Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???

[suein56]

[quote user="powerdesal"] Originally I had lots of lavender at each side but by holding down the 'Ctrl' key ( Control) and rolling my mouse wheel I got the lavender side bars reduced to approx 1 cm each side. The text is perfectly readable and the computer 'remembers' this setting and uses it each time I open the forum. Perhaps this is peculiar to W7 + Chrome but maybe not.[/quote]

Apart from the fact that I use XP and Firefox this has been my experience too. OK I have had to tweak my settings a tad but now the forum looks good and works mostly well ... excepting the non-functioning top 'post' button which I keep forgetting not to use.

In fact I prefer it to the newly relaunched French Entrée ... whose appearance I find boring in comparison. [:-))]

I am now going to exit quickly before I am shot down in flames.

Sue

[Russethouse]

 While there is stil room for improvement here in my view, when I looked at FE I found it rather feint......still people in glasses should not throw stones [;-)]

[Judith]

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Judith"]When I right click (it doesn't actually right-click with a magic mouse on my mac) nothing happens.  Nor can I find out where adblock is on my computer to load it ... [EDIT sorry, now found it, but I don't know how to use it to delete this) but I can get rid of it most of the time as I need to enlarge the screen to see it, but ....

The edit panel to type in is still too large across - to see the whole of it I have to reduce it until to see the dear old lavendar fields, then I can see the whole panel, but the size of font is too small for me to easily see what I am typing.[/quote]

Judith,

I've just asked Mr Clair to show me how to do it on his Mac (Lion), using Firefox:

ctrl click on the image should bring the ABP menu. Select ABP: block image; select the first bullet option; add filter; close; reload.

Having said that, he says he prefers to use Chrome on his Mac... [:)]

[/quote]

Clair

Parfait - ça marche!!  Much better without the 'orrible contrast between forum and background.

And I think they might have just "creamed" the background of the posts as well, it certainly doesn't seem quite so brightly difficult to read.  But I'm still having to scroll across to see all the panel, when I have the text big enough to read comfortably ...

And I think the panel with our names etc in to the left is rather larger than it needs to be ....

[Clair]

[quote user="Judith"]Clair

Parfait - ça marche!! [/quote]

Excellent! [B]

[osie]

If it was me... I would have the following

Main Menu

Heading section

I would reduce the 4 lines and make it 2 or at push 3.

I would shorten the length

Last post section

I would widen the length

Threads/Posts section

I would make it 1 column

Heading Menu

I would have it similar to the Main menu in colour and size of columns

Replies Menu

Lots of waste of space...

Put buttons in heading section alongside date/time

Put Person/joined infomation in heading section alongside date/time

Make message entire length of page

I guess some of this is not possible due to the software.. but lots of blank space is a waste of time and energy.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="osie"]If it was me... I would have the following

I would widen the length

[/quote]

Now that I would like to see ...................[:P][:D]

.

[osie]

I tried to google to see if one could widen a length or lengthen a width  but ended up in phallic territory... [: D]

[Judith]

[quote user="powerdesal"]Maybe I am not really understanding the problems here, If you have to use L & R arrows to scroll sideways to read the whole post then presumably you have ''overfilled'' the screen ( maybe not the best terminology ).

Originally I had lots of lavender at each side but by holding down the 'Ctrl' key ( Control) and rolling my mouse wheel I got the lavender side bars reduced to approx 1 cm each side. The text is perfectly readable and the computer 'remembers' this setting and uses it each time I open the forum. Perhaps this is peculiar to W7 + Chrome but maybe not.[/quote]

Yes, indeed, you could say that we have "overfilled" the screen - but without that I cannot read the text 'cos it is too small.

I did not have this problem in the old forum when I increased the text size in like manner - in other words the column/ table / frame or whatever it is inside was always adaptable to changing text size, this new design does not allow seem to allow for that.

I would say - if it ain't broke, don't fix it - but if you really must - please remember that not all of us have "young" eyes, and some of us might even be pretty partially sighted - as at least one poster here is, or suffering eye problems which make reading colours, low contrast, and small print difficult, of not impossible.

We are not asking for the impossible - just the readability and performance (and I don't see that it has speeded it up much) that we had on the old forum - that's surely not a lot to ask, is it?

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="Judith"][quote user="powerdesal"]Maybe I am not really understanding the problems here, If you have to use L & R arrows to scroll sideways to read the whole post then presumably you have ''overfilled'' the screen ( maybe not the best terminology ).

