I made a few changes...

[ddrueding]

There's a drop-down at the bottom called "Foum Jump" that does all the navigation. I've already begun using some of the features (including the quick reply that I'm typing now), and the forum software manages to not log me out all the time, which is nice.

New skin? Yes please, but I do like the software.

 

[Handruin]

When I open the home page, there are a lot of boxes with the small red 'X' in them. Like there are some pictures missing. This happens in IE6 and IE7.
Is this normal for the moment?

Bozo :-D

It's a pathing issue on my end, I'll fix it. Firefox cached the images so I didn't notice.

 

[Handruin]

I'm not sure I'm happy about the new board software, or at least the look and feel of it. I'm having a really hard time distinguishing new topics and new posts from old.
What does the new software actually do that the old software didn't?

I'll work on getting some better skins that make things easier.

As far as new features:

Some may be selfish, but vbulletin is easier to manage on my end than phpbb was.

As for new features, there is a much better template interface for customizing the board.

The plug-in system is far superiour to phpbb, so I'll be able to other features down the road without serious code hacking (which makes core upgrades much easier).

There is a better RSS feed generator (which I'll outline how to use it shortly).

The posting interface is better (IMHO) because you can use the wysiwyg editor (or if you want the plain editor interface the choice is yours) and even expand the text field box in which you type your post to give you more room to work.

You can now edit for 5 minutes after posting.

Collapsable forum sections to make the view smaller if you don't read certain sections.

Better thread & posting notifications.

Archived thread view for PDA access and improved archiving by search engines.

You can now post attachments to the thread.

I'll have more info to post later.

 

[Handruin]

Merc, I am going to agree with that sentiment. I would also like to have some navigation at the bottom of the threads, not just at the top. I like to be able to navigate back to a specific forum after I finish reading a thread.

Is there still a way to spellcheck my posts?

I'll add those two items to my list of things. I'll have to search for a new spell check system...I also liked having that.

 

[Handruin]

Not to gang up but yeah we definitely need a theme change at least.
The visual distinction between forums with new posts and those without is too busy. The whole UI is too busy. And the visual distinction of unread posts is only bold versus unbold text. No simple easy icon to tell.

I'll have to experiment with the new posts since your last visit feature if it has one.

Would you be able to post a screen capture of what you mean (with arrows or something to point to the problem)? This will help me to correct specifically the problem you mentioned. I'm not exactly clear what you mean about forums with new posts and forums without new posts...There is an icon, but perhaps I'm looking in the wrong location? I can work out a skin to make things easier, I just need to make sure I know exactly what the problem is.

 

[Will Rickards]

Would you be able to post a screen capture of what you mean (with arrows or something to point to the problem)?

Absolutely but I have to wait for there to be new posts.

 

[Mercutio]

Has anyone tried to use the new SF on an 800x600 screen?

I know exactly what Will is talking about. There's all kinds of extra weird buttons and wasted space. The default theme seems to use a much bigger font, which makes for lots of scrolling even on a high-res screen.
I'm at 1280x1024 right now and I can't seem to see more than a couple posts at a time because of that huge-ass user information panel on the left side of every post.
There's all kinds of weirdo buttons, and each post also has a 25(?) pixel tall dark blue bar across it.
There's this giant box that says "posting rules" and another waste of space called "Similar Threads" (both are thankfully at the bottom of the page).

I do notice that extra long URLs go into panels with their own scrollbars, but frankly I already had a tool to deal with that problem.
I'm not suggesting there aren't good reasons to use VBulletin, but right now I'm finding it more than a little annoying.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm surfing at 1920x1280 at the moment and it looks great

The user bar on the right could be a bit smaller; I've already shrunk my avatar, removed the IM links, and removed the "age" line from the display in an attemp to shrink it.

It is a dificult balance, though. I like the information it provides but I don't like the space it consumes. And if you just take out all the unused space it looks very crowded and complex for the uninitiated (less of a problem for us, considering the number of old-timers here).

Handruin, if I were to go shopping for a skin for vbulitin, would it be easy to implement? Or is there significant customization required? I don't want to force more work upon you, but I would like to help get things streamlined a bit.

 

[Mercutio]

Seriously, ddrueding, drop your desktop res to 1024x768 or 800x600 and tell me how happy you are then.

 

[Handruin]

Handruin, if I were to go shopping for a skin for vbulitin, would it be easy to implement? Or is there significant customization required? I don't want to force more work upon you, but I would like to help get things streamlined a bit.

I'll address more of these concerns when I get home...as for vbulletin skins, as long as they are vbulletin 3.5.4 compliant...it's a piece of cake to add them. Once added, there will be an option in the lower left corner of the forum for selecting your own skin. You can also make it your default in the user control panel once it has been added. I can also setup a test forum if you'd like to play with creating your own (as we mentioned before).

As for the other skin areas that bother folks...I can customize the theme to fit your needs. I'll try starting a new thread to discuss it so we can make one or two skins to make folks happy (reduce fonts, remove buttons, remove wasted space...etc).

 

[Bozo]

I'm at 1024X768 and I don't see any problems. Even the new/old thread setup seems okay. The more I use it the better I like it.
It's human nature; nobody likes change. We were all comfortable with the old setup. Give it some time.

Bozo :-D

PS: I do miss my 'Big Grin' though.

 

[P5-133XL]

Lets give him time to adjust the user interface: this is a major change and everyone was used to the way it was...

 

[Mercutio]

And while I'm venting... I either have to hit "Post Reply" at the tippy-top of the thread to make a new post, or hit "Quick Reply" and then "Advanced View" to type my reply; the Quick Reply Window, being the size of a postage stamp, is good for exactly naught.

 

[Bozo]

There is a Post Reply button right below the bottom Avatar/Post count window on my screen.

Bozo :-D

 

[Handruin]

As Bozo said,there is a reply button in the bottom left corner. You can collapse the quick reply and it will stay that way so long as you don't delete your cookies.

 

[Handruin]

After we chat about things a bit here, can you let me know your ideas/concerns in this new thread so that I have a master list to work from?

 

[sechs]

I have to say that I really dislike vBulletin. It has too many functions, and hides pretty much all of them. It adds complication where it is unnecessary.

 

[Handruin]

If vbulletin hides all of its too many functions...how did you find them all? Should I bother inquiring for more detail in your vague complaint, or are you just being your normal self?

 

[Mercutio]

I'm pretty disappointed with it as well.
I found a thread with two-day-old "new" posts just a moment ago. I never noticed it. I really can't tell read posts from unread.
The forum is harder to navigate (I miss the drop-downs that let me flit from forum to forum) and seems to have a lot of functionality that in no way interests me yet still manage to occupy space on my screen.

 

[sechs]

If vbulletin hides all of its too many functions...how did you find them all? Should I bother inquiring for more detail in your vague complaint, or are you just being your normal self?

If you have a bored moment, maybe you can go through the four menus at the top of this thread and tell me why they are there.

I've had several other boards of which I am a member switch to this newer version of vBulletin, and none of them were better afterwards. Some were distinctly worse. It's a lot of bling and not a lot of utility.

 

[ddrueding]

There are quite a few things I like (this quickreply is great). I'm confident that some mods to the skin will resolve the other complaints, which seem to be:

1. I not used to feature x, remove it so no-one can use it ever.
2. Feature x used to be here, and now it's there...I'm confused.