New Format

[Jay Greer]

Just wondering how you guys like the new format? Being an old dog, it is an abrupt change for me and needs to soak in a bit. I do feel that the old format was visualy more appealing and easier to work with.
Jay

[Garret]

2 other threads (Our New Look & Change the Colors) are attacking Scot as we speak. People really don't like change & they also seem to expect Scot to get everything exactly right in 30 seconds or so. Sorry, the whining in those threads is just too much.....

[ARW123]

I rather like it ..............and my wife says I'm stuck in the past, so much so that apparently I "would prefer a conversation with a fossil than living beings"

[bott]

2 other threads (Our New Look & Change the Colors) are attacking Scot as we speak. People really don't like change & they also seem to expect Scot to get everything exactly right in 30 seconds or so. Sorry, the whining in those threads is just too much.....

Couldn't agree more.

[RodB]

I think web design is tricky...and the old style was very easy to use and also looked better. The degree of contrast of the format was more and it was very easy to locate anything you wanted and click on it. This new look needs to get away from a "monochrome" look where you have to look harder to be sure about what you are clicking on. Hopefully they will improve the graphics for a more user friendly look.

RodB

[ssor]

I preferred the previous format, it refreshed a thread more easily and was faster and easier to navigate.

[DGentry]

It's the right color, now, and there's a boat at the top, so it's fine as far as I'm concerned!

[orbb]

I blame Microsoft and Apple for the attitudes shown in the various threads. Microsoft and Apple have done a good job of taking complex programs and making them user friendly, such that inexperienced people can customize computer programs very easily. It leads to the belief that everything should be so user-friendly and customizable, and that changes should happen quickly.

I have several websites that I run, and I when I first set them up, I thought that there would be a button to push to change colors and pictures. There wasn't. I had to learn to edit code, just to change the colors of the background and other simple things. I suspect Scot is going through the same process, and that process takes time.

If it makes you unhappy, demand a refund of your subscription fee. I'm sure that it will be a long soon.

[johnw]

I guess I'll get used to it, but I'm finding it harder to read with the less contrasty background and harder to navigate with the change in interface. A white background for the posts and a return of the user cp button would be welcome.

[gary porter]

Nope, don't like it at all, hard on the eyes, looks like something from a Bordello.
Would be ok if this format was used just in the Bilge but something about all this just doesn't ring Wooden Boat.
Change should be for gain and I see none here.
Gary

[Russ Manheimer]

Next!

[MaizieDerrick]

aloha I much prefer the older version, not whining but it was hard enough to see on a small screen, and as I,m mobile most of the time I,m stuck with a laptop...the older you get the harder it becomes to see and focus on stuff..but hey maybe they will do some more improvements...

[BA.Barcolounger]

I like the way quoted posts look.

[xtiffer]

Not too impressed with the new format.
"If it works don't fix it" is the phrase that springs to mind.
Cheers,
Chris

[bob easton]

While I don't mind the modern aspect of this design, it has SERIOUS accessibility problems. There's too little contrast between some of the elements. As an Accessibility Consultant, I can assert that about 20% of people have some level of visual impairment, ranging from very minor to completely blind. Discounting the blind (who have other tools for reading computer screens), a large percentage of the rest of us experience gradual dimunition due to aging. Those problems become more acute when font sizes decrease and when contrast levels decrease. The font size did not change noticeably with this new design, but the contrast certainly did.

(Again, as an Accessibilty Consultant,) I recommend:
1) ensuring all typography is actual black, or no less dark than x222.
2) eliminate any background color behind text, or lighten it to no darker than xeee.

[ahp]

The previous format was both more compact and easier to read.

[AstoriaDave]

I'll adjust. I agree greater contrast on the listings of posts would help these old eyes.

As others have said, the admin gets heat for changes, and he does not need it. Quiet communications to him via the Contact mechanism seem to work very well.

Remember, this is free, damn it!

[Jay Greer]

Well it kind of feels like the time someone asked me to crew on his fiberglass H28!

Jay

[snow(Alan H)]

Some driving instructions would be good. Also advance warning - I thought my computer was having a flip/flop yesterday.

