24 replies to this topic

[Mister VCS]

[Albert]

You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I'm not sure what type of discussion you expect to follow with such a negative tone.

..Al

[Mister VCS]

I expect a controverse discussion...

[RevEng]

I doubt you'll get one with that attitude.

Most people will either pass on thinking you're a nut, or comment on your poor delivery as I've just done.

[SpiceWare]

The bottom-left of practically every page has an option to Change Theme. If none of the provided themes satisfy your aesthetics, you're free to host your own forum.

[Mister VCS]

SpiceWare, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 6:13 PM, said:

The bottom-left of practically every page has an option to Change Theme. If none of the provided themes satisfy your aesthetics, you're free to host your own forum.

Thanks for the advice... -my own forum is coming soon!

IMO the most members here at AA are good guys, but the forum layout is ugly (in comparision to all of the former updates, and I am a member since May 2001),

Edited by Mister VCS, Fri Dec 2, 2011 6:40 PM.

[Brian O]

Just saying its ugly doesn't do anything. Design is subjective. What looks good to me may not look good to someone else. Now, if your gripe extends beyond the aesthetic -- perhaps you have some issues w/ forum functionality -- then there is a thread dedicated to that. I'm sure Al welcomes any constructive feedback. But to just say its ugly accomplishes nothing.

[Mister VCS]

Brian O, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 6:59 PM, said:

Just saying its ugly doesn't do anything. Design is subjective. What looks good to me may not look good to someone else. Now, if your gripe extends beyond the aesthetic -- perhaps you have some issues w/ forum functionality -- then there is a thread dedicated to that. I'm sure Al welcomes any constructive feedback. But to just say its ugly accomplishes nothing.

We talk a about a forum-layout - and not about a living person! I don't like the actual design and that is it. Please relax.

[Brian O]

Mister VCS, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 7:23 PM, said:

Brian O, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 6:59 PM, said:

Just saying its ugly doesn't do anything. Design is subjective. What looks good to me may not look good to someone else. Now, if your gripe extends beyond the aesthetic -- perhaps you have some issues w/ forum functionality -- then there is a thread dedicated to that. I'm sure Al welcomes any constructive feedback. But to just say its ugly accomplishes nothing.

We talk a about a forum-layout - and not about a living person! I don't like the actual design and that is it. Please relax.

I tried to be polite, but you clearly have no other agenda but to start arguments. Good luck with your quest for the perfectly-designed forum.

-B

[save2600]

This kind of progress (IP board updates) gets uglier and uglier with each new incarnation. Colors get more drab, things and the layout look more generic in general, buttons and some functions get a little more clunky and less intuitive too. Guess I just try to deal with it all, but my interest in reading and participating in various forums wanes year after year. Partly due to "progress" and partly due to just getting older. It is what it is. Great people and community for sure - which is really where it's at and I do appreciate Al taking the time to make each update as pleasant as can be.

Edited by save2600, Fri Dec 2, 2011 9:26 PM.

[Albert]

I know the forum skin is not ideal, but unfortunately it's a fair bit of work to customize it beyond just changing colors and fonts. I am not a professional skin designer, but I do hope at some point in the near future to have someone design a new, professional forum skin from scratch. However, a fancy, custom skin won't change the functionality and how the forum operates, which is the most important thing.

..Al

[Mxyzptlk]

Albert, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 9:06 PM, said:

I know the forum skin is not ideal, but unfortunately it's a fair bit of work to customize it beyond just changing colors and fonts. I am not a professional skin designer, but I do hope at some point in the near future to have someone design a new, professional forum skin from scratch. However, a fancy, custom skin won't change the functionality and how the forum operates, which is the most important thing.

..Al

Albert, is it possible to get the time on the status updates? That is one of the things I miss from the old A.A. page. I also miss not being able to post a status update on the forums page, instead you have to go to your profile to post them.

Edited by Mxyzptlk, Fri Dec 2, 2011 9:23 PM.

[thegoldenband]

I'll admit that I liked the old look better, but I can handle the new look. What I find more difficult to handle, and this goes for lots of the websites and message boards I visit, is the integration with Facebook, Twitter, and similar sites. It seems to increase page render time -- since more things are being retrieved from different domains, and my cable Internet likes to forget how to do DNS lookups every now and then -- and also, to be frank, creeps me out a little.

Having said that, I'm super-grateful for everything Al does to keep the site running smoothly, sanely, and happily. And I know that these changes aren't his idea, but reflect Invision's direction and the trends of the web in general. So it goes.

