Forum upgrade

We will update this with things that we think you should know.
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napshnap
Posts: 1189
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 6:21 am

Tricky to get everything to fit every device nowadays.
Is it even necessary? Are there more mobile/tablet forum users than PC users?
xitian
Posts: 457
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:08 pm

Gonna have to agree with the thumbs down people on this one. There's waaay more white space, which means a lot more scrolling and hard to see what's going on one page. A refresh of the Active Topics link shows me 3 topics before I have to scroll down (BetAngel heading takes up a third of the screen). Previously I would have thought it'd be more like 10-15 immediately on screen. After scrolling down I can fit 9.5 topics on screen vs what was probably at least 20. This problem is compounded on a mobile view and there's no way to "zoom out". Previously on a mobile you could at least zoom in to whatever size you wanted (I'm using Safari on iPhone).

I think the previous version, although perhaps less modern-looking, was actually very good functionally. I must admit I haven't noticed that any key features are easier to access either now? And given no extra functionality like "like" buttons have been added, it feels like a bit of a step backwards to me. (In fact, my most used link was "Active Topics", and now I need two clicks to get there rather than only one previously).

If the upgrade was done with the users in mind, then I'd suggest doing a poll?
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Euler
Posts: 24700
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

We couldn't keep the old design and have an upgrade path so we had to move. Maybe we can lose the logo and create some more space that way.

We can add a nav link to active topics.
Samo154
Posts: 93
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 11:44 am

Looks pretty awful on my iPad compared to the last version. Don't like how the authors names are on the right either, a lot harder to navigate, it's a no from me. sorry
xitian
Posts: 457
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:08 pm

Euler wrote:
Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:23 pm
We couldn't keep the old design and have an upgrade path so we had to move. Maybe we can lose the logo and create some more space that way.
Ok, that's understandable then.

I think some fairly basic stylesheet changes would go a long way. There's just a lot of padding and margins that aren't needed. Attached are two examples. First is what I see now on 1920x1080, with lots of space that could be removed, and also a note of how simply having the time on a new line is using up an extra line of space. Second image is one where I've just gone into Chrome and updated some styles "on the fly" (you can right click and "inspect" elements and modify what you see). Finally, on the second shot I've zoomed out to 80% using Chrome (could potentially change the base font-sizes to make that default), and I've chopped the heading area so it's a bit smaller.
Euler wrote:
Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:23 pm
We can add a nav link to active topics.
Yes, please!
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LeTiss
Posts: 5386
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

Do new posts appear on the homepage? - that looks empty
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LeTiss
Posts: 5386
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

Any additional swear filters for me to try and avoid?
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to75ne
Posts: 2413
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:37 pm

in my opinion this is a downgrade but having said that its the content that matters not the image.

bit of a shame really, A for effort but a F for outcome, just like when the enhanced ladder screen was upgraded, resulted in a backward step, a solution to a non problem.
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LeTiss
Posts: 5386
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

I suppose it's a question of familiarity - It's like asking a right hander to have a wank with his left

Not a lover of the new design at present, but I'm sure everyone will get used to it
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workpeter
Posts: 165
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:29 pm

I view website on mobile.

Agree the scrolling is annoying.
Would be good if I could see 8 active topics without scrolling.currently I have to scroll down then I can only see 4 in my screen.
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LeTiss
Posts: 5386
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

No longer able to view topics unless logged in?
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ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

Sorry but it's a rant:

I know these things happen, but what a terrible layout! What's the ideal viewing device...a watch ffs? This always happens when you code for a tiny tiny tiny mobile screens and then view it on a pc . Even at 200% zoom, granted it's on a 2560x1440 its sooooooo gappy.

Why is it so difficult to have a pc version and a mobile version?
There is so much empty space

The old version was fast and looked and worked fine! Who's benefiting from this new look? Probably people playing on their phones on the train. Who doesn't trade on a decent sized screen? and if you're not trading then reading the forum doesn't need to be slick and high speed.
Last edited by ShaunWhite on Mon Feb 13, 2017 4:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
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ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

You say a key objective was to make it easier to access key elements.

Can you give us a clue where those new features are hiding? They might make up for some of the aclimatisation issues.
steven1976
Posts: 1744
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:28 am

I dont like on the mobile version not being able to see the last post from the home screen.
Online version seems nice and clean though
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ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

Right Shaun, deep breath, calm down.....I've gone from being a hater to trying to be a helper......

Reading up on phpBB, I see you CAN have different styles for different types of device, this becomes possible when you use a mod (see ** below) :D
If you make .forum-block {width} a bit small on non-mobile and I think it would look miles better.

Isn't this just a matter of choosing a nice style that's appropriate for each device type and all our (well, 'my') moaning will be over?
They also have 100's of styles much nicer than this huge expanse of white. It's just a bit 'version 1.0'... I'm sure we can get there.

??
Untitled.png
**
phpBB Resolution Width
This Mod Adjusts the width of the classes using CSS3. Depending on the resolution of your screen, the post profile widths are adjusted for optimal view.
The resolution stylesheets can be used to adjust the width of your sidebar menus and forum blocks also.

When viewing the viewtopic page the profile section gets very wide with a 1920x1080 resolution.
This little addition will control the widths in all of the different resolutions.

Now, if you have a sidebar menu in your style the menu can get very large also.
If you have a sidebar menu with a class="sidebar-block" and the forum section next to it has a class="forum-block"... with classes in your common.css as .sidebar-block { width: 20%; } and .forum-block { width: 80%; } then you can add these classes to each one of the resolution stylesheets to control their widths.
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