[Jay Greer]

After a few minutes perusing the site, my eyes hurt. So, I am quitting for the day. In fact, I am not motivated to explore or use it as much as I have in the past.
Jay

[rbgarr]

Adding images looks like it will be easier (for mini-moron me) but the type size is small and the colors are drab.

[Yeadon]

The plan to thin the herd is underway.

[Peter_Crowl]

The format is ok - I frequent many different forums and they all have their plusses and minuses - the colors and contrast is what I have a problem with.

Black text on a white background would be most welcome.

[stevedwyer]

I also think the format is tiring. Yawn.
Tho' the links seem streamlined in function, the graphics don't turn it on for me.

[snow(Alan H)]

The style / layout we have in NZ works for me.

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp165/Alanh22/Picture1-43.png;

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp165/Alanh22/Picture2-23.png

[minitugboattodd]

I agree with Jay Greer. The contrast needs to be more defined. I am not that old, but still have a hard time reading with the new format. The old format was fine, and so were the colors. Why the change??? I am not opposed to change as long as it doesn't affect how well I can read it!
I also have found that when I have this hard of a time reading it, I will just stop and go somewhere else on the internet. Hopefully something will be done soon on this, as I really enjoy this forum!!

[willmarsh3]

I notice improvements each time I come here as Scot has been tweaking things. I can't really complain as Scot has been doing an exemplary job of maintaining the WBF. The only real adjustment I can suggest at this point would be to make the background of the post bodies be white. Then make the header above each post that has the name of the poster and their location be that light gray color.

[minitugboattodd]

For instance, go to your private messages, and try to read the subject line of the message. You can just barely make it out.

[John B]

The style / layout we have in NZ works for me.

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp165/Alanh22/Picture1-43.png;

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp165/Alanh22/Picture2-23.png

The problem with pages designed like that Snow is that although they look pretty, nearly any image at all requires sideways scrolling to see it. Its much better to have the 'full width ' that the wbf has.

[mizzenman]

I've got no prob with this.

Rock on WBF

[Windsong]

This has the same feeling as sailing on a fiberglass boat. Or going from a Ship Chandlery to a West Marine. It is a little like changing the color and name of your boat.
Still has the good people though. So its not all that bad.
I'm going sailing.
Cheers
Lars

[Bruce Keefauver]

Still; not so good, but better than yesterday!

[Yeadon]

Buncha weenies.

That's right!

[G.Sherman]

The previous version had a little too much white space for my taste, yesterday' s "blue phase" was awful..... this is better.

[bob easton]

THANKS Scot for improving the contrast!!! Very much appreciated!!!

[kc8pql]

I'll get used to it I guess.

[Nanoose]

You're doing great, Scot....yet again!
Thanks.
:)

[johnw]

THANKS Scot for improving the contrast!!! Very much appreciated!!!
Yes, that's a lot easier on the eyes. Thanks!

[Lew Barrett]

I'm with Yeadon.

It's funny, everyone is opposed to change unless they are talking about a new car or a new girlfriend. Then they are all over it!
Just pretend this format is a new girlfriend and it will quickly become clear that it will be a lot of fun to explore it!

The whole change thing is so yesterday!

[johnw]

I've noticed the thread titles are hard to read when I'm looking for new posts, but like the contrast issue, it's an easy fix.

[Candyfloss]

And please Scot, can you do away with the "Reply to Post" button at the top of the page? It serves no useful purpose up there, catches the eye, and obscures access to the "Forum" & "Whatever-this-department-is" buttons.

Otherwise I love it. Much easier to navigate. Runs faster than the old one for me.

[alkorn]

I don't find the new format particularly better or worse than the old. But I don't understand the reason for the change. Much effort! Why?

[johnw]

Has anyone found a good way to see what's happening with the threads you're subscribed to? I used to just hit the user cp button and get a list of the ones with new posts. Am I missing the new way to do this?

[JPhoenix]

This format works well on an iPhone at 37,000 feet - using Alaska Airline's in-flight free wi-fi to kill a five hour trip from DC to Seattle. I'm reading threads I've never read before! The format works well for the "mobile device".

