Boards Skins

jester77

So, all the useful skins have been removed and it seems there are only the eye piercing bright default skin and the weird halloween styled dark theme.

Plus the really nice menu that the boards beta skin had is now no longer available and you have to perform multiple clicks to find forums. Not very user friendly

Anyone aware of any chrome extensions to make navigation more pleasant?

keano_afc

I want the classic skin back.

Fr_Dougal

Can’t post a thread with this skin, it’s sh1t.

weldoninhio

this is a joke of a skin.

McMurphy

Not just me so.....

Why though? Why just out of the blue?

The One Doctor

McMurphy wrote: »

Not just me so.....

Why though? Why just out of the blue?

It's to push people away from Boards and on to the comment section of Journal.ie

marcbrophy

McMurphy wrote: »

Not just me so.....

Why though? Why just out of the blue?

There was an announcement posted last week

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=112184230#post112184230

Ken.

Mod-^^^^^^^^ This. Locked

Buford T. Justice XIX

Mod note: I'm moving this to Feedback as it's a forum more suited to this discussion.

Buford T. Justice

Beasty

Now it's in Feedback, thread re-opened

Please note you need to have been on the site a minimum 3 months and have a postcount of at least 100 to post in Feedback

Boards.ie: Niamh

The announcement was posted last week here but tl;dr we are performing some upgrades at the moment and the skins were not compatible with them. They have not been supported for some time and using a skin with the coming upgrades would have made the site unusable so we've removed the skins in advance of that happening.

On the default version of the site now you can choose between the light and dark theme, use Cosy Mode to reduce padding around elements on the page and switch to Full Width to expand to the width of your monitor. All of these are available at: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/profile.php?do=appearancesettings

osarusan

There no comparison in user-friendliness between this current dropdown menu:





and this old dropdown menu:



The old one is just so so much better.

Boards.ie: Niamh

The old one was also very outdated and didn't contain any of the new forums opened in recent times, right?

The more condensed menu is not great and we will look at improving that in the future as soon as we can but the team are working on other more fundamental projects at the moment.

osarusan

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

The old one was also very outdated and didn't contain any of the new forums opened in recent times, right?

Correct.


But there is nothing stopping boards from creating an updated one.

Boards.ie: Niamh

osarusan wrote: »

Correct.


But there is nothing stopping boards from creating an updated one.

Also correct and something we plan to do in the future but we don't have any dates for that yet.

Headshot

I thought this was a bug at first and created a new thread in the development forum and was surprised to find this change was on purpose.

This new skin/template is god awful and horrible to navigate.

The old/legacy was just a joy to navigate and easy on the eyes

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Also correct and something we plan to do in the future but we don't have any dates for that yet.

If you plan to do it in the future why doesnt boards revert the changes on the old skin and once the new one is live then do the change over?

Headshot

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

The old one was also very outdated and didn't contain any of the new forums opened in recent times, right?

The more condensed menu is not great and we will look at improving that in the future as soon as we can but the team are working on other more fundamental projects at the moment.

The old one was fine for me.

Why dont you let users decide on what skin they want to use????

Mr.Nice Guy

I too would welcome the return of the classic skin. It looked more polished and aesthetically pleasing than this version. As the old saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Think the previous version was perfect, honestly.

Seve OB

Headshot wrote: »

This new skin/template is god awful and horrible to navigate.

The old/legacy was just a joy to navigate and easy on the eyes

well said

_Kaiser_

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

The old one was also very outdated and didn't contain any of the new forums opened in recent times, right?

The more condensed menu is not great and we will look at improving that in the future as soon as we can but the team are working on other more fundamental projects at the moment.

To be fair, that was asked for years ago when this menu was implemented for most users of the "legacy"/full site.

All the arguments against it were given then, but in short it's a massive pain to navigate, hides half the site from the users, and encourages people to only stick with their favourites.

Shouldn't take that long to change it to something more like it used to be as shown in the screenshot above

colly10

I don’t care about the look of new vs old.
Previously a new posts link was on the top bar when you were viewing any thread. Is there an equivelent without returning to the home screen all the time?

ED E

Back in 1963 all we had was a keyboard. We used that, it was fine. Clickty clack. Then in 1964 some boffin came up with this idea of a mouse. Mad I know, but it kinda took off. Why you forcing me back to 1963 here lads?


Explained:
With the legacy skin I could be reading consumer issues, float my mouse up to sports then down to cycling, single click and its done. Then over to Online B&A with similar effort. Pretty much anywhere on the site in a single click. Now its multiple clicks and page loads of moving my hand from my coffee to type the name of the sub I want. Moving backwards.

Hotblack Desiato

My biggest problem with this skin is that you can't have a window less than 1000 pixels wide, or else the text of posts doesn't fit.

That's a shocking waste of screen real estate, which is always at a premium on a laptop.

Now I can't even fit two Boards windows on the screen at the same time (e.g. cross-referencing two threads) without the windows overlapping each other - even on a 1920x1080 laptop screen!!!

Ridiculous and totally unnecessary.

This is on Opera. Tried it on Firefox and it's less of an issue - I can make the window almost as narrow as it used to be. But I really don't want to have to switch my browser over this - Opera has great keyboard shortcuts, Firefox is hopeless in comparison. Scratch the above. On Linux, Firefox is slightly better, but still worse than the old skin. On Windows, there's no difference between browsers and the new default skin still requires a massive window.

I just tested this and on touch, it's five clicks to get from here to Relationship Issues.

Five.

That's four page loads hitting the boards.ie servers for a static menu.. That's four extra pages I have to go through. All you need is some JavaScript and the list of forums in html with a drop down menu. Why is a database getting hit repeatedly for menus that don't change..

Niamh, I'm not sure what your criteria are for "fundamental" but when your mobile site basically requires that users already know the name of the forum so they can type that in, get the search results, and click the forum from there, I would classify that as Critical. That is the fastest way to get around the site and some forums feel impossible to find without doing that.

When a user first visits the site on desktop, do you know what they see? They see a yellow cookies notification along the top with a little red X. The type of cookies bar that people in 2020 don't bother clicking away. It must be like 14px high so it doesn't need to be clicked away.
And do you what that covers? The entire menu... All of it. That is way above Critical. That is get your developer out of bed to fix it right now as new users can't see what most important thing on the page.


It seems that no one cares. If I am viewing a user's posts and type something into the search bar, I expect it will search for that term within that user's posts. Same with a forum or a thread.
Nope. It's a new search from scratch.
I posted 17 lives of JS in Development that fixes this to give expected behaviour and no one cares. I could fix the menu problems today with some JS, and then I'd post it into the void.


Just open source the site and let us work on it. It would save ye money, too.

KevIRL

M.boards gone now too? Since this morning it's just routing to a twitter post about maintenance

Boards.ie: Niamh

KevIRL wrote: »

M.boards gone now too? Since this morning it's just routing to a twitter post about maintenance

No, we had a maintenance window this morning at 5am and the site was redirecting to the tweet about that. If you are still being redirected, clear your browser's cache and that should resolve the issue. A few other users have had the same issue and that sorted it for them.

Dravokivich

Headshot wrote: »

I thought this was a bug at first and created a new thread in the development forum and was surprised to find this change was on purpose.

This new skin/template is god awful and horrible to navigate.

The old/legacy was just a joy to navigate and easy on the eyes



If you plan to do it in the future why doesnt boards revert the changes on the old skin and once the new one is live then do the change over?

Consider yourself lucky they ditched the "Responsive Site."

Headshot wrote: »

The old one was fine for me.

Why dont you let users decide on what skin they want to use????

They removed it because you wouldn't have been able to use it.

Discodog

No wonder Boards is losing users. You consistently ignore the opinions of your customers, us. Most companies/organisations are keen to discover what their clients want & then provide it. Boards is the absolute opposite.

This compulsory update doesn't just look dreadful but the menu changes are bonkers. What is the logic in making it harder for people to find fora & post in their favourites ?

Why is there this constant desire to fix things that aren't broken & then force your customers to accept them ?

vicwatson

I hate this new boards. Where can I even find “new posts” that used to be in the middle of the screen, all the menus have gone :mad

Paddy Cow

This new layout is awful. I missed the memo about the classic layout being taken away and couldn't believe when I logged in and my layout had changed. It's clunky, awful to navigate and something I imagine boards would have looked like when it first started. I cannot express how much I hate it. I can't believe this is considered an upgrade :eek:

I got forced onto the blue and white one a good while back.. The one with Talk to... Topics Regional Adverts.ie along the top.

Were you guys using the really old skins up until now? I miss my old green one.


Edit: Stylus chrome extension + some CSS means I have my green back. A couple of bits to clean up and it's done.

Boards.ie: Niamh

For your own reference, the updates referred to are background or 'under-the-bonnet' upgrades to our systems. They are not visible to users. The version of the site you are all on now has been the default version for all users for a number of years now, there were just a small number of users still on the very old legacy skins. These skins are unusuable with the background upgrades so had to be retired, hence you are on the default skin.

We can't just leave everything as it is forever, the site badly needs new features and updates but with vBulletin and the 21 years of code, it's difficult. So we have set about tidying and streamlining things for the dev space to be a better and easier place to work and so that when they are done, devs will be able to implement suggested features and changes much more easily than they have been up to now. We'd never implement change or remove features just for the sake of it, there is always a reason. I realise that the menu navigation is something new to get used to and will take a little time. All of the forums are there though and in fact you will see a lot more forums as new ones will be on the menu now that weren't there on the old, unsupported skins.

Seve OB

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

The version of the site you are all on now has been the default version for all users for a number of years now, there were just a small number of users still on the very old legacy skins.

true but.... i remember this layout happening, but i was savy enough to change it. i suspect that just because there was only a small number on the legacy site, that does not mean that the majority of users prefer the new layout. they were just pigeon holed into the new skin and didnt know they could get the old one back..... see post above from Ads by Google which backs up this point.

Seve OB

actually here is a simple thing.
on the white skin, i could always see if i had mail in my inbox up top right no matter what page i was on.

now i can't

jester77

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

For your own reference, the updates referred to are background or 'under-the-bonnet' upgrades to our systems. They are not visible to users. The version of the site you are all on now has been the default version for all users for a number of years now, there were just a small number of users still on the very old legacy skins. These skins are unusuable with the background upgrades so had to be retired, hence you are on the default skin.

We can't just leave everything as it is forever, the site badly needs new features and updates but with vBulletin and the 21 years of code, it's difficult. So we have set about tidying and streamlining things for the dev space to be a better and easier place to work and so that when they are done, devs will be able to implement suggested features and changes much more easily than they have been up to now. We'd never implement change or remove features just for the sake of it, there is always a reason. I realise that the menu navigation is something new to get used to and will take a little time. All of the forums are there though and in fact you will see a lot more forums as new ones will be on the menu now that weren't there on the old, unsupported skins.

Ah now, please. As someone who develops software, if I went to a customer with a poorer implementation of the one the more important features and gave them that as a reply, then they would no longer be a customer.

It's a massive regression, from having everything visible and 1 click away, to now having everything hidden and having to click all over the place to find something. Telling us to get used to it is a poor response.

Boards.ie: Mark

Seve OB wrote: »

actually here is a simple thing.
on the white skin, i could always see if i had mail in my inbox up top right no matter what page i was on.

now i can't

Hi Seve OB,

There is a sticky header option available here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/profile.php?do=appearancesettings . This will keep your notifications on display as well as navigation elements like the breadcrumb, search bar, home page linked logo, and the dropdown menu.

Seve OB

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

Hi Seve OB,

There is a sticky header option available here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/profile.php?do=appearancesettings . This will keep your notifications on display as well as navigation elements like the breadcrumb, search bar, home page linked logo, and the dropdown menu.

yes that is ticked on my profile but it is not what it used to be where i could see if i had unread pm's.
i now have to go up and click to see that. it was just visable before

Paddy Cow

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

For your own reference, the updates referred to are background or 'under-the-bonnet' upgrades to our systems. They are not visible to users. The version of the site you are all on now has been the default version for all users for a number of years now, there were just a small number of users still on the very old legacy skins. These skins are unusuable with the background upgrades so had to be retired, hence you are on the default skin.

We can't just leave everything as it is forever, the site badly needs new features and updates but with vBulletin and the 21 years of code, it's difficult. So we have set about tidying and streamlining things for the dev space to be a better and easier place to work and so that when they are done, devs will be able to implement suggested features and changes much more easily than they have been up to now. We'd never implement change or remove features just for the sake of it, there is always a reason. I realise that the menu navigation is something new to get used to and will take a little time. All of the forums are there though and in fact you will see a lot more forums as new ones will be on the menu now that weren't there on the old, unsupported skins.

Could you be anymore patronising? This layout is awful, pure and simple. It's completely put me off boards. Who do I contact about deleting my post history?

Beasty

Paddy Cow wrote: »

Could you be anymore patronising? This layout is awful, pure and simple. It's completely put me off boards. Who do I contact about deleting my post history?

The updated GDPR policy is set out here
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=108786728

We no longer delete posts on request - further details can be seen via that link

Seve OB

Beasty wrote: »

The updated GDPR policy is set out here
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=108786728

We no longer delete posts on request - further details can be seen via that link

just read the first post there
interesting as i was cleaning up my own inbox earlier on and noticed a request i had previously sent asking for my name to be removed from a post made by another user..... well nobody ever did anything about it

Beasty

Seve OB wrote: »

just read the first post there
interesting as i was cleaning up my own inbox earlier on and noticed a request i had previously sent asking for my name to be removed from a post made by another user..... well nobody ever did anything about it

If you report the post I'll have a look

Seve OB

Beasty wrote: »

If you report the post I'll have a look

i'll have to look, it was years ago and i deleted the pm earlier on

Beasty

Seve OB wrote: »

i'll have to look, it was years ago and i deleted the pm earlier on

OK, if you can find it I will deal with it

Beasty

Seve OB wrote: »

i'll have to look, it was years ago and i deleted the pm earlier on

Thanks for the RP - I've now deleted that post

Headshot

So it's been around 5 days since the old boards skin is gone and damn I miss it. It was so easy to navigate and alot more pleasing on the eyes

Wouldnt it make so much sense to fix the new skin before removing the old skin altogether ........

It's so frustrating that boards don't care about posters, they consistently ignore the opinions of posters like in this thread. It's no wonder genuine posters are leaving this site which is sad.

Blazer

I've been using the old skin for over 10 years and absolutely detest this menu layout. Whoever designed is it obviously a moron of the highest order.
Just another decision by boards to push me more towards reddit where I find it far easier to navigate.

Discodog

And the difficulty in navigating makes it harder for people to find this forum to complain. I can't understand the logic of making it harder for people to use the site.

Insect Overlord

Blazer wrote: »

Whoever designed is it obviously a moron of the highest order.

Interesting tactic. Petty name-calling will totally help.

Discodog

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Interesting tactic. Petty name-calling will totally help.

I agree but nothing is likely to help. It's the current trend to take websites, that work well & change them. There are thousands of people who depend on this for their career. Met Eireann is a prime example. Their new site won an award despite being disliked & criticised by many people. There is the obsessive desire for change.

I think the problem here is that Boards encourages us to be a community & care about the site & the way it operates. So when a major change is implemented, without choice, it's bound to annoy people.

This thread & feedback in general is fairly hidden away. You almost have to know it's here to find it. Maybe we need a thread in After Hours with a Poll unless Boards don't want to listen to opinion.

Seve OB

the european tour changed their website a while back. it was a disaster. guess what.... they listened to the complaints and within a few days they reverted to the old site. i don't think i've ever seen anyone else listen to feedback before.

unfortunately they have recently rolled out another new website, though not half as bad as the previous muck, its still nothing like their old one.

nobody seems to want simple stuff anymore.

Harry Palmr

Anyone here use digitalspy forums? - they made a spectacular horlicks of the most recent change when they abandoned PHPBB and switched to Vanilla, vbulletin was the original software.