New forum vs old forum

[Expert]

This is just a terrible experience

 

lol yes it is

[Donglr]

When I first saw this I thought there is a technical issue, knowing now this is intentional I can only say "how could you?" Please put your efforts in getting modules ready, bugs fixed, new features into planes, but not into forum "improvement" which is anything but an improvement.

Man, the results of this poll could not speak more clearly.

[markturner1960]

Why why why why why...........new look is terrible, if it aint broke, dont fix it...please revert.......

 

No signatures, no avatars, its Sh1te......

[Northstar98]

Why why why why why...........new look is terrible, if it aint broke, dont fix it...please revert.......

 

No signatures, no avatars, its Sh1te......

 

Signatures and avatars can be enabled by clicking on your profile to the top right -> User Settings -> Account -> then find 'Conversation Detail Options' where you can enable/disable avatars, signatures and your own signature.

 

Where is my favorite "New Posts" link?

 

There's a blue button to the left of individual threads that allow you to quickly see the latest posts, but you have to actually be in the respective forum/sub-forum to see them.

 

Admins, please remove subforums from index pages and it will looks better. That Subforum links is just wasting space and big hole in a screen.

 

Agreed, I'd rather have the subforums listed like they were previously, with the latest post shown.

[stormrider]

Just get over it. You will survive.

[Whiskeybravo]

I liked the old one, easy to find my way around and looked good. This new one looks like a step backward. :(

[schurem]

But it isn't. Boy are we a conservative lot. The old forum was a pain to read on a mobile device. This isn't. It was a pain to maintain and secure. This one most likely isn't. It's called progress buddy. And yea, that entails change.

[Beirut]

Found my signature (with some help).

 

Hope they fix this pre-alpha of an ugly azz forum.

[launchedsquid]

seems fine to me, just as easy to navigate as the old one, same categories, just looks different.

[Dragon1-1]

It looks horrible. It's not fine, and a huge downgrade for the users. I don't care if the backend is better, they should trim down the wasted space and return to the old color scheme.

 

I couldn't care less for mobile, either. Phone users should get their own site. Flightsims are played on beefy PCs with widescreen monitors.

[joey45]

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

 

It needed to be updated due to reasons on their end. They are probably getting feed back by those that are not complaining and moaning and will change it as and where needed.

[Mr_Burns]

I've literally been looking at this for 15 minutes and just thought: "Wow. What a mess. Why? Why? Why? Seriously, why?".

 

I really hate to tell, but from a professional (20 years of webdesign experience on my belly) as well as a users POV, this is the most horrible thing i've seen in quite a while.

There's so many basic design and usability principles punched right in the face it literally made my hamster.exe stop for minutes. I didn't know where to start, it's been overwhelming.

 

Really, please: either try to revert to the old design, which was quite okay or find another theme that shows relevant information in a clear, condensed way. This in all seriousness is nothing i want to visit several times a day, not even several times a month and it's no case of "you need to get used to it, take your time".

 

After recovering i thought i visualize for better expressiveness. That's just the very first things i recognized without really using the forums at all.

 

[ATTACH=JSON]{"alt":"Click image for larger version Name:\tNew forum.jpg Views:\t0 Size:\t238.6 KB ID:\t7111964","data-align":"none","data-attachmentid":"7111964","data-size":"full"}[/ATTACH]

 

 

[ATTACH=JSON]{"alt":"Click image for larger version Name:\tNew forum 2.jpg Views:\t0 Size:\t122.2 KB ID:\t7111965","data-align":"none","data-attachmentid":"7111965","data-size":"full"}[/ATTACH]

 

I like the ‘like’ function but yeah, it seems useless, I want to see the latest posts, mainly, is there a new update, if there isn’t an update and it’s still the one last Saturday or Wednesday or for Igor RIP, off the forum until I have time to get on my desktop and look at specifics

 

why fix something that wasn’t broken?

[Lurker]

Since we are entitled to an opinion. I don't like it.

[Razorback]

It looks horrible. It's not fine, and a huge downgrade for the users. I don't care if the backend is better, they should trim down the wasted space and return to the old color scheme.

 

I couldn't care less for mobile, either. Phone users should get their own site. Flightsims are played on beefy PCs with widescreen monitors.

 

Same for me, I really don't like the new Forum !

It really doesn't make you want to consult it!

Probably a better option for smartphone users but a real step backwards for those who consult the site from a PC...

I'm really very disappointed by the final result!