I like it!

Jim

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

I find it difficult to read the thread titles in that soft color they are using.

[RodB]

Scott, please make the name of the poster darker... and the links to what forum were in and the title of the thread.... all darker... "Reply to thread"... needs more contrast too. ... Everything needs more contrast... much darker letters... from backgrounds. Please make all type from peoples comments darker... The entire new look is just too washed out, too high key! Pastel colors are just not going to work as well as what we had in the past... Pleaaaaaaaase mimick the original looks.

The brown bars need to be 85% density if not 100... any color you select for the poster's name needs to be much darker,

Just go maximum darkness and lightness on all contrasting graphics and it will be wonderful.

Trust this graphics professional, I'm telling you gospel truth.

Thanks


RodB

[yesiam]

If there was a vote or a survey, I would have to go for the way it was.

[Rich Jones]

I find it difficult to read the thread titles in that soft color they are using.

Ditto! Plus, I'm an old goat who doesn't like change. That brown is too soft and the print is way too small. Bring back the old. It wasn't broke, so why change it?

[richbeck]

The format I can get used to. the contrast however is a different story. It is very hard on my old eyes. Hopefully they can make some improvements. I really enjoy this forum, but my eyes tell me to move on to something else.

[Jeff Benagh]

don't much care for it. it's very non-intuitive. still not sure what the colors mean.

[banjoman]

I still hate it....but not as much as I did.

[S B]

Yesterday, she was on the rocks, today,might not be that bad. What do we do to put her back in the water? The contrast thing is visually disturbing. Making the poster and time more prominent than the thread content is the same thing as having"MADE IN CHINA' and the expiry date on the front of the box and contents in side panel. Keep text the same value. If contrast is required?change font size or colour. If you are restricted to two colours,pick one and use saturation for contrast. If all this fails,we can always fiberglass'er.

[AstoriaDave]

The contrast is good now, Scot. Ignore the whiners. Rock on, WF!

Remember, this is free, dammit!

[Elcoholic]

Why pastels? Looks like a chick site.

[S B]

There is also the possibility that whoever is turning the buttons is colour blind. It would explain why some people see the font and others think it too pale.

[TerryLL]

I hope Scot isn't thinking that we'll all just get used to it, because we all just wont. Reading these pale colors is beginning to be more work than it's worth.

Pale brown against pale blue, with pale gray added to the mix is just not going to cut it.

Time to look for a new place to hang out.

[RFNK]

All power to Scott in aiming for improvement, if that's what this is about, but I really hate this new format! I'm just hoping it's temporary! The contrast is poor, the whole thing runs slower and the Reply button doesn't seem to work. Not whinging - just giving feedback!!! Rick

[PeterSibley]

There has to be a better way , please ! The colours and contrast are really difficult for my eyes .

[hansp77]

Still being patient... but this is just terrible!
Sure the colours and contrast are nasty, but the whole new format seems like a serious downgrade rather than an upgrade.
I've read most of the other thread- and know that it is still being tweaked- but does anyone know if this format is going to stay- ie, is the tweaking just minor things like colours etc?
I can't even stand reading here anymore.
I'll check back tomorrow, and then the day after....

[michigangeorge]

I hate it and do not understand the need for changing something that was working very well. This seems to happen too often in this media. This brown looks like **** - not wood! The whole idea sucks - just change it back and make us happy again :-)

[WX]

Well it's getting better, I'm still waiting for the butterfly though.:)

[Garret]

I hate it and do not understand the need for changing something that was working very well. This seems to happen too often in this media. This brown looks like **** - not wood! The whole idea sucks - just change it back and make us happy again :-)

There are many reasons why one upgrades software. One is to get new features. Do you still run Windows 95? However, the main reason is security. I am guessing here, but I believe that the reason for the forum being changed is security. Warning! Geekish to follow!

