horrible new theme

[ssddx]

this is the theme i am talking about...

for starters it doesnt even look like a forum layout. the typical forum layout like what existed up until a few hours ago was perfect as it was easy to view, navigate and descriptive.

i help out on this forum quite a bit, perhaps spending more time on here than i should and this really puts me off. at least give us an option to swap back to the old layout easily and make this new screen a link or just an option.

also the old theme had descriptions of the subforums to tell new users where to post (which they often dont follow) but this new layout does not. one more reason to revert to the old.

we dont need trendy... we need something practical which the old theme was.

some other issues i've noticed lately....

we need to do away with all this trendy junk like that VERY annoying "maximize your chances of getting answered" box that appears in the middle of this text as i type it. this stuff is useless and does more to push people away than bring them in.

the tags system is also broken and is 90% not helpful at all in most cases.

i already listed in another post in the past about the broken dropdown bar for forum section switching going 404.

it needs to be more clear when creating a post to have an answer thread not discussion. the checkbox is missing from the quick-post area. also users may not realize the reason why such a feature exists so perhaps add text stating that answer type threads may result in more direct specific answers.

----------------------------------------------------------

i know that i am ranting badly and for that i am sorry jpishgar...

but i just came back on the forum to check some threads and was greeted by that screen which resulted in many explectives coming to mind.

some of us die hard forum browsers expect things to look a certain way you know? all of this trendy stuff is detrimental to the experience.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I thought it was an error page when I first saw it! :lol:

 

[ssddx]

yeah i know... i thought it was a bug too.

the old one was much much better

 

[jpishgar]

Hrm. All the feedback we've had on this has been positive. It was shown to the mods some time ago and the input was resoundingly positive - which surprised me. Usually we get some detractors.

Is the primary complaint you have that the subcategories are no longer visible?

 

[Mousemonkey]

Hrm. All the feedback we've had on this has been positive. It was shown to the mods some time ago and the input was resoundingly positive - which surprised me. Usually we get some detractors.

Is the primary complaint you have that the subcategories are no longer visible?

It was? Did I see it?

 

[ssddx]

i dont have a copy of the original TH layout to show you but this is from koiphen which uses a similar layout to the old one. edit: by old one i mean the original theme we had before a few hours ago

why is it better?

-clearly defined areas of the forum with the main subsections listed underneath. this makes it very easy to get to exactly where you want to be. the new list sort of follows this but it shrinks everything down too small. having the text all along the left like a normal forum is better for scanning quickly.

-the old style included descriptive text which let users know what they could discuss in the section. for example quite a few people post pc builds in opinions and experiences but its not the correct subsection. its supposed to be in systems. getting rid of this text description will result in many many more posts being all over the place.

-the old style had the different subsection subsections (say that 3 times fast) listed. for instance under systems it had: prebuilt, new build, etc. this is handy for those users who want to view a certain area.

in general the old style (classic forum layout) is easier to browse. just because something is trendy and looks pretty doesnt make it good.

my primary complaint is the layout yes. i'm perfectly fine if you keep it however do give us a way to change it back to the old style. you know for those of use who dont like all these trendy changes

 

[jpishgar]

The reason for the super-customizable members specific forum homepage is to eliminate the extraneous areas of the forum that our veteran users don't use, and don't want to see. We've gotten a lot of recommendations from users, old time members tired of trudging through categories about cars, obscure operating systems and other stuff they would complain about, and ask for options to collapse these and that the system remember their preferences. This is perhaps the strongest option we can give users.

I'd recommend first trying it out, customize it to your liking and give it a shot. We aren't changing for the sake of changing (we aren't those types of people), but hoping to make things better for our longtime users. Give it a whirl, and if you still don't like it after a few days, we can talk about some options.

