I noticed that General Modeling isn't showing up in the "Latest Post" function any more..... Not sure about "events" and "tools" either.....

Another Coding Bug?

Work - in - Progress

Hi Jim,

Just noticed the new Latest Posts reworking,..... and I have to congratulate you on a job well done,... Very Impressive!!!

Frank

Hi Armorama Staff

As I cannot access the "A-Team" threads and I do not want to start another one I just use this, as it is about the new "Latest" page.

I do not like it (as it is now). Two thoughts:

1. I miss the flag which shows if there was a post in a topic after I visited last. I visit frequently but I'm not "in" all the time and I do not write down the last time I was "in".

2. Why did you group out the Ship guys (which I did not understand then) and now try to reincorporate them? The page is very intricate this way ... reminds me of business TV with 5 News tickers, 4 Charts and 2 persons discussing obscure analysis data... but maybe that is just me with my non-multitask single brain processor

Just my opinion

best wishes

Steffen

I think its starting to look good and should prove to be very helpful being able to see the ship threads as well.

But I do agree with Steffen about the newpost flags.

well hopefully the work is only in it's early stages as I do not like it.

It is hard to read for a start so hard in fact that if it stays in the format it is I will not bother reading it.

Cliff

i agree, it is awfull

sorry, but it is confusing and to buzy

I can't see wich language the post is since i am used the look for Dutch, English, French and German topics

I found it usefull to see who postet the last reply ...

sorry, not a improvemend, not at all

I too agree with some of the comments...the page gives me the feeling of claustrophobia :-) . Just a suggestion, maybe you could provide the users with option to choose between the old and new layout as radio button or as part of the user profile. Just an idea .

Cheers

Load times for the Latest Posts page had been running in the 10-15 second range lately (if anyone had noticed). Now the page loads in 1-2 seconds.

That's enough reason for me not to go backwards.

Last poster - is there on newer posts.

Posts Since last visit - working on that still.

Cliff - Increasing the font size is a possibility, but I will need to look at the best way to do that without blowing the whole page out of wack.

Ronny - Multi-language functionality has been removed from this version of the page. In fact I may be taking a BIG departure from the multi-lingual forum stuff as it's again a real server drain the "old way".

The old way is dead. Long live the new SQL. :-)

Sorry a little programming humor there.

Jim

Gotta love NEW SQL

SQWEEL Like PIG as I say when writing some good code (++)

Is User Support now located on one of the other pages only? I was thinking that there should be one for each site (is that the right word now that everything is being separated?)

It is? I don't see it. All day long I was looking at threads only to find that the last post was actually mine, and that there wasn't anything new.

On the whole I kind of like it, except for not knowing which threads had new posts that I hadn't seen.

One other thing I noticed, and this might not be new., may not have noticed them before. The staff threads are mixed in with the latest threads. I was going to threads I wasn't able to view. I've never done that before in all the time I've been here. I would think these should only show up if you're allowed to go to that thread. I'm probably wrong on this.

Another vote against the look of the new latest posts page.

Too busy, not as much information ( two lines per post rather than the one before so fewer posts visable in the frame), side bars I don't see much use for. ..

I may be out of the norm here, but I used that page to quickly see what were the latest posts here in armorama .
I liked the ability to scan down an entire page and see the topics I was interested in reading in one glance.

I suppose it will grow on me, but my inital reaction is that I do not like the new look.

Mike

Not a computer programmer, so I have no idea what is simple or elegant or quick to code.

With the exception of the "since last visit flag" (which is back but not quite working correctly that I can see in either the forums or the LP page, the page will be staying almost exactly as it is now.

After doing working with user interfaces for going on 8 years now, I think I know what I like, and I like this.

Also historically speaking every time I have made changes to the forum or LP page I get the same types of complaints. But if I hadn't fixed the current performance problems and the ability to see posts on other sites, well I would get WAY more complaints about that. Sorry guys...issues noted but you do not persuade.

