no longer accessible

[auntnini]

New DD interface is not intuitive. You are losing a lot of viewers. How do you check new posts?

For years DD (and associated JavaScriptKit) forum was fabulous learning place to be routinely checked for new ideas. With new interface, DD is no longer viewable.

What a shame. Seems it is now limited to a few "insiders" clique club.

[jscheuer1]

I'm sorry you feel that way. It took me awhile to get used to it. While I was, at first I was a little unhappy about it. And there are still some kinks to be worked out. At the same time there are some new features, improved features, and some old glitches hanging around from the last update have been fixed.

New Posts are on the left edge of the dark blue menu bar immediately below the green menu bar, both near the top of each page.

Is there anything else you're having difficulty finding? I know I was almost completely disoriented at first. I have found most things now though.

Oh, and there's a thread about the update:

http://www.dynamicdrive.com/forums/showthread.php?70367-Forums-upgraded-to-vBulletin-4!

You can participate in that if you like. Perhaps some of your questions are answered/could be answered there.

There's also another less formal thread on the update here:

http://www.dynamicdrive.com/forums/showthread.php?70368-Wow-this-is-a-huge-change

[djr33]

I'm still getting used to it. I'm not entirely happy about it either, but it's getting better.

One thing I've found is that I like having a narrow (and tall) window on half of my screen with other windows open. With the new layout, that doesn't work. It's too busy and visually distracting to be productive. But if I maximize the window to fill my whole screen, everything is a lot more comfortable.


I wonder if it's harder or not now-- we're just used the old way. Do new visitors find it more difficult than new visitors did with the old layout? I wouldn't be surprised if that's true, but I'm biased so I can't be sure.

[ddadmin]

The interface is still a work in progress, I assure you. I agree certain visual cues definitely could use some fine tuning, and I'll be addressing them in the next few days.

[keyboard]

I wonder if it's harder or not now-- we're just used the old way. Do new visitors find it more difficult than new visitors did with the old layout? I wouldn't be surprised if that's true, but I'm biased so I can't be sure.
I think someone should make a poll about the upgrade because then you could see the communties opinion... And maybe a thread specifically for changes that they think should be made...

[bernie1227]

The website Definately is a different look, however, I don't believe we're losing viewers, the number of people posting seems to be about the same in my view, the only thing that I really have a problem here is not having that bar up the top with the top thanked latest blog posts and latest posts, I don't have any qualms with the rest of the site.

[djr33]

What I'm specifically interested in is whether there would be a difference between User A and User B in the following situation:

User A joined the site in May of this year and was here, actively posting about several problems for one month. User A has never seen the new layout, only the old layout.
User B joined the site yesterday and is now starting to become an active member, and will post about several problems over the next month. User B has only seen the new layout.


Bernie, the statistics could be misleading (because it might take a while for them to catch up, and often bots are caught in the numbers).
Keyboard, you can't be an unbiased judge of this because you've seen the old layout. I'm specifically interested in users who've only seen the new layout. (I can't be an unbiased judge either!)
A poll might work, but I'd be specifically interested in only responses from members who've joined since the change. That is: "What do you think of the forum's layout?", not "...of the new layout?"

[traq]

I think someone should make a poll about the upgrade because then you could see the communties opinion...
results from such a poll would be highly biased.

however, I don't believe we're losing viewers, the number of people posting seems to be about the same in my view...
intuitively, I'd agree with that - though I'd wait a few weeks and see what the stats say about it.

[djr33]

Just browsing around the forum at the moment and thinking about these issues, I want to add that I'm much, much happier now that my screen is maximized (along with slowly adjusting over time).

So, 1) it's the kind of thing I can get used to (I think), and 2) Something needs to be done about the layout on narrower windows/screens. It doesn't scale down very well.

I think the problem is that before everything was clearly divided into sections and now it seems like a lot of somewhat disconnected bits here and there. For example, the signature is so far away from the posts (based just on my visual impression-- colors, boxes, actual distance) that it feels separated from the post. When the window is wider, that compensates so that the vertical distance is minimal compared to the horizontal space.