 

[ssddx]

i believe the old forum system had a [-] and [+] tab to minimize or maximize whole forum sections which fit that bill and wasnt intrusive like the new system. edit:i've used that feature in the past for hiding sections and it worked GREAT but typically i dont mind scrolling to my hotspots. the old 'new response' area on the right in the old forum also worked better than this new one seems to (which actually it doesnt seem to work at all in the new homepage but does on the subsections using the old code

i do typically only post in certain subsections of the forum but i want to still see all of the categories in case i felt otherwise. customizing that page would be limiting me.

since i dont want to take anything away (i want to view ALL subsections) i dont think its gonna really help me. i do hear what you are saying about trying it out but really i dont like it and can tell you that already.

lol... i dont like the ugly look of win8 or office 2010 either and no amount of staring at them is going to make them prettier or actually work like they should

 

[mactronix]

I must admit that I also thought It was a forum loading error. Having just this minute logged on I have taken a couple of moments to stop and look.
Basically this is a pushing of the tagging/timeline features.
It looks perfectly serviceable to me but I do agree that the sub categories should be there.

Mac

 

[ssddx]

edit: not to mention that little flag to the left that shows new responses are available in the subsection. for some reason i also like seeing how many threads there are and how many people viewing too.. i guess i'm oldschool and so used to typical forum structure.

 

[mactronix]

edit: not to mention that little flag to the left that shows new responses are available in the subsection. for some reason i also like seeing how many threads there are and how many people viewing too.. i guess i'm oldschool and so used to typical forum structure.

Once you click on a main section you get the sub categories and all the threads/flags as before.
Mactronix

Mac

 

[ssddx]

edit...

yes but its not as usefull there as it was on the main page.

 

[rolli59]

edit: not to mention that little flag to the left that shows new responses are available in the subsection. for some reason i also like seeing how many threads there are and how many people viewing too.. i guess i'm oldschool and so used to typical forum structure.

Once you click on a main section you get the sub categories and all the threads/flags as before.
Mactronix

Mac

Since I turned into a lurker, there are some things one just has to post on.
Really it is not sub sections you are looking at rather tags in sections. For example if you hit motherboards under the CPU section you get all threads in the CPU section with motherboard tag!
As far as I see it subsections have been replaced by TAGS.

 

[mactronix]

edit: not to mention that little flag to the left that shows new responses are available in the subsection. for some reason i also like seeing how many threads there are and how many people viewing too.. i guess i'm oldschool and so used to typical forum structure.

Once you click on a main section you get the sub categories and all the threads/flags as before.
Mactronix

Mac

Since I turned into a lurker, there are some things one just has to post on.
Really it is not sub sections you are looking at rather tags in sections. For example if you hit motherboards under the CPU section you get all threads in the CPU section with motherboard tag!
As far as I see it subsections have been replaced by TAGS.

True that. As I said earlier just a push on the new features really.

Mac

 

[jpishgar]

Tags are a little bit easier to deal with. There was always some concern when dealing with brands like Samsung and others what product was being talked about, where it fit in, why it wasn't or was in a given subcategory. The overwhelming number of people never clicked on the subcategories themselves, but rather the general category to view all under a certain topic. Searching is easier, badging is easier, navigation is easier.

If you haven't, add a couple to your faves and set up your timeline. I'm finding its faster already than opening a half dozen tabs for the categories I monitor constantly.

 

[ssddx]

update:

it does look like the new post notifications show up on the "new" homescreen. perhaps i just wasnt seeing them since i had another tab open at the same time answering threads.

to be completely honest... i never clicked on the subcategories very much either. normally i only did it when i wanted to focus on just one topic. honestly i did like having the feature there in case i needed it but its not really all that critical.

i did do as you said and add some items to the timeline. i can see how some people would find this faster but i'm a fan of the "opening multiple tabs" way. i'm sure that maybe i would use this feature sometimes however the drop down list is a clunky way to navigate past the few top threads. i would rather just open them in tabs and i really still can do that.

the issue is more aesthetics/cosmetic than anything.

---------------

after a little bit of looking at it... its not completely terrible and the new layout does have some merit. however, i'm still a fan of the old school layout even if the new one does seem to work.

is there any way to use this old layout?

ie instead of http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/

perhaps manually typing in http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/old/

where the original code is stored

or putting a link for "forum home" and "customized forum home" so that we can pick whichever we want?

that would give us a "choice" whether we want to use the new system or not.

i was definitely overreacting earlier however i still feel that all of the points i made were completely valid. so sorry for the trouble jpishgar but i still would like a way to get the old interface back.