VBulletin (what the forum runs on) actually uses a language called PHP to do the work. PHP is constantly upgraded to address security issues (hacking, grabbing personal info, spreading viruses, etc.). WB has a number of different web based portals: this forum, the WB Store, etc. & they are all inter-connected (networked - so they can talk to each other). The store takes credit cards which is the elephant in the room. To continue to take credit cards, WB has to go through what's known as a PCI compliance review. The last one I looked at (not WB's!) was about 22 pages of stuff so geekish it'll make your eyes water & hair hurt. If you don't pass the compliance review, you no longer can accept credit cards. The review is a huge pain in the posterier (trust me, I'm helping clients through it now) & generally requires upgrading PHP & other software every 3 months. The older version of VBulletin only works with older versions of PHP. So - if they had to upgrade PHP for the PCI compliance (my clients had to upgrade to the latest PHP last week), it could well have forced them to upgrade VBulletin.

So - I'll guess that WB did not change the forum software just to piss people off. My bet is that they were forced to & that doing so is costing them money & a great deal of Scot's time.

[Woxbox]

Another vote to make that light tan text darker. It's very hard to scroll down and read the thread titles. My background is in print, but the same rules apply. Text has to have good contrast with the background to be easily readable. There's a trend across the web to use lighter colors for text on white or off-white backgrounds. What's the point? Text is to be read, not just looked at.

[SBrookman]

Garret: The older version of VBulletin only works with older versions of PHP. So - if they had to upgrade PHP for the PCI compliance (my clients had to upgrade to the latest PHP last week), it could well have forced them to upgrade VBulletin.

So - I'll guess that WB did not change the forum software just to piss people off. My bet is that they were forced to & that doing so is costing them money & a great deal of Scot's time.

Also the old software would not have technical support, further forcing the upgrade. And with PHP it is not a simple matter of going in and tweaking colors and fonts like you can in websites or word processors. So Scot has to use templates, or styles, provided by VBulletin, or other 3rd party sources, or have them design a new one.

[RodB]

OK... heres just a simple screen capture... darkened overall in Photoshop... just increasing density in the darker graphics makes such a difference.... I hope Scot sees this....

Note the name of the poster is darker... and that helps alot...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e239/Prestoboat/Misc%202009%20Aug/wbfstyle.jpg

RodB

[bwd]

Surely someone is working hard at making the new software work.
Thanks for the effort!
Top things for the to do list:

1. Font size: nobody (almost) has less than 1024x screens now, so this small font is ridiculous. It would be a service to users to increase the font size, just a little bit....

2. Font colors: As noted, thread titles are way too light to read easily (By me on a nice fancy monitor with 20/15 excellent vision). You can read it but the fatigue comes in minutes instead of hours.
Not Scot's fault, this is the default on the latest BB softwares, seen it on other forums.

3. Functionality: many little glitches as usual, such as buttons in wrong places, or present in some screens, not others, search function not ordering results correctly, etc, etc. These also are just normal software migration issues.... they will get better.....

So thanks in advance for all the work needed to resolve the issues.
Considering many of the members are "seasoned," perhaps it would be best to first address font size (lil bigger pleeeease) and contrast (brown or dark blue read easier than light gray ;) ). Also, the new smilies are bad, again, low contrast, also worse drawing....

I know lots fo details to be taken care of, but the end result just may be better than the old set-up. So thanks!

[54 Conqueror]

I am a little surprised at the negative nature of some of the responses. Yeah, I would change some fonts and colors, but it's not my website. I come here for the information not the format. Constructive criticism is fine, and should be expected, but some of the attacks are out of line IMO.

I administer a large non-boating forum with 12,000+ members. vBulletin is one of the best forum platforms out there. I am sure over time positive suggestions and constructive critcisms can be addressed. Instead of just saying give me the old one back, how about making suggestions on making the new platform work for everyone?

[Jay Greer]

I had no problem with the old format. In fact it was rather unique.
Jay

[bwd]

Ahh, tweak on!
Now the background is a little darker than just a few minutes ago,
the tinytext is easier reading, but the poster names and poost numbers...
mighty close to their background values....

[obscured by clouds]

not feeling the love for the new format. seems to me to be mainly a matter of colour and contrast that is griping most - including me.

Trouble is, until it gets back to a closer approximation of what we are happy with, or we get used to the new style, the site will be shedding users [no bad thing some might say!] I've seen it before on several sites and the the loss always hurts the core and backbone of the forum....

