This new design makes me....

03-30-2002 | smith288

[smith288]

I woke up this morning and saw this new design, it made me think my world was crubmling apart.... I am going to have to see a psychiatrist and leave my religion behind because obviously my God hates me imposing such atrocity on me. My life is sooooo bad.

[holyscroller]

Why can't we keep the "pretty", but put the old format back? Integrate the two. The comments here are running about 95% against the new format. It's like buying a pretty new car that's a lemon. Sure doesn't run as smoothly as the old one.

[smith288]

the 95% who are against it are the same 95% who have never programmed one thing in their life and dont realize issues deeper than the skin of the site.

[holyscroller]

I suspect you're one of the programmers who made this mess, and has decided he knows what's best for us. Instead of taking note of all this constructive criticism, you're criticizing the critics.

[smith288]

No... but i suppose you dont have any websites under your belt do you?

[smith288]

I have been making recommendations to john throughout the beta process and he has taken some and some he decided not to take. But your constant whining about "I want the old site back..." isnt criticism. The only option to please you is to revert back. Aint gonna happen. So get over it or make more constructive remarks.

[jimtorr]

Yes, the beta was put up for trial. I didn't like it then, either.

[jimtorr]

It's busy, it's gratuitously complicated. The old insterface was no frills, certainly, but straightforward and to the point.

I think this is the best comment I've seen yet. The new format seems quite complicated for the newbie. A steep learning curve, not newbie friendly. So far, I don't find it pleasent my self.

Anybody who calls me a whiner for expressing my personal preference and opinion can kiss my oatmeal (I don't like grits).

[fnord]

Judging by the volume (both sound and number) of critics, what they really need to do ASAP is put up an FAQ/tutorial/how-to page. I've been designing web sites for 8 years, and it took me a bit to find some of the mechanisms I wanted to use. All in all, I like it.

However I would ...

• Put up a how-to guide, pronto
• I'd get rid of the left bar (and flag) and put those items in a menu at the top.
• Make the poll smaller and just pop-up a new window for it.
• Allow more customization of the right sidebar.

Some of these may be in the works. Judging by the torrent of opinions, methinks the Robinsons decided to take the weekend off and let people cool off a bit. Bet they will appreciate constructive feedback though.

Don't forget people, they have designed this new forum with the intent of marketing it. Therefore it has to be easy to maintain from their end, and customizable for the client and his users. Constructive, specific feedback will help them make a better product, and support FR. "I hate it! I want my old FR!" aint very helpful.</rant>

[jimtorr]

the 95% who are against it are the same 95% who have never programmed one thing in their life and dont realize issues deeper than the skin of the site.

What does being a programmer have to do with the price of coffee at Starbucks? I'm a user, not a programmer. The 95% who have never programmed anything are 99% of the FR population. If programmers did everything to please themselves, I think they'd still be using fortran and cobol.

[Hank Rearden]

It's sloooow, veeery sloooow, because it's transmitting so much damn useless, decorative crap. Takes forever to reload even a cached page of postings.

[Exit148]

With all the stuff on the main Latest Post page, there is only room for 5 (at the most) comment topics to see at one time. I, for one, like a long list.

Another thing that is irritating me ----altho I have 3 American flags on my car, one beside this 'puter, one that will remain by my front door, (I've had a flag out since the Iranian hostage time) and several in a group in my back yard, I DON'T like the way the flag is displayed on the Latest Post page. It is as tho the sun is shining on the monitor window. I would much prefer to have a small waving flag permanently up in one corner of the page than the arty display that is there now.

Clean and simple, I like. The main page is NOT clean and simple any more!

HELLOOOOOOOOO----------

[smith288]

There isnt much "decorative crap" on the page. there is a total of two small images. The flag on the left is a small image repeated. Its not loading a huge long image. Th colors are not load intensive. Me thinks your video card doesnt draw color very fast.

[restornu]

I like it, I like it, I like it so there!:)

Go with the flow,Mojoe!

really it is much more accommodating.

Stop crying and get acquainted and than after a couple of days you'll appreciate what has happen!

How ungracious someone spend alot of time to give you a more efficient site.

[SarahW]

A: It isn't more efficient.

B: Certain functions have actually been lost. Searches possible yesterday are impossible today.

[restornu]

Yes there are kinks!

Yet in the upper right hand corner you can check to see if the you have a message, instead of having to leave post and go into many window to check this.under my post/comments was a seach tool I don't what happen to it, but you were able to find a previous post.

There are pros and cons in the days ahead if people were civil I am sure much will in a neat way.

for now I am please with much of it. It is slow it might be everyone is moving around at once to look this over!

[Mr. K]

What was this built with? (P.s. I like it- just needs a few tweeks...)

[smith288]

Im not sure what he uses to develop (John), but i believe its running on Linux Redhat with perl and MySQL as the basic engine running. I would prefer ASP, but we cant have everything...

[A Navy Vet]

Bob, some good additional features, but the layout is not intuitive, but is busy, and slow loading for some. This design is NOT an improvement, although it is pretty. But since most people have a small mumber fo sites they regularly visit, I suspect some new visitors won't be coming back to a difficult to navigate web site.

Check out what semper_libertas has to say. He's a web site marketing designer.

THINK DRUDGE!

[HairOfTheDog]

I disagree that this is less friendly if you are new... This one has more help in the sidebars and in the top header than the old one, and clickable links to switch between views, on the left hand side where people are trained to look for menus. I think it is much more user friendly than the old one, but I have been in it from the start.

The old forum was easy for you to navigate because you were used to it, not because it was easy.

[A Navy Vet]

My problem is with the design layout. It is too busy...some things should be consolidated, others grouped, and different fonts here and there. Things tend to run together which makes your eyes wonder around the page. From a marketing standpoint, this interface is not intuitive. And isn't the point to attract and KEEP readers?

Do a search on semper_libertas. He articulates the my point much better, having web site design marketing experience.