New Site Feedback, Discussion, Problem Reports

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 03:08 AM

sorry to hear that. we are removing the flash review section shortly and will be replacing it with something that won't confuse some people.

Personally I didn't like the front page a while ago either but we have made some considerable changes in the last few days and its starting to shape up now. I think it will grow on people, we need to be able to present more information to our public, and yes the changes are meant to let the readers see our news and reviews/articles in a higher profile than outside news. I am aware people who are used to the old page won't maybe like that but it is something I was never happy with. Our own material needs to be higher priority.

For those of you news readers who like our "around the world" news posting, you can always bookmark the generalised news forum which presents the information much like it did before on the old front page..

It really is as easy as this http://www.driverheaven.net/news/

CDsDontBurn · Feb 28, 2008, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig5320

CD's the username at the top "You are logged in as..." click your name it now goes to the UserCP.

hey, thanks for that! much appreciated.

that's much easier than clicking on "forum" then "userCP".

Lelisevis · Feb 28, 2008, 05:48 AM

Just like to add that the changes in the last few days have all been for the better. It's good to see the community have such a respected opinion on how they'd like the site to look.

After the initial shock the new site is definitely growing on me. Keep up the goodwork.

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 06:30 AM

Thanks Leli. As we said we really do listen to you guys and all the changes have been going on feedback. There are more to come shortly.

Chaos · Feb 28, 2008, 08:59 AM

the recent changes do seem to be making the change a bit easier to to navigate and less confusing

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 10:05 AM

Glad to hear it buddy. we have a few cool things coming up which should help usability. been a busy month thats for sure.

twixt · Feb 28, 2008, 12:32 PM

I find the new site layout confusing and cluttered. There is no logical consistency from pagetype to pagetype as to where to find control items, in comparison to the old layout.

IMO, much of the new forum layout is glitz, simply new menuicons replacing old. This often means I am distracted by new, rather than having new indicate a true improvement in functionality.

Bigger is NOT better. Using valuable screen real-estate for backgrounds and title-blocks with large graphical components - when I want to see a proper list of control and navigation items - leaves me cold.

There is nothing wrong with "It ain't broke, don't fix it". Change for change's sake is a common tactic To attract attention - but savvy computer users know that "new" does NOT mean improved in this business, new in the vast majority of cases means BROKEN.

Please provide an option to return to the original screen layout. Monitoring the percentage of users adopting the new layout versus the old layout will be the most-accurate way of telling whether you are actually improving the user experience or simply monkeydiddling.

Thanks.

twixt

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twixt

I find the new site layout confusing and cluttered. There is no logical consistency from pagetype to pagetype as to where to find control items, in comparison to the old layout.

Well thats really because its a new layout. Its not meant to be consistent with the old one. The old one had the forum controls mixed in with the non forum front page. We want them seperate especially for future ideas. We are also continually fixing and adding things as we go, so give it some time.

Quote:

IMO, much of the new forum layout is glitz, simply new menuicons replacing old. This often means I am distracted by new, rather than having new indicate a true improvement in functionality.

The forum is basically the same and Vbulletin have improved certain aspects such as you can get into forum subsections immediately without having to click to go into the forum then the subforum, not sure how its more glitzy, its basically the same.

Quote:

Bigger is NOT better. Using valuable screen real-estate for backgrounds and title-blocks with large graphical components - when I want to see a proper list of control and navigation items - leaves me cold.

The forum? or the front page? pretty vague. The front page has actually MORE information on it, much more and this was a common complaint, that we had too much information, not that we had less. so im pretty much stumped on this one. All the forum navigation is now in the forum not on the front page and we have easier access to reviews, information, news, other sites etc.

Quote:

There is nothing wrong with "It ain't broke, don't fix it". Change for change's sake is a common tactic To attract attention - but savvy computer users know that "new" does NOT mean improved in this business, new in the vast majority of cases means BROKEN.

Very true, but we aren't building a PC here, we are moving the site forward in 2008 with the intention of giving more information in the same space and offering a lot of site navigation benefits such as moving to other reviews within reviews. We also have a tabbed design which means people can access double or triple the amount of information in the same box.

