Forum new look?

kuali

@dragon3010 AFAIK, they use pre-made forum software (NodeBB, I think), so the redesign may not be entirely under their control...

SomeOldGuy

@kuali Based on a quick look at the NodeBB support forum, it would seem that there was a change in how THIS copy was configured when the new software was copied in; topics on their support forum seem to look like they did here a few days ago.

So, things like topic dates and highlighting "what's new" does work, if it's turned on.

holatuwol

@dragon3010 said in Forum new look?:

im really hoping jnovel actually comments here and we can convince them to change it back, idk why they redesigned the fourms when literally no1 asked for this.

I'm guessing they did it as a bid to resolve the issue where the forums were constantly raising errors, making it very difficult to browse and reply for awhile.

So we've gone from unable to use to unpleasant to use, which is arguably an improvement, but also arguably not a step in the right direction.

jpwong

@holatuwol Honestly I'm seeing about the same number of problems now as before the upgrade, so it really doesn't seem to have done much on my end.

The removal of the ability to do custom overrides to specific visual things is a bit annoying for me though since I had taken out a few things that the forums were displaying and boosted the width of the reply box

Travis Butler

I'm seeing somewhat fewer glitches, but they haven't been eliminated.

The thing that really bugs me about the new skins, more than anything, is the terrible lack of structure in the post listings. Here's an example from another forum I'm on:

alt text

Things I would point out:

A strong header to anchor the top of the page. The old forum had that, with the dark blue color; as far as I can tell, all of the non-dark themes have a light grey header that is hard to pick out from the browser chrome and the body text.
A second dark header to separate the forum navigation chrome from the list of posts.
The post list includes horizontal separators, creating clear separations between posts and a visual link between the post title and the metadata on the right side of the screen.

The old forum look wasn't perfect, but it covered these points better than the current one does.

Here's another example:

alt text

A fair number of differences in the forum navigation chrome, but the post list is much like the first example. And both of them are lightyears ahead of the current JNC forum presentation.

Ingraman

In addition to the missing immediate access to notifications, I’m wondering where to find the search function.

I make my home base in the forums here on the “unread” page, and things only stay there (or at least used to with the older version of the page) for two days. Once the threads disappear from there, I’d use the search function to find the discussion threads for pre-pubs that I’d read a bit late…

I’m quite underwhelmed so far, and it feels like what little I used is broken or absent…

wanderer_1204

@Ingraman I see the search icon next to my "user" icon to the left.

Ingraman

@wanderer_1204 said in Forum new look?:

@Ingraman I see the search icon next to my "user" icon to the left.

I guess that this is one of those “If it were a bear, it would bite me” situations. I’m not still seeing a forum thread search icon/box, and I’ve tried a couple of forum skins in case one hides it more than others.

We need a image hosting service to post pictures, right?

kingpendragon

@Ingraman
screenshot

Top right, there are three icons near my user icon, a magnifying glass for search, a bell for notifications and a speech bubble for chats.

Ingraman

@kingpendragon said in Forum new look?:

@Ingraman

Top right, there are three icons near my user icon, a magnifying glass for search, a bell for notifications and a speech bubble for chats.

Thank you!

Interesting… On my screen, there’s nothing visible between the J-Novel banner and my placeholder image/initial. No biting bear for me, unless it’s hiding in the color scheme… I’m using Safari on an 11” iPad, instead of a proper computer. I’ll go play with font sizes too, since when I increased the size a long time ago, some things shifted a bit on the screen.

Edit: Okay… When I hit (command-minus) to drop the font size one step, those missing icons showed up. That took care of my initial problems then, except that my eyes might be less happy. :p There was so much blank space up there before the font decrease, why couldn’t the icons fit in there then?! <sigh>

Thanks again!

Lex

So basically in order to see the icons next to the Reply button I have to select a different skin frkm the default. In order to see the icons next to my profile icon I have to select on Chrome 80% zoom or lower, this on a 12 inches Samsung Android tablet in portrait. The icons appear in landscape orientation, butvI never browse the web that way and even in portrait there is more than enough room to show them. Tue notifications was one of the feature I used the most so having to do extra steps to access them is incredibly annoying.
Improvements so far are the new reply box that shows the thread so I don't have to keep two tabs open and the lack of the previews in the unread posts page, so I don't have to add padding to my replies in order to not spoil things for oeople who still haven't read the latest parts.

kuali

@Ingraman said in Forum new look?:

Edit: Okay… When I hit (command-minus) to drop the font size one step, those missing icons showed up. That took care of my initial problems then, except that my eyes might be less happy. :p There was so much blank space up there before the font decrease, why couldn’t the icons fit in there then?! <sigh>

I think the logic about how much is shown on different screen widths is screwed up, with a range of intermediate screen widths (like my inner screen or your tablet at default size) getting shown less than thinner or wider screens do...