I absolutely hate it....... You have gone and changed the format from a traditional format found in forums to a non traditional one. It is essentially like making me read a book from right to left while the rest of my books are left to right.
Also the thread page is too busy. It is hard to distinguish the thread title from all the other gibberish, hard on the eyes.
I'm not sure... normally I don't mind changes to forum appearance, but there's something about the topic list (Board index) that makes it kind of hard to read. While it's very 'crisp', it also seems like the brightness of the font is cranked up a notch, and the thread titles seem to be lost in the crowd.
Then again, maybe I'm just getting old and need new glasses! Have to try it for awhile and see.
Oh you bunch of party poopers-change is good, donkey! My vote is And you can see who the poster is underneath the thread title. And I love the eyes at the far right top. But that's just me! I was going to say that there's no "Top" button at the bottom of the page, but I found it on the right hand side of my post, so....still good!
Hmmm, I see a few problems, but also some positives. Hope this is taken as constructive criticism! So here are my comments with some personal preferences that would apply to this and the old format:
1. The layout of the actual discussion pages is good, but the colours are spoiling it. Right now it's very hard to see where one comment starts and one finishes, which is a critical issue for a forum. The black and grey shading are too close to each other, and just need more contrast to separate the posts. Also, the thick orange line above the signature makes it look like the signature could be part of the next post - perhaps make it a light grey and thinner, and put a bolder line between posts. I like the avatar and name etc on the right. Good use of space with the new format.
2. Home page presentation. I'd like to see a prominent link to "view active topics" on the home pages as I find it useful, and I'd guess it would be used by most members. The font size for "Newest Topics" and "Hot Topics" heading and the topics below are far too small (especially compared to most other fonts on the site), and the topics listed all blend in with each other and need to have some differentiation. I would predict that these nav areas will be bypassed for the "Latest News" area below or the site index, or preferably a new link to active topics. Also "Latest News" is a bit inaccurate, as it isn't news, but just another listing of topics.
3. Top navigation bar is too much. I know this is the same as it was before. Anyway, those nav items are probably seldom used compared to the forum navigation, yet they are very prominent. I'd suggest getting rid of the shading and stylized font - just make it more clean and subtle.
4. Personal preference on presenting text. Ok, many won't agree, but... I'm a strong believer in black text on a white background being the easiest to read. So for the forums I'd like to see the the wallpaper background area (striped black/grey area on the top sides and bottom) remain or go to all black or orange. Then have the posts alternate from pure white to light grey (to differentiate the posts) with black text. So only the actual posts with the white/light background, so there would still be lots of black.
I wanted to change to this templating format because it's the same as 13thman and when I have to do updates it will be easier to do as both sites now use a simular templating system.
This new look was forced into an early launch do to some problems with the old format, quite a few things were not working as they were supposed to, so this is kind of a work in progress
That might explain why when I looked at the site when I was at work, I couldn't recognize it at all.
Now that I understand why it was different I'll have to take another look. I didn't really have time at work to figure out whether it was better or worse, so in that sense I don't know yet.
I don't mind it at all. The lions keep changing, why not us. I like change. Thats why I spent 2 weeks painting the house for my wife. It looks great, not same-old. My 5-yr old loves Vomit-Man. He spews green...(nuf said)
"'Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
Groucho Marx