Site Issues, Updates, Changes, and Feedback Thread

[mansr]

43 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

It looks good, and I checked out the responsive version, and it scales well to mobile devices. 

I noticed a couple of oddities on my phone (Android/Chrome). I'll get a screenshot if it happens again.

26 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I'm glad you asked. I did a lot of research on the appropriate width of text / paragraphs etc... and most of it said about 70 characters / 10 words wide was the sweet spot. 

Thanks for the feedback. I can always make tweaks to improve the experience. 

 

I wouldn't mind slightly wider text either. Of course I can always make it look any way I want with some CSS overrides.

Hmm, this was two different posts that somehow got merged. What's up with that?

[mansr]

14 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Thanks for the feedback. Going from a wide screen to this is kind of tough, but nearly all readability studies suggest this is the sweet spot with respect to number of characters and line length. 

I'm looking into the font size.

Studies also show that cables don't matter.

[mansr]

Just now, Jud said:

Hmm, not so sure about combining posts now - the last one combined two replies of mine to two different people several minutes apart, which might become confusing.  Let's see if this one gets combined too.

I suspect it does that if you make multiple posts with nobody posting in between.

[mansr]

18 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Ok, you can add a new activity stream which lists "unread content" (threads) with the "content you follow" view.  Or you can use the "content you follow view" but that posts duplicate posts of the same thread.  I want the "last unread post" from the "content you follow" activity stream with no dupes.

Condensed or expanded with no dupes would do it!

I had no trouble getting the view I think you're after. Just mess with the controls until it displays what you want, then save the settings as a new "stream" which you can also make the default view. It's not immediately obvious what all the options do, but just about anything is possible.

[mansr]

15 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Can you take a screen shot of your custom activity stream settings that yield the view (of just threads I subscribe to that have most recent activity on top) which I describe above?  I keep trying...

Does this show enough to replicate?

[mansr]

16 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Thanks, but it still has dupes.

I'm not seeing any dupes.

[mansr]

24 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This AM I changed the time allowed to edit a post. It was set at 5 minutes by default. I tripled it to 15 minutes. We'll see how that goes.

I'd prefer an even longer edit window. Why not make it a full hour?

[mansr]

8 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Your old site's font was awesome. The new font is just... unremarkable.

The old one used Verdana. Now it's Helvetica with Arial as fallback. Personally, I quite like Helvetica.

[mansr]

4 minutes ago, Jud said:

Or a thread to offer users various customizations for the site pages they can apply themselves with CSS (cascading style sheets), as mansr was talking about.

This works well on desktop where most browsers have such features/extensions. Mobile browsers often (e.g. Chrome on Android) lack this ability.

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Hey Chris: 

I was briefly able to try your "Test" stream (stumbled upon it) a few minutes ago before you deleted it.

How did you make it?!  That "Test" stream was almost exactly what I have been begging for: A list of Followed Topics with Unread posts (as opposed to a list of unread posts in Topics that I follow).

Please bring this back--or give/tell us the parameters--and allow us to further customize that!  THANKS.

--Alex C.

P.S. I know that this belongs in the thread (uh sorry, Topic) on Activity Streams.  But you did the Test stream for someone here and seem to be right in the thick of it here.

Try this: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/discover/6/

[mansr]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

Thanks for the feedback. At least now someone argued for a smaller font, rather than the others arguing for a larger font :~)

I like the font the way it is. The current width is also fine for me.

[mansr]

7 minutes ago, SamuelTCogley said:

Me too!  Any way to widen the avatar column?

I'd rather make the username font smaller.

[mansr]

11 minutes ago, Superdad said:

I do wish that a single "carriage return" did not result in a giant paragraph break.

What he said.

[mansr]

@The Computer Audiophile The background colour of mentions is a bit dark IMO. A paler blue such as #a8c8f8 looks nicer to me.

[mansr]

20 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I think the best solution is for me to adjust the font on the username. I researched it yesterday and found that there are other items that use the same value. In other words, changing the font on the username also changes the font elsewhere. Thus, I need to do a bit more editing of the site behind the scenes to make this work.

 

I've changed the username font size to 14px with a CSS override, and that looks better to my eyes. I prefer to focus on what is being said rather than who's saying it.

[mansr]

8 hours ago, labjr said:

Thanks for your reply. I'm using the Chrome browser on my phone. Doesn't look like a typical mobile site. More like a full size site. Text is small so I have to stretch to expand and move the page to read it.

 

It works fine for me in Chrome on both phone and tablet.

[mansr]

After posting a reply to a post not on the last page, the browser "back" button stops working. This is annoying.

[mansr]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Just removed a lot of white space between posts and changed the line that separates each post to be a bit thinner yet darker in color.

 

Minor nitpick: there's a thicker/darker line preceding the first unread post. It would look nicer if this could be merged with the regular separator.

[mansr]

4 minutes ago, richard kimber said:

Looks good, but is the last post on the page supposed not to have a line at the bottom?

 

Do you think it needs one?

[mansr]

48 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

One font and size I've been considering is used on Medium. 

 

https://medium.com/personal-growth/your-desk-will-not-attend-your-funeral-779515a81dd3#.ojmlysmzl

 

That's a bit large for my liking. I also prefer a sans serif font for content such as this forum. Serif fonts are better suited for longer pieces of text, IMO.

[mansr]

7 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Now that people have had about a week to use the new site, I want to ask again for feedback about the design and usability.

 

Transition issues aside, I think it's an improvement. Much less clutter than the old site.

 

One thing has bothered me a little: after replying to a post, the view jumps to the end of the thread. This is especially annoying if you weren't on the last page.

[mansr]

29 minutes ago, richard kimber said:

I like the blue theme much better. Thanks. I still can't see the equipment list, though, nor an "About me" tab.

 

Clearly you have no equipment, nor do you exist.

[mansr]

When jumping to a specific post, the top of said post is obscured by the menu bar. I find this less than ideal.

[mansr]

1 hour ago, dmormerod said:

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't understand the response in relation to Tapatalk?

 

Which part of "pain in the ass" do you not understand?

[mansr]

1 hour ago, One and a half said:

My 2c.

Am glad to see it go, no need to read the obligatory,  sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. 

 

Yeah, those were annoying. I don't understand why people didn't turn them off.