New Topics/Category Organisation Update 20:45 - Post 100

T-K-O

Quazzie wrote: »

It genuinely seems like the staff of Boards don't care that most of the users don't like this system. It's not about appearance, it's about the user experience and the staff at Boards seem hell bent at implementing these changes regardless of feedback. Kind of makes a mockery of the feedback forum to be honest.

Some poster hit the nail on the head a few weeks back. The new design does not encourage browsing / exploring new forums on the site. Since the change, I visit my favorite, followed threads and not a much more than that.

jamesbondings

I would love to see the stats on pre redevelopment posts vs post redevelopment posts... Im sure the difference is huge. To those saying suck it up. Surely the idea of boards is to make it easy for newcomers to use? If some current users find it difficult what's there to compel a new user to join?

Del.Monte

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

but there are thousands and thousands of people who don't complain.

So suck it up.

That's because most people never complain about anything on Boards.ie or anywhere else - hence the present state of the country.

Second Toughest in_the Freshers

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

but there are thousands and thousands of people who don't complain.

probably can't find the feedback forum...

Dades

Quazzie wrote: »

It genuinely seems like the staff of Boards don't care that most of the users don't like this system. It's not about appearance, it's about the user experience and the staff at Boards seem hell bent at implementing these changes regardless of feedback. Kind of makes a mockery of the feedback forum to be honest.

I've read the staff responses to the feedback so can only conclude that resources are stretched to the point that deploying the intended, full, redesign has been pushed down the queue. That's the logical conclusion, given what has been said, many, many times about the temporary nature of the current menu.

Cookie_Monster

minor tech point

under the soc & fun menu:
Social & Fun

AMA: Ask Me Anything
After Hours
AMA: Ask Me Anything

duplicate and above AH for some reason.

Red Alert

The new layout is awful, but it's clear that praise is the only thing that the boards.ie staff want for it. It takes more clicks to get through to core forums like AH than it does to get to Talk To forums. Tells you what their priorities are...

Insect Overlord

Red Alert wrote: »

The new layout is awful, but it's clear that praise is the only thing that the boards.ie staff want for it. It takes more clicks to get through to core forums like AH than it does to get to Talk To forums. Tells you what their priorities are...

Or you could learn to use the Search Box and get there with just one click.

The_Morrigan

An File wrote: »

Or you could learn to use the Search Box and get there with just one click.

You should have suggested that to Dav months ago and saved all the work and hassle.

Dozen Wicked Words

An File wrote: »

Or you could learn to use the Search Box and get there with just one click.

You are bringing typing as well as clicking into play, whole new ball game.

Insect Overlord

The_Morrigan wrote: »

You should have suggested that to Dav months ago and saved all the work and hassle.

There's a bigger re-design happening anyway, so your sarcasm is wasted on me.

MrWalsh

An File wrote: »

Or you could learn to use the Search Box and get there with just one click.

You have to click into the search box, type something, then click on search, then click the desired result.

Quazzie

An File wrote: »

Or you could learn to use the Search Box and get there with just one click.

The search function on this website is the worst search function i have ever experienced. One of the most popular threads in the website is "you laugh you lose", but if you search that you get nothing. Terrible search function and I cringe whenever anyone suggests it.

Insect Overlord

Quazzie wrote: »

The search function on this website is the worst search function i have ever experienced. One of the most popular threads in the website is "you laugh you lose", but if you search that you get nothing. Terrible search function and I cringe whenever anyone suggests it.

That's a different issue. I was talking about quickly finding a forum.

Quazzie

An File wrote: »

That's a different issue. I was talking about quickly finding a forum.

But if a new user comes onto the site, how do they know the names of the forums? Most new users will come on either from a Google search, or because some told them about a thread. If I tell someone to check out the "you laugh you lose" thread the Boards.ie site. How would they find it after getting onto the site?

MrWalsh

An File wrote: »

That's a different issue. I was talking about quickly finding a forum.

Still takes more than 1 click.

Dades

Quazzie wrote: »

But if a new user comes onto the site, how do they know the names of the forums?

New users don't know what forums exist at all, and no menu setup canl change that. The recatagorisaion was done with the aim of at least helping them find forums they might be interested in.

