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MacRumors Forums Redesigned and on a New Platform

dejo said:
As stated previously, the switch to XenForo was needed to address some serious concerns with the previous engine: vBulletin.
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I presume there's discussion of these concerns here but I can't find the thread (currently on Tapatalk). Can someone link it for me?

There are two much smaller forums I'm vaguely 'involved' with, both of which run vB4. If the issue is one of scalability then no worries; if it's the impending death of the company or similar I'd be interested to hear about it...
 
mojolicious said:
I presume there's discussion of these concerns here but I can't find the thread (currently on Tapatalk). Can someone link it for me?

There are two much smaller forums I'm vaguely 'involved' with, both of which run vB4. If the issue is one of scalability then no worries; if it's the impending death of the company or similar I'd be interested to hear about it...
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I know there are some other posts discussing the reasons but I can't seem to find them right now. But there is this, from the very first post in this thread:

MacRumors said:
The move to a new software platform brings us a number of new features, including but not limited to:

- Responsive design
- Auto save text editor
- Social registration and login. Register with Facebook and Twitter.
- Notification system for replies, @mentions, quotes and likes.
- Improved security
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EDIT:
Also found this from a SFF thread:
MagicBoy said:
You need to take a step back about 8 years! The short version is that Jelsoft the company behind vBulletin got acquired by a company called Internet Brands who one could suggest were more interested in profit than the product. The original lead developers behind vBulletin disagreed with the new owners, left in 2009 and went on to setup XenForo. vBulletin 4 was horribly buggy so most forums stayed on v3.8 which is 6 years old now, hasn't been patched in years and pre-dates the massive popularity of iOS devices and other smartphones and tablets.
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dejo said:
Except the change wasn't just for the sake of change. As stated previously, the switch to XenForo was needed to address some serious concerns with the previous engine: vBulletin.
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Welp, I guess that's that. I may be in the minority but the previous forum was so much easier to read and navigate
 
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steve333 said:
Welp, I guess that's that. I may be in the minority but the previous forum was so much easier to read and navigate
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I wouldn't necessarily say "that's that". @arn and the dev team have shown a willingness to make adjustments to these new forums based on recent feedback (for example, reducing the brightness). If you had some specific suggestions as to how they might improve the readability and navigation, suggest away! They are listening!
 
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Overall I like the changes so far especially with the useful shortcut arrows to jump to beginning or end of page, linking screenshots side by side, etc.

Only issue and a major one is the animated ads are a major drag on mobile browsers. Prefer not to resort to mobile Firefox+ABP so I'm hoping the site can detect desktop vs mobile device and deliver animated vs static ads appropriately.
 
Why can I not post or reply with the dolphin browser for iOS? Is it something to do with something that can be changed? I hope so.
 
For some reason, even on a new thread that I haven't read before, the link sends me to some random posts in the middle. Anyway to set it where I always get the first post on the thread?
 
dejo said:
I wouldn't necessarily say "that's that". @arn and the dev team have shown a willingness to make adjustments to these new forums based on recent feedback (for example, reducing the brightness). If you had some specific suggestions as to how they might improve the readability and navigation, suggest away! They are listening!
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I would most like to see the forum tightened up, to look as much like the old forum as possible. Posts are too large and spread out, IMO
 
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arn said:
There's a toggle on the bottom left. But it's not obvious.
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Yeah, the bottom is the least logical place for an action that should be offered before reading begins.

Enhancement request

Offer a more logical icon for that toggle switch. Unless I'm missing something, a first click on the switch increases width without increasing height; so make the arrows within the icon horizontal (not diagonal).

Move the switch from the bottom, to near the top. Far right.

I suggest moving the ambiguous inverted tree icon a little to the left, to make space for the width switch.

Plus (work in progress) replace the inverted tree with something that's more self-explanatory.
 
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Originally under https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/21443469:

I can explain why the extremely negative change of opinion occurred, but that explanation belongs in a different topic …
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Now, towards that explanation. From elsewhere:

… the new design, with XenForo, is somehow more Mac-like than the old. That's a good thing. Credit to @Audentio and everyone involved.
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Mac-like; the potential to be outstandingly good.

Clutter and disorder on a Mac would take the shine off the user experience.

