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View Full Version : Answered Feedback: Any options for main forum page layout?



jnshk
06-22-2012, 09:55 PM
I know that you guys are experimenting with the layout and organization of the forums in order to improve the user-experience, but I was wondering if there might be some way for users to select a particular display layout for the main forum?

I can see why you'd want to reclaim screen real-estate by condensing some subforums into 1-liner hyperlinks under the main forum, but I find that the subforums seem to have been compressed a bit too much for my tastes. I was happier scrolling a mile down the page and getting a preview of each subforum than having to locate each tiny link and open each forum one by one to see what's new. Perhaps there's some happy medium between the previous expanded layout and the current condensed layout, or maybe a user-definable setting/preference to switch between displays?

Phatmiata
06-22-2012, 10:21 PM
............. or maybe a user-definable setting/preference to switch between displays?

That's a neat idea, not sure if the forum software will allow us to do this or not. Ill have to get Loren to chime in here after he takes a look at the options, thank you for the feedback, .......... :bow:

MazRoadAdmin
06-22-2012, 10:21 PM
You can click on any of the headings and get a full list of all of the subforums in that section.

Most forum regulars just use the "new posts" on the main menu. But, if you're only interested in a particular part of the forum, that's one way to do it.

Also, if you learn to read the icons, you can scan a section (like... Regional, for instance) and see if the icon next to it is bold/colored. If it is, then there are new posts, and looking for the subforum(s) that are bold will tell you where the new posts are without having to crack each one open.

But, no... we can't do alternate layouts.

jnshk
06-23-2012, 06:39 AM
Thanks for the quick responses.

I generally use the icons to determine which subforums/threads have been updated, but I didn't know about clicking on the main heading hyperlink. That action does indeed expand the section the way I desire, but is there any way to make the clicking action bring up the expanded section without actually leaving the main page? Possibly bringing up the content in a floating DIV element or something of that nature (much in the same manner that clicking on image thumbnails will bring the full size image up in an overlay manner without actually leaving the page)?

Thanks again for listening to my whining/suggestions. :)

MazRoadAdmin
06-23-2012, 09:16 AM
It could be done (anything can), but it wouldn't be easy. Give this new layout some time, see if you can adapt to it.

Martin
06-23-2012, 07:18 PM
Maybe open the subforum (or whatever it's called) in a new tab or window?

jnshk
06-24-2012, 12:21 AM
Yeah, I usually do open each subforum--and then each pertinent thread--into new tabs. It was just nice having larger links to and most recent thread previews for some of my most-read forums. I have to squint a bit more to identify if there's been any unread activity on each forum and to make sure I click on the right one now, whereas before it was very large and in my face. Nothing I can't handle, just a minor inconvenience to which I'll eventually adapt if necessary. Just figured I'd ask, because you never know for sure unless you ask.

Mexican_Guy
06-24-2012, 04:03 PM
looks nice now with bigger letters

iamdallas
06-24-2012, 04:06 PM
Middle click. Do it. ;)

kung fu jesus
06-24-2012, 05:46 PM
Just figured I'd ask, because you never know for sure unless you ask.

This is the kind of feedback we like! We are striving to respond to our membership and these changes were in response to what we are hearing. As you can tell, it's hard to please everyone. Randy and Loren are working hard to balance that while making the forum reliable and unique.

Agent☣Orange
06-24-2012, 05:53 PM
I agree. Feedback is essential and we very much encourage it over complaining. If there's anything we can do to make this a better member experience, we need to hear about it. We're lucky enough to have a good admin who knows in intricacies of the code to make it all work too.

MazRoadAdmin
06-24-2012, 07:03 PM
Glad to see someone noticed the larger text. I still need to tweak some font settings. It's weird how some of the global settings don't quite work the way they should.

jnshk
06-24-2012, 07:19 PM
::thumbsup:: on the larger text! It's just a minor change but it's enough to make it a lot easier for me to navigate. (Does this mean that I'm getting old?)

MazRoadAdmin
06-24-2012, 07:26 PM
We're all getting older, but what's really happening is that most websites specify font sizes as a pixel height. What was "small" text at 10 pixels 5 years ago on a 1024x768 screen is absolutely TINY on the much higher resolution screen that is prevalent now. So, in addition to your eyesight getting worse... every time you upgrade your computer monitor, a lot of the text you see is getting smaller! That's the issue that I'm working on correcting with this website.

paulsk
06-24-2012, 07:38 PM
I do not like the larger font size at all. At first I thought I had accidentally zoomed in on the page. Please change it back.

MazRoadAdmin
06-24-2012, 10:53 PM
Ah, we're back to "can't please everyone". :fp:

AARP
06-25-2012, 01:13 AM
Yeah, the large text makes it look like it didn't format correctly. If someone would like a larger font, just ctrl +.

MazRoadAdmin
06-25-2012, 01:17 AM
Patience. I'm still fidgeting with it.

WASABI
06-25-2012, 04:24 AM
Still pretty large!

jnshk
06-25-2012, 07:34 PM
While we're tweaking... the main forum page looks great to me, but the subforum pages do look a bit over-large now. The thread pages also seem a bit larger suddenly. Any way to return them to normal without shrinking the main page again? Might cut down on some of the flame-storming that I've inadvertently caused for you guys.. (sorry!)

MazRoadAdmin
06-25-2012, 08:01 PM
The main forum page and the search page were the ones I worked on. Any other changes mostly incidental. I'll be looking at the subforum and thread display pages when I get a chance. We'll achieve some "balance" somewhere. :)

Mexican_Guy
06-28-2012, 09:29 PM
i think the "regional forums" should be separate into his own place, its.. a little hard to find