Site Issues, Updates, Changes, and Feedback Thread

[austinpop]

How do I get a view of my subscribed threads with unread content? In the old site, I'd click on my username on the top right.

Best I can tell, I have to look at the unread "Content I follow"? Even in the condensed view, it still shows me individual posts, newest first. Is there no way to only see topics/threads like in the past?

Same question about recent activity across the site. Is there any way to look at it as topics, rather than individual posts?

These two things were the primary mechanisms for me on the old site, and I have to say, I'm not feeling it for the new one. But - no snap judgements yet.

[austinpop]

Chris, first of all - thank you for the immense effort you put in for the site change. Like many others, I don't embrace change easily, so please understand that my comments still come with an underlying appreciation for your hard work.

I think I understand how to get back subscribed info. The key is to filter activity by topics, unread, and content I follow.

I'm also liking the ability to create my own activity streams. Can these custom activities be added to the top right, alongside the two builtin actions: Unread content, and Mark site read?

My feedback on formatting:

1. Agree about too much whiteness. The site is just too high contrast, and very fatiguing to read. I don't know if you chose to go monochromatic, or whether it was forced on you by your choice of frameworks, but this is a recent trend in webUI that I find baffling. I would strongly, strongly recommend the ability to customize fonts, line spacing, and most of all - add some COLOR!!
2. I also echo the request for auto scaling column width to the screen. There is just too much wasted space. And again - oh, the whiteness!
3. Signatures - try as I might, they look ugly. And is there any way to control the line spacing?

Finally, not sure how I got such a high "reputation," but digging it! 

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28 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

All feedback is welcome, especially that which is prefaced with kind words :~)

Those kinds words were well deserved!

28 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I can't change the links near the Unread Content link without a major change. 

Oh Ok, it was just a thought. At this point I can accomplish something similar by making my custom activities into browser bookmarks. Not the cleanest, but it does work.

28 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I'm thinking about user selectable themes that would enable everyone to select from a number of options.

Yes. YES! Please!! I know that will help a lot of people.

28 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Auto scaling is something I tested, but disabled. I can re-enablel it. It's on my list of items to test again today.

That would be great.

28 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Can you elaborate on the signatures and your line spacing opinions?

Well, since the signature shouldn't take up too much real estate, the line width seems unnecessarily high. Is there any way to add line spacing as a formatting option? Or if not, consider coding a smaller line spacing on signatures. See my sig below for what I mean.

Thanks, Chris.

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5 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

OK Guys - Here are some scrrenshots from old to new. The first one is a split screen showing the differences. The second one is a couple posts only and it's offset to line up the text area (with red bars highlighting the areas). You'll see there really isn't much difference in width for the text area.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for putting these before and after screenshots. Very interesting. I see now that the width issue is a psychological one in my brain, that is reacting to the monochromaticity and white space.

Now that I see your old site, would you consider retaining some of the best elements in your new design?

1. Your old site's font was awesome. The new font is just... unremarkable.
2. The light blue and gray backgrounds under various screen elements on the old design made a world of difference. It really highlights the need for themes. I suspect us older, hidebound audiophiles would cheer a "classic" theme that captures as many visual elements of the old look as possible!

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10 minutes ago, mansr said:

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

All the more reason for themes, because this is clearly a user preference.

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1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This would be fabulous.

A second theme = twice as much work to maintain. I'm not opposed to it, but custom CSS could solve the issue. 

I'm completely open to this, as long as there are clear instructions for non programmers.

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3 minutes ago, Jud said:

The reflow is pretty much unnoticeable here for me, as (1) I'm on a fast connection, and (2) It happens at the same time as I'm being taken to my previous position in a thread, so I perceive both as part of the same thing.  No annoyance so far.  I'll retest at home.

Same here. Reflow is barely noticeable on desktop monitor 1920x1080.