 

[rolli59]

It is actually the first time I see the Tags as being useful, it is usable but changes will always have people against them while others will like them.
I still have an issue though with the tags and how they come about, for example why is there a motherboard TAG here? http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1698840/8350-4770k.html
There is a question about CPU's (tag and could be both AMD and Intel as well) and PSU (no tag)

 

[jpishgar]

Probably because a motherboard was tagged, or another user tagged the thread incorrectly. We're hoping to get more and more people using tags as time goes on, and that users will start tagging and correcting tags as a matter of habit. It helps quite a bit, and... it's a great way to grab a badge, too.

 

[rolli59]

Probably because a motherboard was tagged, or another user tagged the thread incorrectly. We're hoping to get more and more people using tags as time goes on, and that users will start tagging and correcting tags as a matter of habit. It helps quite a bit, and... it's a great way to grab a badge, too.

That is the scary bit, everybody and their brother are assigning tags to gain batches so within their first month on the forum they classify as VETERAN users and can select best answers.

 

[mactronix]

Probably because a motherboard was tagged, or another user tagged the thread incorrectly. We're hoping to get more and more people using tags as time goes on, and that users will start tagging and correcting tags as a matter of habit. It helps quite a bit, and... it's a great way to grab a badge, too.

That is the scary bit, everybody and their brother are assigning tags to gain batches so within their first month on the forum they classify as VETERAN users and can select best answers.

From what I have been told they think that by having everyone selecting best answers the forum will look better to newcomers.
The fact that people could well end up damaging machines by following "Best" advice selected for credit with very little technical knowledge seem's not to be a concern.
@Joe and Toms team in general.
People like rolli59 and myself are not just being stick in the mud progress haters,we actually do care (well I do guess I cant really speak for rolli)which is why we hold issue with the changes.
We have gone from a solid user base/community of core members who have a good depth of knowledge which came through in the posts and discussions. People who (I keep saying on numerous posts yet have had no direct feed back on the subject) Have spent years and a lot of time building up a reputation which as rolli said.

everybody and their brother are assigning tags to gain batches so within their first month on the forum they classify as VETERAN users and can select best answers.

In one fell swoop Toms has totally shafted and devalued their veteran user base.
Saga lout suggested that the increase in best answers would promote Toms in web searches, if you think about it a bit that's like saying people will buy a sealed box based on the contents. Web search engines look for key words and such, the content past main titles and listing matter little if at all.

All of the above is why I have asked for toms veterans to get some sort of special recognition from toms that shows up by default on our profiles. It certainly wont do anything to change how I feel about the new changes and their impact on the forum.
It will show that you do value the veterans and that you are listening. And yes it will for those who care lend a little extra weight to their standing in the community

I guess I shouldn't be surprised really.I got shafted with the last upgrade and lost a lot of Years/best answers and posts. I actually joined in 2001 yet there is no record of me before 2006. By any chance was 2006 the last Forum upgrade ?

Mactronix

 

[jpishgar]

Be sure you note precisely what kind of recognition you'd like to see for veteran users here, in the thread where we are asking for and soliciting community feedback on the reputation system.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1694694/reputation-system-feedback.html

We do want your ideas and input, but this is definitely a separate matter from the latest forum homepage update for members.

 

[mactronix]

Be sure you note precisely what kind of recognition you'd like to see for veteran users here, in the thread where we are asking for and soliciting community feedback on the reputation system.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1694694/reputation-system-feedback.html

We do want your ideas and input, but this is definitely a separate matter from the latest forum homepage update for members.

I already did

Mac

 

[ssddx]

i made my points known in that forum as well. honestly i like the best answer system and how veterans can select it however the system needs some overhauling.

not to be pushy or anything but i think we should keep this thread on topic :lol:

 

[jpishgar]

Agreed on keeping things on topic.
Anyone else have any input or constructive criticism on the new forum homepage? So far, haven't really received any negative feedback apart from the two in this thread.

 

[Saga Lout]

Sorry, Joe but I don't like it either. Maybe I'm just stuck in my old ways but to me, it's like Windows 8 but without the ability to use SkipMetro to put it back to normal.