256 replies to this topic

[10kDA]

This new format is, to put it mildly, a flaming POS. Scrolling is delayed; one screen is locked in place for minutes, not seconds; mouse-clicking works only after two or three attempts. I really enjoyed this forum and all those who have posted but I've had enough of web nonfunctionality in the name of flashy appearances. I won't be back; my time is too valuable to me for this point-click-wait-minutes-at-a-time procedure.

All the best to the Regulars (and Irregulars too),

10kDA

[turssi]

This new format is, to put it mildly, a flaming POS. Scrolling is delayed; one screen is locked in place for minutes, not seconds; mouse-clicking works only after two or three attempts. I really enjoyed this forum and all those who have posted but I've had enough of web nonfunctionality in the name of flashy appearances. I won't be back; my time is too valuable to me for this point-click-wait-minutes-at-a-time procedure.

All the best to the Regulars (and Irregulars too),

10kDA

 

It's pretty bad on my blackberry.

[OfficeLinebacker]

I'm...whoa this editing interface is pretty interesting.  

 

I'm trying to figure out what was wrong with the old one that made it necessary to change it.

[david5]

Seems OK response wise for me. Appearance takes a bit of getting used to though. Give it a month and you won't notice.

[JB Miltonian]

It's MUCH too black.  Isn't that obvious?

[packapoo]

Can't see too much wrong with it, sorry to differ. 

Don't know why was changed but you get that on all the big jobs.

Have to have a laugh tho' at 10kDa's spit; joined 09, 21 posts, obviously spends too much time here. Yeah. Right. 

[David McKinney]

It's very slow to load, even with my high-speed broadband, but once up operates OK

 

It's annoying to be taken to the first post rather than the latest, but it comes right after you've been to any particular thread once. As expected with any site upgrade

 

In this context it's frustrating to be taken to the first post rather than the top of the first page, which means scrolling up a little to find the icon for the last page

 

I don't like the look of it either, but as david5 points out, we'll get used to it

[raceannouncer2003]

If you click on the date and time of the latest post, it takes you there.

 

However, formerly, if you moved the cursor onto the thread title, it would show part of the first post, so you got more of an idea what the thread was about.  It doesn't seem to do that now.

 

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 21 August 2013 - 05:24.

[Dipster]

It's very slow to load, even with my high-speed broadband, but once up operates OK

 

It's annoying to be taken to the first post rather than the latest, but it comes right after you've been to any particular thread once. As expected with any site upgrade

 

In this context it's frustrating to be taken to the first post rather than the top of the first page, which means scrolling up a little to find the icon for the last page

 

I  don't like the look of it either, but as david5 points out, we'll get used to  it

Change is always a challenge, eh? I am not really interested in IT at all so probably dislike leaving my IT comfort zone more than most. But it took me a few minutes to figure out how to sign in! Perhaps the change was necessary. Perhaps not. I would not know. But I saw no problems with the site on Monday.......  And the colour choice looks so bland. Chosen to highlight ads more perhaps?

Edited by Dipster, 21 August 2013 - 05:27.

[Richard Jenkins]

I think it is a positive move. Should make photo posting easier and you can still change the appearance back to Atlas. Doesn't read as well on the phone as it does on the laptop but that'll come. In the long run, it needed doing and I do like the increased prominence of avatars, especially for the last poster.

[Stefan Schmidt]

Looking good

[RTH]

Perhaps we could be told what the beneits are and why it has been done , certainly less easy to read with a different and smaller font size and you have to go through a new log on username and password proceedure just to post at all.
Hope its been done for a good reason not just a whim - certainly does not look any better..

[Henri Greuter]

As far as I'm concerned, yet another approval of the motto of the Computer related world.