Jim

Hi all!

Well, at the first time I said to myself "Oh no! the latest post page changed! Doh!" Then I noticed it wasn't that much different and I welcomed the return of the Ship area! I suppose the other forums (Aircraft and Figures) will also be separated like that!?
Rather than the size of the fonts (you can increase it in your browser, I tried it with mine and it works...) it is the light grey color wich gives me trouble (below the thread titles). I find it difficult to read even if I still have a good eyesight.
As for the "jumping" from one "sub-site" to another, I would rather link to the "latest post" page of each than to the homepage. Or add a "latest post" link aside the "Modelgeek" link for example. This way, one could browse between one "latest post" page to another in one clic.
Well, if I think about it, it's a good interface between the forthcoming "sub-sites" and at the end... I like it!

Bravo Jim! I think this must have been a hell of a job to do...

Jean-Luc

Hello Jim

as I studied business informatics I kind of understand the problems you are after (I did not notice the page was that slow, but you have the statistics and you will know)

BTW I do not concur with the "it is new, so it is better " standpoint but I guess you couldn't care less :-) :-)

As for layout/ergonomics:. I'm thinking a lot of that because I have an own website to maintain. It is this "3 clicks--get information" thingie what is improved with the new version (as model geek and ship yard is visible again).
BUT separating the stuff in different sub tables make the information less accessable. Isn't it possible to rejoin the "latest" tables into one table as it once was. If you have to seperate more and more topics you'll end up with a page that has 10 sub windows/frames

The strength of armorama was always for me that I can easily access modelling information of all kind of modelling and I see that fading with the new style.

Anyway if you take this serious or just throw it in the garbage bin you have done a good job in the past and surly will do in the future ..

best wishes

Steffen

P.S. Many thanks for giving back the "New Post" Flag!!!!!!

Love it or hate it, its always nice to have a change. I have studied some sites and the trend has always been that members start fading away when the site becomes stagnant over long periods of time (example: DigitalDioramas). Constant change does refresh the interest on the site.

I personally dont mind it. Im mainly here for the modelling tips and a bit of socialising so aesthetics play a small role in my coming here.

Hi guys...my 2 cents...
Personally, although the new change in the forum page is a bit tight, I like it...change is good...Armorama has grown so much in the time frame that I've been hanging out here, and I welcome the new changes. Jim is improving the site's performance with these changes, because it's not all about looks and user friendliness (flame me if you must!), and I do agree with Jim when he states that he would get ALOT more complaints about the performance of the site if he hadn't made these adjustments...and I also believe that much emphasis should be put on the initials of WIP, mates. Give it a chance, grow with the changes...it's still Armorama at the heart, gent's, just with a few makeovers here and there to make it a more pleasurable and easier experience overall for all of us!
~Mark

Change is a good thing, but people always resist change. It looks odd and cramped, but Im sure the coding takes time

JIm:

Good job. I like it. It gets right to the point in my eyes. It is abit smaller but I look at it as having more options on the side. As a programmer I know the pain of performance. There was lots of lag when loading the forums. Job well done. Its faster and more efficent in my eyes.

After looking at it for a while,
one of my biggest problems with it, is its so narrow. The "Other Topics etc" panel is more or less equal in width but has acres of space below it. It might be better to my eyes at least if the "Other Topics" panel was narrower with the width being given to the Latest Forums part.

What I always did with the old one was group the forum types which made it much easier to find something or just browse.


...usually from me :-) :-)

Cheers
Peter
:-)

sorry to add another negative comment but i prefer the old style the new one is way too narrow and difficult to read

Honestly I do not care one way or the other, just a new inerface to get used to, no big deal. Now with that said, lets talk about change for changes sake. Sure change is good as long as it is Progress - we gain somthing we didn't have before. Sorry Jim, but in this case what we gained is not too clear to me. So was the change good?

I think the changes are for the "new direction" the Site(s) are going the "Split up" It's gonna take some getting use to............