With the new design, are you finding discussions hard to follow? In other words, is the area with the member signatures too big that it becomes confusing or requires effort to skip over them when following message after message?
I'm getting a lot of confusion in that respect from multipole people who do not frequent DaniWeb regularly (essentially that it's "not fun to read"), and yet no one has mentioned anything as of yet in the feedback forum.
Jump to PostI find the new format uncomfortable. I would prefer to see the contributor's name at the top of the post and I think there is too much space devoted to the user details on each post. I'm not particularly enjoying browsing the forums anymore. If you insist on keeping the …
Jump to Postsignatures are way too big and prominent.
Tag clouds appearing only at the far bottom are a pain, place them in the side bar instead.
Jump to PostEspecially those of us who are doing the most complaining ^_^
Jump to PostPut the username at the end of the post, and I lose. Put the username at the top of the post, and I lose. Seems I can never win here!
Just leave it as it is now, it's just about getting used to it.
Jump to PostIMO it's better at the top but if you remember your Ricky Nelson (Garden Party)
You can't play everone so,
You got to please yourself.
It's fine for me, I like it. The only thing that still drives my attention (not disturbing) is the Discussion Starter tag, too purple, if that was gray or outlined like the Featured or the Sponsor tags, I think it would be better.
'Lil bit, yeah. It's not a deal breaker, just something that takes getting used to.
I think the signature is out of order. You see the post content first, then who posted it. Would I be correct in guessing that you wanted us to view posts on their merits rather than filtering by posters we trust? ;)
The signatures are busy, which seems to make the posts themselves get lost in the mix. For longer posts it's not a problem, but posts with a few lines or less are easy to miss.
I think the signature is out of order. You see the post content first, then who posted it. Would I be correct in guessing that you wanted us to view posts on their merits rather than filtering by posters we trust? ;)
It was done this way for a handful of reasons. It all began because the SEO firm I hired of ex-Google employees insisted it be this way, despite me not necessarily agreeing. Then, I noticed StackOverflow does it this way. Then, my designer friend recommended it be this way as well. At this point, so many people whose UI/UX opinions I trust have got me convinced.
Can't say it makes much difference to readability to be honest. I like the new poster/signature positioning, and I really like the use of whitespace throughout. I could lose the sidebar, but hey... :)
Sorted. If I use my Chromebook Flip in tablet mode, DaniWeb via Chrome browser loses the sidebar :)
I still have to provide my feedback on the official thread but since you have already created this thread, maybe I can just use this one. On first looks, it's definitely sleek looking and modern theme, a job well done.
Regarding your question, my personal answer would be "yes". I'm finding it really confusing. Few points I would like to mention:
In many cases with single line posts, the signature/user avatar area looks bigger than the "actual answer" ! The line separating posts is light gray over white background which pretty much blends in it.
The text area in which we type has a gray background which is a big confusing (since this looks exactly like a disabled text area).
For someone who lands on to a Daniweb thread using google search, it must be really confusing given that there is no way to create a thread and the person has no idea how to view the forum list. I know it's out there in the right top corner but honestly totally not intuitive. I had to read the "new theme announcement" thread to understand what exactly was going on.
As already mentioned in some other thread, the intentional shrinking of the actual content div gives the impression of excessive scrolling when reading a thread.
I can't seem to find the old chat pop-up? Was it removed?
Then, I noticed StackOverflow does it this way
With the exception that SO doesn't have member signatures so you only end up looking at user avatar which is lying in one corner, so kind of OK. Also SO doesn't have the sub-forum concept so it's really easy for users -- either they are viewing a thread created by another or they can be on the home-screen.
Regarding your question, my personal answer would be "yes". I'm finding it really confusing.
Same here. Too much space and distractions around the actual topic.
I'd go as far as to state it is affecting my willingness to visit already.
Space and distractions around the topic? I was actually thinking about it just being the signatures/avatars are too big. Heh. I know about how half of you like the whitespace and half of you don't, but what other "distractions around the actual topic" are you referring? The sidebar, etc. hasn't changed since the old version.