As the redesign for MacRumors is essentially clean and clear, it's peculiar to have clutter and occasional disorder. Not fitting; it feels as if some old baggage has been bolted on. A few days ago I thought long and hard about why my opinion, of parts of the redesign, became so negative for a while. The likeliest explanation is that old baggage feels dreadfully heavy in the otherwise light, clean, new environment.

https://diigo.com/07pn94 around a month ago mentioned shine, and promised some specifics …

cocky jeremy said:
… cluttered. I'm sure we'll get used to it though.
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Users of Microsoft software might overlook or appreciate clutter. We should not expect the same appreciation from Mac users :eek:

As time passed, I did not become accustomed. The opposite: general clutter to the left of – and above – every post became more annoying than interruptions from animated paper clip servants and other nonsense from the early 1990s. That paper clip was solo, and easily dismissed. The clutter now is repetitive, and less easily hidden. Advertisements (Google etc.) are relatively nonintrusive. Post-related and user-related clutter is relatively intrusive.

Related: The heaviest divisions, the coloured horizontal line near the head of each post

With or without post numbers: wherever things become non-sequential or temporarily misplaced, there should be a much stronger visual hint that what's on screen is intentionally mashed.
 
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mi7chy said:
… useful shortcut … end of page
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I see this:

screenshot 2015-06-13 at 16.22.15.png

That is useful, but rarely relevant to the subject of a discussion.

Do you see something different when you click the down arrow and if so, what browser and platform do you use?
 
Z3man said:
… asked the other day about having a forum jump like …
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Jump-like at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/21396432

Quick navigation: a question

https://forums.macrumors.com/misc/quick-navigation-menu?selected=node-21
  • does select Mac Community
  • does not automatically scroll to reveal the selection.
Can a comparable URL with use of # cause the selection to be shown?

If you have an answer, please add it to XenForo Tips and Tricks.

I already experimented a little:
 
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grahamperrin said:
I see this:

View attachment 561053

That is useful, but rarely relevant to the subject of a discussion.

Do you see something different when you click the down arrow and if so, what browser and platform do you use?
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It doesn't have anything to do with a discussion happening in a thread, just a helpful navigational feature.
 
I rarely require the help that's linked from the generic footer for the site.

Is the down arrow somehow more useful to users who browse without a Mac?
 
grahamperrin said:
I rarely require the help that's linked from the generic footer for the site.

Is the down arrow somehow more useful to users who browse without a Mac?
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Just a shortcut to get to the bottom of the page quickly, which can be useful for some not so much for the footer (although some might find that useful in some way) but to scroll a bit up from there to get to something useful that's close to the bottom of the page. The up shortcut might be more useful to more people overall.
 
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Thanks! With added emphasis:

C DM said:
… shortcut … bottom … footer … scroll a bit … something useful
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That's a series of steps and whilst @C DM uses words to describe the steps, the most useful thing (typically the toolbar above the field above the 'Post Reply' button) is wordless. Wordless, but worth anchoring/positioning at the top of the screen.

Flashback to vBulletin. The Post Reply shortcut for a topic was truly short – a single click on a plain english button presented the required field. One step, circled in yellow:

vBulletin Post Reply.png
 
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I see we are still catering to the lowest intelligence. Those who need two red arrows on the side of the screen to let them know which way they are capable of scrolling *facepalm* :confused:

edit - and yes I do know clicking it takes you to top or bottom of page but its pointless and motion awkward.
 
Zxxv said:
I see we are still catering to the lowest intelligence. Those who need two red arrows on the side of the screen to let them know which way they are capable of scrolling *facepalm* :confused:

edit - and yes I do know clicking it takes you to top or bottom of page but its pointless and motion awkward.
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I don't consider myself as belonging to the "the lowest intelligence" category but I find the red jump arrows very useful.
 
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A few more observations after using the site daily for a few weeks.

- If there is a lot of text in the quick reply boxes, there is a significant amount of lag when typing fast.
- Search box takes too many steps to search the forum you are currently in. I'd love to see a check box in that initial search box allowing you to confine the search to just this forum, or all forums. Right now when you click on the Search icon, the box says 'Search Forum' which is ambiguous. Which forum is it searching? I see that after you click the magnifying glass, the icon turns to a gear wheel which gives you those advanced options. I find that advanced box to be a LOT clearer regarding what you are going to get. I'd be happy to see the initial click just bring you there.
-There are a number of places where link text is still very difficult to discern from non-link text. Specifically in search results, and in lists of watched threads, etc.
 
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OllyW said:
I don't consider myself as belonging to the "the lowest intelligence" category but I find the red jump arrows very useful.
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You can only go up and down and moving your fingers around or mouse or trackpad shows you where you can or can't go. I stand by my original post
 
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