Buzz Out Loud Lounge: How do you like the new Forums?
Progress
by sjward - 11/9/06 4:32 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201The color choices make my head hurt..I found myself squinting while reading the threads. I hated the tree view which is why I didn't visit much. So this is definitely a step in the right direction!
PURTY!!
by mdstout58 - 11/9/06 4:42 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201I don't like the date format, however. it just confuddled me.
(NT) Love 'em - faster, stronger, better
by jojosho - 11/9/06 5:53 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201My member profile page doesn't refresh
by Darayz - 11/10/06 5:28 AM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201Is it just me, or does the user member page not refresh anymore? I can't keep track of my discussions because the "My Latest Replies" section doesn't update itself. Maybe the site is still updating and will correct itself in the future . .
Known problem
by Owyn - 11/10/06 5:52 AM In reply to: My member profile page doesn't refresh by Darayz"The engineers are working on this... may take a little time."
better layout
by Plurr - 11/10/06 7:29 AM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201I definitely like the new layout of the forums but it needs post buttons at the bottom and there are many other things that can be added to make it awesome. I love not having to click every time to see a response so this is a big step in the right direction but it is far from perfect.
Yes,
by Oakraidr - 11/10/06 8:38 AM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201Now it looks like a forum
Still Slllooooow
But a step in a direction i like. Now another place i can waste time online.
a different angle to the new forums
by johnorourke1951 - 11/11/06 11:25 AM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201This is John O'Rourke of Decatur Illinois. The new forums appear to be more easily navigable with my form of output which is a screen reader. JAWS for Windows is my output software of choice for the Braille and speech output that is my preference. The JAWS quick key method of navigating a screen is easily accomplished on the CNET forums website. When on the web site for one example, I typically run through the headings with the letter h. Each press of H takes me quickly to a new heading and it is no longer necessary to read through the entire screen. I'll look for more changes in the near future.
John O'Rourke
johnorourke1951@sbcglobal.net
How do you like the new Forums
by kahoutek - 11/11/06 1:28 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201I like them I have a spell checker I use FireFox 2 if you use that then you get a spell checker or if you have Google tool bar it comes with a spell checker in it. I wish that it was on the front page again so I can see the High lights of some of the posting.
Suggestions
by MrSkinny - 11/11/06 8:40 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201First off I really do like the new forums, beautiful and much easier to use. Second, I'm a web developer and I spend most of my time on UIs now and I absolutely hate when people tell me what to do when they don't understand or even think so I'll explain each suggestion.
I'll start with small format changes I'll assume are pretty easy to implement and I truly thing would help. I try to do this in my design and in general improves the signal to noise ratio.
Compress the per post bottom line of:
[_] Reply [_] Report offensive post [_] Permalink
and tuck it into some whitespace (after post title or vertically below the circle arrow on the left of the title). You'd then tack the text for those symbols in the legend below. This also lets you tack in a bunch more icons for digg, technorati, etc...
This should not only save a repetitive element but also help compress the vertical height of the page as a whole. This should also help those who find the scrolling tedious.
-----
On the reply page show the text I'm replying to before the edit window with the formatting it has in the post.
Sounds picky but it saves my eyes having to locate and re-parse the text, makes a big difference to the ease of use.
-----
Remove the minimum width if possible.
I'm watching hockey on Google right now but sometimes I'm actually coding in another window. With a minimum width taking up 75% of the width of my screen I have to keep fiddling with the width of my browser to see the entire post.
-----
Make post depth level more obvious.
It's hard off hand to see which posts relate to the other, not that big an issue but your already formatting it maybe an unbroken vertical bar from first to last post at a depth level.
-----
Now, here's the technical bit that would need some Code-Foo:
Would it be possible that when we come back into a thread that the only posts that are expanded are the tree level to the new posts.
I'm pretty sure you keep the date I've last walked into a post as a means to know if I've already read it or if something new has shown up. If last time I was there the thread looked like this with everything extended (starts with-):
-a
--b1
---b1a
---b1b
--b2
--b3
--c1
--c2
and after someone were to reply to b1b it would look like this when I came back:
-a
--b1
...b1a
---b1b
----b1a1
..b2
..b3
..c1
..c2
(where all post that start with . are compressed) I think we'd save even more about scrolling or more specifically finding new posts.
Technically it would require some JavaScript to show and hide elements by id. You'd need an id for each posts text block. You'd then need to identify which posts came in since I last entered the thread.
Personally I'd create or use an existing hash of these posts, do a recursive search up to the lead post and mark those as expanded. If not expanded trigger the flip-flop expand/contract Javascript for that id. If people don't have JavaScript enabled (or the script fails in browser x) they won't end up with nothing but compressed messages they couldn't expand, only works for those who can use it.
Sorry for the lengthy post but if it compressed you'd only have to see it once 
MrSkinny
typo
by MrSkinny - 11/11/06 9:09 PM In reply to: Suggestions by MrSkinnyEhh.. flip:
I truly thing would help
for:
I truly think would help
I like it a lot.
by merrybrown - 11/12/06 8:30 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201Lot's less clicking to navigate from thread to thread.
Like the different colors,
would appreciate speed.
FINALLY NESTED RESPONSES!!!
by robstak - 11/13/06 4:37 PM In reply to: How do you like the new Forums? by cars4less201no more thousand clicks to read up on a thread. w00t!
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