Some things I miss about the old layout

[minitauros]

It's cool that you are constantly developing Daniweb, but I feel that it's time to mention some things that I feel are missing since the last overhaul:

1. Can't easily jump to subforums (like "PHP") any more. This isn't really a problem, because I used to just open the "Web development" section anyway, but I think it would be nice to include some tag filtering at the top of a forum now (or maybe in a fixed sidebar).
2. Can't see who posted the last reply to a discussion. Usually when I see/saw someone of whom I know has knowledge about a subject reply last to a thread, I knew my help probably wasn't really needed there. Now I need to open the dicussion and find the last post to see what is going on.
3. Too much spacing. There is just so much spacing right now that I don't really see any coherence between what information is related to what other information. Need more borders or clear section separtors. This applies at least to board overviews & discussions.
4. What is that status bar doing at the top of a discussion (with the x views, 1 reply, etc.)? That is not information I need when I open a discussion. It is nice information but to place it so overly present at the top of the page might be a bit too much. I want to get down to business fast. See the question, see the first reply/replies, see if I can help. It now takes too much effort to search what has been said and replied.

Know that you'll probably hear feedback & criticism mostly on what is considered "bad" or "up for change", so don't forget that there's also the goods, but that people tend to comment more on the bad. If there are no comments, stuff is probably ok :).

[happygeek]

1. Type PHP into the search box, and boom you are (effectively) there - allowing for the fact that there is no php subforum of course :)

[Dani]

Or just click in the search box while anywhere within the Web Development forum, and PHP will be one of the choices to come up.

[minitauros]

Oh I have another one! (Hopefully you don't take this as bad criticism because that is not the way I mean it :))

On the homepage, there's this enormous "post a new article" box, while 99% of the times I just want to read and see where I can contribute. I think most people usually tend to read first (especially regular visitors). Maybe it would be an idea to make that form hidden by default and slide down or something when you click a "post new article" button? And if possible, place the subforum/section selection section (yay what a name) a bit more to the top (unfortunately the ad is there, and I don't want to say "remove the ad", because you might need it there, but it's just a thought!) - that would help people get to where they want to go faster.

[edbr]

i would like to throw my penny farthing to this, i had the same feeling would prfer the question form as a slide in . just my opinion though :)

[minitauros]

Oeh but the "Discussion starter" button next to a discussion starter's name is nice though :)

[nullptr]

I miss that I don't miss anything about it.

[joshl_1995]

Yep number 1 for me!

-> You know what'll be a good idea.
-> What?
->How about we remove subgroups so this way users will have to look harder for topics to either get help with or look through to help others!

What the heck happened to user friendly? Ease of use?
Taking away subgroups doesn't only make it harder to find things but it from what I can imagine would make it harder to get help! Eg. people who want to give just PHP help now have to search the tag PHP which will give them multiple articles that contain the PHP tag. Nope you just lost a point. Don't think I'll be donating again if/ until this is fixed. I've dontated multiple times in the past and won't until I see and improvement. To see that this is what my money has gone towards, nope... don't like it.

For the sake of a user friendly experience, please fix it! if I want to give just PHP help, so be it!

[Dani]

Hi,

I'm really sorry you feel that way. Obviously your donations have been extraordinarily appreciated.

That being said, why can't someone give just PHP help, by just checking out questions that have been tagged with PHP?

The advantage is that now someone else can just give MySQL help, by just checking out questions that have been tagged with MySQL.

Questions are now seen by more people because, before, a single question that was related to PHP/MySQL had to be placed in just one forum or the other, and now it can show that it is equally related to both by being tagged with both.

[joshl_1995]

Well yeah I understand that, but when I post something I enter tags the relate to the whole post Eg. If I want help with a PHP script that'll require help with storing info in a database that could be related to Facebook I would multiple tags such as, PHP Database MySql Facebook, etc...

Although my post is about just PHP I enter tags to relate to the post.

This all doesn't matter anyway about seeking help but what about those why just want to give PHP help they now have to look for posts containing the tag PHP and that could lead them to a post that isn't even about seeking help with PHP but more like help with HTML that the user has PHP on the post but only needs help with HTML. So its annoying because you now have more to look through.

Plus why couldn't you just make this kind of list appear when they click the primary category? So when they click Web Development then it'll take them to every post then they can enter the tags they want to give help for.

[edbr]

Plus why couldn't you just make this kind of list appear when they click the primary category? So when they click Web Development then it'll take them to every post then they can enter the tags they want to give help for.

i an starting to feel it is not a great site to view, having to scroll down past all the so ans so joined so and so changed this etc multiple posts of apossible languages that have no relevance to me.
i see Stackoverflow use a button that displays tag by popularity so the most popular tags are easy to access. IMO a much easier experience.
I get the feeling that negative comments arent being viewed very well however thats my opinion. and its meant in a positive way

[MosaicFuneral]

I haven't been on here in a few years and I'm so lost now. Not even sure how I wound up in the Community Center, other than out of luck.

Edit: Are we going to get another one of those animated tutorial videos again? I kinda miss that guy out of Nostalgia.

We seem to have had this discussion of "tags vs subforums" on a number of threads. I think the structure is right - as this effectively allows "post once to many areas" as well as allowing greater specificity , perhaps the UI could be tweaked to make it easier. The popular tags at the bottom is a waste of space - literally - much more useful at the top.