Originally I had lots of lavender at each side but by holding down the 'Ctrl' key ( Control) and rolling my mouse wheel I got the lavender side bars reduced to approx 1 cm each side. The text is perfectly readable and the computer 'remembers' this setting and uses it each time I open the forum. Perhaps this is peculiar to W7 + Chrome but maybe not.[/quote]

Yes, indeed, you could say that we have "overfilled" the screen - but without that I cannot read the text 'cos it is too small.

I did not have this problem in the old forum when I increased the text size in like manner - in other words the column/ table / frame or whatever it is inside was always adaptable to changing text size, this new design does not allow seem to allow for that.

I would say - if it ain't broke, don't fix it - but if you really must - please remember that not all of us have "young" eyes, and some of us might even be pretty partially sighted - as at least one poster here is, or suffering eye problems which make reading colours, low contrast, and small print difficult, of not impossible.

We are not asking for the impossible - just the readability and performance (and I don't see that it has speeded it up much) that we had on the old forum - that's surely not a lot to ask, is it?

[/quote]

As it's the only way to get rid of the lavender edges, which made me

feel rather odd, I enlarged the print area; I have to use the arrows at

times, but it's preferable to lavender edges all the time.

I also find the font size suits better with it as I've made it.

I

still don't see why we users have to make so many accommodations to

improve the changed forum, when it was absolutely fine before. As I

asked the ether earlier on here, why is it that French Entree can change

their forums and presumably make them suit whatever phones these modern

ones are (have they got to Pineapples yet?) yet end up with very

readable forums without making a dog's dinner like this?

[Clair]

[quote user="gardengirl "]I

still don't see why we users have to make so many accommodations to

improve the changed forum, when it was absolutely fine before. As I

asked the ether earlier on here, why is it that French Entree can change

their forums and presumably make them suit whatever phones these modern

ones are (have they got to Pineapples yet?) yet end up with very

readable forums without making a dog's dinner like this?[/quote]

I'll preface this by saying that this is my opinion, that I am not making excuses for anyone or anything, and that I am not speaking on behalf of anyone but myself.

The whole thing was simply meant to be a moving exercise, from one web address to another. New location, same forum.

As I understand it, the forum (as it was and still is) is based on very dated software, and in my mind, to expect it to slot into a new web design without any hitch was hugely optimistic.

In my mind, I make an analogy with new computers and old software: Imagine getting a Windows 7 laptop, and wanting to run a program designed for Windows 95 on it. It may well work after a fashion, but everything does not just fall into place and some adjustments have to be made for compatibility.

[Russethouse]

 I'm to stick my neck out and suggest the following:

1) The page seems to be divided so that 4/5th is text and 1/5th info about poster - I feel that should be changed to 5/6th text (post) and 1/6th info about poster.

2) The default typesize should be at least a point, if not 2 points larger 

3) The background for the posts should be either very pale blue or cream so that it can be read comfortably for long periods of time. Researching something about living in France takes a bit longer than looking up the local cinema listings, time of the last train etc

4) The subject heading, black on blue should be changed either to red or to white for clarity

Frankly I doubt if any of these changes will be quick but we'll keep plugging away.

FWIW I find the type on the new FE pretty light, nothing is perfect !

[Chancer]

Me again!

Russethouse pretty much sums up my wish list in order to start using the forum again, that and a few more postings but I guess wwithout the former the latter wont happen, the font size on this window (reply to a posting is a nice readable size but the white background gives me a headache. Forget that I see that i cannot read the left hand side of what I have written so the window is not large enough.

Honestly if those two strips of what I am informed are lavender fields were not there the font could be bigger and the forum much more readable, I cant put into words what the problem is with the strips down the side but everyone seems to be raling about them.

Good news that the blank space at the top has gone.

Editted, the post button at the top, which was the only one visible to me does not work, either remove it or enable it please.

[AnOther]

As one of the objects of the change was supposedly to make it more usable on mobile devices I wonder how much research, if any, was done to establish just how many active members do actually use such a device to view the forum, even on an occassional basis much less as a their main means of access. Certainly nobody asked me and personally I'd be quite surprised if it was even 1%

It may be a case of those in charge of the design, quite possibly young trendies barely out of UNI, imposing what THEY see as desirable and necessary for today's mobile technology without properly considering the actual audience.

As I said earlier though the mobile (iPhone) experience leaves a lot to be desired anyway so a bit of a half baked effort on every level.

[Judith]

"FWIW I find the type on the new FE pretty light, nothing is perfect !"

Indeed.  In that case there is not enough contrast (and I am not at all sure what they have done with the mixture of fonts they are using!) whereas on this forum there is rather too much of it!

And in both cases the font size is too small.

