Another vote for the old forum being nicer.

Aside from the old look being better, I think the navigation somehow is not as clear or stark as it could be. Maybe it's just a case of getting used to, but the panel at the top somehow doesn't stand out as well or doesn't have enough contrast ... or something that I can't quite identify. I don't remember ever getting this feeling in the old forum. I thought it was quite nicely laid out. Maybe the navigation panel needs to be more physically and visually separated from the panel that has links to "User Control Panel", "View your posts", etc.

Oh, also I like having visual/physical separation such as a line or a contrast in color between the heading of each post (name of poster and such) and the actual content of the post. The way it's all in just a single pane with a single color right now is not good.

I think the index pages are quite ok but the overall contrast in threads is too low. There is not enough separation between posts for example. With the previous style the different layout elements was better distinguished from each other, in the current style it's just faint colors and vague borders.

this new theme is not user-friendly, for all the reasons outlined already... it's a major step backwards in useability.

That's about it. All white, all blaring. Holy crap. Make it black base with white, yellow or red lettering so people with eyes do not have be blinded.

Also, the format makes for longer pages on the screen and it's really hard to determine where you are on the page between posts. After reading 10's of thousands of posts on the old system, this really isnt an opinion but a fact.

shiney new = sucks

k thanx

no love for new web design

With the new format your posts won't belong to yesterday.

---- That is, they'll always appear on the hourly update instead of sometimes being relegated to a thread title that's deep in the list. It should get the attention it deserves.

One thing I don't like is that the content of the posts is displayed on the list page, and they're in reverse chronological order, so they won't make sense to the reader. Also, and quite horribly, the poster's names aren't displayed on the list page, so you don't know who's saying what. But I imagine that could be changed if the forummasters desire it.

I never noticed if it was there in the old style, but I see at top left, some hyperlinks to "Board Index" etc.

This is a wrong label.

It should be "Table of Contents", because ... that is what it is.

An Index is, conventionally, at the end of a publication, wherein one finds words & phrases, and a listing of the pages on which the word / phrase is used.

A "Table of Contents" is placed at the front of a publication, so the reader can find the content, by topic name, chapter title and the like.

Picky?

Maybe, but correct.

ps. I agree with others. I like the older layout over this new iteration, for many of the same reasons others have posted. Thanks.

Jesus Christ no. White-on-black as an absolute abomination on an emissive medium. It's bad enough in print.

You have to realize something you have not yet. Print is best black on white. It is just reflecting light from the room. It is never brighter than the room nor does it hurt your eyes. Screens are BACKLIT meaning that they are ANNOYING AS HELL AND RETARDED LOOKING WHEN BRIGHT WHITE.

Go check out hardforums.com or hardocp.com (the same site different functions) Go look at them for a few hours vs this white crap. Your eyes are millions times more relaxed and you can read much faster on black backgrounds, because this is a freakin light box.

This new site is much harder to read in every way. I am ticked off.

One little problem I've noticed, I always liked going to the home page and seeing the 'SPCR Forums' list in the popular content section on the right side of the page, but now it appears to be listing all the latest posts instead of the latest threads. So if a popular thread is getting a lot of posts (like the Silent Home Server Build guide is now), then that's flooding out all other threads. Is there any way we can get back to having the threads listed instead of the posts?

Why do you think the default for autocad is white on a black background? It is MUCH less tiring to look at all day long.

Would like the old forum returned. Was easier to navigate and read from. Some commercial tech pages also changed to this more ditzy look to attract mainstream users(women etc.), but they have not gotten more of them. Just gotten fewer visitors total and this is not an adjustment issue.
More security is great, just need to clean up some of the unnecessary items, as people mentioned above.

Thanks

This new look is absolutely disgusting and useless, sorry. I'm not going to repeat what was said already.

Too bad, another forum to not be read anymore *sigh*

This newest layout is better than the previous one -- I think I could get used to this easily.

The one quirk is when I click on Read New Posts, I get about 12 at the bottom of the list that have their icon gray; which usually means that I have already read them?

Edit: I mistakenly clicked on View Unanswered Posts, not New Posts... it works fine, and is located on the right side. I really like that it is there on all screens!

The new layout is mostly a step backwards.

