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New forum Style

Unlocker
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:07 Link
davidburleson wrote:
In practice the bug report system is a much quicker and more efficent way of handling errors/problems even with multiple bugs. It works with our FAQs section as well to help prevent any duplicates.

Only if we can be bothered!
Daniel Bridge
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:18 Link
Quote:
We used to have a small icon alongside each thread that took us stragiht away to the 1st new post in that thread, very easy to use, almost a necessity, now thats gone too!

Hi Danny, just got in and had a look at the forum, and it's obvious that the change hasn't been welcome! You asked earlier about the beta testing; I was one of the testers, and found several bugs which have been fixed, made several comments, some of which were taken on board, and made other comments/suggestions/bug reports which were only partially dealt with, one of these was the point above, the 'new comment' icon. This obviuosly hasn't been implemented properly (I say properly, as it was working intermittently the last time I logged in and I was expecting further testing).

I have to say I felt there was a dealine the guys were working to. I also have to say that this forum is essentially a business. It's run by Magezine Publishing Ltd, it's not a charitable home for Pentaxians, so it's only fair and reasonable for them to try to cover the costs of, and make money from, the business.

I'm not defending the design of the Pentax User website, but I found it largely okay to get around, and features that I used were there, if in a different place. I can't say that the 'users online' feature is/was one I really used much , so in all honesty didn't notice that it wasn't there. It's obviously a pity you weren't chosen for beta testing as you'd have given it a different viewpoint.

Quote:
Q:Are there any restrictions on image uploading?...

So now if we want to put 2 pictures or more in a post thats going to take 2 days or more, really??[/quote]
No, you can insert images in posts just as before. It's only uploading photos to the gallery that are limited (as far as I'm aware). This was a point brought up during the testing, when originally there was no option to use the [img] tags.

I'm going to back off now and read some more posts...

Dan
K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...
ChrisA
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:20 Link
Unlocker wrote:
And is it really neccessary for us to view 12, yes 12 adverts on every page, really? Come on!

OMG.

I hadn't realised there were so many ads - I have Adblock, a Firefox extension that suppresses most adverts.

When you said "12", I disabled it to see what you were seeing, and I agree with you.

This is WAY TOO MUCH ADVERTISING.

I also note that there is no longer the option to use different font sizes or colours.
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Pentax K-3, DA18-135, DA35 F2.4, DA17-70, DA55-300, FA28-200, A50 F1.7, A100 F4 Macro, A400 F5.6, Sigma 10-20 EXDC, 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS Samsung flash SEF-54PZF(x2)
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PentaxDan
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:20 Link
Hey, just wanted to say that everyone needs to give the new site a good go and not make any quick judgements. A lot of hard work by Dave and Richard has gone into making this happen. From our side the old site had become very out-dated and was extremely difficult to add anything to, even a simple news story took a lot of effort to add! From now one we can fix anything that is wrong quickly, especially through the report system. We do check the forums to look for any problems. If there is any thing missing from the old site that needs adding then let us know and it will be done. Work with us and I can assure you that you will be impressed with the way the Pentax User site goes in the future.
Join Pentax User Plus Today: http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/subscribe
woodworm
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:28 Link
To be fair to the administrators of the site it can be a lot of work upgrading a system like this and it isn't always possible to test everything 100% and even though the new site is now live, I would imagine there is still a lot of work to do without having to go looking for bugs and glitches as well. Also it is possible that one person is experiencing a problem that isn't affecting anyone else.

We are implementing a new email system at work and even though we've spent the past 3 months using and testing the new system before 'inflicting' it on the users they do still have issues - but they are expected to let us know about them otherwise we can't fix them.

Having said that I do think it should be acceptable to maybe post any issues you experience in this thread so at least they are all together.

Also, I don't have any problems with the adverts down the side of the page, to be honest I thought they were always there?
Edited by woodworm: 16/07/2008 - 15:31
Gwyn
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:31 Link
I agree with PentaxDan, give it a few days and see how it is then. Everything new takes some getting used to.

The only thing I miss is the posts since last visit button.
I am always hidden in the users online list, always was, always will be. I never looked who was online so I don't miss it.

I only have a very small screen but I don't mind the ads. I never even notice them to be honest - they are just background noise.

If you want to put more photos in the gallery subscribe to the magazine - it doesn't cost you much and is worth having imho (when it eventually gets here :evil. I'm sure you can miss 16.75 a year. And who knows you may even get one of your photos published!
Daniel Bridge
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:34 Link
I think the main issue with the ads (forgive me if I'm wrong ) is that with the fixed size of the page, they won't shove off to one side when a large image is posted. Images are now resized to a maximum of 550 pixels on the longest side. I was surprised to hear '12 ads' mentioned, I was thinking of the Google Ads as one ad, when there are four links within them. I just don't find them intrusive.