Yes, I highly suspect young designers straight out of uni, who can see a pinprick a mile away, and love a confusion of colour, font and background.

And in true systems design they would have tested it on real people before releasing it.

[Sprogster]

The font size, colours and layout of the forum should be designed for the eyes of the average age of the readers of the associated French publications and users of this forum, which are fifty, sixty and seventy somethings!

The vast majority of Brits in France or contemplating buying a home there are retirees or second home owners and in the fifty plus age bracket, and invariably with less than perfect reading vision.

[cooperlola]

Nothing much has changed since I last visited - at least none of the "in your face" stuff, as far as I can see.

As a matter of interest, can the techies back at Archant see if the forum's traffic has changed as much as its appearance in the last week or so?  Might be an eye-opener?

[Gardengirl]

My first viewing today shows me that the almost unreadable black print on blue background for headings has changed to larger white print - and is so big I can read it without glasses! A definite improvement!  [:)]

However, I hit the top print button by mistake (actually - it's a natural thing to do!) - and it still doesn't work!  [:(]

[Gardian]

[quote user="Gardian"]

Anyway, I'm staying away for a week or so. By that time this thread will be up to 40 pages and umpteen thousand views.[blink]

[/quote]

Well, I wasn't far out.

Hardly improved in the past week. Can't be bothered to read through all the pages, and it's still grim. 

[Russethouse]

Many people have had an improvement - it would be a help and much appreciated if you add to either the technical thread or appearance thread and say what is not working for you, and give your system and browser

Many thanks

[Judith]

[quote user="gardengirl "]My first viewing today shows me that the almost unreadable black print on blue background for headings has changed to larger white print - and is so big I can read it without glasses! A definite improvement!  [:)]

  [:(]

[/quote]

Absolutely, and I never noticed until you said it.   Much better - thanks - at last I can read the titles now  (with my glasses!!!!!!)

[Gardian]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

Many people have had an improvement - it would be a help and much appreciated if you add to either the technical thread or appearance thread and say what is not working for you, and give your system and browser

Many thanks

[/quote]

Point taken RH, but I can't believe that there's anything that I could add 10 days on.

'Activity' is a fraction of what you'd normally see. Plus, there's more than a few regular contributors absent (not necessarily the same thing).

  

[cooperlola]

With  you all the way, Gardian.  It is now 11 days since I first posted on this thread.  I also e-mailed Forum Admin in short order and posted on the Technical and Visual aspects threads as requested.  However, very little has changed apart from a few tweeks like the size of the print in the blue boxes above each post and the fact that the smileys work, I can tell which page I'm on etc.  Nothing about the overall apearance apart from some fellow forum members' tips about enlarging the print 'til it's well oversized in order to get rid of the borders.

A real shame as I miss the chit-chat but I really can't deal with another headache.  I still don't get why this is the one un-readable forum I find amongst so many which work successfully with my combination of browser and OS.  Still not good enough, Archant. 

[PaulT]

One has to wonder how beta testing of this went on. As the mods have made adverse comments I can only assume that they were not sworn to secrecy and asked to test it.

So this was probably by IT staff who do not actually use the forum and thought it fine and perhaps did not try it with various browsers and operating systems.

Had they been more sensible in their testing they would not have got so many users, note USERS, up in arms about what they had done.

Hopefully, if they play again in the future they will have learnt lessons from this fiasco.

Paul

[Russethouse]

 While I'm in no way going to apologise for this debacle my feeling is that while its true to say nothing much has changed for you, for quite a few members things have changed. While there are still improvements I would like to see, the forum itself works well enough for me where as it didn't to begin with. Someone, somewhere is doing something, they just haven't hit the button that cures your forum ills as yet.

We'll keep up the pressure,( FWIW like you Q is having all sorts of problems) but please stick with it.

[602]

I am more a reader of this forum and only contribute when I have something constructive to say. So here goes. As someone who manages a number of forums [different subjects] this transfer to a new look has been badly coordinated. The software running this forum is very old hat and I suspect has contributed to many of the issues.

More modern forum software is available at very little cost where changes to the look and feel can be made on a global scale very quickly and efficiently.

The floating panel in the center of your screen that contains the forum is now common practice on web sites to accommodate various screen sizes and portable devices. However the background image is very distracting and not centered properly.

Whilst the choice of the font size is a subjective thing, it is too small. But all of us can change the magnification of the browser at the click of a mouse. Being an old git I run my browser at 110% all the time, saves on the eyes

I still cant login using my preferred browser , Opera, which as I have said somewhere else is just a badly written bit of JavaScript.

These days web developers really ought to test things in all common browsers and operating systems.

Report:- could do better.