A retrograde step IMO [security issues aside]

[Don Z.]

I understand the reasons for the upgrade, and this, compared to, say, the recent Fine Woodworking upgrade is really not bad at all.

An increase in the default font size, or even a way to increase it on my screen, would help immensely. Other than that, well... This works...

[Windsong]

There are as many opinions on how this change should be as there are on what's the best way to varnish. Give it some time to dry.
Lars

[Garret]

Font size: Hit CTRL & + to increase, CTRL & - to decrease. That way you get it to what you like.

[Jay Greer]

Please go back to the old format!
Jay

[johnw]

Actually, this format seems to load a lot quicker than the old one. At this point my only beefs are that the thread titles are hard to read, and it's hard to keep track of the threads I've subscribed to.

[gary porter]

All power to Scott in aiming for improvement, if that's what this is about, but I really hate this new format! I'm just hoping it's temporary! The contrast is poor, the whole thing runs slower and the Reply button doesn't seem to work. Not whinging - just giving feedback!!! Rick

Its just CHANGE, get used to it, you know we have to have change whether we like it or not. You have to admit, its change.
A lot of folks here seem to be into that.
Sorry, just a sarcastic rant. Come on, white on light gray.....:(
Gary

[bob easton]

... And with PHP it is not a simple matter of going in and tweaking colors and fonts like you can in websites or word processors. So Scot has to use templates, or styles, provided by VBulletin, ....

Not do fast there... While there are "templates" or "themes" that come as packages for VBulletin, the knowledgeable designer (and I respect Scot for being in that class) can easily manipulate the CSS (Cascading Stype Sheet) for all sorts of font type, font size, and color variations. He has been doing some of that and I imagine he'll do more to satisfy most of us.

THANKS Scot! (...and if you ever need CSS help, PM me...)

[Don Z.]

Font size: Hit CTRL & + to increase, CTRL & - to decrease. That way you get it to what you like.

Well that works for this page, but if I open a link (or a thread) in a new window or tab, well, you have to do it again. Similarly, if I open a whole new page, that increased size is still there...

So that's a good interim solution, but I'm not sure that's the answer. Helpful (and I'm not sure this is possible, but if it's a setting that can be addressed, why not?) would be a setting in a profile so that we can all set what we see on this site.

Of course, if that's not available, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. This site has come a long way from the "pink text" we saw back in '97. At the same time, it would be a shame if there was a setting that was turned off, because no one thought to ask.

criticism: "I don't like this".
constructive criticism: "Hey, while we're at it, wouldn't it be cool if..."

That's the difference!

[BETTY-B]

I dont mind the format, it's the font colors in thread titles that I just cant read(and the links in threads as well). I've only read a few this morning and am done straining with it for the day; I usually check 60-80 threads with my coffee in the morn'.

[ahp]

I will second that. Some of the text, not all, has so little contrast that it is almost unreadable. Instead of pale gray against white, or worse, white on pale gray, why not another CONTRASTING color? If you have increased the contrast, as some posters have said, I don't see it.

[SeaB]

Not that it matters too much, but can anyone see the time a reply was posted and the post #?

[farwesthoops]

The new format is much much more difficult for me to read due to the lack of contrast.

[Tom Lathrop]

I'm sure Scot is not just trying to make things more difficult for us. I am having problems with some of the presentation though. It is not only a matter of taste. Some things are just difficult to read.

[bob easton]

... If you have increased the contrast, as some posters have said, I don't see it.

There were some changes yesterday. For awhile, the background of posts was white, improving contrast nicely. That didn't last long. I agree that many elements need contrast improvements.

[boattruck]

J et al, While I am loathe to appear to be whining, I am somewhat repulsed by the look of the current format of the forum, it looks like I'm going to be reading about toe fungus or some other equally unmentionable condition... I'm sure there are good reasons for the changes, I'm also sure none of those reasons would be comprehensable to a cro-mag like myself... While I applaud the effort that goes in to maintaining and administrating this forum, I spose I will see if I can develope a 'stomach' for the new look...Best to all, Cheers, BT

[Peter_Crowl]

While not the ideal black on white - these colors are at least somewhat legible

[oldyankeebarn1390]

I agree with the previous posts. Something/someone tried to fix what WAS NOT BROKEN and succeeded in breaking it. "If it ain't broke, I haven't worked on it, YET!"

