO it looks a lot cleaner.

Edit: Is there any chance of having an option of whether the filter box is hidden by default? I know most people might want it shown by default, but I'd like to have it minimised when I open a forum.

 

I'm getting more used to it every day (and I like that serious stuff is in general too).
But for God's sake split the hardware forum up, I'm afraid to go in there now because of the sheer number of things consolidated.

 

i would like to retract my comments above, after taking the time to look at it properly i found the filter buttons to find what i want doh

 

You're only quoting the part of my post that suits you and you seem to miss the fact that I said we're taking everyone's feedback on-board with the view to make changes where necessary (that includes the over-culling of the forums - we've already started discussing the ones that should and shouldn't be together). Once we have done that and made the changes suggested by the community, it is then time to ask whether it's hip or not.

So yeah, it's not about what we want, it's about what the community as a whole wants. We've thrown some fairly big changes out in the wild and yes we understand that there will be a resistance to change, but the changes were made on the basis of months of data that we've collected.

The proof is in the pudding though and there has been some very valid feedback so far. So much so that we've already started actioning some of it. For example, post counts weren't there originally, but they're back. The tag filtering selection is now open by default and we're looking at making further changes based on feedback from the members of the community!

 

If anyone wants Fr4nks buttons, install greasemonkey and give me a shout, I have a script to change the,m

 

I'm quoting the part of your post because it supports my point. Just a poll to see whether my view is valid enough -it seems to be there are quite a few people who have said exactly what I've said.

I dont have a problem with anything else, just the clutteredness. I feel that the cramming is a valid point, the impression I got from your response is as if my point isn't valid enough for the feedback - which it is.

Im glad you guys at bit-tech have been discussing about the placement of the directories, hopefully some changes soon on that front. .

By the way im not arguing, just trying to give some feedback and put my views across! .

 

just what i had in mind. Maybe some more colors? Using colors to group relevant tags is brilliant, though.

 

I understand that you're not arguing and I am not trying to come across like that either.

I'm just trying to get the point across that no matter who is writing the posts and whether they're for or against the new forum layout, we're taking every bit of constructive feedback on-board because ultimately it's about making the experience as good as it can be for you guys and we're trying to encourage people to post more.

As far as I can tell, we've not deleted any posts (apart from some duplicates) from this thread because what is the point in blocking out negative feedback? If we were hiding something, there would be a reason to delete it, but the reason we're not is because there is nothing to hide - we're taking the feedback from the community on board because without the community, this forum wouldn't exist. We're just the catalyst for the community and we're trying a different chemical formula to see what happens. (you know, when an old formula isn't as effective as it should be, so you go in search of a new method and then pull back what is and isn't needed)

Also, another reason for the change was that several of the team "don't have the time" to check out forum X, Y or Z yet when you actually do have time to look at those forums, there are some great threads that aren't getting the attention that they deserve. We're trying to give those threads some daylight but as a lot of people have said, our culling looks to be a little aggressive and we're working on a solution to that. The great thing is that we're not going to have a problem moving threads around because we can move threads by tag.

 

Seconded... in case anyone is still in doubt about my persona feelings ()

I've released works of genius which simply hasn't been appreciated by my punters - philistines! And I've released a turkey that I thought looked good on paper, but where I completely misjudged the situation.

So I'm certainly not slagging off and BT staff. I imagine there are a few unhappy bunnies at BT - all this hard work and it's thrown back in their faces.

But as much as I and others are unhappy about some of the fundamentals, let it be clear that we hate the new forums, but we are not asking for heads to roll.

While I do think the colour coding is much more acceptable that the images, they are still breaking the same usability rules (somewhat). The coloured category column down the right hand side is still too dominant and the eyes are drawn to them. I would suggest as an improvement a small colour-coded square (ie slightly larger than one character) and next to it in plaintext could be the category name. At a glance you could see the breakdown of categories by colour, but it wouldn't be too distracting and the text would be there as an explicit confirmation of the category. I'm sure there are plenty of other ideas around too.

 

Wow. I'm really in awe to how large a backstep this is.

It both confusing and cluttered.

Could sombody email me if the forums return to normal because it really shouldn't be an effort to have to try to read through a forum, so frankly I won't be bothering.

Thanks, Bye.

 

I think the fewer forums is a better idea, the tags need a standardised font though.

 

I'm only speaking for myself here, but I'm certainly not unhappy at any of the feedback we've had in this thread. Yes, we've spent some time working on this but I certainly prepared myself for potential changes and with the help of the community, I think the two parties can work as one (none of this us vs. them) and make something good.

The reason this thread is still running is because we care about what the community is saying and ultimately the members are the collective voice that we're listening to.

That's a very interesting suggestion - I like the idea behind it... we'll have a play and see how it works.