Well, let me be the first to say - Page 2

[BestJewSinceJC]

All of the buttons are enormous. My first thought was "looks nice" but then I realized that

1. I liked the old colors and the contrast better. This shade of purple is not appealing.
2. Everything, including threads, buttons, etc, is too big now.
3. I can only navigate one page at a time now (or choose first or last page). Before the range of pages I could jump directly to was larger.
4. Did I mention the threads are too big? I agree with Ezzaral - the size of the threads distracts from the site features, since you can view fewer threads at a time now and it draws attention from the other components on the site.

I do like the forum menus better, they look better and pop down faster. The only thing I feel incredibly strongly about is how big the thread names (and the new button) are .. the purple I don't like but I'll get used to it.

[WASDted]

jephthah, I know. we really appreciate it.

[Dani]

Hi everyone,

I just got home from a *VERY* long day in the office and am going to take some time to respond to everyone's feedback from during the day. First of all, I have been reading all of the feedback and keeping up with it. Unfortunately, some of the major bug squashing required my immediate attention during the day and so I didn't have time to respond. I'm going to attempt to do that now :)

seriously. it could have been made more difficult to read, but you'd really have had to work at it. The font was made a tad darker and still on a white background. Font size remained the same if I remember correctly but changed from Verdana to Arial, which are both very web safe fonts.

Also: I have a 'delete' button next to my post, which I normally don't have in this forum. (I only mod soft-dev). Is this new or a bug?Button title needs to be changed :)

I very much like the new static bottom-toolbar. I was just about to start complaining about the (again) disappearance of MFF Thanks!

I'm sorry to be blunt, but the monochromatic color scheme, the hard contrast, the incredible overuse of whitespace.... it's horrible. While it may be an illusion that posts appear to have more white space around them now, when placed side by side with the old design, you can fit nearly two of the new posts into the same space as one of the old posts. There is a SIGNIFICANT amount of less scrolling on forum thread pages. This is mostly due to the user information being moved off to the side instead of in between posts. The main initiatve behind this was that I wanted the content to flow easier, instead of having to read a discussion "piecemeal" constantly having to jump over extraneous information when reading a long discussion.

Now, the discussion flows much nicer, and all of the extra stuff is off to the side where it doesn't get in the way of the actual content.

I personally find this interface more user friendly and easier to read than than the last one, and this happens every time she changes it, a few people say it sucks, then everyone gets used to it and likes it a lot, and complains when it changes again. Some of the fonts are a little large, but other than that, I love the new format. Thank you!!

I can't find the can of baked beans - it's not in the same aisle.I told you it would take a year :)

And another thing - I was one of the featured posters in this week's newsletter and was 'bribed' to participate with a nice shiny 'Featured Poster' badge. Well that didn't last long, like my Sponsor badge. Not that I give too much of a fig about this, but it just seemed to happen with no warning or consultation. Hmmph, next time Dick Dastardly offers me a medal, I'll refuse and let him fall to the ground.The badges are coming back very soon. The badge graphics didn't look right in the new design so I am having new ones made up. They'll be back very soon.

I've figured out how the adding and deducting rep work, but how do you see what the rep comments are for the post, if any? From what I can tell, you can't without bouncing around through profile pages. Again, it's inefficient. There was a bug earlier in the day where the link to see rep comments wasn't showing up. That's been fixed.

The "Threads I've Posted In" link is nice, but that's the only way to keep track of new posts in threads you've posted in. You really can't quickly tell from any other view. I really liked the "pencil" from the old design, it made it really easy to tell which threads you were in from the forum view. If there was a pencil and the title was bold, you immediately knew.Thread icons, and the ability to quickly see posts that you have posted in, are being worked on.

> Also i can't find the shortcut to view the first unread like there used to be with that large "new" button. Now i have to come into the thread and click the 'view first unread' up the top. It was removed to make the page somewhat cleaner. I don't think it's a big deal because not having it does not require an additional page load. You can just use the link to "jump" to the right post.

