Dear Forum Members
This is an advance notice that there will be some significant changes happening to the site architecture as our forum provider is upgrading their platform. Of course with all changes some will be welcome, others will feel less familiar and may initially feel alien to regular contributors, please rest assured we have been working hard to migrate as much consistency as possible, and think we are very close. Luckily the new structure does provide plenty of admin tools and design flexibility, so your feedback on this thread will help us to fine tune as needed post launch.
This Upgrade is scheduled to occur - December 2nd, 2015 between 11:00 AM and 9:00 PM Eastern Time (Some disruption should be expected)
So what will be different?
The most important overall change for community members is that the site is fully responsive now. That means that no matter how you access the community, you will have a great experience that automatically adjusts to the device and screen size (no app download required)… with no loss of features.
If you blog or use our clips module, you will also notice an improved interface… and for blogs especially if you use our new Title Image feature, the posts can be much more visual.
Here is a little more detail on some of the site improvements as part of the upgrade.
Responsive Design: Say goodbye to a separate "mobile site" that was missing features and looked nothing like your main site, a new responsive platform where the interface automatically adjusts to each user's device, with no loss in features.
Navigation Menu: With responsive design, the navigation has to be much more flexible, and as result site navigations menu is automatically adaptive.
Title Images: Version 2.0 enables much more visual content. Title images are now supported for blog posts, audio clips, and file clips.
Video and Audio Download Option: Hoop.la now supports downloading video and audio files (excluding clips embedded from 3rd party sources like YouTube), There is a new user permission that controls whether who can download video/audio.
Widget Enhancements: Widgets have been greatly improved. The management of widgets on a particular page is simplified and there is a brand new Manage Widgets control panel, used for managing your custom widgets and embedded widgets (widgets embedded on outside sites). You can now create an embeddable widget in your control panel without having to display it somewhere on your site, as well. The "View All" links at the bottom of widgets have also been made more accurate, to reflect the parameters of the specific widget.
Kind regards and thank you for your continued support.
Ryan Latham
Director Marketing and Communications
Posted on: 03 December 2015 by Hmack
NBPF originally posted:
"For me at this point bugs are not a major concern. The whole layout is, at least in my browser, pretty unusable. Browsing through the topics is a pain. Vertical scrolling is a pain. There is an enormous waste of resources and space, in particular vertical "
I am afraid I have to agree with the above post. I liked the original format of the forum, but I agree that the new format is pretty much unusable (or at least an altogether less pleasant experience), particularly on my iPad. The site is marginally more usable on my PC, but still in my opinion very much a retrograde step.
I am probably generally averse to changes to style and format, and sometimes over time grow to accept (or even like) changes. However, in this case, I believe that functionality and user friendliness (often the catalyst for changes) have been severely reduced, and I can't see my opinion changing. It really is now much more difficult to browse through responses quickly to find those of particular interest. It appears to me that here we have change for changes sake. Was the new format trialled by forum members prior to release, because I really can't believe that it would have been viewed favourably?
Of course, I may well be in the minority here, and others may well leap to the defence of the designers.
Apologies for such a negative reaction, but I'm afraid this is how I feel about the changes.
Posted on: 04 December 2015 by Hmack
Donuk originally posted: ....
Ooops, I'd better not.
So Don, what exactly are you suggesting. Are you suggesting that 'selective' quoting from other posts be completely banned (or frowned upon), or that quoting complete posts should be discouraged?
If it's the latter, then I do have some sympathy. If the former, then we will end up with posts that have little or no context, and will require one to navigate around the site for the original post in order to gain some insight into the context. This will not be easy with the site in its new format.
Posted on: 04 December 2015 by Donuk
Hi Hmack, Obviously selective quoting can be very useful. At the other extreme is when somebody produces a long post describing how he has improved the sound of his speakers by suspending them from the ceiling, and somebody lazily quotes the whole lot and says something like "Well done Chuck - what the man says!!!" It's not hard to find threads like that. And re-quoting pictures, with a similar "me too" addition e.g. in the jokes page is tiresome.
Donuk sunny downtown York
I should add that the Like Reply feature should get rid of a lot of repetitive posts that simply agree with the OP. But as Alan Bennett might say "they won't , will they??"
Posted on: 04 December 2015 by 911gt3r
Dear future Forum.
I shall as usual be honest allowing myself to express my sheer discontent with this new lay out. I felt very comfortable with the ease at which you could previously pop in to see, what was going on and which familiar faces were saying what and why. I am glad to say ' familiar faces ( read avatars) as I have been blessed with meeting quite a few here and also made some lovely friendships at various gatherings and am in weekly contacts with several here both present and past ( JulianH). After I believe 4 years ( wouldn't even have a clue to look my join date up now- I really must be getting very old) I have learned a lot about the gear and maybe particularly it's crucial set up brilliantly helped by DBs OCD insight based on his experiments and tireless box-moving. ( Hopefully I will meet DB face to face at some point and thank him personally).
I have landed in a place with my system now, where I actually have no urge to change anything DR or no DR, and I have to say, that the whole 500 system- bashing from a few members over the time I have been here, are now both getting on my tits and are also getting very very tiresome ( but hey maybe after a 30 year journey with this brand, we have turned into a group of numpties).
I feel that this is an opportune moment for me to wave this place goodbye ( I really really don't like this change for the sake of- nothing wrong with the old one as I see it). There is a long list of members I would like to thank for their helpful contribution and first and foremost the lovely banter, we used to have here.
Thank you Peter