Posts that I know were new as of two days ago cannot be found by using search. Using the search function the newest post (by the author) to be found is Feb, 2009 and the actual newest post is Tuesday of this week????

Another good job, done wrong. Promote the guilty, fire the innocent.

[Nanoose]

Blue! Much better contrast and readability! :)
And the thread titles are much better, and post writers names are as well.
Looking great!
Thanks, Scot, for all you do for us.
:)

[skipper68]

i've ben using the magnifier on the low right screen of my pc,up to to 125% and that helps a little..

[seaweedsoup]

My vote? Hate it.

[Jay Greer]

It freaking hurts my eyes!!!
The old one was just fine!
Jay

[floatingkiwi]

Blue is much better, although it is a little on the grey side. How about a vibrant cobalt or cyan colour. Azure?

[WX]

I can live with light blue, my preference would be dark blue but that's probably because I'm a bit of a Bowerbird.

[RFNK]

The sliders seem to take ages to work and then when they do the screen jumps to some section I didn't want to go to. The new format looks terrible, the symbols don't seem to mean much - I think the changes are awful. Has anyone found out the purpose of changing it? Rick

[bob easton]

... Has anyone found out the purpose of changing it? Rick

An educated hunch...
Software advances, version by version. As new versions come about, support for older ones are dropped. Many organizations tend to stay with a version until it looks like support will be dropped. What we have here is a newer version of vBulletin. I don't know if the previous version was in danger of losing support, or whether Scot upgraded to take advantage of new features, underlying database versions, or some other reason. In any case, along with the new version of vBulletin come a selection of "templates." We have been seeing some of them as Scot tries to find one which satisfies most of us.

As far as the symbols go, most will reveal their purpose if you hover the mouse pointer over each of them.

[Scot]

I still can't get any of my old posts , pre change , for example dealing with Huon Seal.
What am I doing wrong ?.
Rob J.

See the FAQ... use the Google Advance Search. The built-in search has never been good, and it seems with the upgrade, it's perhaps worse.

-Scot

[PeterSibley]

That's pretty standard with most forum software ....and a real pity ! The internal search used to be great .

[bob easton]

Scot I still can't find a listing of my posts made previous to the change.
Only those posted after the change.
Rob J.

Scot suggested using Google. Here's how....
1) Construct your search words. In this case, I used "by portland" within quotes to make sure I got your posts and not chatter about portland cement.
2) Add site:forum.woodenboat.com to tell Google to search only these forums, not the entire internet.

It looks like this....
"by portland" site:forum.woodenboat.com

Gets "about 127" results.

[bob easton]

That's pretty standard with most forum software ....and a real pity ! The internal search used to be great .

Yep. The simple search engines built into these tools are good when the number of posts is in the low thousands. They get geometrically worse as the number of posts increase. A very successful board like this needs the sophistication of a Google-like search engine to do it right.

As suggested to "Portland," form a search arguement, then add site:forum.woodenboat.com as the last arguement and let Google find it.

[TimH]

My Eyes!!:eek:

[Garret]

Yep. The simple search engines built into these tools are good when the number of posts is in the low thousands. They get geometrically worse as the number of posts increase. A very successful board like this needs the sophistication of a Google-like search engine to do it right.

As suggested to "Portland," form a search argument, then add site:forum.woodenboat.com as the last argument and let Google find it.

To put it more bluntly, VBulletin's search plain & simple stinks. On another (geek) forum I frequent, they rewrote all the search algorithms & it actually works fairly well (with 100's of thousands of posts) - but Google is the thing to use for searching the WB forum.

[callsign222]

The blue and better contrast of thread titles and links is much much much better, thank you!

[bob easton]

And you reckon thats an improvement Bob , I reckon its a bloody shocker .
Rob J.