The main issue people have (which has been acknowledged and will be fixed) is the extra clicks to get somewhere quickly, but this imposition isn't a big deal for new users finding their way around who never used the old menu.

General search is borked, however, I'll second that.

Polka_Dot

Not sure if this is just my computer/browser but more often than not over the last few days hovering over the menus has done nothing, I've had to click into "topics" to access forums. Could just be me though.

my3cents

Polka_Dot wrote: »

Not sure if this is just my computer/browser but more often than not over the last few days hovering over the menus has done nothing, I've had to click into "topics" to access forums. Could just be me though.

So its not just me.

Red Alert

Dades wrote: »

The recatagorisaion was done with the aim of at least helping them find forums they might be interested in.

To be honest if I was a new user I'd never even think of clicking topics. In the old layout you had a taster of each topic above even if you had to hover the mouse over the ones like "Rec" or "Soc" to get an idea of what they were. Others like "Biz", "Sport" and "Tech" were plainly obvious.

I get the feeling that someone on the staff decided this recategorisation was a good idea and no negative feedback on it is welcome. There is no shame in reverting to something that previously worked.

Dades

Red Alert wrote: »

I get the feeling that someone on the staff decided this recategorisation was a good idea and no negative feedback on it is welcome. There is no shame in reverting to something that previously worked.

Red Alert, you either didn't read this thread or are willfully ignoring the staff response to the feedback.

Dav wrote: »

The menu, it's not right and we agree. It's not right, I've said this from the start, and many of you raise a flag saying we should have invested the time in making it work better than it does. We do understand that discoverability through navigating the menu is a big deal, we don't want to get rid of it at all. We just don't have a neat means of presenting it at this moment and as I've said, we are working on that. Extremely limited tech staff is the reason this didn't get more time - when our sys admin (Chris) is the one who has to get elbow deep into the code to try and make these things work, that'll tell you how stuck we are.

Yes, the not-fit-for-purpose menu has been with us for too long, but the only gripe worth having now is how long it's taking to fix, not how all feedback was ignored.

Banta

Dades wrote: »

New users don't know what forums exist at all, and no menu setup canl change that. The recatagorisaion was done with the aim of at least helping them find forums they might be interested in.

The main issue people have (which has been acknowledged and will be fixed) is the extra clicks to get somewhere quickly...

Dades wrote: »

Yes, the not-fit-for-purpose menu has been with us for too long, but the only gripe worth having now is how long it's taking to fix, not how all feedback was ignored.

The number of clicks involved and that not being to peoples liking is a separate thing in someways, and as you say you're looking at alternate options / fixing it. Perhaps this will only be rolled out in the new design (Which I know has a different approach to the menu.)? Or are there plans to implement it in the current design?

I've had a thought on 'helping new users find what they're looking for' and making that a little bit easier, with the current menu (current number of clicks aside). Yes, there's a bit of work, but it may be a good interim solution?

Looking at the coding behind the menu links, there's already coding for the link title in place. I understand it's probably something generic such a "View {Link Title}". But perhaps there's a way to utilize this on an interim basis to be a little bit more descriptive on each section?

So instead of just having "View Feedback" as the link title, add descriptive text in here?



This does get a little bit more problematic when it comes to the touch site. The 'View Thanks' are already hidden and then appear when 'View Thanks' is tapped, so this same functionality could be add to 'Show Description' or simply adding a Help/Infomation '?' button...



The down side (other than giving an already exhausted programmer more work - sorry man!) is that somebody would have to write the snappy little descriptions. Perhaps delegated to each mod if they're interested? (Sorry mods!). "Recreation and Hobbies: From Pets to Poker, or even Travelling with Zombies, it's in here."

Whether or not this sort of interim solution is feasible given the time available to folks behind the scenes or not, or perhaps the time frame for the new site design roll out doesn't make this addition worth the time inbetween though.

Dav

It's a great suggestion, but we're too far down the rabbit-hole of the redesign for us to redirect tech team time to it. There's plenty here I would like to integrate into that though, the hover/tool-tips is a clever idea and assuming it's not a big addition, I'd definitely like to implement it.

Dyr

Dav wrote: »

It's a great suggestion, but we're too far down the rabbit-hole of the redesign.

Good idea, Keep digging lads, that'll get yiz out of the hole.