New look Stafford Forum, October 2012 - Responsive style

Jade-clothing

Jade-clothing

Well-Known Forumite
It definitely looks brown - a yukky shade of brown at that - sorry admin :(
I thought the photo was lovely and it makes perfect sense to have a photo of Stafford on a Stafford forum. I think the new style looks more stark and less friendly because of the lack of photo.
 
Admin

Admin

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The Stafford Beast said:
Good idea, but I think there should be a max-width, such as 980px. I have a wide screen, but when my browser is maximised, I feel like I'm at a tennis tournament, with my eyes having to look back and forth at things opposite ends of the screen! :lolsmash:
Click to expand...
Right, I've set it to a fixed-width of 1000px (which I based on the 1024x768 being a good 'default' resolution, so 1000px allows for a bit of padding either side).

I'd quite like to add a background image of Stafford, so that if your screen exceeds 1000px horizontally you see a nice picture of everyone's favourite County town as a backdrop - if anyone has any suitable photos, please let me know. A few seasonal options would be great, so I could have (for example) a sunny one in summer, a snowy one in winter, etc. :)
 
Admin

Admin

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OK; out with the Green & Orange/Brown, in with Blue & Red. :P

I personally think it looks much better. Anyone else? I am going to reduce the size of the logo in the header, and change the colour of the text to match the new blue/red colour scheme a bit later, so bear with those for the time being. I'll see if I can shoehorn a pretty picture in for you as well, Jade-clothing. ;)
 
A

andy w

Well-Known Forumite
Much more pronounced today, the green was abit of a haze(although that could have been the cider)
 
Jade-clothing

Jade-clothing

Well-Known Forumite
Admin said:
OK; out with the Green & Orange/Brown, in with Blue & Red. :P

I personally think it looks much better. Anyone else? I am going to reduce the size of the logo in the header, and change the colour of the text to match the new blue/red colour scheme a bit later, so bear with those for the time being. I'll see if I can shoehorn a pretty picture in for you as well, Jade-clothing. ;)
Click to expand...


That's much better Admin - it looks crisper and easier to read :)
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
On my s3 it now looks odd, the right half of the screen is blank? Not an issue as I just zoom in anyway, but seems odd.
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
Inbox and alerts, first time I have noticed the inbox has messages for me in it, the first from may 12 2012, my apologies to Gramaisc and Tek-monkey, for not responding.
So yes, a definate improvement in the visual aspect of it.
 
Admin

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age'd parent said:
Inbox and alerts, first time I have noticed the inbox has messages for me in it, the first from may 12 2012, my apologies to Gramaisc and Tek-monkey, for not responding.
So yes, a definate improvement in the visual aspect of it.
Click to expand...
Excellent, this is exactly the sort of improvement that drove the decision for a complete redesign! The old style didn't have a consistent workflow, so less-savvy users could easily miss things.

Now, you have the following all on one line:

Your username - Links to all your personal settings, profile, avatar, etc.
Inbox - Shows how many new Conversations you have, and clicking on it takes you to them all.
Alerts - Shows how many new Alerts you have, and clicking on it takes you to them all.
Log Out - Allows you to log-out, should you want to.

Thanks for the feedback, age'd parent. :)
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
Not relevant to tthe topic, but I just had a good time looking throught all my alerts, that I hadn't noticed before.
Makes me seem very witty and erudite, lol
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Using the new style I can no longer navigate to unread posts in a thread, it always takes me to the last post. If I revert back to old style it works ok. Apart from that and now you've got rid of the green I think it's ok, but currently only logged on with a laptop, will try iPad and Android later.
 
The Stafford Beast

The Stafford Beast

Well-Known Forumite
Admin said:
Right, I've set it to a fixed-width of 1000px (which I based on the 1024x768 being a good 'default' resolution, so 1000px allows for a bit of padding either side).

I'd quite like to add a background image of Stafford, so that if your screen exceeds 1000px horizontally you see a nice picture of everyone's favourite County town as a backdrop - if anyone has any suitable photos, please let me know. A few seasonal options would be great, so I could have (for example) a sunny one in summer, a snowy one in winter, etc. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks Admin,

I like the colours and the size now. Well done from me :)
 
Admin

Admin

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John said:
Using the new style I can no longer navigate to unread posts in a thread, it always takes me to the last post. If I revert back to old style it works ok.
Click to expand...
Strange - it doesn't do this for me. :?:

When I click on SHOW ME WHAT'S NEW, it lists all the threads that have had new posts since my last visit. If I click on any of the following, it takes me to the first unread post in that thread:

  • The thread title
  • The little red dot to the left of the thread title

If I click on the time/date underneath the username on the same line (which is the username of the last poster), then that takes me to the latest post, but that's the only way I can find to do so.

Are you definitely clicking on the thread title, John, and not the date of the last post? Does anyone else get the same behaviour as John?

On another note - in another thread, Noah mentioned that, given the choice, he would turn the sidebar off altogether. Well, you now have that option; just adjust the width of your browser, and when it shrinks to a certain size you should find the sidebar disappears. :)
 
flossietoo

flossietoo

Well-Known Forumite
This will be something I've not realised I needed to do but when I tried to go on to the forum via my blackberry last night it just gave me one or two headings, leading nowhere and an invitation to advertise. Same today. I assumed it was something wrong with my phone. I'm due an upgrade and the camera has already packed up. Now I have seen this thread and wonder whether I need to start from scratch and create a new widget on the phone. Has anyone else had that kind of problem?
 
age'd parent

age'd parent

50,000th poster!
Yes, works as below for me on my desk top.

