Don't care what it is tell me, it's the only way we can make it right

I appreciate change is hard to take, find it hard enough myself to remember the options and where to go, but this is an update for many reasons.

Also sorry for the realtive short notice, it was raining so I could not go walking, so I went updating, seemed logical

Oh and there is another thread so you can add the things you like, save me finding a tall building

Fire away, and nothing is to petty or silly, they are all valid and this is the last update for a long long time so lets get it right

Don't care what it is tell me' date=' it's the only way we can make it right

I appreciate change is hard to take, find it hard enough myself to remember the options and where to go, but this is an update for many reasons.

Also sorry for the realtive short notice, it was raining so I could not go walking, so I went updating, seemed logical

Oh and there is another thread so you can add the things you like, save me finding a tall building

Fire away, and nothing is to petty or silly, they are all valid and this is the last update for a long long time so lets get it right [/quote']

Just a little nit-pick - the footer on each page is black on dark grey. The links aren't really visible until they light up red on mouseover.

still waiting on interactive dart board with league table.

I find the look of the new forum quite hard on the eyes, and not very easy to view at compared to the previous look.

I also prefer just the date and times of the last posts, rather than Today or Yesterday.

Overall, it seems OK, its just the look seems more "in-depth" thats all.

Doh...did I post in the wrong thread?

Anyway I'm have to agree with Andy.....the new format hurts my eyes! I think there's alot visually to take in.

I also liked the split we used to have between informational "sticky" posts and the usual posts.

New format looks very stylish and I like the PM box indicator....a useful tool for me.

The "post" icon on the left hand side of each thread/forum section that used to be yellow to signify new posts. now, when viewing the page in redicously high resolutions, the little arrows and crosses are harder to see.

The "post" icon on the left hand side of each thread/forum section that used to be yellow to signify new posts. now, when viewing the page in redicously high resolutions, the little arrows and crosses are harder to see.

Will work on the images, a common theme...@1600 I know where they are and what the meaning is, but yes, not best, okay, will make them a little bigger

Doh...did I post in the wrong thread?

Anyway I'm have to agree with Andy.....the new format hurts my eyes! I think there's alot visually to take in.

I also liked the split we used to have between informational "sticky" posts and the usual posts.

New format looks very stylish and I like the PM box indicator....a useful tool for me.

Sticky break, will add later, small hack, but possible.

So is the hurting of eyes, the visual ontrasts or just the amount of information on a page? Colour wise we'll create a few styles that differ slightly, see which is more popular, ironically the can't please everyone comment, is actually false...we can have a jolly good try, just takes a while to gather the problems

Just a little nit-pick - the footer on each page is black on dark grey. The links aren't really visible until they light up red on mouseover.

Stimps is onto this tonight or tomorrow AIU

Got to go to my parents this evening, but should be back about 9ish, so watch out for the forums changing colours

1) I used to love being able to click a "get all new posts" button from the main page.

2) As for the "it hurts my eyes" comments... Yeah, it does but give i a few days. The old format was so well imprinted on my conciousness it's taking a while to override instinct and press the button that says "reply", rather than the one that is roughly where the old one was, for instance .

Contrast is a big "ouch". However the index/titles pages all look to busy, and yes they need sub dividers.

Your efforts are applauded, as is your listening to comments Colin.

One little thing. Last night, with the new format, there was (for a short time, only ) a quick reply box, but you to tick the "quick reply" option to activate it. But, now it's gone entirely. :confused:

I don't mind clicking post reply, but it slows it up a little bit. Time is money, as they say. (which is why I'm sooooo busy at work)

Jason - initially I couldn't see the quick reply box either, but it's been present ever since...

Try switching to a different view (hybrid/threaded) and then back to linear?

It's the little icon between edit and reply....of course if you cannot see it atall....follow Stimps advice.

1) I used to love being able to click a "get all new posts" button from the main page.

2) As for the "it hurts my eyes" comments... Yeah' date=' it does but give i a few days. The old format was so well imprinted on my conciousness it's taking a while to override instinct and press the button that says "reply", rather than the one that is roughly where the old one was, for instance .[/quote']

Simon T,

Top right, was an inappropiate button, now thanks to feedback is a text link.

re layout, good info, hopefully we can improve this.

How strange - I have no arrow button between edit & reply, those two icons are right next to each other, and flicking between views did nothing. The only thing left to explain it is me using Netscape Navigator at work, and I.E at home...? I'll just use the "post reply" button as it's not really that much of a hardship.