[edbr]

Yes I think its a matter of tweaking also. Tags vs subforums should be fime for user and forum . But i do feel the mass of avatar, profile cv changes does little for a user experience, more so on a hand phone that desktop maybe

[nullptr]

My main issue is the with navigating to a page (e.g page 3) of a thread. I either have to scroll to the bottom of the first page to be able to select the page or manually edit the URL.

Agreed - I reckon popular tags and page nav should be on top AND bottom. The click on "last post" in thread list may go over the heads of newbies (and oldies!) Hope that can be done without compromising the new (very) neat UI.

[Dani]

The popular tags at the bottom is a waste of space - literally - much more useful at the top.

It's there at the bottom because it's always been there, and with Google being as picky as they are, and with our traffic finally starting to climb back up, I really don't want to mess with changing any content right now. If it was up to me, I would just remove the tag cloud at the bottom. My luck that doing so would significantly reduce the cross-linking amongst all our millions of pages on a massive scale and shake things up with Google too much.

I couldn't imagine a related tag cloud coming to the top of pages anytime soon. I'm not a big fan to begin with of the one on the bottom, so I don't see having it take up prime real estate and pushing the content down as something in my game plan right now.

The purpose of the dropdown when you click in the search field without typing anything is designed to be a much more effective, efficient and useful version that doesn't take up any extra space.

But i do feel the mass of avatar, profile cv changes does little for a user experience, more so on a hand phone that desktop maybe

Sorry, I'm misunderstanding you. The mass of avatar? ... What changed about profile CVs?

[dtpp]

@up: as for me its of no sense. You dont want to mess with Google, why its that? Please elaborate. If this (no matter short/long term) is going to improve usability/user happiness/discoverability/whatever, why not to go for it?

BTW +1 for dropdown; One thing - make it little bit wider please.....

My 2p.....

I realise that it takes up a lot of space. But scrolling to bottom is such a PITA. The fact it was there in another life is besides the point. The new design seems to be a lot bigger so more scrolling. But that may just be my perception.

there is nothing 'neat' in new UI; its just good. BTW I agree with pagenav thing....

Perhaps we have a different definition of the word neat. I refer to the "tidy", "smart". I also believe it.s good, but could be tweaked to be even better. However, if traffic is building I can appreciate not wanting to jeopardise that.

[Dani]

But scrolling to bottom is such a PITA.

Why do you need to scroll to the bottom? Why do you need it at all? The dropdown provided by the search is 1000% more relevant and useful IMHO.

But that may just be my perception.

Yes.

You dont want to mess with Google, why its that? Please elaborate.

For over a decade, Google used to send us a LOT of traffic. That was where the majority of our visitors came from. Then they stopped. And it got worse and worse and worse each day. Less traffic also means less advertising revenue, and it got so bad that I've had to spend a huge portion of my savings just being able to afford our hosting bills to keep the site up over the past 2 years. Now, for the first time in two whole years, Google traffic is starting to improve.

[dtpp]

50/50.......

Diafol is right that scrolling is a PITA, why dony you just duplicate pagenav and tags? Its not much work.......Why do people (=we, users) need it? for user-experience to be better; for navigation to be smoother. As simple as this.

As of the last paragraph - this is what it takes to run the site - its not always constant stream of incoming users; there can be sort of stagnation from time to time, its completely normal......

Edit: Ive just noticed - pagenav is both up & down but from page no.2 forward. Why cant you do it from very first page? whats the reason?

Edit2: Diafol - its not question of jeopardising traffic being built; Making things more user-friendly does not mean stopping/slowing traffic building proccess....

Why do you need to scroll to the bottom? Why do you need it at all? The dropdown provided by the search is 1000% more relevant and useful IMHO.

It is more relevant maybe, but it just doesn't feel easy to use. A few popular tags would highlight the site's use of them and provide a simple click-only / tap-only nav for those areas of interest. The searchbox requires me to type 'p' before php appears. This isn't making things easy.
The page nav at the bottom is the pain for me though. Well an irritation more than a debilitating affliction. :)

[minitauros]

you may remove ads by installing AdblockPlus; Id not change anything on main page - its ok....

-----

And it got worse and worse and worse each day. Less traffic also means less advertising revenue, and it got so bad that I've had to spend a huge portion of my savings just being able to afford our hosting bills to keep the site up over the past 2 years.

This is why I don't use things like Adblock. People hosting great sites don't have to do that for free, how could they? At least give them a fair chance of getting some income to play even (at the least).

Edit2: Diafol - its not question of jeopardising traffic being built; Making things more user-friendly does not mean stopping/slowing traffic building proccess....

Positioning of elements (duplicated or otherwise) on a page does have a relevance wrt SEO. How much seems to vary depending to whom you listen. I'm not entirely convinced of the pagination issue, but I'm not one-eyed enough to believe without doubt that it would be cost-free.

WRT statement about stagnation. Sorry that's just not the case here, as much as you want it to be true. I'm not sure why you insist that it is due to other issues, when you do not have the traffic data to hand. Do you know something that Dani doesn't?The Panda event was like an unstoppable articulated truck suddenly getting multiple blowouts.

[dtpp]

As of pagination - can you enlighten me what cost will it require to take? Seriously I do not see any.

I said I wasn.t convinced. Keep up.

[Nick Evan]

Am I the only one who really misses the "old-style" forums? I know they were cluttered and used way too many colors, but I really liked them. In 2015 all tech-sites/programs kinda look the same to me with all the white all over te screen and as few buttons as possible. sigh, I guess I'm turning into a nostalgic old fart.

That being said, it's good to hear that your traffic is on the uprise Dani!