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Kind of digging it, only problem being that if you hover on forum then go to click, say, Gear, you have to click the word. The space to the right of each forum name doesn't link which is kind of off putting for me.
Dennis_Reynoldsthe mobile is better but computer sucks, massive space for ads
Our traffic is now about 55% mobile and climbing rapidly - so we had to do our best to design mobile first, and then make the desktop version adapt to this.
NegromancerNew header is good however the space above the header for ads seems to be excessively massive, it takes up 1/3 of screen space.
So We kind of agree that this was a problem, but that "Billboard" ad (970x250) which is now super popular is something we have to accept. We left space for it, and will be only selling that ad space from here on in.
cultraraYeah with the old header, it only pushed that space down if there was an ad.
Now that space is always there no matter what. Seems awkward to me and tacky with that carbon fiber weave.
Why don't you come up with a prettier thing to have there? HMU. I agree we need it to look a bit better when there isn't an ad there.
However, remember how annoying it was when the site got pushed down? Everyone talked about how awful the "jumpiness" was, and I found myself constantly frustrated with the site re-sizing. The idea here is to have one ad format that doesn't change the page, and have that spot constantly running ads. When we don't have ads sold directly to companies, we'll fill it with promotions of new video series, hot news items, etc.
Its a good compromise given the fact that we must serve the 970x250 ad unit.
JAHpowSorry for triple post but FINALLY we get the forum drop down menu. I've been waiting for years...
Nice work NS!
Yes, dropdowns are something we've wanted to do for a long time. The horizontal navigation was designed for issues we had with flash back in about 2006, and those problems no longer exist.
JAHpowOk being alerted everytime someone posts in a thread is annoying. I don't need to be notified everytime someone posts in pwoym
You're not actually being alerted - you are just having that count updated where alerts and MyThreads are separate. Alerts also send an email, which MyThreads doesn't. A key component of Newschoolers is using mythreads to see what threads you've posted in have been updated since your last visit.
As well, you can Remove the thread from MyThreads and you will no longer be updated on it until you next post in there.
Abu-BaghdadiOverall I like it. Not the best, but a solid change. Not a fan of getting a notifcation every time someones posts in a thread
See above - click Remove and the thread won't update you again unless you follow it or post in it.
Please know that we're still in beta, and will be making changes. Suggestions are more than welcome so we can get this tweaked to where it seems like a fit.
Also - it is REALLY important that you try using the new header on Mobile. The entire world is going mobile, and this was created to dramatically improve the mobile experience on the site. That was our #1 goal - so please try it on both desktop and mobile before you make judgements.
Its a dramatic improvement on mobile, and there was a few decisions on Desktop we had to make in order to support a consistent and good mobile display.
Mr.BishopAlso - it is REALLY important that you try using the new header on Mobile. The entire world is going mobile, and this was created to dramatically improve the mobile experience on the site. That was our #1 goal - so please try it on both desktop and mobile before you make judgements.
Its a dramatic improvement on mobile, and there was a few decisions on Desktop we had to make in order to support a consistent and good mobile display.
Was just looking around and realized that there is another beta.
I really like it, but I think atm it's a bit clunky and too big. Including the ad space, it takes up half my laptops monitor before any content starts, and scrolling is annoying. It's worse on my phone.
That said, this has made mobile NS 10x better. Not having to load the forums index each time...
Maybe drop the sizes of the menu fonts 1pt and reduce the boxes accordingly?
.Rybak.Was just looking around and realized that there is another beta.
what does the tinymce 4 beta do?
TinyMCE is the text editor we use. Forums, comments, News, etc. all use this. Its just Version 4 vs. Version 3, so there are minor improvements. We've been testing it here and there.
We sneak beta features in there sometimes without announcing it so we get small subsets of people using it for testing purposes.
*DUMBCAN*I really like it, but I think atm it's a bit clunky and too big. Including the ad space, it takes up half my laptops monitor before any content starts, and scrolling is annoying. It's worse on my phone.
That said, this has made mobile NS 10x better. Not having to load the forums index each time...