Specially for those who ain't wizz-kids like the majority appears tom be:

 

But within the world of computer application software etc: Not every upgrade is an improvement

(other than ensuring employement within the business itself and what the hack about what we make. If it fails then we have our jobs secured again bacause we have to make something else)

 

Henri

[Tim Murray]

As I understand it, the main reason for the change was to upgrade the servers. The old servers were struggling to cope with the amount of traffic, especially during F1 race weekends. This led to periods when it was impossible to log in to TNF (or any forum) because of the volume of traffic in Racing Comments. If the new servers have sorted that problem, the change will have been worth it. The new format appears to have given us some good new features and taken away other very useful tools, but this was also the case when we had the last upgrade in 2009, and we all got used to that one very quickly.

[Allan Lupton]

Perhaps we could be told what the beneits are and why it has been done , certainly less easy to read with a different and smaller font size and you have to go through a new log on username and password proceedure just to post at all.
Hope its been done for a good reason not just a whim - certainly does not look any better..

 

 

- The forums now have a working mobile interface. Anyone who used the forums on any sort of device that had a touch screen before will know that the experience wasn't ideal - the new version is an enormous improvement. If you visit from a mobile device then it should automatically recognise this and show you the new interface, otherwise you can select the mobile theme from the "Change Theme" menu at the bottom left of the page".

You will also notice that there is modified functionality in various things that you do across the forums from starting new threads to formatting your posts. While some of these changes are subtle, they all add together to mean that the forum experience should be more intuitive and more similar to working in a modern operating system.

That was in this thread about the new format:

http://forums.autosp...tosport-forums/

 

As I wrote there, the contrast is painful for me too and I find it hard to find any way of changing anything.

It's probably because of the redundant "like this" buttons and other geek-led gimmicks and the huge area of white space that all the useful buttons are microscopic (and often in grey type) that I can't find the direct Forum Jump or the "Search this thread" that we had before.

What I can't understand is if this has all been changed for the smart phone people, why is the navigation button print smaller and greyer than we with normal sized computer screens like?

[RCH]

Looked much better before but I guess I can live with it. It always seems to me with things like this they change it because they can. Some "teenage" whizz kid-geek thinks some small detail can be improved by a new format so we get it. The fact that 1 improvement makes 10 other things more difficult is never taken into account.

 

I'm too old for the modern world... perhaps that's why I'm posting on The Nostalgia Forum?

[Vitesse2]

Can't see too much wrong with it, sorry to differ. 

Don't know why was changed but you get that on all the big jobs.

Have to have a laugh tho' at 10kDa's spit; joined 09, 21 posts, obviously spends too much time here. Yeah. Right. 

Especially as another of those 21 was a similar whinge in the Feedback forum!

 

It's very slow to load, even with my high-speed broadband, but once up operates OK

 

It's annoying to be taken to the first post rather than the latest, but it comes right after you've been to any particular thread once. As expected with any site upgrade

 

In this context it's frustrating to be taken to the first post rather than the top of the first page, which means scrolling up a little to find the icon for the last page

 

I don't like the look of it either, but as david5 points out, we'll get used to it

 

For anybody experiencing slow loading, try clearing all Autosport cookies. That fixed it for me - I suspect the cookie for the main Autosport board was also trying to find and connect with the old one(s) for the bulletin board - which no longer existed.

Perhaps we could be told what the beneits are and why it has been done , certainly less easy to read with a different and smaller font size and you have to go through a new log on username and password proceedure just to post at all.
Hope its been done for a good reason not just a whim - certainly does not look any better..

A lot of it is to do with the new servers which should make for a better experience on GP weekends - at times the whole board was unusable. There's a thread started by Grayson in the Feedback forum which will explain more - best to post bugs, moans, suggestions etc there.

[garyfrogeye]

Bit of a shock but I'm sure that I'll get used to it. I just logged in (at work) with no problems.

[Bloggsworth]

The two things that really needed improving were capacity on race days and the search facility, in which one could put very specific requirements and receive a seemingly random set of answers - Sunday will tell us the answer to the first, usage the second.

