I like having the links down the side like that. The site is a bit easier to use.
Me too. I’d like to see them applied a bit more consistently though. Like on the “New Posts” screen, they don’t show up. Things like that.
I don’t, I prefer them up where they were. I’m not sure how it makes the site easier to use.
Agree with Tetsuo tho: I use ‘own posts’ and ‘new posts’ all the time, so not having the ‘new posts’ link anywhere on the ‘own posts’ page now is a PITA.
I never like change. I have adjust my whole strategy around. Whatever happened to, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?
How come there is a link to “24” but not other crime based TV dramas ? How about a “C.S.I.” link ?
I don’t think it makes it easier, but it does look good and is a lot clearer than before. I did prefer the old layout, but I have no major complaints with this one, aside from the consistency thing.
After using the site for several hours now, I’m getting to the “why did they f*ck with it” stage. :s
Sure, have links down the side etc if you want, but why-oh-why can’t the links be left up the top right where they were? The weren’t using a heap of space, and it’s no crime to have more than one link on the page. The logo on the left uses enough real estate that the strip of links on the right can go back into the half inch space (where they were) without affecting any of the rest of the page layout.
[quote=“truant”]After using the site for several hours now, I’m getting to the “why did they f*ck with it” stage. :s
Sure, have links down the side etc if you want, but why-oh-why can’t the links be left up the top right where they were? The weren’t using a heap of space, and it’s no crime to have more than one link on the page. The logo on the left uses enough real estate that the strip of links on the right can go back into the half inch space (where they were) without affecting any of the rest of the page layout.[/quote]I agree with truant. I prefer to be have my whole screen width devoted to postings. As it is now there is a huge white gap. And no, I wouldn’t like to have the adverts back there. Just how it was before is fine.
I think we were all cats in previous lives, change freaks us out. 
Seems like a lot of wasted real estate in exchange for moving those important and useful links someplace no more useful…
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“truant”]After using the site for several hours now, I’m getting to the “why did they f*ck with it” stage. :s
Sure, have links down the side etc if you want, but why-oh-why can’t the links be left up the top right where they were? The weren’t using a heap of space, and it’s no crime to have more than one link on the page. The logo on the left uses enough real estate that the strip of links on the right can go back into the half inch space (where they were) without affecting any of the rest of the page layout.[/quote]I agree with truant. I prefer to be have my whole screen width devoted to postings. As it is now there is a huge white gap. And no, I wouldn’t like to have the adverts back there. Just how it was before is fine.[/quote]
I moved the links to the right column because some Forumosans (Moderators, in fact) pointed out that the upper right corner links were not well placed for them: the links either fell off the right side of their screens or were crunched up and unsightly.
Now, I did not appreciate their problem until I switched to 800x600 resolution. Hopefully, these links are reachable (and I haven’t checked this out yet because I do not use 800x600 resolution on any of the computers I use)
Will the ads be back to fill in the white space? Yes, they will. I can think of no better way to show my gratitude to the moderators and the donors (the people who pay for our web bills) than to give my best effort to promote their interests
I am glad that the feedback thus far shows that the right side real estate is NOT in your way. This is what I hoped.
[quote=“Goose Egg”]I moved the links to the right column because some Forumosans (Moderators, in fact) pointed out that the upper right corner links were not well placed for them: the links either fell off the right side of their screens or were crunched up and unsightly.[/quote]I think I’m one of the Forumosans you mention. There may have been some misunderstanding here. The links at the top were only falling off the screen after the right hand side ads. etc. were added. Before that they were fine.
Of course I understand the need for ads. I’d just prefer they weren’t down the right hand side and were instead banners at the top and at the bottom.
I expect people with bigger screens don’t find this inconvenient at all.
Sorry if I was too sharp in my comments. I hope my feedback is taken as constructive.
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“Goose Egg”]I moved the links to the right column because some Forumosans (Moderators, in fact) pointed out that the upper right corner links were not well placed for them: the links either fell off the right side of their screens or were crunched up and unsightly.[/quote]I think I’m one of the Forumosans you mention. There may have been some misunderstanding here. The links at the top were only falling off the screen after the right hand side ads. etc. were added. Before that they were fine.
Of course I understand the need for ads. I’d just prefer they weren’t down the right hand side and were instead banners at the top and at the bottom.
I’m sure people with bigger screens don’t find this inconvenient at all.
Sorry if I was too sharp in my comments. I hope my feedback is taken as constructive.[/quote]
What he says.