Maybe drop the sizes of the menu fonts 1pt and reduce the boxes accordingly?
Please separate "clunky" and "too big", and let me know what you think in each category.
Too big is relatively obvious, but I would suggest you try the site for a day or two on the new header, and then switch back to the old and see how it feels when the site is jumping around while it pushes down the space for the Billboard unit.
I know this is a compromise, but its going to make for a mixture of a great advertising experience and user experience. Especially once the ad units are filled up with more informative stuff. We won't be having any "junk" advertising in that space, it will all be either premium direct sold or in-house promotion.
Although I am sure this is still testing mode ( I am still testing it); I am stoked on the new header layout for mobile. It works smoothly and much easier to access forums in my phone.
Please keep the old header for my PC use. I use my laptop much more to access NS than my phone. I found getting to your profile on a PC is easier to do under the old header.
Thanks NS team, coders and developpers; always excited to see innovation on this site. Good luck with the spam problem, I got a spare spork in my kitchen.
Mr.BishopWe are also open to making tweaks and changes before pushing this thing out. Its in beta, so we still aren't totally finished.
I guess the only complaint i have has nothing to do with the new heading, well kinda i guess. But is there a way to make a quote notification not disappear until it is clicked on? Before it wasnt too big of a deal but now that notifications and mythreads are under the same tab i think that would be a good thing.
i like it. my favorite part is that it doesn't load the top bar, then push it down a split second afterward-- that used to always cause me to click ads on accident. huge deal, i know... but i like the fix of that
I like it a lot, as one who tries to sell a lot is nice not having to physically click on forums and then go to "Buy" its now all right there for us to look at and see. Digging it, Ads don't mind me as I know its what is keeping us together
Fred_BearI guess the only complaint i have has nothing to do with the new heading, well kinda i guess. But is there a way to make a quote notification not disappear until it is clicked on? Before it wasnt too big of a deal but now that notifications and mythreads are under the same tab i think that would be a good thing.
You mean that the notification alert doesn't dissappear until the specific one has been clicked on? That is possible, but its a feature of the alerts system, not the header just so you know. We chose to make it that way - do others wish it only cleared the individual alert count after clicking?
Titsandwich11i like it. my favorite part is that it doesn't load the top bar, then push it down a split second afterward-- that used to always cause me to click ads on accident. huge deal, i know... but i like the fix of that
keep up the great work NS
Yes, this was a big thing for us. That 970 is something that the company who owns us sells to all their clients, and we needed to come up with a solution that both worked for making money and our community. So far, this is it.
cornholioi think mythreads and alerts should be separated. or combine messages with alerts instead so you know when somebody is trying to communicate with you
We were trying to keep limited header items to make this both familiar and simple on Mobile. Try using it like this for a bit and see if it still annoys you after a few days.
Mr.BishopWe were trying to keep limited header items to make this both familiar and simple on Mobile. Try using it like this for a bit and see if it still annoys you after a few days.
i did suggest a way to keep the same number of header items, just grouping things differently (but re-looking at the mobile it looks like there is room for an additional header, so idk why that would be a problem to just add another). i guess i use my threads differently than others, not something i check all the time but only on occasion. i don't need an alert counter telling me when someone posted in any thread i've posted in but it's nice to have an alert when someone quotes you.
another suggestion would be to make a shortcut to mythreads somewhere else, or turn off the "alert" part of threads without having to unsubscribe
i will still give this a try, but i don't see my opinion changing on this
Mr.BishopYou mean that the notification alert doesn't dissappear until the specific one has been clicked on? That is possible, but its a feature of the alerts system, not the header just so you know. We chose to make it that way - do others wish it only cleared the individual alert count after clicking?
