The new layout at forumosa

[GooseEgg]

@Dragonbones

I, too, greatly appreciate all the hard work that goes into this site…

Cheers

@Dragonbones

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;

Yeah… and even worse, you don’t have access to those links on the right if the most recent post in a discussion is the 3rd to 15th in a page!

Maybe we could put the links (and the resulting long white space below them) on the left margin, like typical newspaper websites

@Dragonbones

I’d rather have the posts take up the full width.

So would I,…

@Dragonbones

…I’d vote for putting the banner at the far top, and the links below it rather than to the right of it…

…but how do we still accomodate the donors who have been great about paying for Forumosa’s costs?

Please don’t forget that the printer-friendly template (which, I realize, still needs some work - the CSS code isn’t quite ready yet - which is why it still looks weird) will allow you to read wall to wall text

@Dragonbones

…the SEARCH function, which I use extremely frequently, is found in varying places depending on which page you’re on… …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!

Sorry about all this. I haven’t gotten around to updating the PM and search result templates.

There will be a search box on every page - I figured the Sitemap was a good second choice to the top because it’s easy to get to: in most (or all?) browsers, simply press the END button and - ta-daa! - the search box is there

In the forums, I plan to add “In-Forum” search boxes – like what we have now in the Feedback Forum, it’s called a Quick Search. This allows you to search that forum – ideally before you start a new thread (hint, hint).

I hadn’t thought to make a search box prominent on the PM pages, but I’ve always wanted to make that area a little easier to use. I’ll see about adding one there (where?)

Same goes for the Search Results pages.

I’m wondering, the confirmation pages that you see after you post - would it be a good idea to add a search and some frequently used links there? For example, right now, after you post something, you have about 3 seconds before it automatically directs you back to the thread you posted - though you have an option to go to the forum instead

I’m thinking that we could extend this time limit to 15 or 30 seconds and have a search box and links to New Posts and the Past 24 hours.

I once wanted to put a banner zone there – the closest we’d get to the (annoying) interstitial ads. But I haven’t figured out how to do that (I’ve tried) and I don’t see much point in trying when we’ll have Text Ads accessible pretty much everywhere else

[Tetsuo]

[quote=“Goose Egg”]I’m thinking that we could extend this time limit to 15 or 30 seconds and have a search box and links to New Posts and the Past 24 hours.[/quote]I don’t like that idea. That would actually just be annoying.

[quote=“Goose Egg”]I once wanted to put a banner zone there – the closest we’d get to the (annoying) interstitial ads. But I haven’t figured out how to do that (I’ve tried) and I don’t see much point in trying when we’ll have Text Ads accessible pretty much everywhere else[/quote]This, though, is a good idea.

[Truant]

@Tetsuo

[quote=“Goose Egg”]I’m thinking that we could extend this time limit to 15 or 30 seconds and have a search box and links to New Posts and the Past 24 hours.[/quote]I don’t like that idea. That would actually just be annoying.

I reckon it would be ok. I mean essentially that’s like it is now except you more links to jump to. I’d agree 15 or 30 secs would be annoying tho, but maybe 5-7 secs with the extra links would be ok - at least you have the option to jump where ever you want to during that time.
Don’t tell me you sit there for the 3 or 5 seconds waiting for the redirect back to the post?

[Tetsuo]

Actually I usually have half a dozen different threads open on different tabs, so while it’s flipping over I just read something else.

Back to the design thing: here’s an interesting thing I just had happen in the “Tom Cruise” thread - before, when someone posted a link that was waaay too long, you had to scroll over a little to get to the links. Now you have to scroll even further than before. Is there some way to make the sidebar and post section sizes percentage based, and to force overly long lines to wrap?

[Jefferson]

I think 3 seconds is fine. I actually wish it were 1 or 2. Links to the main functions are everywhere as it is. After someone posts something, they want to see it appear in the thread immediately, not wait 20 seconds while they explore yet another ream of links.

If there’s a 20-30 second gap between posting and reading a thread, I think you can expect a significant drop in the number of posts. Who wants to wait that long between posts, even if they can get “out” by clicking on one of the links on the confirmation page?

I believe in the KISS model of web design. The links are already on most of the pages where they need to be. Heck, this is just a forum. Why the never-ending tweaking?

[GooseEgg]

I do not believe using relative sizes will help this.

imho, the easiest way to force overly long links is to PM your moderator or the OP and ask them to fix the thread when they have time

[Truant]

@Jefferson

Who wants to wait that long between posts, even if they can get “out” by clicking on one of the links on the confirmation page?

who would wait that long, while staring at the link… :loco:

[Jefferson]

Well, exactly, but the point is I’ve never seen a forum with a confirmation page that lasted more than a few seconds, and I can’t think of a reason why a forum would want to implement a longer wait. It unnecessarily complicates a standard function.

