Specific ways to improve Free Republic site design

Me

[Stop Legal Plunder]

Love Free Republic but have doubts about the latest site design? Then use this thread to post specific and constructive suggestions about how to fix shortcomings in the new design.

[Stop Legal Plunder]

White text on a dark background is always harder to read than dark text on a white background. However, if Free Republic must have the former (i.e. the purple borders), then changing the text to a sans serif font will make it much easier to read.

[T. Jefferson]

Make the right side bar dark with light text. Make the left sidebar 20% thinner.

[petuniasevan]

Return the "Find In Forum" link on each member's profile page.

[VRWC_minion]

The major suggestion I would give is the directions to setting up the sidebar are incorrect.

By trail and error the first step is to choose topics from the top of the list (note beaking news and front page are about 1/3 down page) , then choose your topic, when the list of currect topics is loaded then there will be a "subscribe" button on the left hand side.

Hint: The order you choose them in is the order they load in. Be sure to choose them in the order you want them to show. For example choose breaking news topic first.

[Balding_Eagle]

Then use this thread to post specific and constructive suggestions about how to fix shortcomings in the new design.

Go back to the way it was.

[jurisdog]

I would go back to the way it was, or let a professional web designer do it.

[TLBSHOW]

WHERE IS BREAKING NEWS?

[Stop Legal Plunder]

Provide an option to remove the right sidebar.

[ancient_geezer]

Give us back the the option to display self-search results without the display of the text of the replies.

[InterceptPoint]

Two things that need to get fixed:

1. Make it easy to see Breaking News and filter to Breaking News. That's my baby.

2. Reduce the number of rows in the Latest Posts listings. With this format you don't get the vertical density that you need and so you spend your time scrolling too much. You have a lot of wasted white space so just put the data you want to present on fewer rows and you should be fine.

I predict that in a month we will all love it. Keep up the good work.

[StriperSniper]

It broke.

.

.

.

Seriously, see here: Where is Breaking News Now?

[.38sw]

Yes, the white on dark is very hard to read, and is small to boot. I have found how to subscribe to breaking news and front page news, and they are now in my sidebar. What I also miss is "Find in Forum" on a Freeper's Home page. I have found that useful in the past to find a thread I didn't bookmark or post on, and couldn't find with "Search". "Find in Forum" is NOT for stalking!

[Reactionary]

Sure...

The blue headings are too hard to read. Red was much better.

[jlogajan]

Desire more than five headlines in the right sidebar (i.e. Breaking News or whatever is selected.)

[Vladiator]

The flags make me dizzy when I scroll down!!!!

(Or maybe it's the beer I had with my eggs this morning?)

[Vinomori]

get back to where you once belonged

[Orual]

The white text is not only difficult to read, but the point should be increased. Simple, clear pages are much more preferable to cluttered ones. It is not simply change that raises objections, it is those changes that add nothing positive to the design and ease of use of the site that raise the questions.

[ethical]

After I read an article and I go back to the main page it puts me back at the top, not where I left off. Then I have to scroll all the way down to find where I was last. It has down this for a while now, not just with this new design. But I remember it used to put you back where you left off.

[vannrox]

Suggestion:

When posting Articles or Replying to Posts:

Have, as part of the dialog box...
A number of Buttoms making formatting easier. These buttons would be just a few in number. I suggest "Line Break", "Horizontal Line", and "Insert Hyperlink" button. The "insert Hyperlink" button would call up a simple dialog that would ask for the Link, and what you would like to call the link.