Feedback : New design for the Board

[shg]

I own an IM company with 75 people and offices in 3 countries, ...

That's wonderful. Perhaps you could hire an admin for the forum.

[Simon Lloyd]

After the Board design and Dev related posts here are my answers to the other issues which have come up :

Simon, The rule is a general rule and it applies to Every one who is a member of the forum. May be that it is just a co-incidence that you got hit because i saw your "old" sig which was against the new rule and it had to be taken off.

Also i have a lot of respect for you because of the way you have helped the this board to grow, why will i want to ban you ? May be you have taken it personal but honestly it was not meant to be personal at all.

I appreciate you coming back on that point....are you saying this is an automated process?, if it is it's faulty as it's not uniformed and not wide spread, if it was automated for links to forums (can't imagine the queries to database and processing power that would consume!) then why would it delete a whole signature instead of just the link?

If it was manual deletion then you are going to upset a whole lot of people here MODS included!

Sorry Vai but thats just unbelievable!

[Domski]

After the Board design and Dev related posts here are my answers to the other issues which have come up :

Domsi, With due respect can i ask why does this rule look stupid ? Will you allow banner of your competitor inside your shop ?
Secondly i did not say no to cross referencing, and the rule only applies to the signatures which are generic.

Also I already apologized for the absence but work was still on behind the scenes. I own an IM company with 75 people and offices in 3 countries, and believe me life can get so busy at times that you really cant help it but still at 7 am in the night or rather morning after being up whole night i am replying to the feedback so i guess you should give me the benefit of doubt please for the last time

Not many shops rely on volunteers to come in and staff them though do they? The reputation points are a nice way of recognising those that contribute to the forum but I think you need to cut those who make it what it is some slack. I just can't help but feel your shooting yourself in the foot here with the dreaded Rule 13. Maybe we could just skip it and move straight on to Rule 14 without it's name ever being mentioned again.

Also only my girlfriend gets to call me Domsi

Dom

[broro183]

hi Vai,

Somewhere in the depths of this thread there is reference to the "Closed" marker on locked/Closed threads & how it needs to be made more prominent. It looks like this has been done, however I think it could be done better (see http://www.excelforum.com/excel-2007...-function.html for an example).

The use of the white cross on a red background is now commonly symbolically associated with the ability to close something (eg an application) whereas I believe the marker is only meant to be informative not a button per se. This is partially overcome by the fact that the text states "Closed" (ie past tense/already done" but it is still not intuitive.
The New threads view still uses the padlock which I believe (perhaps from personal experience) is more intuitive. Could the padlock symbol be reapplied within threads?
Also, I don't know if the old marker was clickable (I never tried b/c it didn't look like a button), but by making it clear & intuitive, the need (?) for a meaningless link stating "Sorry! This thread is closed!" is eliminated.

Rob

[teylyn]

Rob, I agree with your points on the padlock symbology vs the cross.

Just some clarification: The Closed marker has always been (and still is) a button, in fact it is the "New Post" button with restricted access. Whether or not you see the "This thread is closed" message depends on the user's access level, i.e. moderators can still use the button to post into a closed thread.

As has been stated before, the forum functionality has not changed one bit with the new skin. It's only the way things look now that's different, they still work the same as before, whether that's good or bad.

[Vaibhav]

Vai,
Are you able to address what is going to be happening with the Forum Index and any restructuring?

NBVC, There would be a complete restrcturing for the board but only once we are done with the cosmetic makeover, along with that there would be some nice technological additions as well.

That's wonderful. Perhaps you could hire an admin for the forum.

The members here are more passionate about excel than any outside admin can be, already tried it but didn't work out.

I appreciate you coming back on that point....are you saying this is an automated process?, if it is it's faulty as it's not uniformed and not wide spread, if it was automated for links to forums (can't imagine the queries to database and processing power that would consume!) then why would it delete a whole signature instead of just the link?

If it was manual deletion then you are going to upset a whole lot of people here MODS included!

Sorry Vai but thats just unbelievable!

