AngryCola
10-31-2005, 04:36 AM
I think that I have a fair idea of the four major areas that need to be addressed, so perhaps this recap will be useful.
1) Threaded Mode
There is a lot of confusion over the order in which posts are currently being displayed in threaded mode. I was initially put off by this, but after some getting used to, it really is a better way to view posts in that mode. The most recent replies are bumped to the top, and one no longer has to scroll all the way down to view the most recent entry. This is a plus, but people will not like it for awhile just because it is different from what they are used to.
Now, one minus of the new threaded mode is the lack of highlighted unread posts. The new icon gives that information, but it was much easier to spot unread posts with the previous method. Hopefully this can be changed back to the way it was before the upgrade.
2) Thread Subjects Open The Most Recent Post
This applies to both threaded and flat modes. When clicking on a subject, it is preferable to have it display the original post (or page in flat mode). People seem to miss this, and I'm one of them.
There is a "Last post" column to the right of the thread subject that has always been a solid way of jumping to the last post. Before the upgrade, this gave you the option of which post you wanted to view. You could click the poster's name in the right column if you want to see the most recent post, or select the subject to view the OP.
Now you only have one option. This is obviously a minus.
Hopefully something can be done about it.
3) The "Back" Button
Every browser has one, so I'll just assume you readers know what I mean. /images/graemlins/grin.gif
Using the back button has become a bit of a headache. For instance, if I hit the back button on my mouse by accident right now, I'd lose this entire post. Before you could accidently hit this button and just go back to the post with the "forward" button.
Also, people often used the back button to retrieve information while they were in the middle of writing a post. We would need a quote or something, and going back to get it from wherever used to be no problem. Now, it's more of a hassle because one has to keep an extra window or tab open to get this information. Another way around it to use a word processor to save your unfinished posts.
But finding a way to deal with it isn't the solution most people want here. Is it possible to fix this problem?
A more minor issue connected to the back button happens when you go back to the previous page, your view is no longer focused where it used to be. You know, like when you are viewing the main page, click OOT, and then press back. The view no longer goes back to the bottom when you does this. Instead, it snaps back to the top of the page. This is more of a minor gripe than the previous issue with the back button, but I suspect they are connected.
4) The Search Function
This seems to be the thing people are complaining about the most. Apparently users now have a limit to how often they can search in a set period of time. This is not a horrible thing, IMO, because it undoubtedly increases performance. However, it would probably be a good idea to increase the limit a bit. Chuck and Mat could even play around with it for a few weeks to strike a good balance between performance and frustration.
Minor Issues:
The PM limit is not a big deal, but you guys might want to play around with the number.
Some people don't like the little post icons that indicate read/unread posts. I don't really see this being a big concern. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some connection with this and the previously mentioned issue with unread posts no longer being highlighted. It might be a 'one or the other' type of setting.
I believe that's it!
Hopefully this post helps in some small way.
1) Threaded Mode
There is a lot of confusion over the order in which posts are currently being displayed in threaded mode. I was initially put off by this, but after some getting used to, it really is a better way to view posts in that mode. The most recent replies are bumped to the top, and one no longer has to scroll all the way down to view the most recent entry. This is a plus, but people will not like it for awhile just because it is different from what they are used to.
Now, one minus of the new threaded mode is the lack of highlighted unread posts. The new icon gives that information, but it was much easier to spot unread posts with the previous method. Hopefully this can be changed back to the way it was before the upgrade.
2) Thread Subjects Open The Most Recent Post
This applies to both threaded and flat modes. When clicking on a subject, it is preferable to have it display the original post (or page in flat mode). People seem to miss this, and I'm one of them.
There is a "Last post" column to the right of the thread subject that has always been a solid way of jumping to the last post. Before the upgrade, this gave you the option of which post you wanted to view. You could click the poster's name in the right column if you want to see the most recent post, or select the subject to view the OP.
Now you only have one option. This is obviously a minus.
Hopefully something can be done about it.
3) The "Back" Button
Every browser has one, so I'll just assume you readers know what I mean. /images/graemlins/grin.gif
Using the back button has become a bit of a headache. For instance, if I hit the back button on my mouse by accident right now, I'd lose this entire post. Before you could accidently hit this button and just go back to the post with the "forward" button.
Also, people often used the back button to retrieve information while they were in the middle of writing a post. We would need a quote or something, and going back to get it from wherever used to be no problem. Now, it's more of a hassle because one has to keep an extra window or tab open to get this information. Another way around it to use a word processor to save your unfinished posts.
But finding a way to deal with it isn't the solution most people want here. Is it possible to fix this problem?
A more minor issue connected to the back button happens when you go back to the previous page, your view is no longer focused where it used to be. You know, like when you are viewing the main page, click OOT, and then press back. The view no longer goes back to the bottom when you does this. Instead, it snaps back to the top of the page. This is more of a minor gripe than the previous issue with the back button, but I suspect they are connected.
4) The Search Function
This seems to be the thing people are complaining about the most. Apparently users now have a limit to how often they can search in a set period of time. This is not a horrible thing, IMO, because it undoubtedly increases performance. However, it would probably be a good idea to increase the limit a bit. Chuck and Mat could even play around with it for a few weeks to strike a good balance between performance and frustration.
Minor Issues:
The PM limit is not a big deal, but you guys might want to play around with the number.
Some people don't like the little post icons that indicate read/unread posts. I don't really see this being a big concern. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some connection with this and the previously mentioned issue with unread posts no longer being highlighted. It might be a 'one or the other' type of setting.
I believe that's it!
Hopefully this post helps in some small way.