The new mess

and what a fine mess it is?

what do you think?

cheers

Looking good! :cheer:

The ratio of content to trivia is a bit high I think: there is too much fluff around the messages and the avatar is a bit large dontchathink?

My first impressions are always based on the use of the screen real estate and while this one doesn’t limit itself to about 800 wide it is still locking at about 1024 - it is one of the perils of modern coding where design appears to take precedence over dynamic scaling.
:vmad: :rofl: :slight_smile: :smiley: :woohoo: :sick: :evil: :whistle: :side:

Hi,
Good points, I’ll look into it.

Right now it’s set at 1260 PX, I’ll look at making it fluid. Might impact on the rest of the site mind you. Worth a try. I’ll check the avatar settings too.

Cheers

ok, right :slight_smile:

I’ve resized the avatars and user panel - nice and neat - just 100px, and the layout is now fluid so you can choose your own size.

It does affect the other pages with the image slider, I’ll look into that.

What else can we tweak?

cheers

aaand… that’s the slider fixed!

The box below the red tabs at the top of the page (contains “Welcome, Last Visit Date: Unknown” etc.) seems unnecessary and forces everyone to scroll down a little bit extra on every page viewed. I already know my name and if I wanted to view my last logged-in date I could check my profile. I don’t think users need it often enough to justify putting it at the top of every page.

A small touch would be to make the default selection of avatars cadet-themed. I could make some that are the right size if it would help?

Edit: I just noticed the ‘hide’ button at the top right-hand corner of the box This removes the issue but is the box really needed at all?

I like the way we just have the one Mess now :slight_smile:

I think I’ll leave the box at the top as the shrink/close button is good and persistent. If you come directly to the forum page and haven’t logged in elsewhere it allows you to login as well, so reducing extra clicks - comments?

and if you fancy making some avatars, go ahead and we’ll see if we like them - everyone that is not just me :wink:

cheers

TESTING 123…

I dont like the fact I’m now “Hey! I’m new here!” Can we revert back to our previous ranks or can we have new ones? AVM would suit me just fine

I’m also looking at moving the points over - it would be a manual job though!

Is the old site supposed to be dead?

we’re just in the process of making it ‘read-only’ and transferrinf the most popular threads across

cheers

I don’t like change! :stuck_out_tongue:

The format is OK :slight_smile:

No Radio spot (yet) :angry:

I still think a section for staff only is a good idea, or at least introduce an indicator to show whether a user is staff or cadet :whistle:

one doesn’t like to wee on the cornflakes of those who give up their time for the benefit of others, but the new site is just a complete [mess].

no carryover of material from the old forum to the new, forums missing (staff mess and field craft, and thats just for starters…) and pretty rubbish display - its all so pale/grey its hard work reading anything.

perhaps concentrate a little more on what people come here for - information, clearly marked and deliniated topic areas, and ease of use - and a little less on the smileys and the ebay links?

i don’t know why it needed to change, it had - to my eyes, nothing wrong with the old style - if i could, i’d use the old style over the new every time.

sorry, but its just a mess (tada bish…).

Angus, I totally agree,
Does any one know the reason(s) behind this so - called updated web site, if the old Forum worked and it was not broken then why fix it. .
I do not know about any one else on her but I did not get any notice of this change- why not?
Radioman.

[quote=“radioman” post=383]if the old Forum worked and it was not broken then why fix it. [/quote]It was broken often enough and was prone to spam - have you not been paying attention?

radioman, the old forum increasingly didn’t work and was increasingly broken and difficult to support. It was being heavily targetted by spammers, and the options available for limiting these attacks on phpBB simply didn’t exist. To be fair here, there were notifications all over the old phpBB site advising people to look at the Beta site and letting everyone know that it would be changing. Every member has had the opportunity to test, play and comment.

Yes, the change happened quickly without fanfare, perhaps there could have been improvements here, and perhaps some of the old stuff could have been ported over, however it was suggested during the “pilot” and I think most of the users who answered rejected it.

As someone who was heavily involved with the old boards however, there were simply too many forums dealing with pretty much the same subjects just in different ways. There were upwards of 30-40 forums and subforums, which, given how many were actually actively used, was excessive. This manifestation of the forum probably better reflects the forums that were actively used. I’m sure forums can be added or taken away - I don’t think this forum structure is a done deal. Improvements can be made to the layout as well I’m sure

I’d suggest (I don’t know - I’m not and haven’t been involved) that the layout is pretty much “out the box” and is subject to modification based on feedback, so if you don’t like something, let the staff know! I’d suggest the smileys and ebay links are coded in by default - its not something that has been specifically added for ACC!

Surprisingly most people don’t like change, but change has to happen occasionally. I’m sure things could have been done to make it more seamless and easier for you, but even then, people still wouldn’t like it.

Work is ongoing, so please do feedback - constructively.