Quote:

Please provide an option to return to the original screen layout.

No. This is the way forward. The old design was extremely simplistic and fine for a small hobby site but not for an ever expanding network such as this. If we remain with the old site there is simply not enough options for us to accommodate expansion and more content.

Quote:

Monitoring the percentage of users adopting the new layout versus the old layout will be the most-accurate way of telling whether you are actually improving the user experience or simply monkeydiddling.
Thanks.

twixt

No, thank you! I best get back to my monkeydiddling now

Mousey · Feb 28, 2008, 05:21 PM

Somehow i don't think a user with 5 posts is entitled to bitch to the max about the new layout not being just as he likes it *rolls eyes*.
It's great Z, nice work.

swimtech · Feb 28, 2008, 05:23 PM

Hey folks,
As a heads up and an update this is what the Home Page looks like at the moment using IE6:

Shot at 2008-02-28

Hope this helps...

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 05:25 PM

Yeah we know there are problems with IE6 Swimtech and Craig is going to attempt to get it looking a little better. unfortunately IE6 is pretty old and some things have changed since it was brought out.

Not ideal I know buddy, its on the list. Can you not use another browser like opera or firefox in the meantime?

swimtech · Feb 28, 2008, 05:28 PM

Oh sure, Safari for Windows is just dandy - no problem!

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 05:36 PM

Thank you. We will get it fixed (hopefully!), we are making good progress this week on the bug fixes. Just give us some time

swimtech · Feb 28, 2008, 05:38 PM

Here it is in Safari - love the font effect...

Shot at 2008-02-28

***Zardon*** · Feb 28, 2008, 05:42 PM

yeah the site works well in safari, opera, firefox and IE7. We just need to tie up a few loose ends for older browsers and sort out some fonts via an OS check for linux users.

its funny Danny, we end up with a bug list and it keeps growing, but i think craig has fixed a bunch of stuff this week. all good progress. I think its shaping up well now.

Son_of_Thunder · Feb 28, 2008, 06:50 PM

I don't know if it was the new resolution I started running, or if you fixed it, but I don't have issues with zooming anymore. I do have issues if I go too far, but words are huge by that point. Thanks if it was you guys, if not, well, cool that it's fixed

Alex · Feb 28, 2008, 07:03 PM

Yeah ive noticed that fixed too. Think they fixed it.

Noticed quite a few bugs being sorted this week. Good work gang, site is shaping up well now. I didn't like the new theme at all last week, but it has really grown on me and im finding my way about faster.

I like the review panel within reviews, I missed a few of them and clicked from the cosmos review and ended up spending an hour travelling about the content.

I don't know how anyone could say now this is a step back tbh, its all much better interconnected really.

geraldmango · Feb 28, 2008, 07:06 PM

I spent some time today with the site and im finding my way around it now, i think we maybe got set in our ways a little after 4 or 5 years with the same design and the change was a shock.

I really like it now, and most of it is working for me so thats a bonus.

Like the new themes too - look more professional.

swimtech · Feb 29, 2008, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

yeah the site works well in safari, opera, firefox and IE7. We just need to tie up a few loose ends for older browsers and sort out some fonts via an OS check for linux users.

its funny Danny, we end up with a bug list and it keeps growing, but i think craig has fixed a bunch of stuff this week. all good progress. I think its shaping up well now.

Sure is, lots of stuff working well - BTW, I really appreciate y'alls concept of an "information dense" and physically shortened home page, and the fact you no longer scroll much to navigate the page. Much easier to use! But I realize this has taken a lot of thought and effort to enable a system and layout that can accomodate daily changes, ad flexibility, news/article posting - yeah, just tons of that practical manageability and conceptual stuff!

...and it really is gorgeous - CosmosHeaven rules!

**MIG-31** · Feb 29, 2008, 11:46 AM

For some reason now i appear to have subscribed to most new posts/threads today without replying to any of them..

Also when i go through MY CP..and as the subscribed posts are usually shown for the day i have posted,unless they are replied to..

My CP is now showing every post since febuary 19th.

***Zardon*** · Feb 29, 2008, 11:53 AM

looks like you clicked a manual subscribe in your cp Mig. just unsubscribe.