New Boards Layout

Barry Badrinath

I was just subjected to this awfulness on the mobile site.

It's alright.........if you like eating sh!t sandwiches.

It's worse than that time I accidentally ate a raisin scone instead of a chocolate chip one.

Someone probably got a bonus for this!

slinky2000

You know what I've been using the beta now for the last few days and it's not bad, I'm getting used to it.

mcmoustache

This reminds me of when Slashdot introduced their beta. It was the same nonsense - whitespace everywhere, functionality removed etc.

Anyway, the backlash was predictable. In fact, every thread ended up getting derailed by people complaining about the new front-end. The fúck-beta tag became quite popular. In the end, it was all reverted. Maybe the same civil disobedience could work here too.

I'm going to hold out while the Legacy option is available. After that, I'm not sure.

To be honest, I'm not sure what was going through their heads when they thought that this was a good idea. Maybe they started the project before other sites that experimented with this nonsense failed. Maybe they were unaware that this experiment has been tried and found wanting multiple times before. Maybe someone saw it on a tablet and went "Oh, shiney" and completely forgot that quite a lot of boards.ie users use laptops and PCs.

Either way, when you make a user interface something less usable and less informative, you have failed and you should feel bad about it.

InTheTrees

If I make the window full screen, content still only shows in a narrow strip down the centre with acres of empty space either side.

It should stretch in width as I stretch the width of the window overall.

I get that they're leaving a huge amount of room open for advertising but its going a little far isnt it? there's only one little ad in there now and i've never seen Boards.ie get so ad heavy that all this empty space will ever get filled.

Its pretty awful. And far from finished I expect.

StupidLikeAFox

Mars Bar wrote: »

It isn't being overlooked. It's automatic when you click on the thread title!

Not for me it isn't....

mcmoustache

slinky2000 wrote: »

You know what I've been using the beta now for the last few days and it's not bad, I'm getting used to it.

Andy Dufreine got used to prison rape. Just sayin'.

Aongus Von Bismarck

I quite like it. It's intuitive and it's easier access the handful of forums I occasionally visit. It's got too much of that bland wallpaper paste colour so beloved of modern websites, but that seems to be the in thing at the moment.

maudgonner

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I quite like it. It's intuitive and it's easier access the handful of forums I occasionally visit. It's got too much of that bland wallpaper paste colour so beloved of modern websites, but that seems to be the in thing at the moment.

No jibes about IT workers? No references to German automotive styling? No wine allegories?

I feel strangely bereft...

Is this the Beta site?

Beefy78

I don't like change

Squall Leonhart

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

Only problem is, in a few weeks time you won't have that choice, new look boards will be the only boards!

Since when, as I said I never used the new boards layout that's been around for ages I just chose to keep the original don't see it being any different this time.

Beefy78

Beefy78 wrote: »

I don't like change

Bugs aside, I'd say 90% of the dislike for it comes from users just not liking change. Remember the last time they made a big change and the reaction from people? Torches and pitchforks.

Squall Leonhart

Deleted User wrote: »

Is this the Beta site?

I don't think so

When I turn on beta it looks like a much nicer site than what showed up yesterday (screen shot in first post). Initially I didn't like the beta when I tried that but now it looks fantastic compared to yesterday's car crash.

Mars Bar

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Not for me it isn't....

On mobile? It was fine for me on the desktop yesterday. I didn't last long though and turned beta off. Not a huge fan of the beta. I dislike the way the sticky and charters are and the plethora of white space is terrible.

I do like the colour schemes and icons for fora though.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Alun

Deleted User wrote: »

Bugs aside, I'd say 90% of the dislike for it comes from users just not liking change. Remember the last time they made a big change and the reaction from people? Torches and pitchforks.

My gripe is the wasted space. As a case in point, under the old skin I can see 16 threads on the My Forums page, on the new one about 4-5.

Squall Leonhart

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

I don't think so

When I turn on beta it looks like a much nicer site than what showed up yesterday (screen shot in first post). Initially I didn't like the beta when I tried that but now it looks fantastic compared to yesterday's car crash.

It may or may not have changed for me so I can or cannot comment on whether it is or isn't showing the same for me as it is for everyone else.

Please don't turn it to something I'd hate, Dav!

Beefy78

Deleted User wrote: »

Bugs aside, I'd say 90% of the dislike for it comes from users just not liking change. Remember the last time they made a big change and the reaction from people? Torches and pitchforks.

It has just switched back to the old site for me. Phew.

There has never been an interface change made to a major website in the history of the internet which has been well received. Every change to Facebook has "ruined" it. Every time they change the BBC Sport site it's a "disgrace". It's just the way of things - we're creatures of habit.

This looks a very....bold design change and being honest I didn't like it. But I'm sure in a few months I'll be used to it and in a few years time when Boards changes again I'll hate the new design.

SEPT 23 1989

Deleted User wrote: »

Bugs aside, I'd say 90% of the dislike for it comes from users just not liking change. Remember the last time they made a big change and the reaction from people? Torches and pitchforks.

this is a far more severe than the last change

a bridge too far

anothernight

It seems to me that they released it as a beta way before it was ready to even be in the beta stage.

Squall Leonhart

Antonio Gentle Penguin wrote: »

Since when, as I said I never used the new boards layout that's been around for ages I just chose to keep the original don't see it being any different this time.

"new boards layout that's been around for ages" was an optional beta version of it, you could choose to ignore it.

Yesterday afternoon for about an hour the site changed to a different style, like a modified beta version, which you could not opt in or out of for a time (for some reason not all threads were this new format, but a lot were and I think the announcement.