Admin said:
Strange - it doesn't do this for me. :?:

When I click on SHOW ME WHAT'S NEW, it lists all the threads that have had new posts since my last visit. If I click on any of the following, it takes me to the first unread post in that thread:

  • The thread title
  • The little red dot to the left of the thread title
If I click on the time/date underneath the username on the same line (which is the username of the last poster), then that takes me to the latest post, but that's the only way I can find to do so.

Are you definitely clicking on the thread title, John, and not the date of the last post? Does anyone else get the same behaviour as John?

On another note - in another thread, Noah mentioned that, given the choice, he would turn the sidebar off altogether. Well, you now have that option; just adjust the width of your browser, and when it shrinks to a certain size you should find the sidebar disappears. :)
Click to expand...
 
Admin

Admin

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flossietoo said:
This will be something I've not realised I needed to do but when I tried to go on to the forum via my blackberry last night it just gave me one or two headings, leading nowhere and an invitation to advertise. Same today. I assumed it was something wrong with my phone. I'm due an upgrade and the camera has already packed up. Now I have seen this thread and wonder whether I need to start from scratch and create a new widget on the phone. Has anyone else had that kind of problem?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you mean! Is it possible you could upload a picture of what you're seeing? I have tested the new look on:

Windows
Chrome - no problems found.​
Firefox - no problems found.​
IE9 - no problems found.​
​
Mac OS X
Chrome - no problems found.​
Firefox - no problems found.​
Safari - no problems found.​
​
iOS
Chrome for iPad - no problems found.​
Safari for iPad - no problems found.​
​
Android 4.0.3
Stock browser - (seems to set the screen width based on the Google Ad, which is annoying & I will try and fix).​
Dolphin HD - no problems found.​
​
I don't have access to a Blackberry device to test it, I'm afraid, so I would need to see pictures, or a detailed description of the fault, in order to diagnose! If you can do that, I'll be happy to help. :)
 
Admin

Admin

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Staff member
tek-monkey said:
On my s3 it now looks odd, the right half of the screen is blank? Not an issue as I just zoom in anyway, but seems odd.
Click to expand...
Is it literally half the screen? Or do you think that it's just setting the width based on the Google Ad? If it's the latter, then I have been able to recreate this on my HTC Desire using the stock browser; I will see if I can implement a fix.

In the mean time, might I recommend Dolphin HD browser for Android? I've been using it for months now, and I much prefer it to the stock browser (and it seems to render The Forum correctly ;) ).

Obviously recommending someone change their browser just to use one website isn't really a 'fix', so that's not my intention; it's just a general recommendation, as I find it a preferable browser in general. :)
 
Admin

Admin

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Hothouse Flower said:
I use an i pad.

Before at the top it said alerts. I clicked on it, read it, then went back to see other alerts.
It might be worth noting that the " unread posts" did not include the alerts so I had to read both Unread posts AND alerts to get all the new messages.

Now, I click alerts, read the first one but the alert thing disappears from the top bit. Sorry but it may be easier on a computer but I don't like it.
Click to expand...
Just to confirm, here is how The Forum alert system looks when I access it using Safari on an iPad 3:

ipad_responsive_style_01_2012-10-07.jpg

I logged-in with a test account, so there weren't actually any Alerts, but you can see that (on the one I tested) it works as expected; tapping the Alert tab drops down a menu, which would usually show your most recent Alerts:

ipad_responsive_style_02_2012-10-07.jpg

From there, you can tap Show All... at the bottom-left of that drop-down menu to show you all of your previous Alerts, should you wish to see them. :)

Is that not what you're getting? Can you let me know which version iPad you have, what version iOS it is running, and which browser you are using, please?

Thanks. :)
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Admin said:
Strange - it doesn't do this for me. :?:

When I click on SHOW ME WHAT'S NEW, it lists all the threads that have had new posts since my last visit. If I click on any of the following, it takes me to the first unread post in that thread:

  • The thread title
  • The little red dot to the left of the thread title

If I click on the time/date underneath the username on the same line (which is the username of the last poster), then that takes me to the latest post, but that's the only way I can find to do so.

Are you definitely clicking on the thread title, John, and not the date of the last post? Does anyone else get the same behaviour as John?

On another note - in another thread, Noah mentioned that, given the choice, he would turn the sidebar off altogether. Well, you now have that option; just adjust the width of your browser, and when it shrinks to a certain size you should find the sidebar disappears. :)
Click to expand...
Just given my laptop it's weekly crap clean and that seems to have resolved the issue. It all seems to be working fine now :)

Looks good on iPad but a bit weird on my Android tablet (running 4.0.3) as you point out in default browser but fine in either Dolphin or Chrome.
 
monkey bidness

monkey bidness

Well-Known Forumite
I am using an iPad , everything is fine. Portrait & Landscape both good. Will check it out on a Laptop and Desktop when I get home next week. Amazing how change - any change - appears to provoke such an almost visceral rejection response ! Your patience is positively saintly!
 
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