I rely on the big orange negative rep flags and the negative votes to alert me to people I should be wary of helping. That and the avatars zone me in pretty fast. All three seem to be missing now. You have to click on the thread now and then check out the rep to see the big Scarlett Letter. I generally find that those orange dots are well earned. Any chance of bringing them back? Reputation and Solved threads will be brought back into post information. Avatars currently appear within forum threads but not within news stories, product reviews, code snippets, etc.

And I want to immediately see which post has been upvoted or downvoted, so i can know whether or not the post needs to be taken more or less seriously.Posts with reputation have a link that brings up all of the rep comments next to the post's vote score.

also, i too dislike the rollover quote box that hides the quote. if i'm making the effort to quote someone, then their quote is an integral part of my response, not some tangential fluff, and it needs to be considered inline.The concept behind this is that 99.99999% of quoted text says the exact same thing as one post up on the page. However, there are plans on changing it from displaying on rollover to clicking once to display and a second time to hide. This way, if you want to read a long quote, you don't have to be conscious of where your mouse cursor is.

What is a pain is the drop in functionality of the main links. This functionality may come back in some form. In the meantime, similar functionality has instead been moved to the homepage. From the homepage, you can select which forums you want quick access to the latest posts of each time you visit DaniWeb. Your preferences get saved in a cookie for when you return.

I can't read a new PM i keep getting this error:That was a bug that was fixed. Thanks :)

It definitely seems to load faster too.MUCH FASTER!!!!

Some threads I can't reply to, e.g. http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread282981.html
Didn't see a locked icon or anything.
The thread is locked. I forgot the notification informing you of that.

Did I mention the threads are too big? I agree with Ezzaral - the size of the threads distracts from the site features, since you can view fewer threads at a time now and it draws attention from the other components on the site.Yes, they are quite big. I do plan on taking feedback into consideration and reevaluating their size, even though I currently really like the large size. The idea is that it really makes the threads the main focus of the page, and it lets people browsing the site actually stop and read each one instead of being overwhelmed seeing a big list of 50 links.

[lllllIllIlllI]

Just a couple of things i am noticing. First of all, i can't see where i can mark a forum as read. Or has that whole feature kicked the bucket?

Also, i was wondering if the announcements that were at the top of many forums such as the "we will not do your homework without you showing effort" announcement has gone. Are they going to come back?

I understand that this is of course a busy time, i was just wondering if i could expect them to come back? ooor if i was just missing them somehow.

[mschroeder]

I'll give it some time, but agree with about 90% of the criticisms posted above. It looks like the site has taken several steps backwards.

Since no one else mentioned it, unless I missed it, has anyone else had this weird chrome glitch? Quite obnoxious when you instantly lose a chunk of viewable space.5.0.375.29 beta/windows vista if it is of any help in solving it.

On the nice side, it looks good on Android's browser especially without the nagging lower tool bar.

[Dani]

> First of all, i can't see where i can mark a forum as read. Or has that whole feature kicked the bucket?
Bottom of listing of threads, to the right of the New Thread button.

> Also, i was wondering if the announcements that were at the top of many forums such as the "we will not do your homework without you showing effort" announcement has gone. Are they going to come back?
No one obviously read them and they say the same thing as the little blurbs on the page right above the listing and below the text ad, so I decided to see if not having them made any difference at all. Also, the editor watermarks will be going back shortly, and I'll play around with other types of notifications as well.

[lllllIllIlllI]

Since no one else mentioned it, unless I missed it, has anyone else had this weird chrome glitch? Quite obnoxious when you instantly lose a chunk of viewable space.5.0.375.29 beta/windows vista if it is of any help in solving it.

I think that is an issue with chrome. I use chrome and i get that issue on other websites sometimes. I just usually restore and then maximise the browser and that fixes the problem..

But i'm using chrome and haven't noticed anything wrong here.

EDIT:

No one obviously read them

Yeah.... good point :P

[Dani]

No issues for me with Chrome 4.1.249.1064 on Windows 7.