I'm just about to submit some more reports for issues I've found now that the forum's being used live. These weren't really apparent when there were the relatively few posts going on during beta. I would encourage anyone with problems/comments to do the same, as well as comment on here.

Dan
K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...
Daniel Bridge
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:38 Link
By the way, I'm finding the 'new post' button to be working at the moment, but haven't tried logging out and back in again yet.

Dan
K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...
Edited by Daniel Bridge: 16/07/2008 - 15:38
ChrisA
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:45 Link
Daniel Bridge wrote:
I think the main issue with the ads (forgive me if I'm wrong ) is that with the fixed size of the page, they won't shove off to one side when a large image is posted. Images are now resized to a maximum of 550 pixels on the longest side.

I don't understand this. There aren't any large images now. And with the content fixed size, I can't see why resizing the browser to hide the ads wouldn't do it.

But why should I have to resize the browser all the time? Especially if, as I usually do, I have other sites in other tabs.

As I said, I think the issue is the fixed content width. If it resized, the ads wouldn't be so big in comparison.

The other big downside of the fixed content width is posted images.

The quality of the resizing is very variable, and at worst it's appalling. So what do we do? Resize all our images for 550px to make sure that they aren't trashed by the forum when it resizes them?

Knickers to that idea, I say.
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Pentax K-3, DA18-135, DA35 F2.4, DA17-70, DA55-300, FA28-200, A50 F1.7, A100 F4 Macro, A400 F5.6, Sigma 10-20 EXDC, 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS Samsung flash SEF-54PZF(x2)
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Gwyn
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:51 Link
It would be nicer perhaps if when you click on the image in the forum it expanded up to it's original size. Now you can click on the image and see it ad free but still only at 550pixels.
ChrisA
Posted 16/07/2008 - 15:55 Link
Gwyn wrote:
It would be nicer perhaps if when you click on the image in the forum it expanded up to it's original size. Now you can click on the image and see it ad free but still only at 550pixels.

In Firefox 2, when I click on an image, it opens in a separate tab on its own, at a larger size - presumably the size of the original, judging by a couple of my own.
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Pentax K-3, DA18-135, DA35 F2.4, DA17-70, DA55-300, FA28-200, A50 F1.7, A100 F4 Macro, A400 F5.6, Sigma 10-20 EXDC, 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS Samsung flash SEF-54PZF(x2)
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Daniel Bridge
Posted 16/07/2008 - 16:02 Link
ChrisA wrote:
Daniel Bridge wrote:
I think the main issue with the ads (forgive me if I'm wrong ) is that with the fixed size of the page, they won't shove off to one side when a large image is posted. Images are now resized to a maximum of 550 pixels on the longest side.

I don't understand this. There aren't any large images now. And with the content fixed size, I can't see why resizing the browser to hide the ads wouldn't do it.

But why should I have to resize the browser all the time? Especially if, as I usually do, I have other sites in other tabs.

As I said, I think the issue is the fixed content width. If it resized, the ads wouldn't be so big in comparison.

I think, from that last paragraph, that we agree, just that you didn't understand what I meant, and I can't quite understand what you mean in your 2nd paragraph.

With the old forum, a large photo would shove the ads off to the side. Now large images aren't allowed, that doesn't happen. That's what I meant to say, sorry if it was ambiguous. "But why should I have to resize the browser all the time?". Surely that's just what you don't have to do now. It's a fixed size. To be honest I found it a pain 'in the old days' when someone posted a big picture that then meant you had to scroll back and forth sideways to see the text in the thread.

ChrisA wrote:
The other big downside of the fixed content width is posted images.

The quality of the resizing is very variable, and at worst it's appalling. So what do we do? Resize all our images for 550px to make sure that they aren't trashed by the forum when it resizes them?

Knickers to that idea, I say.

Well, I think I will , otherwise my photos will be 'trashed'. I might try 1100pixels to see if that keeps them looking nice. I made the suggestion that the gallery page should do away with the ads, and the images here should be sized to 800 pixels on the longest side. I don't think they'd lose too much revenue this way, as most people are going to be reading the forum than looking in the gallery.

Dan
K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...
Daniel Bridge
Posted 16/07/2008 - 16:06 Link
And just to show the reporting system works, I made a suggestion that we have these links:

Home > Pentax User Forum > General Chat Forum > New forum Style

at the bottom of the page as well as the top, and what do you know, 20 minutes later they appear...

Of course, someone else may have made the same suggestion earlier on, but still.

Dan
K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...
Daniel Bridge
Posted 16/07/2008 - 16:14 Link
Gwyn wrote:
It would be nicer perhaps if when you click on the image in the forum it expanded up to it's original size. Now you can click on the image and see it ad free but still only at 550pixels.

I'm seeing them at full size too, in IE7.

Dan
K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...
Unlocker
Posted 16/07/2008 - 16:19 Link
Being a beta tester may have helped influence that though!

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