We're Back!!! Upgrade to IPBoard 4 complete!

[TGO David]

13 minutes ago, analog_kidd said:

The contrast in the darker theme is much better, but I think I still like reading the post's text against a white background. 

I'm rapidly exceeding my capability of pleasing everyone even part of the time, here.

 

[Omega]

I like the look of the darker theme, and I like how the top menu area stay in top (on my tablet), but scrolling seems to load slower.  I don't know if that (dark theme) is non mobile or not but even though I like the look better I'll stay with the default for now .  

 

Just noticed that the background in the darker theme is translucent, kinda cool.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Omega
Add info

[crossfire]

15 minutes ago, TGO David said:

I'm rapidly exceeding my capability of pleasing everyone even part of the time, here.

 

The only one you need to please is yourself, if your happy with the new site then roll with it. Your not going to make everyone happy no matter what you do. Some people wouldn't be happy if you hung them with a new rope. I think you have done a great job and just want to thank you for the time and trouble you go thru giving us a place to get together. Thank You

[btq96r]

2 hours ago, TGO David said:

Here, try this out.  It is still a work in progress and may change a little (or a lot) before I am really happy with it, but let me know what you think.

At the bottom right of the screen click the link that says "Theme" and change it to the one called "TGO Darker".

 

 

+ however many we're up to for the darker theme.  Thanks for enabling it.

 

ETA: Wow, does it look beautiful on the home screen.

Edited May 21, 2016 by btq96r

[Caster]

2 hours ago, TGO David said:

Here, try this out.  It is still a work in progress and may change a little (or a lot) before I am really happy with it, but let me know what you think.

At the bottom right of the screen click the link that says "Theme" and change it to the one called "TGO Darker".

 

Oh hell yeah, that's much better.  Thank you.

[Oh Shoot]

The darker theme is all aces IMNSHO.

Gray shades replacing much of the white expanses and contrasting with them in quoted passages, wider separation between posts, etc, all very "eyegonomic" for moi.

 

- OS

 

 

[TGO David]

1 hour ago, Omega said:

I like the look of the darker theme, and I like how the top menu area stay in top (on my tablet), but scrolling seems to load slower.  I don't know if that (dark theme) is non mobile or not but even though I like the look better I'll stay with the default for now .  

 

Just noticed that the background in the darker theme is translucent, kinda cool.

I noticed the slower scrolling as well.  I'm sure the CSS is way more complex with that theme and the semi-transparency of the layout probably adds even more burden to the device you're viewing from.  I need to see about disabling the transparency;  I think it might speed it up a lot.

 

1 hour ago, crossfire said:

The only one you need to please is yourself, if your happy with the new site then roll with it. Your not going to make everyone happy no matter what you do. Some people wouldn't be happy if you hung them with a new rope. I think you have done a great job and just want to thank you for the time and trouble you go thru giving us a place to get together. Thank You

Thanks but if the majority here aren't happy, then there's no point in me being happy.  I don't want to get into the situation of having built a place that I like but no one wants to visit.

 

24 minutes ago, Oh Shoot said:

The darker theme is all aces IMNSHO.

Gray shades replacing much of the white expanses and contrasting with them in quoted passages, wider separation between posts, etc, all very "eyegonomic" for moi.

Thanks.  I do want to make the text a little larger in the darker theme, though.  That should be pretty easy to accomplish.

 

 

[No_0ne]

2 hours ago, TGO David said:

I'm rapidly exceeding my capability of pleasing everyone even part of the time, here.

 

Easy solution, forget the other 200k or so, just make me happy ...

[Oh Shoot]

1 hour ago, TGO David said:

.... I do want to make the text a little larger in the darker theme, though.  That should be pretty easy to accomplish.

I guess this must all be regarding mobile devices, dunno, but on desktop monitor at recommended 1600x900 I'm running it -1 on sizing. On laptop at 1366x768, the default is okay but -1 is fine also.

EDIT: Oops, I should say I was running the original theme that way. With the darker one, seems the default is better on both, must have been some font size changes involved already.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Oh Shoot

[94user]

Count me in as liking the dark theme. Much better David, thanks.

[Hozzie]

+1 on dark theme. Much better. 

[Grand Torino]

3 hours ago, TGO David said:

I'm rapidly exceeding my capability of pleasing everyone even part of the time, here.

 

 Hang in there boss. It's an impossible task but remember....you asked for feedback.  Anywhooo.....I do like the darker skin. Thanks so much for cranking that up for us. Most people hate change so I guess you're gonna hear about it for a bit.

[Hozzie]

Open question.