Please:

1) Go back to the higher contrast color scheme - all the gray backgrounds and muted colored text make material harder to read. Especially for those with aging eyes or eyesight problems.
Or perhaps give people a few color schemes to chose from - use a readily accessible black text on white background (the de-facto standard for most windowing/computer systems), but with a muted option (or inverse video option) for those who want to sign in and use something else.

2) Go back to listing just threads with updated messages on the "In forums" sidebar forum listing and on the forum updates summary (what you get by clicking more on the sidebar). Listing the title of the thread multiple times on the sidebar is not helpful (if you want to show activity, add an indication of the number of posts in the last x hours).
On the updates summary page - using extensive quotations from the posts makes it not useful as a summary (it goes on for many pages, and can't see at a glance what threads have activity). So it becomes worthless as a summary. It is also worthless as a way to read the content - one can't tell if one has read the post already, since poster, etc. are lost. Since the text is stripped of layout, one can't tell if it is quotation of old post, new post, paragraph. About as useful as a stream of consciousness novel.

3) It is confusing to have the posting date buried on the right hand side. This is compounded by having the author box on the left. (The most obvious date, when scanning in reading order is the date the author joined.)
Putting the author box on the right helped with this problem, but I see it has been returned to the left. Rearranging the author box so that the join date is less prominent (e.g. lower down) would help.
Making the posting date more obvious might help people notice when an old thread has been brought to the fore by a spammer, etc.

On the posting screen:

* Please make the images of the smilies larger. They used to be much easier to distinguish. There is a lot of space on the left hand side.

* Please make the attach file and font colour items optional, and hide them by default. (i.e. just have a button that says attach a file, which opens up the attachment area).

The attachment area makes it harder to get down to see the thread one is replying to. Given the topic of SPCR, it is unusual for people to have files to attach - so this rarely used feature should be available if needed, but shouldn't be out there in the way when it is not.
Likewise font coloring (especially when given such a large set of options) is likely to result in decreased legibility rather than facilitate communications. (Encouraging the the Wired school of typography, where legibility and content take back seat to garish layout.) Removing the colour boxes would give more room for content.

There's nothing wrong with the contrast on this theme..

On another note: Can we lose the listing of bots as active users?

+1

I love it.

I don't know if this has been asked before, but when I click on a link inside a post, it doesn't open a new browser window or tab (it replaces the SPCR page). I don't think the old forum worked that way. I couldn't find any way to change that in User Control Panel.

Yes, it has been asked but IIRC it has not received a definitive answer: AFAIK this behaviour can be changed only by the forum's admin, not by the users.

Simple solution, middle-click on any links.

Exactly. I prefer it this way - you have control whether you want a new tab or not.

That's not the way it worked on the old forum (always opened new tab or browser). Most sites don't want their users leaving their site just because someone clicks on a link inside a post.

That's right.

True. It's not the way it was before. I'm saying this is better. I'm ready for the responsibility of deciding for myself whether I want a new tab of not. Usually, if I just want to take a quick look at the linked page, I don't want it loading in a new tab.

Slashdot has it the same way and might always have had it so. I like it, all I'm sayin'

That's exactly why I do prefer a new tab, so when I close it, I can go to the SPCR page I was previously at by clicking on the old tab. Assuming I don't accidentally close the page (and loose both the new page and old SPCR page) then I would have to reload the old page. I may have navigated several layers deep into the new page, which makes it even harder to get back where I was.

+1

If I may take the liberty to crack a joke, perhaps some admin should rename the thread as: "Ooooooh, shitty new forum!"...

Please, don't take offense!

But if you want a new tab you can have that. Just as with any other link, clicking it opens it in the current tab/window and shift+click or middle click (or whatever, depends a bit on what browser you are using but the feature is there in all the popular browsers) opens it in a new tab.
Seems to me that with the current way of things, both of us can get what we want. You just have to get used to treating links in the threads like most other links on the web. With the old way of things, there was as far as I know no way to open the link in the same tab, as some of us likes to do.

Btw, if you accidentally close a tab you can get it back. Ctrl+Z in Opera, Ctrl+Shift+T in Firefox.

Right-click the link and click "Open".

The rest of us want the normal way, links opening in new tabs. Why should we have to have extra work because a minority want it the obsolete way?

That would be too slow. Right-click, check the menu, choose the right option vs just left-click (or middle click for a new tab).


Are you asking me? I'm not the one who decides these things. I'm just stating my opinion and wouldn't miss an opportunity to annoy my fellow SPCR forum members.