Ya i acknowledged its not a problem with the new heading directly. But is one indirectly now that notifications is lumped in with my threads
cornholioanother suggestion would be to make a shortcut to mythreads somewhere else, or turn off the "alert" part of threads without having to unsubscribe
Ya i like cornholios ideas. that or get rid of the friends tab on the heading. What do people even use that for anyways? I cant say that ive ever used it.
cornholioi did suggest a way to keep the same number of header items, just grouping things differently (but re-looking at the mobile it looks like there is room for an additional header, so idk why that would be a problem to just add another). i guess i use my threads differently than others, not something i check all the time but only on occasion. i don't need an alert counter telling me when someone posted in any thread i've posted in but it's nice to have an alert when someone quotes you.
another suggestion would be to make a shortcut to mythreads somewhere else, or turn off the "alert" part of threads without having to unsubscribe
i will still give this a try, but i don't see my opinion changing on this
Are you using a big phone? If so, then you have to try it on something with the 4" screen. Tonnes of users still have this screen size, and we need to make sure the nav works on all popular devices.
Fred_BearYa i acknowledged its not a problem with the new heading directly. But is one indirectly now that notifications is lumped in with my threads
Ya i like cornholios ideas. that or get rid of the friends tab on the heading. What do people even use that for anyways? I cant say that ive ever used it.
We may add some ability to customize your alerts. If you aren't a frequent user of MyThreads, you might want to try it... its actually a pretty slick feature of the site to see what is going on. If you're being updated on too many threads, remove them and keep only the ones you care about.
OG NS was basically built around MyThreads and I think a lot of the new generation hasn't messed around with it as much. Its pretty cool stuff once you get into using it.
So I took the liberty to change up the header to fix the "clunkiness" that other people are mentioning. I agree that it's currently taking up too much space. This was just some quick photoshop work, obviously it doesn't have to look exactly the way I made it.
Header right now so you don't have to scroll up -
My new header version -
I decided since the old header doesn't have "NEWSCHOOLERS" on it then why should the new one? It just takes up more space. Also, I've never been a huge fan of the path links so I removed the "forums" link since there's a drop down menu now that makes access to that easier. Then made the rest of the links smaller. Then I changed that carbon fiber to just the regular grey and added corner things. Which I don't know if I like yet or not (the corner things)
Anyway, that's my take of fixing the clunkiness and the amount of space that the header takes up right now.
hot.pocketKind of digging it, only problem being that if you hover on forum then go to click, say, Gear, you have to click the word. The space to the right of each forum name doesn't link which is kind of off putting for me.
I'll change that. It was fixed on Mobile but not in the desktop dropdown.
JAHpowSo I took the liberty to change up the header to fix the "clunkiness" that other people are mentioning. I agree that it's currently taking up too much space. This was just some quick photoshop work, obviously it doesn't have to look exactly the way I made it.
My new header version -
I decided since the old header doesn't have "NEWSCHOOLERS" on it then why should the new one? It just takes up more space. Also, I've never been a huge fan of the path links so I removed the "forums" link since there's a drop down menu now that makes access to that easier. Then made the rest of the links smaller. Then I changed that carbon fiber to just the regular grey and added corner things. Which I don't know if I like yet or not (the corner things)
Anyway, that's my take of fixing the clunkiness and the amount of space that the header takes up right now.
See Doug's post above. On smaller phones there is no space for a 5th icon in the "member" row. Also we wanted to keep the Member stuff isolated from the main navigation + Logo/Branding. It would also be nice to have the "Newschoolers" brand on mobile devices.
We must test a bare minimum of 20 environments/devices and make sure a particular layout works for each one. Here are the types of devices we normally test:
- Chrome/Safari 4" iPhone
- Chrome/Safari 6" iphone
- Chrome 4" Android
- Chrome 6" Android
- Chome/FF/IE/Edge on Windows 7/8/10
- Chrome/FF/Safari on Mac
- 10" Tablet iPad/Android Safari/Chrome
- 7" Tablet iPad/Android Safari/Chrome).
Here is how the header looks on older phones with small screens:
Before going public with the Beta we had a pretty lively discussion about what to do about Threads/Alerts and whether they should be split up. We decided against it mainly because there's no room for another button on smaller devices, and having 5 separate status icons will look even more cluttered. So something would have to be removed (Friends was the likely candidate).
