Sandbox

sorry to say this, but I realy don't like the new forum.

One can't argue about taste, but the layout-change did not improve readability at all. on a laptop the colour-constrasts are too vague.

and search functionality through google does not seem to be indexed yet, so that doesn't work. to get to the proper phpbb-advanced search you need to be in a topic. this is just going to encourage members to post without doing a search first, thus poluting the forum.

avatars on the right?

I know a lot of people must have put a lot of effort into tranforming this forum, but I think the previous forum was near-perfect.

Why did they even bother doing all this work?

maybe there can be a template switch, like in IE8

and "Code: Select all" should go!
or at least lets make this a optional thing in profile.

carsten888 wrote:and "Code: Select all" should go!
or at least lets make this a optional thing in profile.

Why does it bug you that much? You don't have to click it.

carsten888 wrote:One can't argue about taste, but the layout-change did not improve readability at all. on a laptop the colour-constrasts are too vague.

Seems okay to me on my laptop. Though being a Macbook Pro could have something to do with it. :P

carsten888 wrote:and search functionality through google does not seem to be indexed yet, so that doesn't work. to get to the proper phpbb-advanced search you need to be in a topic. this is just going to encourage members to post without doing a search first, thus poluting the forum.

Re-indexing 1.2 million posts will take a long time. People will just have to be a bit patient with Joomla! until everything is re-indexed and the new search is integrated.

carsten888 wrote:avatars on the right?

Yes, it places more emphasis on the content. Don’t worry, it’ll grow on you. I didn’t like it at first either.

carsten888 wrote:I know a lot of people must have put a lot of effort into tranforming this forum, but I think the previous forum was near-perfect.

And this one will be beyond-perfect when everything is fixed the way they want it. (i.e. Search and CSS) -- Also people get used to a specific look and they feel like they are losing a crutch when that look changes. But that is okay, in a few months time, everyone will get used to this new style and we won’t have any complaints like we do now. ... give it time, it’ll grow on you. -- Some didn’t think the previous software was very nice to browse or look at. Everyone has a different opinion, and you can’t please everybody.

Why does it bug you that much? You don't have to click it.

just more clutter in a layout where its hard to tell the difference between different posts (on my laptop the colour contrasts are not strong enough).

People will just have to be a bit patient with Joomla! until everything is re-indexed

true, I realize that. Shame about the link to 'advanced search' thou.
I suspect the choice for Google search is more motivated by money then by usability.

Yes, it places more emphasis on the content. Don’t worry, it’ll grow on you. I didn’t like it at first either.

I don't think it places more emphasis on the content, but thats not just my opinion. By far the most forums have avatars on the left, like just about all websites on the internet have their (sub)navigation on the left (like just about all Joomla sites !). there is a good reason for this. read about this in any book on usability for the web.

they are losing a crutch when that look changes.

true. I am a big user of forums. I recognize the different brands at a glance: PHPBB, Vbullitin, SMF. This forum is just nothing like any other. But then again, maybe you are right and this is not just a quircky new thing some ambitious designer came up with, and all forums will look like this in 10 years time.

Google search has nothing to do with money, and more to do with helping people as best we can until we get our own search installed and working.

Google search has nothing to do with money, and more to do with helping people as best we can until we get our own search installed and working.

the forum-search works, so why use the not yet indexed Google-search?

in Google adds there is an option to put a google search on your site. If visitors click on adds in the search results money goes to Joomla.
see:
https://www.google.com/adsense/search-settings

The forum search, while 'working' is not working correctly due to the entire forum not yet being indexed.

Highway of Life wrote:

carsten888 wrote:One can't argue about taste, but the layout-change did not improve readability at all. on a laptop the colour-constrasts are too vague.

Seems okay to me on my laptop. Though being a Macbook Pro could have something to do with it. :P

Although I would love to back you up there (proud to be a fanboy :P), it's actually fine on my HP/Windows laptop as well. Maybe carsten is talking about specific elements that do not contrast eachother enough. I like the way how the layout takes away the emphasis from non-essential elements (i.e. everything but the post text, really). Personally, I've gotten used to this layout since it is almost the same as that used on phpbb.com (although I do feel it does not fit in well with the rest of the Joomla sites, but I expect that will be addressed once more pressing matters have been taken off the todo list).

HoL wrote:

carsten888 wrote:avatars on the right?

Yes, it places more emphasis on the content. Don’t worry, it’ll grow on you. I didn’t like it at first either.

That's one that, though I've grown used to it by frequenting phpbb.com, I still not too thrilled about. I'm all for moving the non-essential mini-profile stuff like post count and date joined out of the way, but the avatar is quite important for identifying who said what. On my own forum, I'm planning to place it just to the left of post title, author and post time, almost like a post icon.