The links falling off the right was a problem that needed to be addressed without moving them. Having to scroll right to read posts was annoying also, and if it was caused by banner ads being too wide, then the solution IMHO is to scale the ads , not move the links. Even with the links now gone, overly wide ads will push the post text out the side.
Having said that, I was having the problem at 1024 x 768 anyway, so who knows what the 800 x 600 people were experiencing.
If the ad width must stay, then how about stacking the links up there a bit(2 or 3 lines), and removing the less used links like profile and ignore?
I think links to new, 24,7, own posts, PMs and Search should be there.
We all use the site differently I’m sure, so what one person wants (Mod or otherwise) is not going to please everybody, but I am trying to be as objective as possible in saying the top right links are the best solution for a one stop shop for navigation, if they can live in harmony with the ads and the other enhancements you have in mind.
[quote=“truant”]The links falling off the right was a problem that needed to be addressed without moving them. Having to scroll right to read posts was annoying also, and if it was caused by banner ads being too wide, then the solution IMHO is to scale the ads , not move the links. Even with the links now gone, overly wide ads will push the post text out the side.
Having said that, I was having the problem at 1024 x 768 anyway, so who knows what the 800 x 600 people were experiencing.[/quote]I think the problems was caused not by banner ads. being too wide, but by the existence of the sidebar on the right. That made the whole page become “widescreen”, resulting in the top right links falling off the page. And yes I got the problems at 1024 * 768 too.
The “widescreen” problems appear to have been resolved, at least for me, which is great.
I tried to edit some comments into my post above yours but I’m afraid I was too slow, so I’ll put them here instead. What I wanted to say to Gus was;
I’m sure everybody appreciates the hard work that you continue to put into improving the site. I know you want to take into account various people’s experiences and opinions when making modifications, and that the end results probably won’t please everybody. It’s a great site anyway.
no problems, I edited the quote in my post also.
I agree also with your message to Gus. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE this place with a passion and it’s unfortunate that the feedback forum usually consists of complaints and negative feedback.
Keep up the good work!
Ditto for me. The links were being pushed off, at 1024*768, by the ads, and even more so when anyone with a longer username (like Fearsome Orange, for example) posted, because the ads seemed to be of fixed width.
Again, same here.
All that said though, I’m starting to lean more toward Truant’s side. Having the links moved rather than copied when there didn’t really seem to be any need to do so is getting frustrating.
But like joesax said, I appreciate the hard work you do on this, even if I don’t necessarily like the results. What’s frustrating me has probably helped fix someone else’s frustration.
Folks, thanks for the support.
There are plans to make more use of the right column space, so moving the textlinks there is as much a bonus benefit.
And with regards to the timing, remember that we rolled back the templates several versions worth last week during the latest site slowdown - since I had to make changes to the templates anyway, I figured I might as well go ahead and add the right columns already
The new links on the right take up 20-25% of the space on both my desktop and notebook. The “meat” of the website, that being posts and threads, are new seriously scrunched up. I wonder if it might be better to put the links back to the place they were and then find a way to alleviate the problem some people were experiencing with those links running-on or being scrunched. Maybe put them in 2 or 3 rows? Seems to me those links are quite a bit less important than the posts, this being FORUMosa, not LINKosa.
25% of your screen? What screen resolution are you using? And which Operating System (O/S)??
800 X 600
XP
14 & 17" monitors
I, too, greatly appreciate all the hard work that goes into this site, so this is just intended as constructive feedback:
Although having the links to the right of the first post looks nice, as you scroll on down, it leaves a big, wasted white space which is about 15-20% of the page width for the remainder of the page; I’d rather have the posts take up the full width. If the links interfere with banners of varying width, then I’d vote for putting the banner at the far top, and the links below it rather than to the right of it, if possible, but I admit ignorance on the technical difficulty and issues involved.
More importantly to me, it would be good to ensure that the links are consistently available. Other than my PM’s, the only two I use frequently are SEARCH and Past 24 hours. But the SEARCH function, which I use extremely frequently, is found in varying places depending on which page you’re on; below the Time and in the Sitemap when on the Index page, but is in the right column once you open a forum section or thread, and then it’s buried only in the Sitemap once you open a page full of Search results or in one’s Inbox, even though searches from those two starting points are, for me, even more likely than from other places. Having it be in inconsistent places is a bit irritating. I’d recommend returning it to the top right corner if possible; or leaving the right links always visible. Consistency is the main point, but giving the SEARCH fxn relatively high priority in placement is also part of the point. Thanks!