TF2Maps.net is getting a new look and new software!
- Thread starter Fruity Snacks
- Start date
- Aug 7, 2014
- 1,241
- 1,025
But the free thanks!
God that new site is all filled up with such a huge amount of fucking spam a quick browse of the place leaves a horrible taste in the mouth.
I noticed I have a lot of missing posts/thanks
Also the most recent threads page does not list which subforum the topic is from, which makes it horrible to quickly glance down.
In fact everything about the recent threads page is worse. It's an unreadable mess. And as the page I use for 90% of my forum usage, that's the important one!
The contrast between the text and background is too low. Then there's the text between thread titles muddying things up and making it look like a big wall of text.
I don't want/need to see an avatar by a post, I'd rather see some information about the thread's status in that image's place. Especially as the users name is pretty prominently featured under the thread title, it's redundant info.
The date being the "latest post" button is weird and unintuitive. Surely the date should be the date the thread was made if anything. But still, the date there gets in the way and adds to the wall-of-text feel of the forums. It makes reading the thread title at a glance far harder because your eye can't tell what's what.
ESPECIALLY as it's mirrored at the opposite end! Again, redundant information/links making readability harder!
Not averse to change, but this is a step towards modern design trends, and a step backwards in terms of forum usability.
(also how do I change the posts-per-page back to a usable number?)
I noticed I have a lot of missing posts/thanks
Also the most recent threads page does not list which subforum the topic is from, which makes it horrible to quickly glance down.
In fact everything about the recent threads page is worse. It's an unreadable mess. And as the page I use for 90% of my forum usage, that's the important one!
The contrast between the text and background is too low. Then there's the text between thread titles muddying things up and making it look like a big wall of text.
I don't want/need to see an avatar by a post, I'd rather see some information about the thread's status in that image's place. Especially as the users name is pretty prominently featured under the thread title, it's redundant info.
The date being the "latest post" button is weird and unintuitive. Surely the date should be the date the thread was made if anything. But still, the date there gets in the way and adds to the wall-of-text feel of the forums. It makes reading the thread title at a glance far harder because your eye can't tell what's what.
ESPECIALLY as it's mirrored at the opposite end! Again, redundant information/links making readability harder!
Not averse to change, but this is a step towards modern design trends, and a step backwards in terms of forum usability.
(also how do I change the posts-per-page back to a usable number?)
@killohurtz
Having reread the OP to double and triple check, I only caught it on the third full read through.
I've not posted over 1,000 posts in a few weeks either. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it was only a small number because I'd have assumed it was taken from a little while ago. Over a year's worth of posts not being there is substantial and worth mentioning
Having reread the OP to double and triple check, I only caught it on the third full read through.
I've not posted over 1,000 posts in a few weeks either. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it was only a small number because I'd have assumed it was taken from a little while ago. Over a year's worth of posts not being there is substantial and worth mentioning
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Because I am annoyed. This post doesn't show up in the recent posts on THIS forum, so I discovered this by accident only 10 minutes before my post. And apparently this is happening really super soon. And it's not at all a good experience yet.
Nope. It's taking me to the first post. If I've read every post in a thread, surely it should take me to the end?
Besides, that's awful functionality. The thread title should _always_ take you to the first post. There should be a separate link for taking you to the newest posts/first unread.
EDIT:
Tested further:
Nothing read -> first post
Some read -> first unread
Everything read -> first post
if we are to stick with this feature, then surely the 'everything read' link should take you to the final post in the thread? If not, it should always take you to the first post and have an 'first unread' link that is distinct
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On a post with new posts it takes you to the end, but if there isn't a new post, the beginning. I agree that it should take you to the end.
And the other forums I heavily use take you to the last-read post on title click and hasn't really ever been an issue. It takes some getting used to if you've always used forums without that feature, but I don't see why it's "awful functionality."
Because it's ambiguous as to which post it'll take you to and ambiguity is the enemy of a good user experience.
Right now we have a super unambiguous system of two buttons that do two distinct things. A thread title for going to the first post, and a latest post button for going to the latest post. These are good. The separation is good. I use both regularly for their intended function.
Moving to a system where it's not immediately obvious where in a thread you'll end up is a step backwards in usability rather than a step forwards
Right now we have a super unambiguous system of two buttons that do two distinct things. A thread title for going to the first post, and a latest post button for going to the latest post. These are good. The separation is good. I use both regularly for their intended function.
Moving to a system where it's not immediately obvious where in a thread you'll end up is a step backwards in usability rather than a step forwards
If you've never been to a thread, it takes you to the start. If you've been to it before but there's new posts, it takes you to the latest you haven't read. If you've been to it before and there aren't any new posts it (could hopefully) take you to the end of it. There's less buttons necessary to accomplish the same things, and it's obvious how the system works once you try it.
