I am really liking the new forum overall /5 (especially that discobot tutorial), however the old forum’s layout with colored/boxed hierarchy of sections within a forum page really made navigation and reading on a PC seamless: https://puu.sh/wZiwo/adfdc219a6.png
However on the new forum, discerning what is a topic and what is a title on a page is a little bit tricky and non-intuitive. While I am certain the average user will not have too much trouble navigating with the flat background on the new forum, in terms of aesthetics for PCs it is much less appealing and almost distracting because you have to read every bit of text each time to figure out what is actually something you want to click on: https://puu.sh/wZiCe/33703178d5.png
Note: I had to remove a section of this post and will include it in a comment because “new users can have a maximum of two links per post” Sorry!
One last thing, I really miss the mailbox icon that used to be on the header of the old forum, the new one has that menu selection thing with a bunch of random things like “cakeday” that don’t seem very useful (especially compared with something as significant as a mailbox ). And I am certain that if you do a click-through rate test on this header menu thing vs the mailbox, you might see what I am talking about. And in the future I suggest AB testing new forums to slowly integrate users into the new website rather than forcing a major change for everyone on one day, (YouTube is for example does a TON of AB testing).
That’s all for now folks, thanks for hearing me out! Please let me know what you guys think about the new layout, thanks!
I also find that the new aesthetics of the forum tend to lean on discord as a model, which quite honestly is a bit tricky to read through and follow the flow of a conversation at times. Where there is clear section hierarchy between replies, it is much faster to understand the flow of the forum topic https://puu.sh/wZiO6/dbdaf29194.png Compared with less clear flow on the new forum topic sections here: https://puu.sh/wZiTJ/4f956750d9.png
Now on mobile devices I can see how the new layout might be preferable because all the spacing required and borders needed to have a hierarchy type layout from the old forum detracts from areas for text, thus I think the current new forum layout is better suited for mobile use.
I just failed at answering my own poll… clicked the wrong box !!! Where is the fail whale emoji when I need it? EDIT apparently you can change your vote after it was placed
Additionally, I forgot to mention this but, there does not appear to be a signature option (the thing that will always appear at the end of your post) in the settings. I might be just missing it, but if not please develop this feature as it is essential for forums.
The creators of Discourse do not include a functionality for signatures as they feel among other things (if I remember correctly) that it bogs down the views of the forum. So I would not expect to see signatures on the forums. However, you can set a bio in the settings. Your bio is visible to anyone who clicks on your avatar on any of your posts.
I just feel that the old forum design of a bit more broken up would be nice, I also have a hard time navigating the new forum, since the old forum had everything broken down into the Old School, Everyone knows how to use it, Forum Style.
Where as this new Forum Style is completely new to me.
Not sure if i’ll get the hang of the new Navigation but I really really do think that on a Basis of Aesthetics you need to have more Breaks Kinda like how you have a Quote in your Post, your Post should be broken up from other posts with a similar step up in color or step down in background color. I think it would make things nicer?
I know discourse is really convenient to use, however modifications to the code for something like a signature should not be very difficult to add, there appears to already be addons for this very purpose Discourse Signatures - plugin - Discourse Meta and in terms of bogging down the forum, I do agree that they can be pretty cluttering, especially the GIF ones. However, it could be setup where only staff, and “premier” users can have it for example users with more than 100 posts or who pay for a “forum upgrade” package with some more emojis and other features (nice way to earn some revenue from the forum)
That would be something that CCP would have to decide.
I’m not 100% sure but I recall the community team saying they were not going to implement signatures. As I cannot be 100% sure I did not mention it earlier. Perhaps when Avalon comes online tonight he can tell you what had been decided.
So they are concerned about signatures but totally not concerned about empty space, 5 years old emoji nonsense and lack of visibility…
Well, I understand this thing will be pushed to live no matter what because, as many people happily dance around, it is “modern” as opposed to “practical”. God help anyone who wants to find something in this mess.
Seems to me that someone needed to justify there employment and status in the company… A quick part quote from about 2000 years ago by Nero is called for here… " Constant change only gives the illusion of progress where no change was necessary "
albion online has a nice forum color section separation so it’s not all like one big text, previous forum was ok + in dark room forum hurting eyes may be more shiny stars on the background?
First make button at the TOP for us to get right to the part of typing instead of scrolling to the bottom.
Then move the Marketplace Forum just above the listing for Fiction Portal.
You want people to be doing more transactions faster - if only to make more real life money on those of us trying to sell characters. Also - see that section for other Improvements that are desperately needed there, like the Cost to Transfer should be in Big Bold letters/numbers and so on.
). And I am certain that if you do a click-through rate test on this header menu thing vs the mailbox, you might see what I am talking about. And in the future I suggest AB testing new forums to slowly integrate users into the new website rather than forcing a major change for everyone on one day, (YouTube is for example does a TON of AB testing).
about the new layout, thanks!
!!! Where is the fail whale emoji when I need it? 
EDIT apparently you can change your vote after it was placed 
