What was considered to be wrong with the old style, anyway? I don’t remember hearing a lot of complaints about it. Why the push to change?
Try forumosa.com/tw (click on the link with your phone and bookmark the page)
I’m sorry you feel that way. I use a netbook hooked up to an external monitor with even higher resolution 1280x1024 so on my screen the font would probably be smaller, yet I find the size very readable at the smallest setting.
[quote=“ironlady”]What was considered to be wrong with the old style, anyway? I don’t remember hearing a lot of complaints about it. Why the push to change?[/quote]This “change” is not news. It’s been a long time coming, since we upgraded to phpBB3 in fact. I hoped it wasn’t necessary, which is why I didn’t activate it for so long.
The change is necessary for 2 reasons: features and security. The old template is not designed for phpBB3, so some features (eg. polls voting) which were completely re-written for phpBB3 are too complicated (for me) to re-write for the old style. If there weren’t security concerns, I’d probably pay someone to fix it.
But remember, the main reason why we upgrade at all is to stay ahead of hackers. So I cannot justify putting in time or effort to “fix” the features for the old style when over time we will want to upgrade away from it anyway out of security concerns. Indeed, when discussions about phpBB4 began a few months ago, I seriously began making a prosilver style that used Forumosa’s color scheme.
(Now, if anyone cares to fix such features in the old style, please PM me. But whether those fixes will carry into the next upgrade is open to question.)
We have had a good track record against hackers. Over 10 years, we’ve been hacked once, and only been seriously affected by spammers once (to my memory). This is because of a combination of things:
(1) the upgrades (which are time consuming to conduct as well as to use)
(2) Maoman, the Mod Squad, and the Forumosans who PM us identifying those spammers who slip through
(3) the manual approval system that has been in place for 4 years now
I’m looking forward to seeing more comments of how we can make prosilver more usable and nice to visit. So, if you don’t like the pictures: change them! Give me new ideas, refer me to someone who can help, offer suggestions. I’d love to hear’em (Oh, and cash donations are always welcome forms of support 
). When you say something like, “HATE IT!”, don’t stop there – give me something to work with (Why? How? What?). Until I actually know what you are talking about, I’ll keep on the path that I’m going 
. I can’t promise to act on it that very minute, but I do promise to read the messages and consider them. I am interested in what you are thinking, but I can’t read your mind.
Or, what the heck?, don’t bother with it all – hey, it’s just a website, right?
Just a friendly reminder that that is very much a stop-gap solution. Like with the old forumosa style, if it seems to pose a security risk, I’ll shut it down right-quick.
Native Tongues is hard at work on incorporating the suggestions for the Mobile Theme, including a link so that Mobile users can choose their Mobile style. When that is in place, I’ll decommission that /tw URL
Thanks a million RobinTaiwan, that did the trick.
Security issues are important, no question about that.
I guess I am just wondering why the new template has to be so significantly different – including the huge graphics at the top of every page. Other than that, which is NOT adjustable or user-selectable within the new theme, the other features like font size seem to be adjustable.
As an advertiser, I would likewise not be thrilled at the large images stealing focus from my page-top banners. And as mentioned before they make navigation annoying, as it requires an extra step each pagr to get below them to where you can read or do anything.
I don’t even see any banner ads. No Alleycat’s, no Nationwide, no nothing. I just see the big Taiwan-themes photo banners at the top.
The big photos don’t really bother me on my regular computer, but on my netbook, the photo, the logo/links above it, and the banner ad together filled up entire screen. It was kind of annoying to see nothing but picture every time I went to a new page.
They are pretty pictures though.
I don’t suppose that putting them at the bottom instead of the top would be an option? Or maybe putting the Forumosa logo and the links on the upper right on top of the picture, like you did with the search box?
It’s not really a matter of how I feel. It’s a matter of font size. The font is bigger and it’s easier to read with the Forumosa style. My eyes are not what they were in my twenties so bigger font is a plus.
My main complaint about the mobile theme is there is no way to tell when the last post to a topic was and by whom. Luckily I have the option to set my UA string in Android Browser and view the full desktop webpage.
I’m also not really a fan of the desktop prosilver theme. Set it back to Forumosa style in the UCP. The color coding and icon styles of prosilver make it more difficult to identify threads with new posts and the whole overall theme feels more cluttered than the old Forumosa theme.
Realizing that I 'm not a regular poster on Forumosa, and it’s for someone else to decide what to do with the site, I agree with jashsu:
It appears that the way to tell that there is a new post is that the icon changes from reddish-brown to brownish-red. It’s really hard to look at the main page quickly and see what’s new. And the whole feel is that it’s just too ‘busy’. But as long as there’s a less-cluttered option, I’ll just switch back to the old default.
[quote=“Bokonon”]
It appears that the way to tell that there is a new post is that the icon changes from reddish-brown to brownish-red. [/quote]
There’s also a small blue rectangular icon to the right of that when there are new posts, clicking on it brings you to the first unread post.
Yes, once you’re in the forums. It would help if that was also on the Main (index) page.
The screaming red NEW is a lot easier to pick up on a fast scroll.
And no, I’m not complaining, but I’ll point out that I also find the lack of contrast behind quotes to make things more difficult to figure out.
Hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I like the old style way better.
Look, out of respect to the site and the obvious security issues, I’m going to persist with this prosilver thingie and see if it grows on me. My major gripes have been brought up before: that massive picture at the top is a bit irritating and IMO unnecessary. I think it detracts from the sponsors and advertisers’ message. I also agree that the “new topics” page looks cluttered. Another gripe: the user name is insignificant under the avatar. I prefer it distinct and above the avatar. I like to know at a glance who I’m communicating/debating/fighting with. Also, I’m not quite sure why we need to be told above each post in bold, screaming letters what the thread title is. We clicked on it in the first place. Oh, and I’d like my user name changed to BLACK, please.
Thanks for the feedback
I can explain the last two quickly:
- Strictly speaking, it isn’t a thread title you are looking at, but a “post title”. The same is true with the old style. Plus, given that these titles are what are tweeted, it’s not a bad idea to rename them when you can.
- The colors of the names are not determined by the style – again, your user name was also blue in the old style. Your user name was blue because the Moderator Group color is blue, and that was your “primary” group. I’ve removed the color from your name by making Forumosans your primary group. Black is the color of the admins (again, both in this style and the old one)
That was a JOKE, Mr Egg!
It’s not really a matter of how I feel. It’s a matter of font size. The font is bigger and it’s easier to read with the Forumosa style. My eyes are not what they were in my twenties so bigger font is a plus.[/quote]What browser are you using?
I use google chrome. I’m having problems with screen resolution when my notebook is connected to a monitor, though. The resolution resets itself to 1280x1024 every time I restart my machine. I have to manually change it to 1280x768 every time (I use this resolution because everything appears bigger and it’s easier to read). It’s a bit annoying having to reset it manually every time, though it only takes a second. It doesn’t do that if I use the built in monitor on my machine.
On a separate note, the classic Forumosa style doesn’t work with all the forums. Some threads automatically switch to prosilver. I think I narrowed it down to the Taiwanted section of the site. All threads under that section of the site revert to prosilver on their own. If you navigate back to other sections of the site, it reverts back to the Forumosa style automatically. 