MacRumors Forums Theme Change and New Platform

[_Refurbished_]

I like the new design, but I'm having a hard time with a few things:

#1 - The new "Like" system is a large step down IMO. I liked the simplicity of the upvote. While you didn't know who upvoted, you could quickly determine the quality of the post based on how many upvotes they received. Now you can see who upvoted a post, but it's at the bottom and blends in with the page.

#2 - Can't remember if the old forums had this, but the "New" text on each new post is distracting.

Visuals and performance have improved. Here's hoping you guys fix the "Like" system.

 

[cube]

Sorry, but not digging it at all. Too bright, distracting and not vertical space-efficient.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I like the new design, but I'm having a hard time with a few things:

#1 - The new "Like" system is a large step down IMO. I liked the simplicity of the upvote. While you didn't know who upvoted, you could quickly determine the quality of the post based on how many upvotes they received. Now you can see who upvoted a post, but it's at the bottom and blends in with the page.

No, you really cannot tell the quality of the post period. Have you ever looked at the old system over time? Messages at the very start of the thread got huge sets of "likes" (god knows if anyone disliked them since they weren't allowed to indicate that) and as time went on, you got LESS and LESS and LESS likes because people stop reading the thread after the first 1-3 pages in general.

 

[_Refurbished_]

No, you really cannot tell the quality of the post period. Have you ever looked at the old system over time? Messages at the very start of the thread got huge sets of "likes" (god knows if anyone disliked them since they weren't allowed to indicate that) and as time went on, you got LESS and LESS and LESS likes because people stop reading the thread after the first 1-3 pages in general.

True, but as you say most people read the first few pages and stop reading. If what people read are the first few pages, why wouldn't you want a filtering system to determine highly rated posts. Posts that are disliked, do not get upvoted. This naturally filters out the bad posts (the reason why you don't need a Dislike button in the first place).

A post that's been upvoted many times is liked. Whether it be useful or simply funny, it was enjoyed. I firmly believe that's important.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Good work everybody. I realise all the handwork that goes on behind the scenes, just so a crusty old dinosaur like me can moan to himself about how he doesn't like change!
I'll get used to it.
One issue I have noticed. When reading a sub forum say Digital Photography, when I've finished reading a thread and want to go to another one in the same sub forum, I have to scroll all the way to the top to see the thread list.
Before you could also see the sub forum at the bottom of the page. Anyway to get that back?

 

[arn]

True, but as you say most people read the first few pages and stop reading. If what people read are the first few pages, why wouldn't you want a filtering system to determine highly rated posts. Posts that are disliked, do not get upvoted. This naturally filters out the bad posts (the reason why you don't need a Dislike button in the first place).

A post that's been upvoted many times is liked. Whether it be useful or simply funny, it was enjoyed. I firmly believe that's important.

I get it. I think more obvious like counts is reasonable.

arn

 

[_Refurbished_]

I get it. I think more obvious like counts is reasonable.

arn

I respectfully liked your post.

 

[Ubuntu]

Love the changes overall - the site looks a lot more modern.

I must say that I don't think the separators are strong enough - a lot of content blends together too easily and there's just a lot of white space. When I first saw the new forums page I honestly thought my browser had failed to render the forum background or something - it just looks like something is missing.

Still, a great change - thanks for your work.

 

[Username Here]

This new format does not play well with Firefox......(Mac)

 

[oliversl]

Looks different, flat. The quote notification are lost.

Let me use it a little and report back, but looks nice.

 

[^^BIGMac]

I'm sure this is plainer than the nose on my face but how do you know if a forum has "new posts" or "no new posts" by looking at the forum index without clicking and going into the forum?

@arn

Any insight on this?

 

[arn]

@arn

Any insight on this?

Right now there's no way. And I'll explain why we went that way. The forum moves so fast, the forum index was all new all the time, for most people. Anyway, that may evolve, but for now that's how it is.

arn

 

[arn]

Looks different, flat. The quote notification are lost.

Let me use it a little and report back, but looks nice.

Quote notifications aren't lost. All notifications are consolidated into the notification system.

arn

 

[Sydde]

Thanks! I do think that the rich text editor will be easier.

Looks to me like the simple code editor lacks the format widgets, which is kind of a nuisance. If you have it on rich text editor, there should be a wrench widget on the upper right that will drop you into the code-format editor, after which there will be a switch-back toggle link below the editor.

If you want to, for instance, split a quote box into parts, or build nested replies, the rich text editor is all but useless.

 

[oliversl]

Quote notifications aren't lost. All notifications are consolidated into the notification system.

arn

Hi arn,
I lost the auth cookie, so I have to login again.

After that, I go to
- Your Account
- Your Alerts
and there is empty space. Your reply notification is the only one I have right now.

I'm just reporting, maybe there is a bug in my account.

Regards,
Oliver

 

[thejasonhowell]

Wow. I think I like this.

One thing, I'm not much of a fan to see the timestamp in blue separated by a pretty thick green line. I think it needlessly breaks it up.

Not sure if you can change it at all, but if you can thin that out or move the timestamp below the post count, it would look better IMO.

 

[arn]

Hi arn,
I lost the auth cookie, so I have to login again.

After that, I go to
- Your Account
- Your Alerts
and there is empty space. Your reply notification is the only one I have right now.

I'm just reporting, maybe there is a bug in my account.

Regards,
Oliver

Do you not see this?

 

[oliversl]

Quote notifications aren't lost. All notifications are consolidated into the notification system.

arn

Another issue, my alert configuration was reset to the default all checked status.

I had this unselected:
Messages in Threads
Receive an alert when someone...
[] Replies to a watched thread, Someone replies to a thread you are watching

 

[arn]

Another issue, my alert configuration was reset to the default all checked status.

I had this unselected:
Messages in Threads
Receive an alert when someone...
[] Replies to a watched thread, Someone replies to a thread you are watching

You want these checked off if you want to get notifications

 

[Sydde]

Wow. I think I like this.

One thing, I'm not much of a fan to see the timestamp in blue separated by a pretty thick green line. I think it needlessly breaks it up.

Not sure if you can change it at all, but if you can thin that out or move the timestamp below the post count, it would look better IMO.

I feel that a better layout would be to put poster ID/info/avatar stuff in the horizontal stripe between posts: that left margin area seems like wasted space.

 

[oliversl]

Do you not see this?

View attachment 557564

I see that, but only with notifications from today. The notifications from yesterday and last week are not visible. I'm talking about "quote notifications".

 

[Mike MA]

I'm getting used to the new layout and start liking it. But do I always have to scroll down the entire page if I want to reply and not quote a post?

What I don't like is the new forum start page. Way to less content due to all the boxes and symbols...

 

[ThatsMeRight]

It definitely looks more modern, but there is way too much white space. Now, at any time, I will see three "full" posts in one single view. Before, I was able to see much more posts on-screen (before scrolling). I want to see more posts in a single view.

Same for the list of threads. A single row takes up between 1 and 2 inches (in height). That's really way too much.

My feedback: make everything more compact.

 

[^^BIGMac]

Right now there's no way. And I'll explain why we went that way. The forum moves so fast, the forum index was all new all the time, for most people. Anyway, that may evolve, but for now that's how it is.

arn

No problem. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[arn]

I see that, but only with notifications from today. The notifications from yesterday and last week are not visible. I'm talking about "quote notifications".

Oh... ya, those notifications didn't carry over.

arn