Is it a possible option to swap the functions of clicking the thread title(currently goes to first post) and clicking the small icon next to the title (currently goes to first unread post)?  I suspect that most are like me and naturally click the thread title expecting to go to the first unread post.  I obviously realize that you can click the other, however, I find I still have a hard time hitting the small icon with my fat fingers.  I personally would love to have them swapped, but don't know if that is an option or if others would like it.  I really have the issue on the mobile interface.  It would probably make me miss Tapatalk less if it would go to the first unread post when clicking the main title   

Not trying to be a pain, I just wonder which way is more used by everyone.  I could completely be in the minority.  

Edited May 21, 2016 by Hozzie

[Oh Shoot]

12 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

Open question.

Is it a possible option to swap the functions of clicking the thread title(currently goes to first post) and clicking the small icon next to the title (currently goes to first unread post)?  I suspect that most are like me and naturally click the thread title expecting to go to the first unread post.  I obviously realize that you can click the other, however, I find I still have a hard time hitting the small icon with my fat fingers.  I personally would love to have them swapped, but don't know if that is an option or if others would like it.  I really have the issue on the mobile interface.  It would probably make me miss Tapatalk less if it would go to the first unread post when clicking the main title   

Not trying to be a pain, I just wonder which way is more used by everyone.  I could completely be in the minority.  

A small icon to the left of a thread to go to first unread post is a conventional standard used by many forums running various bulletin board softwares -- methinks it would really be bucking the tide to change it.

- OS

[Hozzie]

9 minutes ago, Oh Shoot said:

A small icon to the left of a thread to go to first unread post is a conventional standard used by many forums running various bulletin board softwares -- methinks it would really be bucking the tide to change it.

- OS

That could be, but what do people prefer?  Just because they do it that way doesn't mean it is preferred.  I am a product manager for a software company.  Believe me, customers tell me every day that my decision isn't what they prefer.  I am just stating what I prefer and wonder what others would use most.  Usability is important and that doesn't just mean having the ability to do something, it means doing it most efficiently for the user. 

Sorry to be argumentative. I am the guy that doesn't take the answer "that's the way everyone else does it" as the way it has to or should be. 

Edited May 21, 2016 by Hozzie

[Oh Shoot]

8 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

That could be, but what do people prefer?  Just because they do it that way doesn't mean it is preferred.  I am a product manager for a software company.  Believe me, customers tell me every day that my decision isn't what they prefer.  I am just stating what I prefer and wonder what others would use most.  Usability is important and that doesn't just mean having the ability to do something, it means doing it most efficiently for the user. 

Sorry to be argumentative. I am the guy that doesn't take the answer "that's the way everyone else does it" as the way it has to or should be. 

Well, I myself certainly prefer it the way it is, in same way I expect a web browser's menu not to vary depending on which site I'm accessing. To me, a large part of "usability" of software interfaces depends on the commonality of command conventions between them.

- OS

[Hozzie]

So it's 1-1.  Ha. 

I can agree on the common convention theory.   My next question would then be, is the current convention the best?   Not so sure.  

 

Let me me ask it this way, when you click on a thread, do you more often go to post one and scroll through one or more pages or do you go to the first unread post?

Edited May 21, 2016 by Hozzie

[otnman]

2 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

So it's 1-1.  Ha. 

2-1...I wish it was a setting to how the thread title behaves like it is for tapatalk. About 25% of the time I hit the title and have to scroll to the first unread because if I hit the back button the thread completely disappears from the unread threads..

[TGO David]

2 hours ago, Hozzie said:

That could be, but what do people prefer?  Just because they do it that way doesn't mean it is preferred.  I am a product manager for a software company.  Believe me, customers tell me every day that my decision isn't what they prefer.  I am just stating what I prefer and wonder what others would use most.  Usability is important and that doesn't just mean having the ability to do something, it means doing it most efficiently for the user. 

Sorry to be argumentative. I am the guy that doesn't take the answer "that's the way everyone else does it" as the way it has to or should be. 

Whoa whoa whoa.   We need to reset your expectations, because I'm a team of one doing these software upgrades and modifications, and this is a hobby for me -- NOT a full time job and honestly not even a part time job if you calculate the number of hours I work at it versus what little I "make" (the vast majority of which goes right back into the forum anyway).

My day job consists of pissing off software teams like yours, demanding the moon on a budget, pretty much like what you described.

You could argue that maybe this is karma in that sense, but I really don't have the resources at my disposal to sit here and go through an iterative process of constant improvement to tweak the software to meet everyone's desires.  That's what Invision Power is supposed to be doing, and even they will tell you they don't have that sort of resource pool at their disposal either.