There appear to be a lot of editing options, or rather, there don't, most of them are greyed out; going to "More reply options" seems to actually eliminate all options as everything is greyed out. When I clicked on "More reply options" I optimistically assumed that it would bring into play an advanced editing feature which would enable the greyed out options, not so apparently. There is, for instance, a W box which should allow one to paste in a copy of a Word document without losing the formatting, but that too is non-functional - All in all a bit disappointing.

The surfeit of white gets a bit wearing on the eyes after a short while, too bright Mr Mozart, too bright...

I have now used the edit option, choosing "Use Full Editor", still nothing other than straight typing works, there are no editing or formatting features available.

Edited by Bloggsworth, 21 August 2013 - 08:16.

[kayemod]

It's a bit of a shock at first, but we'll get used to it soon enough, I expect a few early tweeks will improve the experience, but let's all be thankful for what we have.

 

One worthwhile improvement would have been to allow a short editing window to correct typos etc, we had this on the original forum until the last update, I was hoping it might be reinstated, but I've just checked, and apparently not.

 

I hope my tag line won't prove to be prophetic...

Edited by kayemod, 21 August 2013 - 08:11.

[elansprint72]

What is a GP week-end?

 

Other than it looking rather too bright and not being able to read the first few lines of a thread by hovering over it, I quite like it.

 

No doubt I'll find lots of things to grumble about in due course... that's what Nostalgia is about............

[Bloggsworth]

Been into "My Profile>Settings", nothing available there to adjust editing features. Now, as I reply to this topic, there are absolutely no editing options showing at all; no italics, bold, underline; nothing at all.

[Phil Rainford]

It is a lot easier to read via phone/tablet

 

As other posters have pointed out by October we will have forgotten what the old format looked like

 

PAR

[Catalina Park]

We might have forgotten what it looked like but we will remember that it looked better than this.

[Vitesse2]

Been into "My Profile>Settings", nothing available there to adjust editing features. Now, as I reply to this topic, there are absolutely no editing options showing at all; no italics, bold, underline; nothing at all.

If you look at the top right of the reply box there's a tiny button with a ^ on it. That toggles the editing toolbar on and off

[Stephen W]

As I understand it, the main reason for the change was to upgrade the servers. The old servers were struggling to cope with the amount of traffic, especially during F1 race weekends. This led to periods when it was impossible to log in to TNF (or any forum) because of the volume of traffic in Racing Comments. If the new servers have sorted that problem, the change will have been worth it. The new format appears to have given us some good new features and taken away other very useful tools, but this was also the case when we had the last upgrade in 2009, and we all got used to that one very quickly.

 

 

We might have forgotten what it looked like but we will remember that it looked better than this.

 

Well as far as I am aware the change of servers should not have necessitated a change in the format. I have selected the TNF theme (bottom left) but it isn't that much different than the all new 2013 version. I'm off to complain on the other thread. 

[Allen Brown]

I don't have a huge problem with the new site but speed is clearly an issue and there are some things that need to be fixed.  I just ran this page through a program called "YSlow", which measures, if you haven't already guessed, why a web site is so slow.  It scores a Grade of 'F' and a performance score of 39, which is the lowest I can ever remember seeing (I build websites for a living).  I looked at some other motor racing forums I use regularly and they score 'D' and 64, 'C' and 72, 'C' and 74, 'C' and 79 and 'C' and 74 again.  So the Autosport score is a long way behind what could reasonably be expected.

 

I would strongly recommend that the developers are asked to take a look at the YSlow results and make some simple improvements.  It's not a lot of work to improve the site's performance quite significantly.

[Peter Morley]

As far as I'm concerned, yet another approval of the motto of the Computer related world.

Specially for those who ain't wizz-kids like the majority appears tom be:

 

But within the world of computer application software etc: Not every upgrade is an improvement

(other than ensuring employement within the business itself and what the hack about what we make. If it fails then we have our jobs secured again bacause we have to make something else)

 

Henri

 

Most computer upgrades improve things worse...

