Can we have Old Style Forum back please.!!!. . . . This one sucks.!!

[Lee Roberts]

Just over this last week or so I've been around more I've noticed the amount of post's and replies is nothing like it was before so You must have noticed a decline in new threads and post's surely.?

"Correlation doesn't imply causation", agreed!. I've observed over the years that the forum activity slows down at certain times of the year, this is one of those periods, looking at the stats for new threads and posts it would seem all is well, though i would say things are a little slower at the momment and i think this is more to do with the time of year and to do with people making the most of the sun we have been getting in the UK recently.

Seems a little far fetched i know but for a site (forum) that is driven by user activity, such things like extra sun shine can have the said effect. It works both ways though as days of holiday can see more user activity, our slowest days of the week have been saturday and sunday mostly and the newsletter that used to go out helped with this.

What dont you like about the current layout?

layout sucks.

Been saying it since the changes came in but falling on deaf ears.

I cant agree that is true John, i've taken your feedback onboard in the past and made changes to accommodate that feedback.

What dont you like about the current layout?

I agree totally. Thats why I hardly use it anymore. Also cant stand the google ads that try to keep you on the same page, press the back button on the browser and nothing happens, click the down arrow to find a google ad link keeping the page open. Pain in the arse. The red cross button does work well though.

Humm, not sure this is an issue with the ads being shown from this site. It sounds more to me like your browser is being hijacked by something else.

What dont you like about the current layout?

I also will say that I am not keen on the new system.
e-mails stop and start working when it feels like.

Hi Professor, the design/layout of the site is cosmetic the forum software is the same system we have always used. I'm not sure what the issue maybe with regards to your email problem, we did have a problem with email and the server back in June, you can read about it here: Unscheduled Email Services Downtime 08th June @ 10:50 everything looks to be working just fine at this end.

Sorry i cant be of any more help.

I just wish he'd set the default home page to http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/forum.php instead of the stupid activity stream.

I dont think the activity stream is stupid, it seems illogical to me that you would rather goto the forum home page and navigate though the various sub forums to look for updated/new threads and or posts when the activity stream shows you a complete summary of everything that is activity sitewide. I do understand though that it is still a desire at times to use this page to find somthing you are looking for, this is why the main navigation links for the site take you to the category location on this page, giving you the option to scroll to others if you need to.

To All:
The changes made to the design have been that of condensing the smaller banners above into 1 location on the right, this has brought the main content above what is called "the page fold" so this should mean a little less scrolling to get to what you want to see (small ideal i know).

The other change from above the posts has been to remove the "Reply To Thread" button and to the right of that the pagination links for when a thread runs into more than one page, so again bringing the content above the fold a little more and decluttering the page at the same time, because both of those page features are also still present at the bottom of the thread (typically where a user ends up).

Ads have also been removed and condensed from the first and last post of a thread, they now also live in the sidebar in 1 location. So less distraction, clutter, real estate and a better user experience while reading.

Overall one of the bigger changes is that the page now fits closer to the left and right of the browser window and so more screen real estate is now used by the main content of intrest, or is that the point i'm missing here and actually users prefered the fixed centered layout over the fluid/elastic layout?

There is still things i need to add/change and all feedback is much appreciated and being considered for the final design currently being worked, obviously you understand i cant always act on single user preferences but i do try and build a happy medium as best i can.

.Me