Feedback : New design for the Board

[teylyn]

The fonts in the posts are now much better, although the Code font looks really small in Internet Explorer. See attached screenshots for a comparison between FF and IE.

The Excel Version information is crucial and should be re-instated ASAP. Unless we're interested in artificaially bumping up the post count in this forum, since every other thread will require a post along the lines of "Which version are you using" and a reply to clarify. I'm not sure this would be in our best interests, though.

[zbor]

I would like to add that NEW POSTS is great button
Don't know was there in last version (Or I just didn't use it).

But I would like to have (if other think it's a good idea) an button that would filter out: Advanced search -> Find all posts by user -> (user) so we can easily see last thing we did... I find it usefull for morning research (for those that use excel forum on day base but also for those that cames from time to time to see what's updated while they were gone)

[zbor]

On IE, except fact that iccon dissapear... It's hard to see what you read and what you didn't read... Everything's bold...

untitled.JPG

Edit: While when you hit New posts seems to be OK...

untitled2.JPG

[teylyn]

zbor,

Don't know was there in last version (Or I just didn't use it).

This used to be "Post Reply"

an button that would filter out: Advanced search -> Find all posts by user -> (user)

that's Search - Advanced Search - find all posts by user ... - choose to return individual posts or threads

It's hard to see what you read and what you didn't read... Everything's bold...

If you refresh the page, you will see visited threads are no longer bold.

[zbor]

I know you do that through search... I was wondering is there use to put button that will do all that (in one click) since I do that often (I don't know about other users... if it's just me I'll adopt )

2nd: nope.. bold even after refresh...

[teylyn]

... I think anything beyond cosmetic changes, i.e. pretty colors and icons, will probably take longer. The moderators have been asking for a re-structure of the forum for more than 18 months now ...

2nd: nope.. bold even after refresh...

What if you hit "New Posts" on the blue menu bar? - At least it's blue now, don't know what color it might have when you see it .... <duck>

[teylyn]

When I refresh a regular forum view, read posts don't come up in bold again. But that's on FF ... will test in IE.
When I hit New Posts, only unread posts are bold. Again FF.

[zbor]

What if you hit "New Posts" on the blue menu bar?

New Posts is OK.. See attachemnt's above

[teylyn]

zb, you're right.

for the record: In Internet Explorer, the regular forum view always shows all posts in bold, regardless whether they have been visited or not. The "New Posts" view shows only unvisited threads in bold.

In Firefox, visited threads are correctly shown in regular font, only unvisited threads are show in bold, in Forum views as well als "New Posts" view.

Irritating.

[Domski]

After the initial shock I quite lick it!

Dom

I hope you washed off the monitor screen first

I'm not sure what I must have been thinking about then, it's not even an excusable keyboard error!!!

[MickG]

Hi, I'm really sorry to say this, but this format is worse than the previous one.
Personnaly I find the General Layout with all the Various Types of thread really annoying , it means I have to Select perhaps 3 or 4 Sub headings to see all the Types of Threads. This envolves endless unneccessary clicking on links and scrolling, and I now find to actually see the Thread titles and Details I need to scroll Right every time to access the individual details of the Thread Headings .
The Main Banner, is overwritten by a Text Box, the Links below are overwritten by the words "Welcome to the Excel Forum and the links are white on a light blue backgroud which make them difficult to read.
I think Generally Less is usually, More and in this case , More is Less.
I appreciate the great effort you go to for this forum, and I thank you for that.
I'm not sure if I should say this but "MrExceL" is far more User Frendly due to its simplicity, and this Forum has the added benefit of being able to attach files, which is a really useful tool.
I truly hope that this forum can eventually produce a Format that is worthy of all the Effort that so obviously goes in to it.
This forum, provides me will a great deal of pleasure and enjoyments and I would truly like to see it flourish
Yours sincerely MickG

[D_Rennie]

my 2cents worth.

most have aready been spoken on before.
1st impression BRIGHT, well white is always clean looking so pros for that.
forum post Forum Statistics utter usless at the moment and only serves to take from the viewing of the threads.