[austinpop]

Chris, here's another question - may be an issue if it's not user error.So when a topic is all caught up, there is no button to go to the first unread article. So, for example here, the * is grey. not green:

In the previous site, just clicking on the topic used to take you to the first unread. In the new site, there is this option when you create an activity stream:

But what is needed is an option (should really be a site-wide default, IMO) that when clicking on a topic, it takes you to the last post, not the first. Oh - and also - this is necessary for mobile and tablet, since they don't seem to see the unread button/star, if I remember correctly.

Your thoughts?

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2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Try the new test activity stream. Does this work how you want?

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/discover/59/

No. The failing case, is a thread - sorry, topic - on which I'm all caught up. In that case, there's nothing unread, so there is no icon or setting to say "take me to the last post". In your test stream, I filtered further to content I follow, and clicked on the title of a topic that had no unread content. It took me to the first post, not the last.

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1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Click on the time such as "2 minutes ago" and it should take you there. Correct?

Chris,

1. Set Content Type to Topics
2. Set Read Status to Everything
3. Now select a topic with nothing unread
4. Click on the topic. It takes you to the first post. 

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5 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Click on the time such as "2 minutes ago" and it should take you there. Correct?

Duh - I see it now.

Yes, that works. Not intuitive, but it works!

[austinpop]

Chris,

 

Thanks for these incremental fixes! Already a huge improvement since 24 hours ago. Keep em coming.

 

And hope you get a bit more sleep tonight.

 

Rajiv

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19 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

1. Did you try setting your custom activity stream as default (see screenshot)?

 

Oh very nice! 

 

Chris, this is a partial implementation of the feature request I made many pages ago - to add custom activities to the toolbar. I noticed that when I made my custom activity the default, it replaced the default one - "Unread posts" - on the top right next to "Mark site read."

 

So while you can't bookmark (if you will) multiple custom activities on the top of the page, at least your default one can be.

[austinpop]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Thanks for the continued support and feedback. I rally value all of it. Even that with which I disagree :~)

 

I'm struggling with the comments about the white background. If you look at the large news sites (disregard any politics please), such as New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, etc... They all have black text on white backgrounds. I've been reading them all for years and always liked the style. Do you find those sites troublesome as well? Do you think the issues with the white background on CA are edge cases or something larger?

 

This site is for the readers. I want to make it the best site possible.

 

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.

[austinpop]

21 minutes 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.

 

Yeah - but it's only because all those threads were unread in that view. It's the same in the current CA - unread topics are displayed in bold. Like so:

 

 

BTW - congrats on having the highest "reputation" of them all on CA! A distinct honor. 

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2 minutes ago, Abtr said:

 

here's  a site where on the home page, not only the main menu is much better looking, the header bar only appears when (on a Windows PC) you scroll up and it disappears when you scroll down. Brilliant!

 

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/

 

Note that In the forum threads on that site, the main menu simply disappears with the scrolled content, which is also excellent.
 

 

I do like that design, especially within a topic (thread). I might still prefer some shading on quote boxes, but overall very nice. Thanks for the link.

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1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Wonderful. Thanks so much for all your work. 

 

I just adjusted the background of quoted posts. It's a easy thing to do so I will make some adjustments and judge the response. 

 

With respect to your post that disappeared, I'm not sure what happened. Yesterday something similar happened to me and when I went to start another reply, it was restored automatically and gave me a message that it was restored. Hmmm.

 

I'm finally starting to get it. Now that you guys have hit me over the head quite a few times with the fatigue issue, it has sunk in. When building the site and customizing everything, one gets way to deep into it and is too close to the project to make all the judgements. 

 

I'm going to make some changes based on this feedback. Not only do I want to make the CA Community happy, it's the right thing to do, but I also agree with you and @sdolezalek (and others as well).

 

Hi Chris, 

 

I like it (the shaded quote)! Hope you'll consider my other suggestions too.

 

As for getting too deep into the project, I hear and feel you. But by soliciting and accepting feedback, you are taking an exemplary approach. You will never please everyone, but by showing your responsiveness to feedback, you've already redeemed yourself.

