Site Issues, Updates, Changes, and Feedback Thread

[firedog]

I've defined and saved my activity stream so content appears how I prefer. Why does the site not save my preferences? Every time I come back to the site I have to define how the content is displayed again- even though my previous "saved" preferences are listed under "activity".

Once I define my display preferences, shouldn't the site use those, unless I change them?

Thanks. The new site looks nice. 

Still thinking about the width issue. Will see how I respond to it over time.

[firedog]

17 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Did you create a new stream on this page and save it? Did you set the stream you want as your default

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/discover/?do=create

That's something I still have to look into. When I imported all the users the site assigned reputation points to them based on something. 

I've created a new stream and saved it several times. When I exit the site and then come back, my preference doesn't display. I have to ask for it again each time.

[firedog]

I still have 2 minor issues with the new site:

1. I'd like the site to remember the type of view I've picked in the activity tab, even if it is a custom defined stream. The site doesn't seem to do this, at least not for me. Just don't want to have to adjust the activity view every time I come back to the site.
 

2. Drop down menus: don't work properly on my iPad or Android tablet. On the iPad, it takes multiple attempts to get the drop down menu to appear, and it seems to happen just by luck.
On my Android tablet, not all the menu items appear when I touch the tab. 
 

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure there are some simple coding fixes that will make the drop down menus - that work with a mouse and "hover" on a desktop -also work properly wth a touch screen.

 

Other than that, I like the new site and the clean look.

[firedog]

3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

1. Did you try setting your custom activity stream as default (see screenshot)?
2. I can reproduce this and am digging deeper into it.

Thanks. BTW, on my Android phone (Nougat) the menus work fine. Not on either brand of tablet, though.

[firedog]

3 hours ago, Jud said:

 

I like the view on the right (within the thread),  The view on the left seems kind of "shouty" to me with all the bold thread titles in sequence.

 

4 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

Chris - I had a nicely typed up reply in progress, and then I lost it - double clicked on a link that I had pasted, and my draft went poof. Any idea - for future reference - how to get back to a draft reply if I navigate away by mistake?

 

Anyway - I'm retyping this again from memory (painful).

 

I realize there is a large element of personal taste involved in this, but I do believe the issues a lot of us are finding go beyond just taste, but eyestrain and fatigue. So let me enumerate why (for me) the current site is fatiguing, along with suggestions. BTW - your comparison to NYT and other news sites is interesting, but I would point out those sites tend to had a lot more media content, that breaks up the monochromatic text elements far more than the typical CA topic.

 

My list:

1. Overall contrast: the black on white is fatiguing enough, but is exacerbated by the lack of delineation between other elements - like columns, quotes, etc. Suggestion: Consider reducing contrast of the overall site - either using subtle color palettes like pastel blue, for example, or if you really want to stay monochromatic, then grey shades.
2. I am not a fan of the Arial/Helvetica font either, but that is truly a matter of taste that I can live with if the fatigue issue can be ameliorated.
3. The lack of any lines (or very very light weight lines) between columns, and between posts really adds to the fatigue. Suggestions:
   • More weight on lines between columns and between posts. In fact @sdolezalek's highlighted post above could be a good default.
   • Subtle background shade variation between columns (user handles, content body) would greatly reduce fatigue too.
4. Quoted text is only distinguished by the enclosing quote box, but no change in background. Suggestions; it should have a shaded background to make it more readable and distinct.
5. Finally, here is an example of a site I really like. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage-733/. Not the desktop one, which is quite garish, but the mobile one. You may have to view it on a mobile device to view it. I couldn't trick the site into showing me the mobile version on a desktop browser. Anyway - shown below are a couple of screenshots that show what I mean about thicker lines and shades for better delineation.

        

See what you think.

 

I mostly agree with this.

I find the site somewhat eye fatiguing. 

I turned down screen brightness so it wouldn't bother me. 

[firedog]

Chris-

`I'm very impressed by all the time you are putting into this, along with your willingness to accommodate criticism/suggestions from all of us.

 

It also took some time for us to get used to the new UI and how it works.

 

The site has already overcome the biggest problems in terms of the UI at launch, and from your responses here it's obvious that you are continuing to put a lot of thought and effort into making the site the best it can be for us.

 

The slight changes you've made in the color scheme have definitely Improved things; I also like the new theme you say you are working on. 

 

I also hope you won't mind if I recommend you get some rest and hang out with the family a bit - the site is fine now and whatever still needs to be done can wait a bit....

[firedog]

14 minutes ago, Abtr said:

I've seen mostly complaints about the new theme and layout and only a few people seem to like it. Do you really like the black menu bar?

