Thoughts on the new board...

[Guden Oden]

I really appreciate the increase in functionality and quirkyness (no more superwide pages I should hope) with the new board format, but useability took a tumble imo, at least with the current layout. I much preferred a column on the left with the poster's name and all that info, above having to scan the top of each post. It feels as if a lot more space is used now to display the same info, making useability and readability go down. Default font size also seems to be considerably larger.

I guess I should have checked the config screen before I made this post to see if I can select another layout closer to the original B3D, but I just wanted to write something about it.

*edit: Checked the config screen, and it seems this layout is what I have to live with... Also, I'd REALLY like to turn off the obnoxious tooltips that display the first post in a thread. How on earth am I supposed to be able to read them the few seconds they're displayed? They're just a distraction and a waste of site bandwidth and server CPU cycles...

Overall, I DO think this was a good move, particulary if I can get my familiar layout back. Cheers for Dave and Neeyik and the rest of the staff (if applicable)!

 

[PC-Engine]

Fonts are too friggen big!
Where are my color options???

 

[digitalwanderer]

Where did my custom title go? I bloody earned that.

Other than that, I totally hate it.

 

[Sobek]

I really...REALLY hate this board style...what was wrong with the old b3d forum software? it was so easy on the eyes. Too many pc related forums use this software. I suddenly think i'm at OCAU or something like that...

Bring back the old board!

 

[Tim Murray]

Feh. I can't hit tab twice to post. Double feh.

 

[wco81]

I've seen this forum software used at other sites. It's vBulletin, right?

One thing is that at some sites, email notification never works while on others, it works only sporadically.

If I'm not mistaken, it will now email you the text of the new post. However, it may not notify you of every new post.

Yeah I prefer the look of the old board as well.

But I'm not seeing the noisy banner ad, at least not yet.

Looks like I have to resubscribe to all the threads I was previously subscribed to.

 

[Mark]

Once you guys get used to Vbulletin you'll appreciate the features and ease of use way more than phpBB. We've been using VB at Rage3D for a long time now and I can ssay from first hand experience that it's the most powerful and most easy to use forum software available.

 

[Mark]

I've seen this forum software used at other sites. It's vBulletin, right?

One thing is that at some sites, email notification never works while on others, it works only sporadically.

If I'm not mistaken, it will now email you the text of the new post. However, it may not notify you of every new post.

Yeah I prefer the look of the old board as well.

But I'm not seeing the noisy banner ad, at least not yet.

Looks like I have to resubscribe to all the threads I was previously subscribed to.

email notification is optional. Various sites will have it on or off.

 

[Tim Murray]

a "report bad post" button? god damn, I will never complain about vbulletin again.

 

[Mark]

a "report bad post" button? god damn, I will never complain about vbulletin again.

The "big thing" about VB3 is probably the WYSIWYG message interface. Go into your UserCP Options, and at the bottom there's a dropdown, select "Enhanced Interface - Full WYSIWYG Editing". Now instead of the message interface windows showing codes for bold text and such, you actually see bold. Basically you edit your messages much the same way you would in Word (shortcut keys work as well, ctrl-b for bold for example).

 

[Tim Murray]

I don't really want that, though. But then again, I write most things in Emacs...

(except my job right now is nothing but InDesign, but it seems to me that the interface in InDesign is moving towards Emacs, and it makes me wonder if all interfaces where one's ability to maximize output is the primary concern are progressing towards Emacs-like interfaces.)

 

[nutball]

Hum, yeah, I do miss the left-hand column, it made the text of a thread easier to follow.

 

[BRiT]

Nothing that can't be fixed with a properly tweaked layout... This is the default layout. I'm sure Dave & Crew have plans to improve things, it's just a matter of it taking time to implement. Or they may be waiting for the vB 3.5 rollout in September before they change anything. Once they get their legs in vB, they'll be able to make changes and improvements substantially quicker.

 

[Titanio]

Glad the switch was made, Vbulletin is much better software.

Takes a little getting used to, of course, but I'm sure it'll be second nature in a short while.

 

[Guden Oden]

Glad the switch was made, Vbulletin is much better software.

Yeah, if this s/w fixes the page overflow of really long links or large pictures it's worth all the little quirks we see so far...

 

[Rodéric]

I too still prefer/want to have the user infos on the left side of the message instead of the top.
Once that's done I think my main complain will be gone, and I'll investigate the board some more to see what it can do to please me.

 

[Phil]

I'd have to agree with Guden. I very much welcome the change and hopefully, this will also broaden the functions moderators can use to enforce quality control better.

On the down side of things, I definately miss the old layout. The emoticons are different (meh) and the appearance definately took a down turn. Hopefully there will be a way to at least put back the profile information on the left side of the posts (more efficiant usage, IMO) and fiddle with the fonts, sizes and colours a bit to get back the feel of the old board.

Many thanks go out to Dave & Co. though for going through the effort with a new board.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Vysez : You adding the names of the complainers to your hit list?

 

[digitalwanderer]

I thought that by now someone would have noticed that B3D now has an "ignore" feature.... :?

 

[Natoma]

Thank god for the ignore list option..... Other than that, I miss the old forum. Tiny fonts, easy on the eyes, etc etc etc.

Gunna muck around with the settings and hope I can change some things. hehe.