Home Page Redesign

jack presley

I don't like the way every thread on the home page is in bold now, even after you've clicked on it. You can't see with a quick glance anymore which threads have new posts.

SickBoy

Chucken

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

You cannot have a choice I'm afraid, vBulletin is on it's last legs. There are vast infrastructural changes behind the new home page which better the site.

Danny

So theres no way to find new threads apart from trawling every forum?

wnolan1992

WIZE wrote: »

Can we have something like this please

Yes please!

Seriously, the column with all the forums really was an excellent feature to have.

keith16

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

You cannot have a choice I'm afraid, vBulletin is on it's last legs. There are vast infrastructural changes behind the new home page which better the site.

Danny

There are a lot of niche fora on board with good active and growing membership, due largely in part to the old layout. Many people have mentioned it here - they would see forums and posts that they would never otherwise consider.

This is gone now, as the exposure time on the front page for the niche fora will be vastly reduced and both the latest posts and "trending" tabs will be dominated by the larger for such as AH and soccer.

This is not for the betterment of the site.

Just to clarify, is the change infrastructural or design in nature? Both have been cited as reasons for the change which confuses me somewhat.

Boards.ie: Danny

Chucken wrote: »

So theres no way to find new threads apart from trawling every forum?

Not currently, no.

Boards.ie: Danny

keith16 wrote: »

This is gone now, as the exposure time on the front page for the niche fora will be vastly reduced and both the latest posts and "trending" tabs will be dominated by the larger for such as AH and soccer.

This is not for the betterment of the site.

Latest posts has always been dominated by the busy forums since they get the most traffic. Our trending algorithm handicaps busy forums making it harder for them to achieve trending status unless they really are trending.

Just to clarify, is the change infrastructural or design in nature? Both have been cited as reasons for the change which confuses me somewhat.

It is both.

Sofiztikated

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Not currently, no.

Of all the things people might bitch about, this is probably the one that deserves the most attention.

keith16 explains it like I want to.

wnolan1992

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

You cannot have a choice I'm afraid, vBulletin is on it's last legs. There are vast infrastructural changes behind the new home page which better the site.

Danny

But... I don't get why moving away from vBulletin should automatically mean moving away from the vBulletin look? Like, this "We're moving away from vBulletin." line is tossed around every time there's a visual change made to the site. Why can't vBulletin features/looks be coded into the new API with better code to suit Boards?

Chucken

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Not currently, no.

Well thats a bit silly.

I mentioned spammers already...how are us mere mortals supposed to help out when we cant even see new threads??

danotroy

Im not adverse to change. But i do not like this drop down thread menu. The old bar at the top made for easier navigation.

Canis Lupus

I've already said I prefer the old page and not having read what's been said since this may have already come up but I think you need to at least state the thread title. Just saying that x user has posted in x forum doesn't encourage me to look.

Also, the page is as jerky/laggy as fug on an iPod.

I am pie

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Not currently, no.

Any plans to change that? Seems like we have lost one of the most popular aspects of boards.ie with the redesign, i.e. the ability to stumble into a forum you never thought would interest you to learn something new.

I really think the majority of users log on, look at the current threads on the home page and get sucked in from there. Also the space devoted to the Announcements page is mystifying.

80% negative feedback on the AH thread is fairly damning, interesting to see how boards.ie reacts to it's user base. Maybe that figure will change over the coming weeks as people get over the initial dischord.

Surely the new platform does not completely remove the ability to get the same volume of open threads onto the home page?

keith16

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Not currently, no.

Thanks Danny.

The impact of not seeing the new threads will make me much less likely to answer random questions in say....the Leaving Cert or Travel fora that I would see pop up on the old home screen. I'd be much less inclined to go looking for questions to answer.

This is a massive part of boards and IMO, the new design will diminish it.

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Latest posts has always been dominated by the busy forums since they get the most traffic. Our trending algorithm handicaps busy forums making it harder for them to achieve trending status unless they really are trending.

That's true, but since there was 50 in the old view, you would be much more likely to spot the niche stuff, particularly where the forum had it's own column.

With 12 only and most people (me!) not bothering to page through to see more threads. If you want to increase to use of the paging functionality - then condense all 12 threads onto one page, and add the page scrolling options at the top and bottom.

As it is now, I have to scroll down, hit next page, and then I only see the bottom 6 threads of page 2.

Then I have to scroll back up, look at the other 6, scroll back down, ignore the other 6 I have already looked at before repeating the process.