[Ancient Dragon]

1) I like the new ribbon at the bottom that contains MFF Today's Posts etc. Problem is once you click on MFF there is no way to remove the popup menu.

2) I liked the old color scheme better than this purple -- but we'll get used to this one.

3) I don't like that Popularity column -- seems redundent with the Reply count immediately next to it. The real estate for that column could be better used for something else.

4)I see both rep squares and post count stars are both gone. Looks better that way.

5)Clicking the New button used to take me to the first new post that followed the last one I made. It currently does nothing. I liked that feature and used it a lot. Hope you will restore it.

6) Hidden Quotes -- nice feature.

7) What is Permalink ???

[Dani]

> Problem is once you click on MFF there is no way to remove the popup menu.
Click on it again to remove it. The button toggles it on and off.

> I don't like that Popularity column -- seems redundent with the Reply count immediately next to it.
It replaced the Views column

> see both rep squares and post count stars are both gone. Looks better that way.
Looks better but a lot of people found it valuable so I am working on a way to accomidate both sides.

> Clicking the New button used to take me to the first new post that followed the last one I made. It currently does nothing. I liked that feature and used it a lot. Hope you will restore it.
Investigating the icons and new button tomorrow.

[lllllIllIlllI]

permalink means that you can copy and paste that link somewhere and it will always link to the correct post

[Tekmaven]

Thanks Dani for the replies. I'm sure ultimately everyone in this thread is excited to see Daniweb evolving and know that you're giving everyone's feedback the personal touch.

I'm sure you've been working long hours on getting this new version of Daniweb up. I think the entire community will support me in the suggestion that you should get a good nights rest tonight :).

Thanks again for all of the effort!

[Ancient Dragon]

Another problem: Just noticed this in Geeks' Lounge: there is no page count on multiple-page posts. I don't want to have to scroll through all 500 or so posts to get to the last post of a thread.

Oh! nevermind. I just saw it on this thread :icon_redface:

[Dani]

The one thing this entire thread has taught me ...

** I miss Dave Sinkula **

[colweb]

The current layout, use of color, fonts are to big, and it is harder to read prove that not every change is an improvement.

Eventually you get used to it, but .... I don't think I will be so active here as I was lately.

And oh my, that permanent menu at the bottom of the screen, please NO!

[Will Gresham]

Overall I like it :)

A couple of things though, I apologise if these have been mentioned: 1, The collapsible blocks still use the standard VB icons (I realise these will most likely be changed anyway)

2, There is no page selection at the top of the page, only at the bottom

3, The MFF, is it possible to make it like the other popups that go poof when you click off them?

4, IMO, MFF looks rather shabby with the 'New as of...' bit, I would like the double-click to set as read thingy back as well (Maybe with this new as of thing as alt text?)

5, Buttons. The sponsor button made me feel special :D

6, Edit/Delete button. Shouldn't this only say Edit for non-mod/admin people?

7, Forum listing pages, icons and text are a bit on the large size.

8, Quotes.

Don't like to moan, and I know it may well be tweaked over the next few days/weeks/whatever, but thought I'd put in my $0.02

[BestJewSinceJC]

No need to complain so hard. Just tell Dani what you like/don't like and give her a while (at least a week) to tweak things. If she decides not to change it so be it, then if it is that big of a deal then you leave.
Suggestions:

1. color options .. for example, to change the forum style to blue instead of purple.

2. The quotes bother me now .. currently when you click to open the quote, if you go to your scroll bar and scroll down, it closes again. Why not make it so you need to click to open and click again to close? Better yet, make them open by default and then they can be clicked to close. 'Click to open' makes no sense because you're always going to click it, so why not have it open to begin with? When I'm reading text I want to read, not be distracted by clicking and having the screen resize. Some of the posters here tend to

quote
-respond
quote
-repond

multiple times in a post. Opening up all of those quotes is going to be far more annoying than having them open to begin with.

[Nick Evan]

also, i too dislike the rollover quote box that hides the quote. if i'm making the effort to quote someone, then their quote is an integral part of my response, not some tangential fluff, and it needs to be considered inline.