(There are much more important things to worry about, and this isn't one of them for me)

Could well be netscape... will install it later.

I think the control panel mentions certain restrictions in functionailty for certain browser types...shame though, will tweak based on results.

Could well be netscape... will install it later.

I think the control panel mentions certain restrictions in functionailty for certain browser types...shame though' date=' will tweak based on results.[/quote']

If you want Colin.. i can Browser-test the site over next few days, i use mozilla which is a open source version of netscape.

but i can see that little arrow, so dunno what jason is on about..

I can see the little arrow (Windows version of Mozilla 1.5: highly recommended if you haven't tried Netscape and its relatives lately).

(Update: the little arrow isn't visible in Netscape 4.79. This is an ancient version and the one we still have where I work. Having said that, Briskoda is barred there because it's categorised as a chat site.)

Most criticisms of the new look might just be lack of familiarity rather than that it's worse than before. I'd agree that the colour scheme jars a little but I'm not sufficiently artistic to suggest how to improve it.

The main criticism of the new look is that there's no total number of unread posts when you enter the forums.

My only real criticism of the site in general is that it's almost too forum-based. I realise the whole point is that it is a forum, but wouldn't things like FAQs be better placed on normal static web pages rather than as threads? I notice you seem to be going in this direction with the new home page.

Anyway... keep up the good work!

There's a separate FAQ system now, Wellie... should make it easier to maintain, rather than the old thread-based system....

I can see the little arrow (Windows version of Mozilla 1.5: highly recommended if you haven't tried Netscape and its relatives lately).

(Update: the little arrow isn't visible in Netscape 4.79. This is an ancient version and the one we still have where I work. Having said that' date=' Briskoda is barred there because it's categorised as a chat site.)[/i']

Most criticisms of the new look might just be lack of familiarity rather than that it's worse than before. I'd agree that the colour scheme jars a little but I'm not sufficiently artistic to suggest how to improve it.

The main criticism of the new look is that there's no total number of unread posts when you enter the forums.

My only real criticism of the site in general is that it's almost too forum-based. I realise the whole point is that it is a forum, but wouldn't things like FAQs be better placed on normal static web pages rather than as threads? I notice you seem to be going in this direction with the new home page.

Anyway... keep up the good work!

Okay total unread stats, good point, will see about the old welcome panel mod.

Foum based, yes...initially I wanted to retain balance, we had a CMS (Nuke), but it got slow with an integrated forum, so we moved to vbul solution. Then the maintenance of the CMS was unessecary overhead, dual llogins etc...so I moved all into forums. So that left us with FAQ's and reviews in a thread base. Not pefect, but it did get picked up in searches.

So the new version of vbul comes along, lots of features, but not enough for as you say "informational content"...but we found some packages that work well enough for our needs now. These are found at www.briskoda.net/faq and www.briskoda.net/reviews Although the review site is misbehaving at the moment (hence not linked above yet!).

The FAQ package is quite nice, in that whilst it won't be found in forum searches (yet) it is fairly capable in it's own right, generating pdf's on the fly, comments allof which reward the user a little more over static, but I accept you point and hope this is moving in a better direction, it already feels "better" from an admin point of view. Your thoughts on the faq?

The main criticism of the new look is that there's no total number of unread posts when you enter the forums.

Yeah, miss that too.

On the look issue: I agree with Kentish that it is probably the amount of contrast that isn't easy on the eye. Perhaps less of the blue and more greys. And all that underlining doesn't help either...

And the great thing about the quick reply was that it was quick. Now you have to wiggle your cursor to a small icon to activate it before you can use it...

And thanks for changing the top bar icons to text!

Now what's this with "template settings"? Is it something we can access and change as users, or is it merely restricted to "style directors"?

I like the look of the new site and think it is an improvement.

only thing i have noticed is that the site seems to be slower. is this just me?

It's a lot to take in! The look is growing on me but a couple of things:

1) Cant the quick reply be activated all the time? Can't see the point on having to click to activate it, especially as it doesnt relate to a specific post in the thread

2) Miss the total unread posts on the front page (unless i'm blind and have missed it)

3) On the front page it was really useful to be able to scan down the last post date/times when using a public computer to see what needs to be looked at - the dates seem to be right justified with the last posters name now so it make scanning it hard work on the eyes

All in all though - looks great!