I guess readability would improve, if the faint grey marker line between two posts could be a few pixels wider. And in "new dark blue"?
The sidebar, etc. hasn't changed since the old version.
That doesn't mean I was fond of it in the old version. I think if you make a screenshot of a thread with short replies, less than 10% of the screen has on topic text.
I was actually thinking about it just being the signatures/avatars are too big
Don't forget the font size.
I find the new format uncomfortable. I would prefer to see the contributor's name at the top of the post and I think there is too much space devoted to the user details on each post. I'm not particularly enjoying browsing the forums anymore. If you insist on keeping the signature stuff at the end of the post, how about changing the header from
14 hours ago
to
14 hours ago by pritaeas
It wouldn't take space away from anything else and still provide useful information.
I still think there is way too much space devoted to Related Articles. I don't see why this has to take up 2/5 of the screen. And the social media icons are way oversized.
signatures are way too big and prominent.
Tag clouds appearing only at the far bottom are a pain, place them in the side bar instead.
signatures are way too big and prominent.
I removed member signatures a few hours ago. Do you mean the avatar/username?
Tag clouds appearing only at the far bottom are a pain, place them in the side bar instead.
They appear after the first post of the thread, as always (same as old design).
Tags appear at the end of the thread.
As to the signature, with the narrower content section and larger font you get a lot less actual content per page now.
For example my post was 3 lines of actual content, plus 4 lines for the signature, plus a 2 line header.
In the original layout most of the signature was in the left sidebar flush with the content of the post, taking up less vertical screen real eastate.
If you have a portrait form factor screen like a tablet no doubt the new layout works well. On a landscape screen like a laptop it's a lot of scrolling.
Tags appear at the end of the thread.
Same as before, the tags that an article has been tagged with appear after the first post in the thread. A tag cloud of other "related" tags (algorithmically generated) appear at the bottom.
I'm probably a glutton for punishment, but are threads just a bit easier to follow now?
I still think there is way too much space devoted to Related Articles. I don't see why this has to take up 2/5 of the screen. And the social media icons are way oversized.
Because, for someone who sells advertising views to an audience that 99% of the time comes from a Google search and then leaves without exploring, getting that one extra click out of a user can double my income.
I'm probably a glutton for punishment, but are threads just a bit easier to follow now?
Agree with deceptikon! :)
Yep, the little tweaks are improving it all the time Dani. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated by most folk!
Especially those of us who are doing the most complaining ^_^
I can't find the C# forum! Where's the link? I don't want to browse all languages, just the ones I am interested in...
We now use the tagging system instead of forums. There is no more C# forum. You can find all C# related articles at: https://www.daniweb.com/tags/c%23
You can arrive there by typing C# into the search bar, or clicking the C# tag in any article already tagged with C#.
The reason for this move is because DaniWeb effectively covers an infinite number of topics and languages, and the forum system was too restricting ... we were bound to focusing entirely around popular languages from ten years ago even though so much has changed since then.
I've have some problems with mixing posts. My brain would combine name of contributor and content of previous post.
Even technically ignores the line between, even though it's obvious there and I am absolutely aware of it.
But I think it's just me.
Edit: This is how my brain sees posts. But it's just getting used to.
Put the username at the end of the post, and I lose. Put the username at the top of the post, and I lose. Seems I can never win here!
Put the username at the end of the post, and I lose. Put the username at the top of the post, and I lose. Seems I can never win here!
Just leave it as it is now, it's just about getting used to it.
IMO it's better at the top but if you remember your Ricky Nelson (Garden Party)
You can't play everone so,
You got to please yourself.
When you recall how much 'debate' there has been in the past when the UI hasn't changed anywhere near as drastically, it's hardly surprising that there was going to be a bigger, and more mixed, reaction this time around. Just do what you always do, Dani, by which I mean take it all on board and call the changes as you see them. Historically, this has proven to be a winning strategy as far as UI design is concerned at DaniWeb.
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