[dali]

ahhhh

Edited October 21, 2020 by dali

[Mr_Burns]

Some Change Management fundamentals have been missed here.

 

A forum is only as strong as the community, don’t be so arrogant so as to not listen to the community and perhaps you should have tested it in beta first.

 

I have people work who claim ‘they know best’ and their project fail frequently.

[currenthill]

Just wow. I know I shouldn't judge. But the look and feel of the new forum is bad beyond words. It's borderline unusable. I sincerely hope this is some sort of short-lived first phase we have to endure before things get better... or at least as good as they were.

[Beirut]

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

 

It needed to be updated due to reasons on their end. They are probably getting feed back by those that are not complaining and moaning and will change it as and where needed.

 

 

It's not that change is bad, but change can be badly done. There are about 100 votes in the poll in this thread and 90% are negative. If change is required, then there should be a change, but can't it at least be done so the majority of the people don't think it sucks?

 

And it's a website forum, there are gazillions of them, designing websites and website forums has been around for a long time. I can't imagine it's that hard for a good sized company to make a nice looking functional forum.

[nawarren]

I thought It was broken or something. Had no Idea this was a design choice! Wow, it's truly awful. Please bring back the old one, which was great to navigate and view.

[ouky1991]

I'd say it's far better now. Finally has smartphone functionality and actually doesn't look like it was designed 20 years ago.

[hornblower793]

It is built on the newer version of vBulletin software and so will not be reverted (@Nineline has already confirmed this). There are definitely improvements that could be made to make it easier on the eye (such as removing the meaningless numbers next to the sub-forum names and having larger icons for going to the first unread post etc) but a lot of it is learning how to use the new layout. There are options for some customisation of the look under your user profile and I am sure they will make adjustments if people can be specific about what they want. It has improved since yesterday (for example, it is now legible on a larger monitor without having to zoom in the entire page). I was one of those who complained yesterday, but this was more about the lack of proper change management where you warn users when changes such as this are incoming and engage to find out what people value the most from the current system so that you can either incorporate it or explain how it is now achieved.

[hornblower793]

I'd say it's far better now. Finally has smartphone functionality and actually doesn't look like it was designed 20 years ago.

This is true, but the default colour scheme (which is definitely vBulletin's) is very cold and clinical. Smartphone functionality is good but shouldn't come at the expense of the experience on other platforms. Things like this are cyclical in nature because this is a very retro look and does look like a 20 year old system.....

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by hornblower793
Grammar and good English

[sc_neo]

So i feared that i would come! I am a bit angry withmyself since i have heard of a new forum being in development for quite some time and i didn't write a post why and what was so great about the old forum. Let me state this here:

The old forum was once of the most efficient and eye pleasing forums and this was a big reason why it "wasted" way too much time on a daily basis because it allowed for a perfect flow from top to bottom to first read the news and general 2.5 stuff, then glance over my owned modules and the happenings therem, then 3rd parties and the mods section etc. The way the new forum is layed out, too much info is hidden behind the subforums and i am not really enticed to go look.

But even if some things were a bit dated and i fully understand that the forum needed changes under the hood, the user facing side was near perfect from a cognitive-perception perspective, as well as from a order-flow perspective.

I can only encourage the web devs here to try to recreate the old forums look and feel and way of navigation as close on the new backbone as they can. Then, start inplementeing incremental change that improves on the shortcomings.

 

So i try to list what would like to see reappear:

 

- overall colour scheme. I don't wear pruple in RL but that bluish grey and purple was quite unique, eye-pleasing and had a very good contrast. I would really like to have an exact replica of that style as an option.

 

- Yes, the vertical top-level layout meant a bit of scrolling, but it was way faster than the new style since your eyes didn't new to jump around needleslly trying to pinpoint whats where. Stuff was just scrolling downwards under your gaze. And that vertical style allowed for the last changed thread to be displayed. Absolutely perfect, i don't know any other forum that did this so well as the old DCS forum.

 

-easy acces to the last post you have actually looked at so you can read on from where you left of before

 

-And the one thing i really thought needed improvement; the way images/screenshots where displayed has actually not been addressed as far as i can see. There i would hope the new web tech would allow for displaying them full screen without having to click them first.

 

Thats the first round of things i noticed and would like be worked on/changed. Cheers

Edited October 21, 2020 by sc_neo

[gavagai]

There is an American saying:

 

"If it ain't broke..."

[golani79]

I much more preferred the old layout - it was way easier to navigate.

 

Here everything is all over the place .. Tapatalk on my mobile phone also seems to not work any longer -.-