Very annoying.

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

It is both.

Cool, any more on what the infrastructure changes will mean or is it still under wraps?

This has happened to me a few times. It seems to be if I clear my cache (through using CCleaner), and then login via the option on the sidebar, it won't let me.

On Windows 8 (64 Bit) and Google Chrome (latest version - Version 27.0.1453.116 m)

my my my

looks like get ot the gap job, dog rougha real friday evening,

Boards.ie: Danny

I am pie wrote: »

Any plans to change that? Seems like we have lost one of the most popular aspects of boards.ie with the redesign, i.e. the ability to stumble into a forum you never thought would interest you to learn something new.

1,980 visits to that page - 0.01% of the total visitors to the front page. I can't agree it was one of the most popular aspects of Boards.ie and in my own experience can say I've never once clicked on that tab.

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I've already said I prefer the old page and not having read what's been said since this may have already come up but I think you need to at least state the thread title. Just saying that x user has posted in x forum doesn't encourage me to look.

Also, the page is as jerky/laggy as fug on an iPod.

The homepage is designed for a desktop machine. We're aware there are some minor issues with mobile devices but I assure you the thread title is meant to be there.

Boards.ie: Danny

Deleted User wrote: »

This has happened to me a few times. It seems to be if I clear my cache (through using CCleaner), and then login via the option on the sidebar, it won't let me.

Please report this in Site Development as a bug, thanks.

Danny

Boards.ie: Danny

keith16 wrote: »

Thanks Danny.

The impact of not seeing the new threads will make me much less likely to answer random questions in say....the Leaving Cert or Travel fora that I would see pop up on the old home screen. I'd be much less inclined to go looking for questions to answer.

This is a massive part of boards and IMO, the new design will diminish it.

Let me outright clarify this situation for anybody who is confused. What Chucken is talking about is a dedicated tab for threads that have not received any replies - virgin threads. These threads may be new or they may be old - they are virgin threads because they have not received any replies. This Virgin tab had 1,980 views out of a total 3.3 million. The virgin tab was barely used at all.

The Latest Posts tab has new threads in it. They show up as 0 posts and 0 thanks. If the new thread was made say 1 second ago, and then you visit the homepage it will be there, just like it always was. There is no rule in place that says a thread must have at least 1 reply or 1 thank to show up in any tab.

I am pie

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

1,980 visits to that page - 0.01% of the total visitors to the front page. I can't agree it was one of the most popular aspects of Boards.ie and in my own experience can say I've never once clicked on that tab.



The homepage is designed for a desktop machine. We're aware there are some minor issues with mobile devices but I assure you the thread title is meant to be there.

Sorry, I meant that the longer lists of open threads on the front page gave great exposure to the variety of different threads off the home page and that now that has been greatly reduced. For me that (the quick presentation of threads I would never go looking for) is a big selling point for the old home page & boards.ie.

I think you have thrown away something valuable by reducing the immediately accessibly variety of threads.

partyatmygaff

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

The homepage is designed for a desktop machine.

Why is the density lower than the touch site then? If you can fit 15 threads on a phone, surely you can do the same (and then some) on a desktop?

This is just a hunch but by any chance was the site homepage redesigned to make it more suitable for touch input on Windows 8 desktops/laptops? A few of the design elements hint at that. If so, i'd consider clickable blocks rather than just links for the list of threads.

Done. Wasn't sure where it should go (though you'd expect me to know by now ...)

Hitchens

it'll be nice when it's finished :pac:

Tar.Aldarion

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

The homepage is designed for a desktop machine.

Then why all the dead space? http://i.imgur.com/skX9kdK.png
Or will that be used for something?

dolittle

all i can say is, ifs its not broken why fix it?

Adyx

More dumbing down to facilitate forum newbies at the expense of functionality. I've had to change my Boards bookmark to my User CP to avoid it.

Spear

Adyx wrote: »

More dumbing down to facilitate forum newbies at the expense of functionality. I've had to change my Boards bookmark to my User CP to avoid it.

I'd suggest using this to avoid the homepage:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/index.php

coffee_cake

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Then why all the dead space? http://i.imgur.com/skX9kdK.png
Or will that be used for something?

Where are you getting that from
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/blueywolf/homepageview_zps3a08570c.jpg

Tar.Aldarion

bluewolf wrote: »

Where are you getting that from
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/blueywolf/homepageview_zps3a08570c.jpg

That's just what my front page looks like

coffee_cake

It's all those tabs you have open :P