Forum Update Tuesday Dec 8

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by shenrie

just noticed the changeover erased all my saved "friends". any way i can get that list back?

I'm not sure but will investigate..

[Jeffrey]

Social Knowledge suggested I post this here.

I'd like an option I see on other forms with similar software, to be able to select 'Wide' as a view that will fit and adjust to the width of my browser window. And an option to get rid of the Recent Thread column that takes up way too much space on the right. The first request enacted may solve my second one.

[SilverForkPhil]

A couple of comments/questions:
- I've not yet seen a "see unread posts since last visit" link. Is this gone?
I see there is a link at the top of each thread to go to the first unread post, but it's kind of cumbersome to look at each thread first.
- I seem to have lost all of my (previously) subscribed threads. Is this temporary of is there a setting I've missed?
- No more "bookmarked" threads?

- I like the new color scheme - kind of earthy-looking.

- I haven't really noticed or seen the ads mentioned earlier.

Thanks for your efforts, Admins

Phil

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Hey, cool to see the SMB Forum get some "new life" --- !

But I must confess.....
.....I wish there was an option to select "view forum in classic mode," as there were quite a few things about the old forum appearance/layout that were "easier on the eyes" to view and sort through.

As in:

1) The fonts were less stark/abrupt/high contrast.
New Forum appearance relies on too much "ALL CAPS," IMHO.
(This is just basic UX practice --- as "ALL CAPS is harder to read at a glance than is conventional lower-case layouts. See:

http://uxmovement.com/content/all-ca...users-to-read/

2) overall page layouts were less busy-looking at a glance

3) Previous forum appearance was less "Super High Contrast, Everywhere" so it created less eye strain to spend hours....and hours...and hours....on the forum

http://uxmovement.com/content/when-t...rk-background/


Just my take (as a Graphic and Industrial Designer myself) --- I really liked how "low key" the overall "visual read" of the previous page was, and easily visually navigable, such that it was pleasing (and calming to the eye) to spend a lot of time reading and learning, and contributing to the forum.

Tweaking the current layout to use less "ALL CAPS" and also going less high-contrast (i.e., allowing the background to go more of an earth-tone tint, vs. nearly white as it is now) could make a HUGE (and fantastic) improvement, again IMHO.

Thanks for hearing our comments and feedback, and considering the group's feelings/ opinions to continually improve the website you've brought a great updating to!

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Janet H (and SMB Forum members --- !)

Here, for your consideration:

I took the time to do a quick "fine tuning" of the appearance of the webpage, with some of what I was envisioning to make the page "easier at a glance" to navigate and "easier on the eyes" to view.

Here's the suggested view, which isn't a huge change (just delineating the tabled boxes with their own darker tone-on-tone color, and losing the "all caps" for non-capitalized lettering on the main headers.



My goal is very humble here and honestly, absolutely *only to offer a suggestion that would enhance* the great new redesign of the SMB Forum.....build even more/strengthen the bold visual "earthy, outdoor" quality the site has going, unify the page view.....play it up even more as an earthy theme (as makes sense for the flavor of the SMB experience and lifestyle.)

Also to make easier the UX/interface "visuals" of quickly scanning the page.

Thanks for your consideration!
Respectfully yours --- Mike T

[jrtozer]

Originally Posted by depark

Ok, here's another issue. All my Subscriptions and Bookmarks are missing. Hopefully they are somewhere. I would hate to have to try and find all of them again.
Cheers
Darryl

All of my thread subscriptions have disappeared too. Not sure how I'd ever find them all again. :-(
-JR

[rallypanam]

Linking the 'recent threads' to the first page is not ideal. Should link to last page.

[chrisbaffico]

Hi Janet,

My photos are no longer showing up in this thread:

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...ad.php?t=16300

I would re-add them manually but I cannot find an edit option. Can you please advise.

Thank you,

-Chris

[pjpvi]

I agree with MountainBikeRoamer's comments on appearance. I find this new layout very harsh to look at. Maybe it's an over 50 thing! I do prefer the "classic look" for what it's worth.

Phil

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Pjpvi -- not sure it's just an "over 50 thing," but it might be an "over 40 thing"…. (I'm "only" 43 )

In any event -
I noticed that (for some reason) my uploaded image of a suggested "tweak" of the SMB Forum Appearance didn't seem to be reliably displaying when I posted it above (Lower contrast, more earth-tone-on-tone, switch away from ALL-CAPS for the headers to make reading/viewing easier….)

….so I'm reposting my "suggested Fine-Tuning of SMB Forum Appearance" image here:

Click thumbnail image to enlarge.
(Image is hosted remotely at "Image Titan" website.)


Suggested SMB Forum Appearance

(I noticed that (depending on the browser), the image I uploaded to my personal SMB Forum Gallery wasn't displaying when linked to in the thread in most cases when viewing the previous attempt (2 or 3 posts back in this thread. From home (and on a Mac), only Safari was showing the image from my SMB Gallery.)

Again, with all due respect for the great redesign of the Forum! (that could be a bit easier on the eyes with contrast/capitalization improvements - Mike Torpey