[truthkeeper]

Has anybody found the search function yet? I'm still bumping around into walls. HELP!

[Libertina]

Did I do something bad to deserve this? Beautiful but not FUNTIONAL. Please, return to what we had. Easy to use, clear. Concrete Examples:

When I go to self-search, they are now so long I can't see them in a glance. Often, I have very little time and want especially to respond to the ones which are directed personally to me, not the ones on a long "ping list." It is almost impossible to sort these from the others. And so much space is wasted in the new format.

Where are the lastest, most important posts, noted by how many people are responding?

And I rely breaking news! I want to see at a GLANCE wihtout hunting for it!

JimRob, are you playing with us? Is this supposed to mirror what is happening with the President? Are you trying to teach us something? ie: we drink koolaid with the President and so you challenge us to drink koolaid over the new "design?"

Whoever has created this has a lovely sense of design but has not understood the need for functionality. Please let FR continue to grow with meaningful creations: FR Radio, FR USO Canteen, FR Network... but not cosmetic ones.

[mysonsfuture]

THIS IS AWFUL!!!!!!! PLEASE BRING BACK THE OLD FR!!!!!!!!!

[VinnyTex]

It's pretty bad!!!!

[mysonsfuture]

This new format looks like CNN HEADLINE NEWS!

[fishtank]

I agree. This sucks.

[Principle Over Politics]

Is anyone able to do a search for posts from a specific FReeper? For example, to search for Jim Robinson, you could use this URL (http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest?from_user=1). Now my browser switches over to (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/browse), when I try this.

[DouglasKC]

...and give us an option to turn off the poll question. It's just wasting space unless you're interested in seeing a minute by minute update.

[marlin]

add me to the list of shell schocked - as an old dog i aint much good at new tricks

it would sure be helpful if there was a help button to guide us through this new format - i'm sure that this is probably an improvement - but only if you know how to set things up

but until you know how and what to do it is not friendly at all - it is easier to quit than fumble about blindly

[fogarty]

Well then let me ask you a question. Did you check out the "beta" site notice that was up for at least a couple weeks? Did you make constructive comments to help improvement to Jim? That was the whole purpose of the beta site - to give us a chance to make constructive comments.

And finally, those who criticize and complain in this thread - have you either (1) donating to Free Republic monetarily (2) helped out coding the various parts of the cite?

[truthandlife]

I know Jim and John have worked hard on this but it is time to go back to the drawing board. FR is about opinion and ideas not fancy graphics. Unfortunately this is now a very confusing site. Anybody familiar with the best internet sites is that it loads quickly, easy to find things and very user friendly. FR has none of these three now.

I am sure you guys will change things once you see traffic scream to a halt. Bring back the old FR with modifications. This reminds me of when Coke came out with the New Coke and you know what happened to the "New" Coke.

[clamboat]

I could not agree more. I complained about this when it was just a Beta - I do not have a big enough monitor to waste it with a useless banner running along the side of the screen!

[Fish out of Water]

I agree this set up is junk I end up waasting too much time and miss half of the new posts. If I want to read the articles that were posted since I last visited I have to keep clicking more and more and more. Replies go by so fast that I can never tell what I have aready viewed or what I may have missed.

[Tree of Liberty]

   No sir, I don't like it

 

[PoisedWoman]

I don't like Beta but seem to be stuck in it. How do I get out? Serious question.

Assessment: Beta is style over substance. Not good.

[The Westerner]

This has nothing to do with "learning new tricks." The old board was elegant in its simplicity. This reminds me of all the new redesigned utility bills that were supposed to be easier to read, but actually were a maze of complexity. The basic principle of visual design is to move the eye to the most important spot on the page. Here we have competing visual images. If this were the opening page it would be okay. But if the flag and sidebar reduce the all important thread information to the middleground, it becomes tiring to stare at. If FreeRepublic wants to imitate Yahoo, AOL, etc., that is its decision, ok. But it must remember that it became wildly popular because it had the most ingenious, simple, easy-to-read format on the internet. The ironic thing is that the new set-up looks amateurish unlike the old one which was pretty slick, IMHO.

[LenS]

I have to agree. This is awful.

First National Review Online, now FR? Stop changing what works. Only Drudge gets it when it comes to superfluous bells and whistles.

1. Too much clutter. Simplicity works best for effective communication. This reeks of make-work for programmers showing off their HTML skills.
2. Having two side columns limits the amount of pertinent information in the middle for my perusal. I have to spend more time scrolling.
3. I come to this site to get a quick exposure to many stories. That exposure time is now longer. I can't just quickly scan the page as was possible yesterday.
4. Too much customization needed. If my computer loses the appropriate cookie or FR has a problem, I'll be forced to recustomize again.

PLEASE GO BACK TO THE OLD FORMAT

[jrp]

I don't like the new format either. Some nice new
functionality, but hard to scan quickly for articles
I'm interested in.

[Nate505]

I must voice my opinion on the side of 'this is awful.' (although the flag graphic on the left is nice) That being said, this isn't my website, so I'll just have to get used to it.

[screed]

I can't believe this is happening. This is terrible. Because of this new format, my hair is falling out, I got a flat tire on the way home from work, my hemmorhoids are acting up again, global warming is getting worse, increased tension in the middle east and to top it all off, my cat is disgorging a hairball onto my keyboard. What are we going to do?!?!?!