The concept behind this is that 99.99999% of quoted text says the exact same thing as one post up on the page. However, there are plans on changing it from displaying on rollover to clicking once to display and a second time to hide. This way, if you want to read a long quote, you don't have to be conscious of where your mouse cursor is.

Understood. But how about only collapsing the quoted text if it's more then say 3-6 lines?

[edit]
On the +side: I like how the user-control-panel is now accessible with one (as it was in the past)

[edit2]
The "mark forum as read" links is apparently not working, whicj I use quite often in the "reported posts" forum.

[Nick Evan]

And the code-tags button in the reply box has transformed back to the mysterious "#" symbol instead of the word (code)

[BestJewSinceJC]

Another [very] minor suggestion - the ' This thread is solved. Perhaps start a new thread instead? ' question should be centered above the reply box, not on the left of it.

[WaltP]

I very much like the new static bottom-toolbar. I was just about to start complaining about the (again) disappearance of MFF Thanks!

Although I liked the MFF on the side bar, I think the bottom bar may work as well.

I'm sorry to be blunt, but the monochromatic color scheme, the hard contrast, the incredible overuse of whitespace.... it's horrible. While it may be an illusion that posts appear to have more white space around them now, when placed side by side with the old design, you can fit nearly two of the new posts into the same space as one of the old posts. There is a SIGNIFICANT amount of less scrolling on forum thread pages. This is mostly due to the user information being moved off to the side instead of in between posts. The main initiatve behind this was that I wanted the content to flow easier, instead of having to read a discussion "piecemeal" constantly having to jump over extraneous information when reading a long discussion.

Love the 'user info' in the side bar. Helps with scrolling as you say. But why do we need a huge title at the top of each post? Big title at the top of page, little title (just a reminder) between posts would be enough.

Now, the discussion flows much nicer, and all of the extra stuff is off to the side where it doesn't get in the way of the actual content.

Agree...

I personally find this interface more user friendly and easier to read than than the last one, and this happens every time she changes it, a few people say it sucks, then everyone gets used to it and likes it a lot, and complains when it changes again. Some of the fonts are a little large, but other than that, I love the new format. Thank you!!

I agree the overall look feels cleaner.

> Also i can't find the shortcut to view the first unread like there used to be with that large "new" button. Now i have to come into the thread and click the 'view first unread' up the top. It was removed to make the page somewhat cleaner. I don't think it's a big deal because not having it does not require an additional page load. You can just use the link to "jump" to the right post.

But if it takes now 2 clicks, it's not cleaner. I agree that a "to first unread" icon is necessary from the thread page.

also, i too dislike the rollover quote box that hides the quote. if i'm making the effort to quote someone, then their quote is an integral part of my response, not some tangential fluff, and it needs to be considered inline.The concept behind this is that 99.99999% of quoted text says the exact same thing as one post up on the page. However, there are plans on changing it from displaying on rollover to clicking once to display and a second time to hide. This way, if you want to read a long quote, you don't have to be conscious of where your mouse cursor is.

Yes, it's a pain when the looooooooooong post is quoted for a 1-line response, but I agree that I don't like the quote hidden either. We don't know if the quote is from the previous post or not so we still have to see it. We now have to click again in 70%(?) of posts just to see a worthless quote. Before we could just scroll past it.

Plus, many times we need to copy and paste a portion of a quote as a highlight. Cannot be done with the new format at all.

How about a 5-10 line quote box that when clicked opens completely. This way we can decide if we want to open the quote or not.

Look closely at this post to see if the clicking to see quotes would drive you crazy or not... :icon_wink:

What is a pain is the drop in functionality of the main links. This functionality may come back in some form. In the meantime, similar functionality has instead been moved to the homepage. From the homepage, you can select which forums you want quick access to the latest posts of each time you visit DaniWeb. Your preferences get saved in a cookie for when you return.

To be honest, I never see the main page. I'm in the forums 99.5% of the time. Moving anything to the main page is removing it from use.