 

I suspect it would look a lot nicer if it wasn't so black, looks like a memorial site to me.

[BRG]

Who'da thunk?  The Nostalgia Forum think the old software was better than this flashy modern stuff. 

 

Actually, this software is a lot better once mastered.  My only beef is the colours.  This is just so black.  Maybe it is a nod to the old JPS livery....

 

Brighten it up, Autosport!!

[Bloggsworth]

If you look at the top right of the reply box there's a tiny button with a ^ on it. That toggles the editing toolbar on and off

Not on my computer there isn't, there's a ◄ but it doesn't do anything; mind you, it could be switching the light in the larder on & off, but I can't see it from here... Oh look! There's a drawing of a switch on the top left, that seems to do it, now the  ◄ toggles the editing on & off. Wouldn't it have been more sensible to have editing switched on by default.

[nicanary]

I'm a member of enough forums to have been through all of this on numerous occasions - yes, you do get used to it in the end. It's a pity they didn't use the opportunity to install a "go to last unread post" facility on each of the threads. I do get cheesed-off having to scroll down an entire page to find what I'm looking for.

[Mallory Dan]

This, like most things that change, is for the worse...

[f1steveuk]

It's a bit "clonky", and I suspect there are bugs to be ironed out, but you usually find, as has been said, you just get used to it.

 

The down side? These changes are usually not for the users benefit, there's always a desire on the "web" to have a "up to the minute, flashy looking" presence, but it's more usually to do with what's in the background, like logging data, counting users, watching trends and generally being a bit "Orwellien",  I wouldn't mind betting adverts are not far away either..................................................

[Vitesse2]

I'm a member of enough forums to have been through all of this on numerous occasions - yes, you do get used to it in the end. It's a pity they didn't use the opportunity to install a "go to last unread post" facility on each of the threads. I do get cheesed-off having to scroll down an entire page to find what I'm looking for.

"Go to last unread" is still there, but it won't have carried over history from the old software. Select "mark forum read" on the index page and it will start to work as before. Threads you've already posted in which have new posts will have a star to the left of the title, otherwise just a dot: click on the star or dot and that takes you to the first unread post.

[kayemod]

How can I stop the damn thing e-mailing me every single time a post is made? The old forum only did that once, I've just deleted about 30 notifications from my Outlook inbox.

[BRG]

How can I stop the damn thing e-mailing me every single time a post is made? The old forum only did that once, I've just deleted about 30 notifications from my Outlook inbox.

You need to amend your profile.  Click on your avatar, then select Edit Profile (top right), then go to Notification Options and untick all the e-mail boxes.

[RTH]

 

It is a lot easier to read via phone/tablet
 
As other posters have pointed out by October we will have forgotten what the old format looked like
 
PAR

.........And in the long run we are all dead. It would just be nice if
'upgrades' made you go ...oh yes that is much better' rather than ' can't they just leave something which works really well alone ' and we had a positive evolutionary progress.
As someone said earlier , adapting to the "modern world" is at odds with TNF ethos, in many ways learning from the past is highly benficial.
Above all easy and comfortable to read without magnification for all ought to be the prime requisite, this is definitely worse in that respect - the previous typeface also had an individual and quality look about it - the new one has all the charm of a letter from the Inland Revenue and lots of feint grey.A bloke called Simon Grayson is responsible!
Does rather smack of someone making work for themselves. no automatic as you go spellchecker either as you get in all email & word composition now - that would have been a benefit, worse even the microsoft/google general spellcheck does not work on here now as it used to before Monday.
Please Autosport strive for better higher quality and that goes for the magazine too. Might be a benefit in the 'Racing Comments' bear pit, here the change is a disapointment.

Edited by RTH, 21 August 2013 - 11:05.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Humph! 

 

It's not exactly blowing my skirt up.

 

Ahh...  Nostalgia for the old format.

[kayemod]

You need to amend your profile.  Click on your avatar, then select Edit Profile (top right), then go to Notification Options and untick all the e-mail boxes.

