New Forum Feedback

This may be a bit premature (and not taking into account bugs) but so far as one in a sea of users, I like the new forums. Though a little bit hard to find at first, the new layout and wealth of user perferences is great.

A couple of suggestions:

  • I've liked forums that list a "number of times viewed" column. It helps to know what other users have looked at, what they have found helpful, especially threads I have started.
  • Probably not suitable for a company forum, but I also like a Thanks feature, that you can thank a user and it is a user statistic - I think it encourages user contribution more.
  • Is the "answered" category similar to the "solved" feature in other forums? Ie where the user who posts the thread can tick a "Is Solved" box when the question is answered.

That's all, so far so good.

steve

Parents Reply Children
  • How do you place a widget? If I put my cursor over the widget I just get a cross with arroes on each end! I've tried drop and drag, but clicking finish reverts back to my previous layout. The placement doesn't stick.

  • Stuart,

    just drag&drop it. some of them needs some space so if you have narrow column, they don't fit in. then put them below in free space and reorganize later

    some comments to new layout >

    -- too much wasted space - big fonts and too much free empty space around (big borders)

    when I want to check the thread with say 10 posts, I need to scroll way down 5 pages ...  please consolidate the layout and make it nicer and cleaner

    -- the layout does not follow the width of the browser window (FF 3.6.3 XP SP3 / Win7) so my default width of browser window is half-empty

    - the "quote" button is missing in simple editing mode

    - the "options to insert attachment" are missing in simple editing mode

    - once I switch to rich formatting mode, I'm not able to get back. using back in browser discards everything

    - much slower then the old one

    + copy/paste now works without that special window (might be just simple editing mode, but it's OK for me)

    + option to turn off avatars / signatures

    * the "thanks" button would be great

    p.

    /pt

  • Great feedback... thanks!

    Unknown said:

    -- too much wasted space - big fonts and too much free empty space around (big borders)

    when I want to check the thread with say 10 posts, I need to scroll way down 5 pages ...  please consolidate the layout and make it nicer and cleaner

    -- the layout does not follow the width of the browser window (FF 3.6.3 XP SP3 / Win7) so my default width of browser window is half-empty

    This is a tough one... try to appease the "new look" crowd as well as the "put as much text as possible on the screen" folks. That said, we will be experimenting with different look-and-feels on an every-so-often timeframe.

    Unknown said:

    - the "quote" button is missing in simple editing mode

    - the "options to insert attachment" are missing in simple editing mode

    The "quick reply" area is just that... an area to post a quick reply with no formatting, no ability to quote, no ability to attach files, etc. For those "non quick edit" things, the "rich formatting" editor needs to be used.

    Unknown said:

    - once I switch to rich formatting mode, I'm not able to get back. using back in browser discards everything

    Not sure I am understanding this... is that a common workflow?

    Unknown said:

    - much slower then the old one

    We are seeing intermittent slowdowns and are looking into what can be done to address that. But "much slower then the old one"? Is there a specific pattern you are seeing that we could look into? 

      

  • Unknown said:

    This is a tough one... try to appease the "new look" crowd as well as the "put as much text as possible on the screen" folks. That said, we will be experimenting with different look-and-feels on an every-so-often timeframe.

    ok, I understand

    Unknown said:

    The "quick reply" area is just that... an area to post a quick reply with no formatting, no ability to quote, no ability to attach files, etc. For those "non quick edit" things, the "rich formatting" editor needs to be used.

    Phil, I don;t know if I set it somehow incidentally, but  I have only one button - "reply" in my layout and this brings me directly to "simple editing mode" (which is fine for most of time). anyway, since I'd prefer to call it "quick reply" and then have additional buttons like "reply" and "quote" which will bring me into rich text formatting dialog ... or am I overlooking something?

    and also, the "preview" button should be available down, near "post". as it is located now, user must scroll up to use it ...

    btw, is there a way how to avoid an empty line when user hits "enter"? I understand there is a reason for this like the spacing of paragraphs, but anyway

    Unknown said:

    - once I switch to rich formatting mode, I'm not able to get back. using back in browser discards everything

    Not sure I am understanding this... is that a common workflow?

    [/quote]

    this might be related to above remark on buttons (reply, quick reply, ... ) so the user has all options available. well, definitely not common workflow, I was just trying :-)

    Unknown said:

    - much slower then the old one

    We are seeing intermittent slowdowns and are looking into what can be done to address that. But "much slower then the old one"? Is there a specific pattern you are seeing that we could look into? 

    [/quote]

    e.g. the "Favorite places" and other menu items, it takes some time till the drop-down menu is open. also going back to already visited page takes some time. hard to say what exactly, overall reaction of page is slower. but not always, sometimes it loads quickly and sometimes it takes some time to get deeper into content

    thanks

    p.

    /pt

  • Unknown said:
    btw, is there a way how to avoid an empty line when user hits "enter"? I understand there is a reason for this like the spacing of paragraphs, but anyway

    Use SHIFT+ENTER instead, it does new line instead of new paragraph (this is standard on many word processors)

    - Roy