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Forum makeover


bittsen

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I'm surprised there is no option to have different forum skins. I'd go away from the etsy-cutsie BS and back to a plain, utilitarian scheme that was easier on the eyes than this one.

 

Go down to the very bottom of the page. There's a little drop-down menu box that says "Geocaching." Click on it and select "IP.Board" and your wish will be granted... it won't look exactlylike the old forum page, but it's pretty close.

Oh, much better! Thanks!

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I'm surprised there is no option to have different forum skins. I'd go away from the etsy-cutsie BS and back to a plain, utilitarian scheme that was easier on the eyes than this one.

 

Go down to the very bottom of the page. There's a little drop-down menu box that says "Geocaching." Click on it and select "IP.Board" and your wish will be granted... it won't look exactlylike the old forum page, but it's pretty close.

Oh, much better! Thanks!

 

Whew! Thank you as well.

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Way too spread out - takes 3-4 times as long to read through a set of topics because you have to keep sliding down the page - needs to be more compact. Is this a setting we have some control over?

 

I completely agree with this, also I have to use IE8 as my browser and get javascript errors when using the forum on every page. Unfortunately due to the size of the font coupled with the large amount of white space everywhere I can only see 8 topics or 2 posts at once. Using the same PC with google chrome or FireFox then it looks better (more showing on the screen) but at present with IE8 it takes too long to scroll down to read anything.

 

.

Edited by Big Wolf
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I'm surprised there is no option to have different forum skins. I'd go away from the etsy-cutsie BS and back to a plain, utilitarian scheme that was easier on the eyes than this one.

 

Go down to the very bottom of the page. There's a little drop-down menu box that says "Geocaching." Click on it and select "IP.Board" and your wish will be granted... it won't look exactlylike the old forum page, but it's pretty close.

Oh, much better! Thanks!

 

Add my to those would were glad to discover this. :blink:

The greenish greyish look was really hard on my poor old eyes. I was glad to find out I could go back to blue & white.

 

Annie

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wow sorry about that, FORUM HUNG??????????

Oh oh!!! Not good. Did it look like the old timeouts? Those are the first dupe posts I've seen today

 

Yes it looked like the old time outs for sure. To be expected though with all the work going on today.

Well, if it happens again, DO NOT REFRESH! Just go back in through a link and all will be OK. You will not have lost your post. I was hoping I would never have to say that again. :blink:
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It might look great on a mobile device but using my laptop its almost unusable using Internet explorer as the font is too large and there is too much wasted space. Google chrome and firefox are better but Internet explorer is after all still the most popular browser so you would expect to be able to use it. (its a wide screen laptop with the resolution set to 1366 x 768 - which works great on every other forum I use)

 

gs.jpg

Edited by Big Wolf
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It might look great on a mobile device but using my laptop its almost unusable using Internet explorer as the font is too large and there is too much wasted space. Google chrome and firefox are better but Internet explorer is after all still the most popular browser so you would expect to be able to use it. (its a wide screen laptop with the resolution set to 1366 x 768 - which works great on every other forum I use)

Have you tried using Ctrl/+ and Ctrl/- (control key and numeric keypad plus or minus) to resize the text?
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One thing that I miss very much from the old forum... any link I clicked on automatically opened in a new tab. With this version, it leaves the forum (for me, at least) and I need to back up to get back to where I was, or else use the right-click context menu to specify new tab.

 

Is this a forum configuration setting that was neglected in the switchover?

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One thing that I miss very much from the old forum... any link I clicked on automatically opened in a new tab. With this version, it leaves the forum (for me, at least) and I need to back up to get back to where I was, or else use the right-click context menu to specify new tab.

 

Is this a forum configuration setting that was neglected in the switchover?

 

yes, it is....i also wish that the ability to see my lasts posts was enabled, as opposed to just giving me the threads in which i posted, good luck with scouring it to find my own post

 

as for the look of the forum, i really like it, very ease on the eyes too, no idea why some people find it hard to read, perhaps they should adjust their resolution and brightness

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Tried using the IP BOARD and it takes a very long time for the page to finish loading. At the bottom left corner it shows "connecting to yak-web.hq.Groundspeak.biz..." and it takes upwards of 25 to 30 seconds before it reads "Done". Using Firefox version 3.6.12 and windows 7. Using the Geocaching format selection and it loads immediately. Why the difference between the 2 color themes?

 

We would prefer to use the IP BOARD, but if it is going to be that slow at loading the page, we have to wonder if it is worth using. What is it loading that the other format is not loading?

 

John

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Tried using the IP BOARD and it takes a very long time for the page to finish loading. At the bottom left corner it shows "connecting to yak-web.hq.Groundspeak.biz..." and it takes upwards of 25 to 30 seconds before it reads "Done". Using Firefox version 3.6.12 and windows 7. Using the Geocaching format selection and it loads immediately. Why the difference between the 2 color themes?

 

We would prefer to use the IP BOARD, but if it is going to be that slow at loading the page, we have to wonder if it is worth using. What is it loading that the other format is not loading?

 

John

Same issue here - WinDoze 7 64-bit quad processor box running Firefox 3.6.8 and the IP Board skin. I get the same message but mine doesn't ever finish loading yak-web.hq.Groundspeak.biz.