 

This is not some news bulletin board, this is an audio forum. No other audio forum I know of  uses such a small horizontal space for content. Why do you think that is? And indeed the vertical line spacing and/or font size should be changed, not necessarily the font itself (although I like Verdana better). You can change these things with a few mouse clicks but you just don't do it, which is disappointing.
 

It is when it takes up unnecessary vertical space and if it is ugly and distractive.

 

That's a 404 file not found error. I take it then that you leave it to Google to solve the problem. Why didn't the conversion software create a database table with all redirections for the old CA links?

 

I thought you were going to make them visible again, especially since all system information in user profiles is lost?

 

It's clear that you never tried to follow a particular conversation or argument in multiple posts in a 100+ page discussion. The reason this is especially bad is that the forum conversion software *should have* preserved these internal links. Now that they're gone, I guess there's no way to get them back.

 

How hard can it be?

 

Nope, I've no "vested interest " in CA hits other than that It would be quite saddening to see this site/community go down as a result of a forum software update..
 

Boy, I guess you must be the acknowledged world leader in both site design and server programming, and arbiter of personal taste....Oh, you aren't?

Then I'd say your comments are: first, rude; second, arrogant. Try reading what you write while thinking how it sounds to someone else reading it.

[firedog]

12 hours ago, esldude said:

Well just a post of some encouragement to Chris.

 

I learned long ago all changes in forum software seem wrong at first.  Things you knew how to do without thinking about it require "thinking about it".  So I don't really know if I like new forum software better or not for at least a couple of weeks.  Like most software forum software gets better over time.  I usually have ended up finding benefits to newer forum software. Even if there are some drawbacks there usually are more improvements than drawbacks.

 

So far I am not unhappy with it nor thinking man this new arrangement is nice.  Hopefully people being overly critical rather than simply reporting usage issues can take a step back and realize of all the people who want this new version to be better no one has more reason than Chris. 

 

So my only significant feedback is I would like the option to choose my own basic colors.  But not having that won't cause me to stop using the forum.

Well said

[firedog]

3 hours ago, ShawnC said:

Much better.  Easier on the eyes

+1

[firedog]

1 hour ago, kblundy said:

When is Tapatalk going to work again? - I really miss being able to use it.

 

 

 

It's not. The full site now comes up in a mobile version on phones and tablets.

[firedog]

Just like to tell Chris that after getting used to the site, a few of his changes since the launch, and the new blue theme - I'm very happy with the site and think it looks way better than the previous one.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

+10!  I find I have to zoom in on iDevices before attempting click the star spangled or the dot.

Yeah, I also find it iffy.

[firedog]

16 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi Guys - The Ignore Topic feature is now available.

Before I even saw this post I clicked on that thread just to see if I could ignore it - and was happy to see I could!

[firedog]

1 hour ago, mansr said:

I hadn't suffered from this issue until today. Now it's suddenly demanding a re-login quite frequently.

Welcome to the club...every login. It is a very first world problem, but I will be glad when the fix is in.

[firedog]

Looking good to me. I'm especially glad the automatic login works again

[firedog]

Chris- the search function has become pretty useless again. Just doesn’t give useful results most of the time. I thought you had fixed it at one point (maybe on the old site?), but it isn’t so useful now.

[firedog]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Coming very soon we will be upgrading to Elasticsearch. The results should at least be useable after than upgrade. 

That will be good. I searched for some pretty obvious things yesterday like

Kii three

MQA in various 2 or three word phrases

 

and got zero results.

[firedog]

And poor Chris wakes up to find out the Far East hackers/spammers are at it again. 

 

Hope it doesn't cause you too much trouble.

[firedog]

On 7/30/2018 at 6:28 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

I value all opinions and feedback and have taken @mansr comments seriously. One other person who frequents CA sent me a PM about this as well. 

 

We try to find a balance that makes everyone happy (yes there's the problem, keeping everyone happy). This new banner space isn't going to be used all the time. It's much more expensive than traditional banner space, but it enables us to show the banner less and gives the advertiser better results (CTR). This banner is purchased on a monthly basis, usually to coincide with a launch or something special. The current dCS banner campaign in this position expires in the middle of August. 

 

As a point of reference, please consider visiting this HiFi site (link below) and compare it to our top banners. This doesn't make anyone right, but it's a point of reference nonetheless. 

 

https://www.monoandstereo.com

 

Well, yeah, but that site is the audiophile parallel to a girly magazine. Lots of ads, pictures, virtually no content. "Light porn" for audiophiles. I never go there - it is a total waste of time.

[firedog]

I'm confused. I'm not seeing any of these issues of annoying emails, ignored users, etc. So maybe it's something in each users' settings?

[firedog]

11 hours ago, austinpop said:

Streams are showing duplicate entries like this:

 

I am also seeing this, and didn't before the update.