[GooseEgg]

[quote=“Jefferson”]I think 3 seconds is fine. I actually wish it were 1 or 2. Links to the main functions are everywhere as it is. After someone posts something, they want to see it appear in the thread immediately, not wait 20 seconds while they explore yet another ream of links.

If there’s a 20-30 second gap between posting and reading a thread, I think you can expect a significant drop in the number of posts. Who wants to wait that long between posts, even if they can get “out” by clicking on one of the links on the confirmation page?

I believe in the KISS model of web design. The links are already on most of the pages where they need to be. Heck, this is just a forum.[/quote]
You seem to be missing my point about extending the time on the result page. I suggested adding a search form and links to more content (New posts and past 24 hours).

By extending the time, those who do not want to jump to other content would (quite obviously?) click on a link or use the form

@Jefferson

Why the never-ending tweaking?

Because I like to act on a good suggestion if I can. I hope you will take heart from this - if we agree with an idea you have, I’ll try to implement it.

I think that more of the tweaks are helpful than not - and I admit not all have been leaps forward. But overall, I don’t think we’ve done so badly

Here’s a tip: there’s still more tweaking ahead (plus at least one new major tweak that we have commissioned)

[Jefferson]

I got your point. My point is…well, nevermind, I think I already stated my point clearly enough.

Happy tweaking!

[Dragonbones]

3 seconds is fine. I wouldn’t extend it to more than 4 or 5, just a blink more time to click on the desired link. I usually multi-task like an octopus, so 99% of the time I don’t notice the 3 seconds. For PM’s, I’d want it to return to my inbox; for threads, I’d want it to show my post. Just my dos centavos. Do we get a hint of what you’ve commissioned? You’re such a tease! :raspberry:

[Yellow_Cartman]

It seems that the right column should have a link to the Forumosa Calendar. Maybe it could go right under Forumosafieds.com, Forumosans.com, Friends or the section below it.

EDIT: Site map also does not have a Calendar link. In fact I think the only time the Calendar link shows up is when you’re at the index.php page :s

Fix that please.

[GooseEgg]

The calendar was down over the weekend (well, I was warned not to add new events there)

Thanks for the heads up

[Tetsuo]

OK the “Discuss our Forumosafieds” link in the sidebar? That makes the sidebar way too wide and squishes the posts up horribly.

[GooseEgg]

@Tetsuo

OK the “Discuss our Forumosafieds” link in the sidebar? That makes the sidebar way too wide and squishes the posts up horribly.

Are you so sure the words that are doing the squishing? Because originally the link read “Please send us your feedback about the Forumosafieds” and the right column was as wide on my screen as it is now. I changed it to fit on one line

(what broswers/OS/screen resolution are you using?)

[Joesox]

The right sidebar takes up 20% of the space for me, using Firefox with 1024*768 on a 16" screen. I can’t shrink the text to improve this ratio because it’s already as small as I can comfortably read. This also means that I spend more time scrolling down through very long pages.

I think the new-look Forumosa would look better and be easier to use on a bigger computer monitor where there is more opportunity to resize text.

Of course I realise that serving advertisers well is important. I believe that they could be well served by using top banners, bottom banners, reply page ads etc. To be honest I am less likely to click on side ads. now because I find it annoying that they take up so much screen space. But perhaps that’s just me.

And regarding links, yes they were fine at the top right before the side bar was introduced.

I don’t want to harp on about this. I feel that Forumosa serves the most number of people best and most reliably when it is in a simple, relatively un-modified format, and without a sidebar. But it’s a great website anyway and I will try to avoid posting on this topic again.

[Tetsuo]

I agree with absolutely everything joesax just said.

@Goose Egg

[quote=“Tetsuo”]OK the “Discuss our Forumosafieds” link in the sidebar? That makes the sidebar way too wide and squishes the posts up horribly.

Are you so sure the words that are doing the squishing? Because originally the link read “Please send us your feedback about the Forumosafieds” and the right column was as wide on my screen as it is now. I changed it to fit on one line

(what broswers/OS/screen resolution are you using?)[/quote]
I assumed it was that because it was the only thing in the whole sidebar that took up the whole width of the sidebar.

BTW: Firefox 1.0.4, WinXP, 1024x768

[Truant]

I like this layout.

[914]

Is it possible to have the “Forums” at the bottom of the page larger and move it over so it sits individually, not right next to Sitemamp or Feedback & Announcements? “Forums” gets lost in all the others…New topic…edit…print…new posts…etc…

[Tetsuo]

I’m liking this too, but with one exception - it would appear we are now all locked into our current avatars and sigs, because I sure can’t find a link to edit my profile any more.