You really do just seem averse to change on this. I use it all the time on another set of forums and this site seems behind because it doesn't have it. I've always hated trying to click on the tiny little "go to latest post" button on mobile here, and this is a perfect solution to that without adding even more buttons to clutter it up, like you also take issue with.
You really do just seem averse to change on this. I use it all the time on another set of forums and this site seems behind because it doesn't have it. I've always hated trying to click on the tiny little "go to latest post" button on mobile here, and this is a perfect solution to that without adding even more buttons to clutter it up, like you also take issue with.
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Yeah you know WHY it's done what it has, but if you're not sure if you've read it or not and you end up half way through a thread, ugh.
One link should never perform two functions. Separate it into three distinct links and I'm all for the extra functionality:
Thread title -> First post
'First unread' -> First unread post
'Latest post' -> Latest post
Also how are concerns over a lack of contrast compared with the current design just being change averse!
The new design looks better, but it's less usable.
As I said, the information under each thread title is waaaaay more prominent than it is on this design, there's also less negative space between posts. This makes it look, at a glance, more like a wall of text. combined with the reduced contrast between text colour and background colour it's waaaaay harder for your eye to pick out the important info. Which is the thread title, the forum it's in and the "latest post" button/link.
Let me photoshop what I mean so you can stop thinking I'm just averse to change and see that I'm averse to steps backwards in terms of usability.
One link should never perform two functions. Separate it into three distinct links and I'm all for the extra functionality:
Thread title -> First post
'First unread' -> First unread post
'Latest post' -> Latest post
Also how are concerns over a lack of contrast compared with the current design just being change averse!
The new design looks better, but it's less usable.
As I said, the information under each thread title is waaaaay more prominent than it is on this design, there's also less negative space between posts. This makes it look, at a glance, more like a wall of text. combined with the reduced contrast between text colour and background colour it's waaaaay harder for your eye to pick out the important info. Which is the thread title, the forum it's in and the "latest post" button/link.
Let me photoshop what I mean so you can stop thinking I'm just averse to change and see that I'm averse to steps backwards in terms of usability.
Why would anyone post actual content on a test bed which is being deleted at the end of the week? Of course it's going to be filled with spam, and even then 40~50 posts isn't "a huge amount".
I already covered this a few pages back - thanks haven't been imported into the testbed because *reasons*, they'll be there, intact, on the final thing.
Your missing posts are from the forum archive, which I deleted because the importer messed up its permissions and I couldn't be bothered to fix them on the testbed.
http://geit.uk/uploads/5UgP6r.png ??
So I decided to test a selection of pages against WCAG 2.0 and the only "readability" failings are on the following elements:
- VIP Green against the background. Contrast 3.99
- Staff Pink (2.71)
- Staff purple (2.59)
I also decided to check the contrast ratios of the thread titles versus the current forums. The new forums have a contrast ratio of 13.1, the existing forums come in at 13.72, which is close enough to be inconsequential.
The date under the title is of the first post. That date always takes you to the first post. The one that you seem to think is mirrored is the date of the latest post, which always takes you to the latest post.
This is already implemented
First post -> Green
Last Post -> Blue
First Unread -> Red
I'll admit, it'd probably be more consistent if the thread title always took you the first unread/last post rather than switching between first/last, so I'll look into that.
There's also a contrast below the WCA guidelines on the new thread, so I'll fix that in a few minutes. (EDIT: Upped to 4.7)
I've doubled the negative space - It was originally 8px top/bottom, which I think is far too much, it was 2px, it's now 4px.
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I think I prefer the name of the OP snug in with the date rather than under the title, but shimmying up the replies/views column (that's very weirdly labelled???) works better.
EDIT:
@Geit contrast numbers, what? I'm talking about real world readability. A block of text is less readable than individual lines clearly separated by negative space. You may have added more pixels, but you packed in way more text in there and made it way more prominent, which reduces the contrast for the actual titles. By moving the author/date/forum like I have in these images you can skim down the page so much easier to pick out important info.
(didn't noticed the two dates were actually different until I started photoshoping it. It's good that they're separate!)
EDIT:
@Geit contrast numbers, what? I'm talking about real world readability. A block of text is less readable than individual lines clearly separated by negative space. You may have added more pixels, but you packed in way more text in there and made it way more prominent, which reduces the contrast for the actual titles. By moving the author/date/forum like I have in these images you can skim down the page so much easier to pick out important info.
(didn't noticed the two dates were actually different until I started photoshoping it. It's good that they're separate!)
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Every forum I've ever been on links the thread title to the first post and the icon to the left of it to the first unread post. Even the one that "upgraded" from an old version of vBulletin to some stupid modern thing that barely works. So I don't know why this is set up to work differently.
All that information under the title seems fine to me, though, especially with the color contrast involved.
All that information under the title seems fine to me, though, especially with the color contrast involved.
Pre-upgrade work is done, so we've moved the downtime slot forward an hour, so we'll be starting in about 30 minutes from this post.
Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com
Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com
