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
  • steve.k said:
    • 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.

    Yes, I see what you mean. There is a "Popular Discussion" widget at the top-level forum thread listing, but we will look into showing the number of views (first to see if that is possible :)

     

    steve.k said:
    • 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.

    Hmmm... that is an interesting suggestion. Not sure if this system provides that, but it will be looked into also.

    steve.k said:
    • 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.

    Yes, that is precisely what that is for. It existed in the previous system, but was only engaged in a couple of forums there... we did not think it looked that good, and what exists now is so much nicer. 

      

    Answer Verified By: steve.k 

  • I'm finding the new format to be cumbersome and confusing so far. It is NOT intuitive. Is there a tutorial to help us get familiar with the site?

    The  links to the home page should be more prominent (they are tiny hyperlinks along the top of the page). The links to my favorites are also not easy to find as they are small buttons at the very top edge of the page. I would really like to see the community in some sort of tree format. Right now it is difficult to find what content is available. As for the list of My Favorites, I am seeing my favorite forums and my favorite threads mixed together in the list.  I think we should keep favorite forums and favorite threads seperate. Otherwise the list is going to bloated and cumbersome.

    Lastly, is there a way to stop getting email notifications to my own posts like the old site was?

    Neil Wilson (aka Neilw)

    Power Civil v8i 08.11.07.245

    AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018

  • Unknown said:

    Yes please! Since I will be rarely looking at blogs and wikis, and even files, I would love to be able to put them 'out of the way' somewhere so my focus can really be on Forums.

    One of the significant aspects of the way things are organized now is to put wiki, blog, and file content alongside forums. Put those "out of the way" and you will miss out on information that is likely to answer questions before you even have to ask them.

      

  • 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? 

      

  • Phil,

    What I am looking for (and I think many others - Richard included) is quick access to the content need from all pages. With the current organization of the "Favorite Places" it is difficult, at best, to discern which link goes to which Blog, Forum, Group, Wiki or even Thread. The Titles are truncated to the point they only show the Sub-Forum & Threads are interspersed withing the Forums also I find that trying to display Groups, Forums & etc. at the same time most of the time will require the user to use the # more link and even then sometimes need to click through several pages to get to a SHORTCUT to their Favorite Forum.

    Even though it appears I have nothing but criticism for the site, for the most part I like the new layout and the abiltiy to customize the home page. It would be nice If we could specify which widgets should be persistent throughout the site. Also the fixed width / size of the pages seems to be a waste of space (you can hardly buy a monitor w/ a 4:3  aspect anymore). It would be nice if the "main" frame would resize with the window and the leave the supplementary frames a fixed width.

    Thanks - Roy

  • Unknown said:

    it is difficult, at best, to discern which link goes to which Blog, Forum, Group, Wiki or even Thread.

    Hmmm... is that similar to the comments that Andreas had regarding instances where some forums have Forum in the title, while others do not? Or something else?

    Unknown said:

    Even though it appears I have nothing but criticism for the site, for the most part I like the new layout and the abiltiy to customize the home page.

    Understood... we expected (and wanted) feedback. And it is being provided :) Seriously (and getting a little philosophical), the original plan was to have a "beta program" for the site, but that quickly fell out of favor because of various factors (e.g. trying to maintain TWO sites at the same time is not like having two releases of the same program out at the same time, who would be "in" to test it out, etc.) It just seemed to make the most sense getting things to a workable, usable stage, while preserving as much existing content as possible and "cut it loose". We can work forward in making the site "better" based on real-world feedback (and discussion, of course :). Everything may not happen all at once, but the plan right now is to make changes as necessary moving forward.

    Unknown said:

    It would be nice If we could specify which widgets should be persistent throughout the site.

    Yes, that is something we noticed, too. There is a way to do that, but only your personal experience is uncustomized. It is sort of a dilemma, but I believe that eventually will work its way through when this new site is acclimated.

    Unknown said:

    Also the fixed width / size of the pages seems to be a waste of space (you can hardly buy a monitor w/ a 4:3  aspect anymore). It would be nice if the "main" frame would resize with the window and the leave the supplementary frames a fixed width.

    I think I understand what you mean... that is something we can look into.

      

  • Unknown said:

    it is difficult, at best, to discern which link goes to which Blog, Forum, Group, Wiki or even Thread.

     

    Hmmm... is that similar to the comments that Andreas had regarding instances where some forums have Forum in the title, while others do not? Or something else?

    [/quote]

    No, it is more that when the Drop-Down is activated it TRYS to display ALL of the Favorites at once (even though grouped). There is not enough room to accomplish this effectively. Also, as you have already read and commented, Favorite Treads are included in the Forums section. This shortcut is useless if it only provides access to a handful of Favorites. This especially true if the user need to open a new PAGE to see MORE and then go to NEXT PAGE and NEXT...

Reply
  • Unknown said:

    it is difficult, at best, to discern which link goes to which Blog, Forum, Group, Wiki or even Thread.

     

    Hmmm... is that similar to the comments that Andreas had regarding instances where some forums have Forum in the title, while others do not? Or something else?

    [/quote]

    No, it is more that when the Drop-Down is activated it TRYS to display ALL of the Favorites at once (even though grouped). There is not enough room to accomplish this effectively. Also, as you have already read and commented, Favorite Treads are included in the Forums section. This shortcut is useless if it only provides access to a handful of Favorites. This especially true if the user need to open a new PAGE to see MORE and then go to NEXT PAGE and NEXT...

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