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Updates to Forum Designs

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I'm really struggling to read the new font :frown:
Original post by Dez
How pointlessly pessimistic. Every single one of the feedback posts made last time were read by me and other members of the team, and we made a number of adjustments following the constructive feedback we received.


I protest the new layout.

However, whilst I might protest it, I must take into account that new things take getting used to. I must also take into account my increasingly generally irritated mood today due to a lack of sleep and whatnot.

Having said that, I do believe that some of the widget designs are even worse than the were before. For example, the "submit reply" and "go advanced" and "quote" buttons are much worse than the were. Possibly an issue with the font?

The "positive rating" and "negative rating" button designs are worse than the were - possibly too embossed?

In fact, on the whole, too many things in the news designs seem far, far too embossed - possibly something to consider, no? :smile:
I'm hoping this is another step towards having a low graphics mobile version of the site that actually works.

As for the access issue - the functionality of the site for disabled people gets raised EVERY TIME the forum design is changed. EVERY TIME it is more or less ignored - which is why it's all but impossible to navigate the site via a keyboard anymore and why the font colours and sizes are seen as something to fiddle with every time the site is redesigned rather than the foundation for how the site functions.

There are laws covering accessibility of UK websites (http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/lawsandstandards/Pages/uk_law.aspx ) and there are free tools to help designers check whether their features meet the industry standards (eg http://wave.webaim.org/report#/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestudentroom.co.uk%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D2325748%26page%3D3%26page%3D3 ). It isn't difficult to add in "complies with access industry standards" to the contract for any design brief but this doesn't seem to be an area Acumen sees as a priority.
I like the "meet the community" section on My TSR, means you haven't admitted defeat to Facebook (which is on its way to becoming a myspace and deserves no-such respect).
To be honest, Mods, as much as I embrace change and innovation and advancement, this new layout/design does not seem to be an advancement - rather, things just seem more embossed (as in, fattened up).

The line of separation between posts also seems to be a bit less or troublesome, no?
Additionally, the fonts of the "Watched threads" and "Who quoted me" to the side of the webpage are much dimmer than last time.

In fact, to be perfectly honest, the site is much much worse in navigation. It's actually quite bad to the point of irritating.

Is this a horrifically late April Fools? :lolwut:
Original post by Dez
How pointlessly pessimistic. Every single one of the feedback posts made last time were read by me and other members of the team, and we made a number of adjustments following the constructive feedback we received.


It is a pity you didn't do the important ones concerning the overall user experience, then, and just stuck to tinkering to those that didn't involve changes to the master plan.
Reply 167
Avatar for Morgsie
Morgsie
7
I was on about how bright it is and the legal side which others have picked on. I did not expect to be attacked by Mods over the DDA and the Equality Act. This has yet again raises the notion of me leaving TSR
(edited 10 years ago)
Bug report:

On the "My TSR"/TSR homepage widgets the font sizes vary (see image)

On Windows 7, FF 3.6.10
TSRfontbug.JPG31.7KB
Has there been a coup at TSR HQ? Maybe a power struggle going on, perhaps?

I would like it if a Mod in the higher echelons of power would explain to me why the changed what they changed and why it was necessary, because overall, it's actually made the site harder to navigate, more irritating to view. It's like a kind of Ebay-analogue now.
Reply 170
Avatar for Juno
Juno
20
Original post by Morgsie
I was on about how bright it is and the legal side which others have picked on. I did not expect to be attacked by Mods over the DDA and the Equality Act


People who don't have problems don't realise how great simple solutions can be. When my wrist gets bad I sometimes wear fingerless gloves at work, but everyone is like "why are you wearing fingerless gloves?!!!11!" because they don't realise that something so small can be the difference between being able to move my hand at night or not.
Original post by Ape Gone Insane
As it has been explained several times, moderators (clue is in the name) aren't responsible for the site change nor are they web designers by night.


Then who on Earth is responsible for all of these monstrosities - yes, they've now become monstrosities, because the further I use the site now, the more I begin to think how monstrous some of these "new" designs look.
Actually, scrap that - I realise why it was deleted (went back through my history), not due to me, but another user's offensive post. :u:

Gotcha! :smile:
Original post by HumanSupremacist
Then who on Earth is responsible for all of these monstrosities - yes, they've now become monstrosities, because the further I use the site now, the more I begin to think how monstrous some of these "new" designs look.


The developers are responsible.

It's frustrating. Why don't the team of developers spend time trying to improve other website features.

This question hasn't been answered by the developers, but what was the need for the change? I'm not talking about the look of the site/features changing, but what initiated you guys to want to change it in the first place. Was there something so bad about the layout?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 174
Avatar for Ch1pp0
Ch1pp0
12
I can live with most of this but the font makes it painful to read, especially if you're reading long posts.

The thumbs up/down buttons need changing. - They look stupid and I can't tell if a post has pos/neg rep at a glance any more.

I don't even hate the little blob things, they look quite cute even if they are childish.

While I come on this site quite a bit, I often think of it as a sixth-form/uni student site, even if I was on it in my GCSEs. This new lookout however is really off-putting and it belittles the site.

Also, I'm sure that the money from subs could have been spent in a million better ways than this, you could have reduced sub-prices or added some server space or anything... Instead you've just made many of your members unhappy. - Well done.

TL;DR: (Can't blame you in this font.) I think it's quite bad, verging on ****.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 175
Avatar for Jarred
Jarred
18
Sorry to add more criticism, but the buttons look really odd.

I wonder if the original and very first button that was redesigned was the quote button, and then when they liked it they realised they no longer had a base copy of an empty button without the pen so just painted over the quoted one in as curvy a manner as possible?

Original post by Potally_Tissed
TSR now uses the same font as the BBC website. As I said in my previous post, I really can't see that there's a legal case against using Arial :nah:


The BBC news website (at least) uses whatever font/font size you've got set as your default sans serif within your browser. Most broswers have that as Arial but if you change your defaults then the BBC news pages follow what you put (without having to override EVERY website font option).

(Only know that because I just broke the BBC news site trying to adjust for TSR :s-smilie: )
(edited 10 years ago)
I'm not quite sure why, but this hurts my eyes.

Thank you TSR: I'm going to have to revise for the upcoming exams, instead of coming on here. Is that why you brought these modifications into effect?
Original post by PQ
The BBC news website (at least) uses whatever font/font size you've got set as your default sans serif within your browser. Most broswers have that as Arial but if you change your defaults then the BBC news pages follow what you put (without having to override EVERY website font option).

(Only know that because I just broke the BBC news site trying to adjust for TSR :s-smilie: )


So it does, news to me as well :smile:
Last suggestion/constructive (?) feedback.

Re the rep icons and the neg looking prominant - THIS is a REALLY useful/simple guide to colour intensity and avoiding this sort of issue when using colours for comparison.

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