Sorry if this seems a bit like I'm venting but every so often I get a glimpse into what I think must be people's perceptions of how TGO operates.  I guess I should feel flattered if you hither to thought that we were a big company or something, but seriously, one dude.  Me.  Doing it between my full time job, time with family, and time I probably ought to be doing other stuff.

 

[Omega]

I'm ok with the way it is, I seem to be able to hit the button on my tablet consistently, maybe if the button was a little bigger it would help others a bit.  As for switching the function, I think it works as is, the title SHOULD take you to the top, such as a forum title, the blue button would be counterintuitive if it took you to the top of the thread.  I don't know if the old software had this function (last read) but I like it, before I had to go to the last post and scroll up to start where I !eft out.

 

Overall I'm a fan of this upgrade, seems there are quite a few improvements over the old one.  Maybe we need to give it a little time to get used to it and concentrate on bugs for now.

[Hozzie]

David, I wasn't trying to imply any expectation that you should be sitting around waiting for us to think up things to change.  I fully understand this is not your first priority, no problem there.     My hope (or to be honest, expectation) would be that IP gives you some easy to change parameters that allows you to change how a function works.  I suspect they have a decent size team working in this and as we all know, customers want options.  

I probably do think about some of these items in a bit more technical detail than some as I am immersed in discussions on a daily basis on these types of things, so my expectation of software in general is pretty high.  My real goal was to simply ask the workflow of most users.  For me, workflow optimization is the key to any and all good software and UI's.  I don't expect any changes immediately.  In time, if a majority of users express that this may be a more optimized workflow, I will leave it to you to decide if and when to see if it can be done.

Along those lines, if you knew it wasn't even an option then it would stop the discussion from being necessary was my other reason for asking.  I apologize if it came across as sounding like I was complaining about a lack of responsiveness.  That certainly isn't the case.  I was simply replying to OS in that instance that just because everyone else does something one way, doesn't necessarily make it the most optimized way.

I think we need to go have those beers you mentioned before.  I suspect our discussion would be quite agreeable .

 

Edited May 21, 2016 by Hozzie

[TGO David]

6 minutes ago, Hozzie said:

I think we need to go have those beers you mentioned before.  I suspect our discussion would be quite agreeable .

 

Mmmm, beer.  I wasn't meaning to convey any unhappiness towards you, just wanted to make sure that I was putting the brakes on what I felt like was accelerating towards goals I couldn't guarantee I'd hit.

Not to say I won't try to do something to make the mobile site easier to use on a smaller screen with a finger-sized pointer device (i.e. your finger) but who knows if I'll be successful or not.

 

[Grand Torino]

22 minutes ago, TGO David said:

Whoa whoa whoa.   We need to reset your expectations, because I'm a team of one doing these software upgrades and modifications, and this is a hobby for me -- NOT a full time job and honestly not even a part time job if you calculate the number of hours I work at it versus what little I "make" (the vast majority of which goes right back into the forum anyway).

My day job consists of pissing off software teams like yours, demanding the moon on a budget, pretty much like what you described.

You could argue that maybe this is karma in that sense, but I really don't have the resources at my disposal to sit here and go through an iterative process of constant improvement to tweak the software to meet everyone's desires.  That's what Invision Power is supposed to be doing, and even they will tell you they don't have that sort of resource pool at their disposal either.

Sorry if this seems a bit like I'm venting but every so often I get a glimpse into what I think must be people's perceptions of how TGO operates.  I guess I should feel flattered if you hither to thought that we were a big company or something, but seriously, one dude.  Me.  Doing it between my full time job, time with family, and time I probably ought to be doing other stuff.

 

Well I like things they are dang it. Seriously......I liked things the way they were but I understand why you had to upgrade. Yes...I'm computer and interwebz ignorant but this thing is sweet. Even I can find my way around. Can things be better? Well of course but no matter what gets upgraded there will always be something that's easier or faster or whatever. Holy moly.....Maybe cause I'm old and remember walking around without a phone or having stinking home computers this seems like magic. So for me what you've done here is great and as long as why I fire the puter up and TGO magically appears on the screen and works as well as it does I'm in hog heaven. Things could be worse......a lot worse.

[gregintenn]

We're some picky sum beeches ain't we?!!??

[otnman]

25 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

We're some picky sum beeches ain't we?!!??

You never seen discussions on here about sights, optics, flash hiders, etc...? It's painfully obvious we are picky!

Edited May 21, 2016 by otnman