I Never said it was automated, a new rule was made and implemented. Lets stick to the topic here and if you want to discus further please catch me on IM or PM.

Not many shops rely on volunteers to come in and staff them though do they? The reputation points are a nice way of recognising those that contribute to the forum but I think you need to cut those who make it what it is some slack. I just can't help but feel your shooting yourself in the foot here with the dreaded Rule 13. Maybe we could just skip it and move straight on to Rule 14 without it's name ever being mentioned again.

Also only my girlfriend gets to call me Domsi

Dom

Haha dom I am definitely straight :p

I am a very active member of a lot of webmaster communities and this is a common rule across most of them and i dont see the reason why we should make this an issue

hi Vai,

Somewhere in the depths of this thread there is reference to the "Closed" marker on locked/Closed threads & how it needs to be made more prominent. It looks like this has been done, however I think it could be done better (see http://www.excelforum.com/excel-2007...-function.html for an example).

The use of the white cross on a red background is now commonly symbolically associated with the ability to close something (eg an application) whereas I believe the marker is only meant to be informative not a button per se. This is partially overcome by the fact that the text states "Closed" (ie past tense/already done" but it is still not intuitive.
The New threads view still uses the padlock which I believe (perhaps from personal experience) is more intuitive. Could the padlock symbol be reapplied within threads?
Also, I don't know if the old marker was clickable (I never tried b/c it didn't look like a button), but by making it clear & intuitive, the need (?) for a meaningless link stating "Sorry! This thread is closed!" is eliminated.

Rob

Thanks Rob for the suggestion, As teylyn explained there have been no changes done in the core working of the board but still i agree with you point about the closed button and will get it implemented

[Simon Lloyd]

I Never said it was automated, a new rule was made and implemented. Lets stick to the topic here and if you want to discus further please catch me on IM or PM......................................

........I am a very active member of a lot of webmaster communities and this is a common rule across most of them and i dont see the reason why we should make this an issue

Vai, ALL the rules here (except 13) were discussed and agreed by the moderators, i feel i need to discuss it not because i've lost my signature, it's of no consequence, but because it affects all the members, it's a little something they can have for having the goodness to visit your forum and help you reach whatever goal you have in mind, as for IM or PM that's not an option, it affects everyone and should be kept a public discussion, if you want to start another thread as such i would be happy to participate there.

Where you say to Rob, it's a common rule we shouldn't make an issue of it, you clearly made an issue of it in this very thread, i'm sure i don't need to repeat it verbatim, it is a real issue for many of your 145,000+ members.

[broro183]

...Just some clarification: The Closed marker has always been (and still is) a button, in fact it is the "New Post" button with restricted access. Whether or not you see the "This thread is closed" message depends on the user's access level, i.e. moderators can still use the button to post into a closed thread...

Ahhhh, that makes sense, hidden functionality for the whizzes :-)
Just being nosy now... are there any "easter egg" secrets which aren't locked down?

Rob

[Simon Lloyd]

Ahhhh, that makes sense, hidden functionality for the whizzes :-)
Just being nosy now... are there any "easter egg" secrets which aren't locked down?

Rob

Not really an easter egg as such but the easiest way to copy code from a code box (or at least it used to be) is to place your mouse just to the left of the box hold Ctrl and left click, then the whole lot of code is highlighted for copying!

To open ANY link in the forum in a new window simply hold down Ctrl (see the pattern developing?) and left click!

[darkyam]

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, enter doesn't do anything. So disappointed.

[royUK]

The main toolbar (the dark blue one) could do with a button to link to the Forum Rules

[DonkeyOte]

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, enter doesn't do anything. So disappointed.

LOL! Are you sure ? have you checked your rep points - you may have got a secret power up ...

[Simon Lloyd]

You come across a post that has last "edited by" are you curious?, well be curious no more click the name....aha! an easter egg!

[Simon Lloyd]

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, enter doesn't do anything. So disappointed.

very funny now put my screen back!!!!!!!

[Simon Lloyd]

The main toolbar (the dark blue one) could do with a button to link to the Forum Rules

Has been asked for alot!