No, I gave NO opinion about it being an improvement. I was only trying to help you find what you wanted. Won't bother the next time.

[BillAnderson]

I run a server for private clients, and I can tell you that upgrades can be a real can of worms. vBulletin has a HUGE amount of dependent software (and software that's dependent on software that's dependent on software thats...) that it relies on and it's pretty easy for things to cascade out of control.

Judging from the fact that the site was down for a good period of time during peak hours, and watching the forum colors change in real time, my guess is that Scot has run into a lot of problems.

If it were me, I would do my best to get the forum up and running as best as I could, tweak the colors just a bit to match the old site, and then move on to the more pressing issues that are killing my servers.

Only when I unravelled the mess that the upgrade caused, then would I circle back and fix the cosmetics of the forum. I don't think the man is having much fun this week.

[johnw]

The forum is much easier to read today than yesterday. Still haven't figured out a quick way to check on activity on threads I'm subscribed to.

[Thad]

I have found a few interesting things in the bilge, but I also just had the thought that the new format might be an improvement in that when I open it up I don't see the Bilge at all so it's easy not to go there. Humankind is thought to be adaptable but that doesn't stop complaints or attacks.

[Garret]

The forum is much easier to read today than yesterday. Still haven't figured out a quick way to check on activity on threads I'm subscribed to.

It seems to be in under the "Settings" link at the top right. Not quite sure why - but it takes you to what I think of as the User CP.

HTH

[esingleman]

It's getting better, but I agree the contrast is too harsh. I have confidence they will figure it out.

[willmarsh3]

I like the new contrasts much better today. Things just look and seem so much more like where they belong. Thank you Scot!

[Woxbox]

The blue and better contrast of thread titles and links is much much much better, thank you!

Ditto

[farwesthoops]

Thank you for the contrast change

[Tom Robb]

Scot would have made this all much easier if he'd explained why before hand.
I will not bother to read every line of this (who's got the time?) so if he did in fact tell us what's going on, I will stand corrected.
So far I have not heard any flaming of Scot as I've gathered that some have claimed.
RodB's example inpost 67 would be great if it were possible now.
Oh Well....

[Christine DeMerchant]

I have quite alot of experience with accessibility and design as well.
I don't mind the new format but I would like to see the quoted material NOT in italics. Italics is notoriously difficult to read on screen and this is no exception. Add to that a somewhat condensed font and a bluish background and it becomes downright difficult to read.
A somewhat larger font overall would be nice too, but maybe that's just my oldish eyes.
Christine

[mackaye]

The blue and improved contrast are much better than the initial change. Looks good now.

[Candyfloss]

Man, I hope Scot has taken some time off this weekend to get his sanity back. I've just spent a few days writing a "How To" in Microsoft Word, & it damn nearly drove me mad. I was this close to throwing the bloody computer through the window. Now I remember why I left the technology industry & went boatbuilding.

Scot, if you get a chance, could you change the colour of the writing up the top right, the stuff that starts "Welcome Candyfloss............" to black? Thanks mate.

[yzer]

Silly, but I can't seem to log off this site anymore. Where is the log off button?

[yzer]

Silly, but I can't seem to log off this site anymore. Where is the log off button?
OK, I found it. Log Out is still on the upper right hand corner of the pages but it does not appear until I pass the mouse cursor over it.

[Tom Robb]

Hidden buttons brought to us by game geeks who glory in the obscure.

[Jay Greer]

I still like it the way it was. The eye strain is incredible!
Jay

[mucrewbtp]

I dont like the new format at all. I have enjoyed posting photos and updates to my projects for the last several months. Now I cannot post photos anymore, I have re-sized the pictures three times now and when I try to post the photos it still rejects them telling me I have exceeded the quota. Pretty soon they will be so small nobody will be able to see any detail. If I am missing something someone please let me know.

-Mike

[John B]

Select the picture icon as normal, select from url, uncheck the box at the bottom of the window.
Voila.

[mucrewbtp]

John,

Thanks, I finally noticed that checkbox right after that last post, and after re-sizing the pictures a half dozen times.

-Mike

[John B]

I found it by using my usual scatter gun approach.;)