 

Am I missing something? I've gone from everything to nothing, how do I get back to the old situation where I got one notification that a post had been made, then nothing more until I'd been back to the thread to have a look for myself? This forum re-do seems to have ticked every single box by default, including the ones that were un-ticked before.

[arttidesco]

Who'da thunk?  The Nostalgia Forum think the old software was better than this flashy modern stuff. 

 

This is just so black.  Maybe it is a nod to the old JPS livery....

 

Brighten it up, Autosport!!

 

 

Aren't black & white New Zealands colours ?

[GMiranda]

I don't like the new format, but I confess I am a traditionalist, and the old format was so well-established and worked very well for so long time that I prefer it. Apart that it remembers it was through this forum that I've started looking more seriously to motorsport history and my writing passion, a loong time ago..

[Joe Bosworth]

I sure did not need a change from the last format.

 

Probably can ge tused to anything no matter how regressive it is.

 

Except that as soon as I go on to any of the major topics such as TNF, Technical  Forum, Race Forum, etc the individual topics run way off the side of the screen such that I have to scroll horizontally to read a line.  This alone makes it mostly un-workable.

 

Regards

[Dutchy]

_{I find it incredibly slow to respond. It is impossible to scroll through smoothly - everything moves in a series of jerks and after a delay too so it far too easy to overshoot when moving up or down the page.}

[Vitesse2]

_{I find it incredibly slow to respond. It is impossible to scroll through smoothly - everything moves in a series of jerks and after a delay too so it far too easy to overshoot when moving up or down the page.}

Firstly, try clearing all Autosport cookies as I recommended above. That may fix it.

 

The scrolling may also be a browser-specific issue.

[BRG]

 This forum re-do seems to have ticked every single box by default, including the ones that were un-ticked before.

Yes, I found all my boxes were ticked too.  I was also bemused to find a wee red number appear up in the very top right by the Sign In/Out button.  Apparently this notified me that someone had 'liked' one of my posts.  While this was a novel thought - I am not used to be liked and it goes against the grain, being a paid-up member of the awkward squad - it quickly palled once another post was also liked.  So I switched that off double quick.

[Allan Lupton]

Yes, I found all my boxes were ticked too.  I was also bemused to find a wee red number appear up in the very top right by the Sign In/Out button.  Apparently this notified me that someone had 'liked' one of my posts.  While this was a novel thought - I am not used to be liked and it goes against the grain, being a paid-up member of the awkward squad - it quickly palled once another post was also liked.  So I switched that off double quick.

Having read that, I found the tiny red number too. This is the teenage programmer 's doing - as BRG puts it, I am not used to being liked - along with all the notification options that were revealed when I investigated. I'm told that Racing Comments is run at teenager level, but some of us have not been teenagers for more than half a century and in those days we behaved like future adults anyway!

 

Why was Dutchy's post no. 43 in even smaller type than normal - did he set it so, or was it the Forum software striking again?

 

ETA I can use a better font than this so I've changed the original to it and 14point size as well.

ETA 14 point didn't seem to be retained when I posted the change so part is now 18 point, the line about post 43 is 14 and these feetnotes are supposed to be 12

Edited by Allan Lupton, 21 August 2013 - 21:43.

[Tim Murray]

We now have a 'TNF Archive' - any thread inactive since the end of 2010 can now only be read. I do hope Twinny is able to get this unfortunate situation reversed, as he did back in 2004.

[RTH]

Now doubt the real truth behind the change is we will all now have to start typing and posting pictures around the big display adverts now in the text.

[GMiranda]

It works reasonably fine for me. But those thing of the Archive is really bad, I hope it will be solved. again.

[Dutchy]

 

Why was Dutchy's post no. 43 in even smaller type than normal - did he set it so, or was it the Forum software striking again?

 

I have absolutely no idea. I am using a work PC so I'm also unable to clear cookies; I shall see how it goes on the laptop at home.