[Albert]

Mxyzptlk, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 9:21 PM, said:

Albert, is it possible to get the time on the status updates? That is one of the things I miss from the old A.A. page. I also miss not being able to post a status update on the forums page, instead you have to go to your profile to post them.

I agree, time on the status updates would be nice. I'll look into that. You can post a status update on ANY page, just click on your name at the top of the page and fill in the "What's on your mind? text box and hit enter.

..Al

[Mxyzptlk]

Albert, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 9:29 PM, said:

Mxyzptlk, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 9:21 PM, said:

Albert, is it possible to get the time on the status updates? That is one of the things I miss from the old A.A. page. I also miss not being able to post a status update on the forums page, instead you have to go to your profile to post them.

I agree, time on the status updates would be nice. I'll look into that. You can post a status update on ANY page, just click on your name at the top of the page and fill in the "What's on your mind? text box and hit enter.

..Al

Thanks for the heads up on that. I wish I would have tried that before I whined about it.

[Albert]

Mxyzptlk, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 10:49 PM, said:

Thanks for the heads up on that. I wish I would have tried that before I whined about it.

You're welcome! I think it was a boneheaded move for Invision to have removed the text field from the actual status box, and I intend on putting it back at some point.

..Al

[Mirage]

Since we're offering up opinions, I think the current site looks great. Every time AA is updated, the new look is shocking to me, but once I settle in, I like it. I love Deflection as it's easy on my light-sensitive eyes. I think the navigation is a little harder now than it used to be, but that's just a result of more features being added, and as such, I think they've done as good a job as can be expected.

Funny, until thegoldenband mentioned it, I never even noticed the line of social media icons down there. I guess that's a function of nearing "old-age" status (at 39 LOL). I honestly don't know what 4 of those icons do, and 3 more I know, but don't care. I know what the email and print icons are!

[Rybags]

For the most part I like it fine.

I'm running on the Deflection Theme (grey background). Much better than the old white.

The problem I have though is with the coloured text when people use it - many colours now become near impossible to read.

If the colours could be tweaked such that each theme has proper contrast it'd be a welcome improvement.

Also, the extra large text can be annoying but luckily not many people go crazy with it.

RED
BLUE
GREEN
CYAN

Edited by Rybags, Sat Dec 3, 2011 5:12 AM.

[Mister VCS]

Mirage, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 5:00 AM, said:

Every time AA is updated, the new look is shocking to me, but once I settle in, I like it.

For myself, I miss this effect with the update to 3.2.
...and now we have a "controverse discussion"

Please call me an "AtariAge forum martyr"

This forum needs more emotional discussions instead of "political correctness".

Edited by Mister VCS, Sat Dec 3, 2011 5:24 AM.

[Austin]

The only thing I miss are the splattered icons on the Splat theme.

[AtariLeaf]

Mister VCS, on Fri Dec 2, 2011 2:14 PM, said:

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Mister VCS, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 5:23 AM, said:

Mirage, on Sat Dec 3, 2011 5:00 AM, said:

Every time AA is updated, the new look is shocking to me, but once I settle in, I like it.

For myself, I miss this effect with the update to 3.2.
...and now we have a "controverse discussion"

Please call me an "AtariAge forum martyr"

This forum needs more emotional discussions instead of "political correctness".

Yes because there aren't enough other forums around for that......

[atarilovesyou]

Personally, I agree with the OP. I'm not a fan of the newer design, but I guess it's free sooooooo...whatever.

[akator]

I haven't been a fan of the last 2 forum updates because they have made the site massively slower to load than previous versions. Contrary to what every Web 2.0 advocate believes, we don't all live in markets with multiple broadband choices and exponentially improving bandwidth.

I also find the updated forums to be less aesthetically cohesive with the main site, and I used to be really impressed with that consistency because I know how difficult it is.

I'm disappointed with how FIrefox's spell check doesn't appear to be working within these new Atari Age post reply containers. I get no red underlined mispellings no matterrrrrrrrrrrr howwwwwwwwwww muchhhhhhhhhh I mispellllllll a wordddddddddd. One of the greatest advances of modern times, that people can spell check before publishing their idiotic comments on the web, is now missing from Atari Age on all 3 of my computers running WIndows 7 -- thus potentially contributing to the downfall of civilation by propogating the destruction of language.

[atarilovesyou]

Harmony Central went through the same kind of thing...I actually have super fast broadband, but it's still slower today than it was years ago on the old system. So it's not an 'afraid of change' thing, but more like a 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' thing. There must have been a good reason, but I prefer the older setup. Although I think AA is still one of the easiest forums to use, even now.