 

It doesn't matter though, as the page does in fact load and I can read/reply/edit with no problem, so it doesn't seem to affect anything.

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One thing that I miss very much from the old forum... any link I clicked on automatically opened in a new tab. With this version, it leaves the forum (for me, at least) and I need to back up to get back to where I was, or else use the right-click context menu to specify new tab.
On the other hand, I'd rather the links not open in a new window/tab automatically. With normal links, I can choose whether to open them in the current window/tab (click) or to open them in a new window/tab (shift-click, command-click, shift-command-click, etc.). With links that force a new window/tab, I no longer have that choice.
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Have you tried using Ctrl/+ and Ctrl/- (control key and numeric keypad plus or minus) to re size the text?

 

Yes that would work but I don't have to do that on any other forum or website I use so it would be far better that the design is changed to be compatible with everything else. Using Ctrl/+ and Ctrl/- is fine for a temporary fix but its not a long term solution.

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One thing that I miss very much from the old forum... any link I clicked on automatically opened in a new tab. With this version, it leaves the forum (for me, at least) and I need to back up to get back to where I was, or else use the right-click context menu to specify new tab.
On the other hand, I'd rather the links not open in a new window/tab automatically. With normal links, I can choose whether to open them in the current window/tab (click) or to open them in a new window/tab (shift-click, command-click, shift-command-click, etc.). With links that force a new window/tab, I no longer have that choice.

 

what exactly is the problem with links opening in a new tab?...why would you want to navigate away from the page?

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On the other hand, I'd rather the links not open in a new window/tab automatically. With normal links, I can choose whether to open them in the current window/tab (click) or to open them in a new window/tab (shift-click, command-click, shift-command-click, etc.). With links that force a new window/tab, I no longer have that choice.
what exactly is the problem with links opening in a new tab?...why would you want to navigate away from the page?
Sometimes I just want to reuse the current tab, rather than opening a new window/tab. But a bigger annoyance is that normally I can use command-click to open a link in a new tab, behind the current tab. I use this feature a lot, and it's an automatic reflex. Pages that open their own links in new windows/tabs often break this capability. Sometimes the links just don't work when I command-click on them. Other times they open a new tab in front of the current tab, which isn't what I wanted either. Other times they open a new window instead of a new tab, but I blocked that in my browser preferences.

 

I don't have a center button. They used to open in new tabs, I'm just asking for the old behavior back.
There's probably a command-click or shift-click or ctrl-click or alt-click option you can use to get the old behavior. As a bonus, it will work everywhere on the web (except where web designers have broken it, as described above).
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I just noticed another change that I haven't seen mentioned yet. Used to be that member's Location was displayed a bit below the avatar;

.

.

.

.

 

<--- right there,

 

now I don't see that displayed for anyone. I know many members simply didn't (or couldn't fidure out how to) fill it in, but many did. Don't know that I have an opinion about this yet or not, just an observation.

 

(edit spacing)

Edited by JBnW
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I just noticed another change that I haven't seen mentioned yet. Used to be that member's Location was displayed a bit below the avatar;

Good point! When the cacher really filled it in with real information, it was sometimes useful if they were discussing something that was pertinant to their geographic area.
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I just figured out why the links for some topics jump around when you hover over them. The "View topic preview" link icons appear when you hover over the topic. If the title of the topic is long enough to wrap, then the extra space taken by the link icon changes the wrapping. Even worse, if the title of the topic is not quite long enough to wrap, then adding the link icon can cause it to wrap, causing even more jumping around on the screen.

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I'm surprised there is no option to have different forum skins. I'd go away from the etsy-cutsie BS and back to a plain, utilitarian scheme that was easier on the eyes than this one.

 

Go down to the very bottom of the page. There's a little drop-down menu box that says "Geocaching." Click on it and select "IP.Board" and your wish will be granted... it won't look exactlylike the old forum page, but it's pretty close.

 

Oh thanks very much. Trying to focus on that other one was making me bonkers.

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I don't like it. I don't like the colors and I don't like all the quotes. I am quite capable of remembering what the OP said, I don't need 20 quotes to tell me over and over again.

 

and what does that have to do with the new forum software? :blink:

 

some people seem to be quite incapable of editing out someone's quote without breaking the whole thing and making a mess if it, so they leave it intact

Edited by t4e
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Sometimes I just want to reuse the current tab, rather than opening a new window/tab.

 

hmmm recycling browser tabs, is that more environmentally friendly? :anitongue:

 

 

i don't have a middle button either and i rather not use the keyboard for shortcuts if i don't have to

Edited by t4e
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Sometimes I just want to reuse the current tab, rather than opening a new window/tab.
hmmm recycling browser tabs, is that more environmentally friendly? :anitongue:
Actually, yes. If I've got a dozen tabs open (which often do when visiting online forums), I may want to open a link in the current tab so that it stays in the correct location relative to all the other tabs. That's very friendly towards my browsing environment. Edited by niraD
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I miss the "Top" button.

Unless you're reading the forums on a mobile device, your keyboard should have a "Home" key. Click your heels together three times, and press that key.

 

Or, way at the very bottom left of the forum layout is a button that says "Back to Top." It's even available on the mobile skin - but at the center right at the bottom of the screen.

Edited by Keystone
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