Did I mention the threads are too big? I agree with Ezzaral - the size of the threads distracts from the site features, since you can view fewer threads at a time now and it draws attention from the other components on the site.Yes, they are quite big. I do plan on taking feedback into consideration and reevaluating their size, even though I currently really like the large size. The idea is that it really makes the threads the main focus of the page, and it lets people browsing the site actually stop and read each one instead of being overwhelmed seeing a big list of 50 links.

Completely agree. The thread lists need to go back to being smaller. There is no reason I can think of in a forum thread list to bring more attention to the forum threads. And drop the icon size for the same reason.

Some other observations:

On the Thread Directory Page:
We need the "Start New Thread" button at the top.

"Mark this Forum Read" also needs to be at the top. Leaving it at the bottom is also a good idea.

"Moderation" defaults to Delete Threads. That doesn't seem to be a good default. I for one use Move Threads more often than any other selection.

"My Favorite Forums" -- New as of *** is unnecessary. A simple New or * would suffice and look better.

On the Software Forums Thread Page:
"Similar Threads" nullifies the 'extra space' you've tried to give us. Put it back at the bottom as they are not as important as the thread being displayed.

I don't think the IP address should be listed (unless it's a mod-only display).

I really appreciate that the display now grows with the window. Excellent!

Color of the quote box and text are too close together. Set the text closer to, say, 444444 rather than 777777

During Edit a post, a TAB from the message box should go to the Reason box, not Save button.

Switch the top line -- members on right (not really useful information) and Logged in info on left (very useful info). This helps for those of us that don't use full screen mode.

Profile Page
What's that graph tell us? Legend is needed.

That's what I've seen so far.

[Nick Evan]

Profile Page
What's that graph tell us? Legend is needed.

The legend is in the header of the graph. Right next to the words "Reputation and Posts "

[WaltP]

Oh, that's what that line meant! Maybe make the RepChange line more of a heartbeat shape. Is this over your entire life at DW?

Ahhh, yes. It's each month. Got it....

Oh, and the "Post" and "Advanced Editor" buttons are too large.

[lllllIllIlllI]

Just noticed a small problem with the rendering of the graph and the menus on the user screen.

I have a screenshot of the issue. The text is getting rendered behind the post/rep graph.

What about the target/NEW thread icons? This is really bad. Can't see which threads to which I've contributed when a NEW post is made. I don't want to start poncing about with "Threads I've Posted In" (BTW poor grammar again - won't make an issue of it though!).

Can't we have a target symbol with 'new' or something else so that we can quickly identify threads to which we've contributed but that have also received new posts since or last visit.

[Nick Evan]

W Can't we have a target symbol with 'new' or something else so that we can quickly identify threads to which we've contributed but that have also received new posts since or last visit.

1. Go to you user control panel , here you can see all thread with new posts in which you've posted.
2. Click on the "last-post-time" (it has an onmouseover "go to last post")

@Dani: The attachment window doesn't look right. It has 5 fields where I can type the filename?

@Nick

Thanks for that. The only way I got to my posts was via subscriptions. Is that right? It was all over the place.

I like to browse via forum (usu. php, html, community) - whatever I feel like doing. SO to have a NEW icon overwriting a TARGET icon is really inconvenient. In addition, the UCP gave this explanation of the icons. The no new posts and locked thread seem to be the same icon. Any reason for this?

Has this implementation been rushed? I understand the full implications of a redesign and all the testing involved, but this should to be at the forefront of UI/UX.

//For all the neg feedback - I'm starting to warm to things. Still creating my own user-defined css though.

[luap599]

Dani - I LIKE THE NEW LOOK. --- Strange; the so called seasoned users, find it hard to adapt to.
Content is king; and it is the content that will bring visitors to your site. I for one, will continue to visit this site!

Paul

[lllllIllIlllI]

the so called seasoned users, find it hard to adapt to.

I think dani would be more scared if we said nothing :P

Most people seem fine with it, it just is important that we point out things that we notice.

[happygeek]

Good news for Ardav - the badges are coming back soon...