Microsoft Windows Operating System well this is a excel forum though ALL ASPECTS are a great addition though maby sub folder. the amount of crap in these threads is mindbolligling. and if this is the case why is programming limited to excel can we not program within vba (word) to interract with the windoze invrioment.

i see a lot of post that end up in the wrong place. probley due to the fact that the formular functions is a sub catogary of the vba programming. THEY should not be sub-catogrized like this.

other things like the user database there are thousands of users here that have joined over 12 months ago and not made a post Rid them.

i know the updates are on the GUI side of things and not some of the above/

Vaibhav i would shout you a beer and then some if we meet. so keep doing what you think is best and i will applaud you at the end of the day.

[teylyn]

@MickG

Personnaly I find the General Layout with all the Various Types of thread really annoying , it means I have to Select perhaps 3 or 4 Sub headings to see all the Types of Threads. This envolves endless unneccessary clicking on links and scrolling, and I now find to actually see the Thread titles and Details I need to scroll Right every time to access the individual details of the Thread Headings .

What do you mean by various types of thread? Or that you need to scroll right to see thread titles and details? Can you maybe snap a screenshot of what you see. It's not the same in every browser and screen resolution and that is exactly the issue.
From your next words I gather that your screen is not wide enough to allow the top menu to be in one line, so it gets a line break and mucks up the navigation. That's bad programming and we've already flagged these issues with Vaibhav. I think much of your need to scroll right is due to the white space underneath the less than useful forum statistics. Another thing that has annoyed several people before.

[randell.graybill]

I don't like the new design, looks unprofessional.

[teylyn]

i'm writing this from a smartphone, my lifeline to the forum if there is no real computer around -- that's dedication, I guess.

Before the skin change, I was able to access all vital forum functions on the smartphone browser, albeit somewhat inconveniently, since there did not seem to be a CSS for mobile devices and the page did not render conveniently. But at least it did render!

Now for the first time accessing the forum in the new skin, I must say that it is the epitome of cr*p!!!

I cannot navigate to my user cp or take a look at new posts or even click the home page, because all the links in the menu bar are white on white and there's no way of telling which link is which.

I use to be able to check my subscibed threads and send and read PMs from my phone. That is now virtually impossible.

Vaibhav, you may feel that you've landed a great coup by re-arranging a few colors on the forum, but all in all you have done considerably more harm than good.

We've lost an awful lot of previous functionality that was appreciated by both regular members and mods. The new 'design' has collected more negative comments than positive ones. Functional requirements that mods have been asking for for two years now are still being ignored. Instead we get green buttons instead of gray ones and in the same turn lose functionality (eg version info), cross browser usability, mobile device functionality ... and overall the whole design looks cheap and proves to be untested and unprofessional.

I, for one, feel very much discouraged to continue using this forum and will need some strong incentives to keep going.

in the last year I've grown very fond of the people on excelforum, but I don't think it will be too hard for this community to find a more suitable platform elsewhere.

This forum is carried by the volunteers who put in their time for free. Ignoring requests for changes that enhance the usability of the forum for members, regular contributors and moderators, and instead putting up some cheap cosmetic changes that prove to be more detrimental than beneficial, is a slap in the face for many individuals here.

There is no shortage of forums on the internet for both people with questions and people with answers. I fear that if this forum does not soon accommodate the sensible requests of the people who can provide the answers, then they will start to look for playing fields where they receive more respect and acknowledgement than here. The askers of questions will follow the experts.

This redesign should be an opportunity to improve forum features and functionality, to make this forum better and more attractive than the alternatives on the web.

Please listen to the feedback here and show that you care by implementing what is important for the users here.

Flash, bright, new colors won't make people visit here. Expert advice will. But the experts will only stick around if they feel it's worth their while.

Do you understand what I'm getting at?

Please acknowledge that you've seen this message by posting a brief reply. I 'd expect you to check this feedback thread regularly, so everyone will be anxious to see what your view is. And if you care about the future of Excelforum, please tell us all what you are planning to do to improve the forum's usability.