Boards management put up the following yesterday;

Hello all,

Over the next 3 weeks, we plan on rolling out our new look website for everyone to see as the default look for Boards.ie. If you'd like to have a look at how the new site is coming together, you can click the "Turn Beta On" link on the bottom of the home page. Starting later today, if you are outside the Republic of Ireland, you'll be seeing the new site by default (this way we have a slower and more manageable roll-out).

If you wish to switch back to the current look ahead of time, which we're going to be running for another few months whilst we continue to develop the new site, you'll see a link for the Legacy Site on the top right corner (Legacy being the term we use in the software game for "old" ).

The reason we're running both sites in parallel is because we need to stress test the site's servers and firewalls and all the rest with the new site as well as obviously make sure that you'll still be able to use the site comfortably if you run into a problem with the new layout.

So my understanding of it is that the new design is coming and there's feck all you can do about it!

Oh right. Saw the screenshot in the OP. I understand now.

I think they're trying to please the customer here with these changes only the customer isn't the user, it's the advertiser they're trying to please.

The amount of advert space has increased, but the userbase is going to tumble so maybe they should concentrate on the first link in the revenue chain and put off implementing this until the users aren't totally put off.

Antar Bolaeisk

I was okay with the stationary ads but the animated ads just distract from the content of the thread and the video ads are a pain in the arse.

Why oh why are the poll bars animated, that's just poor visual feedback, looks like something is loading.

It doesn't seem so bad on the mobile version, although there'snow extra clicks to where I want to get to, but the desktop version was pretty horrendous.

anothernight

mcmoustache wrote: »

To be honest, I'm not sure what was going through their heads when they thought that this was a good idea.

The traditional internet forum format is now becoming very old-fashioned and slowly losing favour. I'm an active part of a few niche online communities which used to thrive through online forums, but now use social media, Reddit and, to a smaller extent, a few popular blogs to interact with each other. We've discussed this issue at length and realised that there isn't much we can do to keep the forums going because new users aren't interested in that format.

My guess is that Boards.ie is experiencing something similar and noticing fewer new registered users, less interest from commercial partners, and thought that maybe new audiences don't know how to use a traditional forum so they needed a new layout. Dav pretty much says it himself:

Dav wrote: »

these are smart people who work online every day of their lives and for whom a complex interface like Facebook isn't a problem - so they're not stupid, they're just not able to discover how things work over here.

In my opinion, new audiences aren't interested in using a traditional forum, but I can't blame them for trying.

I do wish they'd hired some UI/UX staff who actually knew what they were doing though. The people they hire clearly know nothing about users or experience.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

_Kaiser_

anothernight wrote: »

The traditional internet forum format is now becoming very old-fashioned and slowly losing favour. I'm an active part of a few niche online communities which used to thrive through online forums, but now use social media, Reddit and, to a smaller extent, a few popular blogs to interact with each other. We've discussed this issue at length and realised that there isn't much we can do to keep the forums going because new users aren't interested in that format.

My guess is that Boards.ie is experiencing something similar and noticing fewer new registered users, less interest from commercial partners, and thought that maybe new audiences don't know how to use a traditional forum so they needed a new layout. Dav pretty much says it himself:


In my opinion, new audiences aren't interested in using a traditional forum, but I can't blame them for trying.

I don't know.. it's a forum not rocket science! I'm not convinced that people can't figure it out, more that they are too used to the instant-response/everything NOW of sites like Twitter and the rest.

If Boards is moving away from what it's always been (an Irish discussion forum) towards some sort of bastardised love-child between Facebook, Twitter and Reddit then that core fundamental is changing, not just some colours and formatting.

But here's the thing... people come to THIS site over those others for a different reason. If you change that then there's not much reason to come here when you have those already established (and far bigger than this site will ever be) alternatives.

I'm not sure what/who that'll leave when the dust settles TBH

Wibbs

mcmoustache wrote: »

To be honest, I'm not sure what was going through their heads when they thought that this was a good idea. Maybe they started the project before other sites that experimented with this nonsense failed. Maybe they were unaware that this experiment has been tried and found wanting multiple times before. Maybe someone saw it on a tablet and went "Oh, shiney" and completely forgot that quite a lot of boards.ie users use laptops and PCs.

There was likely A Meeting(™)©. One where Industry Experts(™) wearing red braces over thundercats tee shirts were wheeled in and the upshot was "change or die!" we need a new "paradigm going forward!" sorta thing.

I've met a few industry experts and consultants in my time. In IT and the hard core heavy lifting stuff(in all businesses) they generally really know their shizzle, but in more nebulous things like marketing and design they're more often full of shizzle. Look at OS updates from the major players down the years. In most cases the hardcore underpinnings are an improvement with the inevitable tweaks required because of the complexity of the task, but the usability can be a toss up or a retrograde step or a complete disaster.

The new Beta is a triumph for the coders IMH. That a small bunch of people have essentially created a brand new bulletin board package from scratch, while keeping the existing one running is incredible as far as I'm concerned. Major kudos to them for that achievement. The front end usability leaves much to be desired so far. The design has some nice touches and some not so nice.

The biggest question for me is why such a change? Yes Vbulletin was and is a pain under the bonnet when adding new features, so why not rebuild the engine as they have and keep the general look and feel of the current setup, rather than a bloated, or under featured depending what platform you use mobile OS?

That could be an earner too as no doubt you could sell such an "engine" to other vBulletin sites?

Permabear

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I only noticed the screenshot after. Yup, it is very ads heavy and consumer-friendly but at the cost of alienating the user.

Boards is doing with ads what Facebook did with games in their most recent layout change.

maudgonner

Quoting is a pain, and seems a bit buggy for me. It also adds an 'Add your reply here' line to the start of your post, very annoying removing that every time.

And multiquote is gone :eek: