New GN Layout

Am I missing something? On the old forum if you clicked into an area all the stuff which had been added since your lasy visit was highlighted in orange so you didn't waste time clicking through stuff you'd already read. This one doesn't seem to have that?

Otherwise looks pretty cool ...

David

I guess it's a good idea to give some feedback on the new layout.

For me it looks great from a style perpspective, but from a usablity perpective im not so sure that muted colours are as easy to notice the posted changes as the high contrast scheme we used to have was. My old eyes have to work really hard. The animated circles do help but it is still harder to see than a high contrast alternative. Time will tell I suppose.
The first thing I did was search for a way to change the, um, skin as it's called. It's pretty, I guess, but these old eyes can't take these low contrast, soft color designs.

Good idea rparker.

Paul

The first thing I did was search for a way to change the, um, skin as it's called. It's pretty, I guess, but these old eyes can't take these low contrast, soft color designs. :cry:

Did you find a way to do that? I have a problem with this design too -- I can't figure out where things start and end due to the lack of contrast.

I need CLEAR visual clues . . . I'm old and half blind!
I've a lot of problems with the contrast, too. I'm watching to a monitor all the day and when I get back home I need some "easy things" to read. After some minutes I have to close the browser and change to another activity. I don't know if others also have the same problem. Perhaps my problem are the computers I'm using: Mac 15" and 20".

I agree about needing more contrast. I feel like I'm squinting to focus and that was not a problem for me with the previous layout. This is not very readable for me.

I don't care for the avatars on the right, either. Being a reader and writer of English, I'm accustomed to left-to-right orientation, and the first thing I want to know when I read a post is who is speaking. With this new format, I have to look to the right first to see who is talking.

Margaret

I found it hard to read for a while but I'm getting used to it. Now I kinda like it. I find it easier to navagate around here.
The contrast could be better, but thats because my eyes are shot! I think that the avatars on the right side is a nice touch.

It seems that I can see more pictures without scrolling also. Reading codes in the "Easy Songs" forum seems to work well for me.

I like it!

And, as an added bonus, the change happened and my computer wasn't blown up, that happened last time we had a change!
(Just coincidence, GN didn't blow it up, I did! :oops: )

Has anybody found the "next topic" and "previous topic" links? As far as I can tell, the only way to get to the next or previous topic is to go back to the index.

Steve

I don't care for the avatars on the right, either. Being a reader and writer of English, I'm accustomed to left-to-right orientation, and the first thing I want to know when I read a post is who is speaking. With this new format, I have to look to the right first to see who is talking.

Margaret
In the upper left hand corner of each post, on the line right below the subject, highlighted, is the posters name.
:wink: :D

There is one thing that bugs me though, and that is that the forum pages seem to be built for 1024 x 768 pixels. I prefer 800 x 600 (I sit in front of these things all day and for me that resolution is the least tiring) which means that I now cant see the right hand side of the page without scrolling over. Is there something I'm missing here ?

cheers

Paul

Personally not fond of it. The colors don't bother me as much as the layout. I agree with pbee I wish the resolution was different

First of all, the one thing I noticed is that most guitar players have trouble with their eyes! Everyone's complaining about the contrast or lack there of. I was in the same boat so I asked my husband to check the site out and he said the colors were fine! So, it must be us! :lol: I have a notebook laptop and have to keep adjusting the angle of the screen to read long sentences. I've put the screen at angles I've never used before. Really, when I first clicked onto the site, I thought I had been routed to the wrong place. It felt so weird. Just like everyone's admitted, it'll take time getting use to but the lack of color does leave a lot to be desired. After all, I'm a newbie, so I'm just glad you exist at all. :D

I view the forum in a window that is slightly smaller than the full monitor screen. The old layout adjusted itself to fit within the window, but this one doesn't, so I have to scroll left and right to read and access all the buttons.

Also, I use a shared computer so I login and logout every time I visit GN. Now that process takes additional steps. Used to be, I could enter my name and password from the first screen, but now I have to click, get another page, enter the user name and password, and then click again to get back to the forum index.

I feel badly to be such a complainer, but I sure wish it was possible to combine the best of the new with the best of the old.

Margaret

Just wondering, has anyone found where the alternate skins are? I looked the first day it was changed, couldn't find them, and honestly, I havn't been back since. Not a fan of this new format - anyway for individual users to get it back to the way it looked?

I don't mean to complain Paul - I'm sure more people like it than not, and if there's no way to get it to change back via a skin option, then I'll live. Obviously I appreciate the work you put into the site, and that the changes were neccesary, and arguably 'embettering', but I'm not one to get used to a big change like this in something I've been looking at for over four years :P too quickly.

Taso

There's only one skin. It doesn't look like the old style because it's totally different software under the hood. The biggest priority was to stop the spam that was flooding the boards. Creating additional styles basically duplicates the work I do; it's very time consuming. For that reason let's work together on this one style. I'm eager to make it as pleasant as possible for most people. "I don't like it" isn't a very specific criticism that I can address. The more specific people's criticisms are, the more likely I'll be able to do something about it.

Everything else is fine and great.

The only point to be considered is the placement of Userid and avatar on the left side as it was earlier.

I think its better that way, since as Margaret pointed out, that one generally always sees the username and avatar before reading the posts.

Keep up the good work !

I've turned off avatars and signatures in my user control panel; this really de-clutters the pages.

And the username is already on the left side of every post; I don't see why this is an issue.

8)