 

BTW - this monochromatic theme is reminiscent of when MS first put out Office 2016. They too went with a colorless monochromatic look, and got a lot of negative feedback, after which they softened it up and added some shading. However, that took a lot longer. 

 

We really appreciate your far more responsive approach. Trust me!

[austinpop]

Quick question. What's the significance between the green circle and the green star before the title of topics with unread content?

 

 

Both seem to indicate unread content. What's the difference?

[austinpop]

10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Perhaps the star indicates threads in which you've posted. 

 

Perhaps you're right.

 

I really thought I had posted in that Intona thread, but perhaps not. Tried searching for myself in that thread, and came up blank.

 

But I think you said the search function is less than ideal at the moment, and pending some work to make it less literal, right?

[austinpop]

For some reason, this particular topic below exceeds the screen width on my browser. Other topics are fine. Curious!

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/31013-iso-regen/

 

[austinpop]

I too am on the Mac right now. Did a little digging, using both Chrome and Safari. Since I use Chrome by default, I cleared my cookies and cache. Here is what I see (on both Chrome and Safari):

• the topic is fine when I am not logged in.
• once I login, it spills over the screen boundary, 
• Only this topic does it - that I've found
• fwiw - I am a paid subscriber, so maybe it has to do with the fact I don't get ads?

[austinpop]

12 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I just put my test user in the same groups as you and still can't reproduce it. 

 

Is there one element on the page that you think is causing it go over the edge (is one thing stretching really far while the rest of the content is within the bounds)?

 

Do you have any browser extensions installed?

 

Feel free to send me a screenshot via PM or here if you want.

 

Hi Chris,

 

Will do. I'm on the iPhone right now, and the good news there is that I'm not seeing the issue on iOS Safari.

 

When I get back to a screen later this evening, I'll try it on Windows 10 as well, and try to isolate it for you as best I can. 

[austinpop]

Chris,

 

I confirmed it happens on Chrome on Window 10 too.

 

I took some screenshots and sent it to you.

[austinpop]

1 hour ago, Abtr said:

Well, IMO this CA forum software update is progressing badly. It started out with a horrible black & white theme, a font that wastes vertical content space and a ridiculously small horizontal content space. The latter has improved some, but it's still not what it should be. All other serious problems remain. The absurd always visible header bar, the CA content that still can't be found by Google, the fatiguing black & white screens, the invisible member signatures, the lost links of *pre march 18* quotations to their original posts (which is really bad), and the many gliches. And where is the promised blue theme?

 

Chris, did you even test this software before it went life and if so what exactly did you test? It  doesn't seem you know what readers of your site want. CONTENT and READABILITY should be the first priorities! CA has become an obscure, ugly and hard to read/search website. Your advertisers may notice lesser hits from CA by now. Why don't you hire a professional?

 

My 0.02..
 

 

Wow - that is unfair on so many levels. How many other systems do you own or subscribe to where the owner/developer is so responsive to feedback?

 

OK - you don't like the new design. But don't diminish the effort and clear amount of hard work and sleepless nights that Chris has put into this.

 

 Some of us took our concerns and backed them up with concrete issues and suggestions. At least for me, Chris has been incredibly responsive. Have you seen how much the site has improved since its launch just a few days ago? How many other software systems do you own or subscribe that have reacted so rapidly and visibly to subscriber feedback?

 

I respect your right to an opinion, but I hope I speak for many more when I say that I take a much more positive view. The site is not perfect, true, but I like the direction it's headed.

[austinpop]

4 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

Richard: Got to your profile and click on the black tab (which is hard to distinguish as it borders a black area) on the RH side - "About Me"

 

Odd - I found it on your profile, but mine does not even have the About Me tab. 

 

Chris, is this something you're adding on an as-requested basis? It's not a big deal for me, as I tend to keep my equipment list current in my signature, but seem to remember I had put something in my old site profile that I'd like to recover and update.

 

Not a high priority, though.