There's something interesting that I've noticed about visual perception. Try writing a word on a piece of paper (it doesn't matter what you write-- perhaps something to remember), maybe a page with a lot of other things written on it. Next, circle it. Obviously the word is now more prominent on the page. Circle it again. Continue doing that, making a larger and larger border around it. At some point the border starts to overwhelm the text and the text becomes easy to overlook again. I think that's the effect that some of the stand-out colors/borders on this design are having (at least for me). In that sense, sometimes less is more.




But, one important thing is that I think since the initial change, all of the slight changes have been improvements, so DD, your updates have worked for the most part. It's getting there.

[bernie1227]

Bernie, the statistics could be misleading (because it might take a while for them to catch up, and often bots are caught in the numbers).
This isnn't about bots or statistics, this is about me seeing how many posts have been made when I come online, and I can tell you that it looks the same to me.

[keyboard]

Keyboard, you can't be an unbiased judge of this because you've seen the old layout. I'm specifically interested in users who've only seen the new layout. (I can't be an unbiased judge either!)

I never said that I was an un-biased judge. I never even said I am a judge. I'm mearly interested in what everybody else thinks about the new look compared to the old look, and what might be improved.

[djr33]

Bernie, that's true, I guess. It hasn't been all that active from what I've seen, but certainly the board is slower some times compared to others. We'll need to see what happens over a month or so to know if it has slowed down overall or not, but there's no question there's still posting going on.

KB, that wasn't a judgment or anything-- I'm just saying we'd need to hear from someone who, unlike us, hasn't seen the old design. If they like this one, then the rest of us will adjust over time even if we don't like it at the moment-- we might just be imagining problems or having trouble with the change.

[ajfmrf]

It is taking me a little to get used to the fact that when I click on the "+Reply to Thread button that it changes my curser focus to the quick reply text box.I happen to notice it completely by accident or I would have thought it was not working.

I don't think that there has been a big difference as of lately due to the forums new "appearance/upgrade.I have noticed in the recent months times that the posts were down quite a bit but they have appeared to rebounded and become a little bit less then when I joined the forum.

I think at that time,it was often that a second page of "New posts" occuring on a regular basis.( I just noiticed while typing this a yellow flag that said saved breifly showed in the bottom right corner-cool)


I visit here at the forum 10-30 times a day I would guess-someone probally could tell me exactly how many times if they were to look it up-lol

I like it here,I am not too versed on any one thing but I try to help if I can.

I think the post number is not increasing today-I posted at least twice( maybe three times in that last 10-15 minutes and it says the same number.

[jscheuer1]

Posts in the lounge do not count toward one's post total.

[ajfmrf]

Thanks for the heads up John

[djr33]

I don't think traffic on the forum as a whole has gone down noticably, but I do think there have been far fewer posts in the DD Scripts Help section than there usually are. There are usually 4-10 threads with new posts when I load it (at least after being gone for a while, or overnight) and now there's often just one, maybe two. This may mean that the forum really is less accessible for users who want help with a script but now can't easily find there way to ask. We'll have to keep an eye on this, but I think it's worth noting.

[jscheuer1]

Traffic ebbs and flows. This time of year things are generally slow I think. Lots of folks are away.

But it might also have to do with the layout.

If so, I think folks will get used to it.

Things seemed to me to be slowing down before the change.

I have noticed a lot less spam since the change.

[djr33]

Good point about the spam.

Sure, we can wait to see if it keeps up.


If so, I think folks will get used to it.The regulars, yes. But the situation I was talking about was for one-time users who needed help with a single problem (who of course might become regulars). If they find it confusing now, the others in a month or a year will also find it confusing-- if they're confused I don't think they'd eventually get used to it-- they'd just give up.

[jscheuer1]

I think first timers will "get used to it" as well. The new layout isn't any more intrinsically confusing than the old was. It's just different from what folks accustomed to vB prior to version 4 are used to. vB is a pervasive forum software. People in general are used to it. This new version is a bit of a departure, but not so much of one that folks won't get accustomed to it sooner or later.

It's kind of like migrating from XP to Vista or Win 7. Just about everyone and their uncle were lost with that one. Now most folks prefer 7 over XP.