Forum Upgrade - Weds 18th August 2010 10:00 UK time

**Big Frank** · 18 August 2010, 03:37 PM

Click "What's New" or "New posts" at top left

**Christine Farrelly** · 18 August 2010, 03:45 PM

It's not there on the Talkgraphics.com main page.

Christine

**Big Frank** · 18 August 2010, 03:49 PM

They are both there for me

**gwpriester** · 18 August 2010, 03:54 PM

That's because you're not a moderator

There was also a very useful option in the previous version Unanswered Posts. This was a really quick way to make sure that each post was responded to promptly.

Am I missing this (always likely)? And if not can we add that link back?

**Big Frank** · 18 August 2010, 03:56 PM

Hehehe, mods can't see the "New posts" button.

**gracehjs** · 18 August 2010, 03:57 PM

Why do they keep moving things! I know I will get used to it, but the "view first unread" went from the left to the right. The new colours looked washed out to me, so I find it more difficult to see what messages are new.
Maybe I just don't know how to navigate properly. If I use the "new posts" button I get mixed up messages from all the forums - not just the ones I want to see. I prefer to cycle through one forum at a time - is there a fast way to do that.

**Fred C** · 18 August 2010, 04:04 PM

Hmmm...ironic that most Xara users preferred the darker user interface and now the forums get whiter and brighter.

It's much too bright; can we please have an option to change it?

**Big Frank** · 18 August 2010, 04:19 PM

I think it would be nice to be able to have a choice of themes. Many forums allow the user to change themes. We could organise a competition to create the most interesting/attractive/popular whatever theme for the forum! Seasonal themes! Get your crayons out and start designing a Christmas theme for the forum!!

**angelize** · 18 August 2010, 05:31 PM

There is one thing missing from the banner at the top, that would be very nice to have back. Parahandy's car. For those who are new Parahandy was a member here who touched many with his spirit and his art. Sadly he passed away some time ago and the car was added to the banner as a tribute. Could we have it back?

**amoore** · 18 August 2010, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by gracehjs

Why do they keep moving things! ...The new colours looked washed out to me, so I find it more difficult to see what messages are new.

At first glance, the new appearance is very fresh and nice. Love the overall color scheme. However, I agree with Grace. There are serious problems with visual hierarchy, especially on the forum index page. The less important elements are the ones that stand out. For example...

a) Thread topics may be the most important element on the page. In the new design, they're overwhelmed. It's hard to visually grab the topic names because they're in the same size type as the secondary info ("started by" string, number of replies, number of views). (Thumbs up for using smaller type for the last post date & time.)

b) Because the subjects are links, they're shown in the lovely teal color which recedes in comparison to the black type of the secondary info. As a result, the less important info takes precedence. It should be the other way around.

c) It's hard to make out which threads have new posts because there isn't enough difference between the bold on the unread subjects and the regular type on the read ones. (This item might be less of an issue if a) and b) are resolved.)

d) The large icons on the left overwhelm nearly everything except the bold type of the forum name at the top of the page.

e) Even the small icons beside the thread subjects are more visible than the subjects themselves.

f) How can the number of replies and number of views be more important than Last Post By and especially the quick link to the last post? AFAIC, replies and views aren't even secondary info. They're tertiary. (That means they should be way down on the totem pole, or, in this case, farthest to the right.)

g) One result of moving the Last Post column to the far right is that the quick link is now in the next county. It's less visually connected to the thread subject than it used to be, and those of us with large monitors can have a long way to go to get to it. For me, the most important items on the index page are the thread topic and the link to the last post.

So far, I have only two issues on the thread pages.

1) The cookie crumb navbar at the top of the page suffers from the same lack of visual organization as the thread topics on the forum index page. I'm not a fan of underlining on screen, but I have to admit that the underlined links in the old forum made it easier to read that navbar. Currently, the thing that stands out is the icon for the home page, and that may be the least important component of the navbar. Everything else has the same visual weight so it's really hard to parse.

2) We've lost the list of versions and products in the post header. Since it's hard to get users to include the version of the software they're using, that info was helpful in responding to questions. In addition, having it in the post header instead of the subject line meant that it was accessible but out of the way.

OTW, good work on the new forum display. It's very promising.

Allison