New look Stafford Forum, October 2012 - Responsive style

[Admin]

So, what do you think of the new Stafford Forum style? It is designed to be responsive, which means that it changes dynamically depending on the size of your screen.

To see what I mean, try accessing it on your phone, iPad, or other mobile device. You should hopefully see that it looks a lot better than before, and reduces screen clutter considerably.

I know some of you don't like this font, and I will re-instate a sans-serif font option tomorrow, but for the time being I would appreciate your comments on the style in general.

Your friendly Forum Governator, working tirelessly for you on a Saturday night.

 

[stoofer34]

Cool!

S

 

[joshua]

Love it !

 

[Hothouse Flower]

I have not been on for a few days and just logged on.

I don't find it so user friendly.

The first thing I usually do I look at alerts.

But now, once you look at the first alert and read it, there is no facility to go back to alerts to see who else has responded to the threads that are of interest to you.

 

[Admin]

I have not been on for a few days and just logged on.

I don't find it so user friendly.

The first thing I usually do I look at alerts.

But now, once you look at the first alert and read it, there is no facility to go back to alerts to see who else has responded to the threads that are of interest to you.

I haven't changed the Alert system, it works exactly the same as before. You hover over 'Alerts' and it shows you your most recent, and if you want to see more you click 'Show All...' at the bottom of the Alert drop-down, same as before.

Or do you mean something else?

 

[Hothouse Flower]

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.

 

[Noah]

Green lettering is BAD. Whole thing is rather garish. Why meddle with what ain't broke?

 

[Hothouse Flower]

I am logging off. Agree with the above post.

All that green is awful.

Can't find my way around.

Really really don't like it.

Night.

 

[Jonah]

Sorry but I don't like the fact that it changes to fit my iPad screen. It's my iPad so I want to size it how I see fit and not be forced to how someone else thinks is best.

 

[wizzard]

Erm the old style is still available. Bottom left hand corner, click on the style name and choose the original theme.

 

[Admin]

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.

Sorry, I don't know what you mean. When I click Alerts, it shows me all my recent alerts, same as it did before.

Does anyone else know what Hothouse Flower means, and are they getting the same behaviour?

Why meddle with what ain't broke?

I agree, but it was 'broke', in many people's eyes (including mine)! The Forum was too cluttered, didn't work well on mobile devices (usage of which has doubled in less than a year, and is now a significant percentage of browsers), and was difficult to understand for new users.

That's not to say I can't change it back - I just have to wait until I get some more feedback so that I can make the appropriate decision(s), based on majority opinion.

 

[The Stafford Beast]

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!

 

[Admin]

Erm the old style is still available. Bottom left hand corner, click on the style name and choose the original theme.

Indeed; if people want to go back to the old version, they can - I just won't be developing it further, so it may not look right if there are upgrades in future!

 

[Admin]

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!

I can certainly do this, but this is an excellent example of why I need to get feedback from everyone before making any significant changes. The change to a fluid (i.e. unlimited) width was a deliberate design choice, in response to the many complaints I had about The Forum being too cramped. Clearly, if you are blessed with a very large monitor, this change is not necessarily a good thing!

But yes, I will look to set a maximum width tomorrow - thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Glam]

I must be in a tiny minority, I like the green (goes with the hair), quite like the brown as well...... shuffles off to join Stoofer and Joshua in the corner.....

 

[Admin]

Green lettering is BAD.

I tried to choose colours that match (or approximate) the Stafford Forum logo, hence the green and orange. I agree they're a bit wishy-washy though, so I will see if I can change the colour scheme to something less offensive when I'm tidying up tomorrow.

 

[Admin]

...shuffles off to join Stoofer and Joshua in the corner.....

No, please don't! It's important that every lets me know what they think. If everyone who likes it keeps schtum, then I'll end up thinking everyone hates the new style & I'll change it back, even though I've put loads of time & money into it.

 

[db]

I love it.. works loads better on the iPad imo - with the old style, you had to browse with the iPad in landscape mode, cos there was so much crap down the right-hand side, etc.. but with this one, I can browse the way god (or jobs/ive) intended, holding the iPad in its natural portrait position..

have you tried clicking the Alert tab, hothouse? when i click it on my iPad, a menu drops down which shows all my alerts, same as it does on the computer.. or you can click My Watched Threads, which shows you all the threads you are watching (which is all the threads that you would get alerts on, i think)..

 

[Jade-clothing]

I think it looks a lot less cluttered and it's easier to see where things are.
BUT
1. I hate the green - maybe because it is too pale - perhaps a bolder shade?
2. I hate brown full stop - could be any shade of brown and I'd still hate it.
3. I miss the photo of Victoria park at the top

 

[Admin]

I think it looks a lot less cluttered and it's easier to see where things are.
BUT
1. I hate the green - maybe because it is too pale - perhaps a bolder shade?
2. I hate brown full stop - could be any shade of brown and I'd still hate it.
3. I miss the photo of Victoria park at the top

Interesting. It's actually green and orange (as per the logo), but you're the second person now to think that it's brown! I agree that they're not the best choice of colours, so shall see if I can change them shortly.

As for point 3 - I got rid of the photo, after complaints that it made the place look "old fashioned"! I'll see if I can re-instate it, somehow.

Actually, how about if I set a nice big picture of Stafford as the main background? If anyone has any suitable photographs I could use, please let me know (i.e. high resolution, not too busy, would look good as your Windows desktop/screensaver/background image).