Forum Upgrade

Posted by: Ryan Latham on 22 November 2015

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: 05 December 2015 by J.N.

We need Nils Lofgren to edit the title of 'Keith Don't Go'. Hang in there Peter. Standards must be maintained.

At the risk of sounding reactionary, I really like the new forum format. It's much easier to read on my field telephone too.

Good listening y'all.

John.

Posted on: 05 December 2015 by Darke Bear

J.N. posted:
... I really like the new forum format. It's much easier to read on my field telephone too.

Perhaps we should have a different format every week.

DB.

Posted on: 05 December 2015 by Hook

MDS posted:
Oh dear, Peter. I do hope you change your mind at some point. Your contributions and sense of humour will be missed by many of us.
Mike

I agree wholeheartedly!

Oh my, I just noticed Peter's post. Unfortunately, at least for me, keeping up with forum threads is not quite as easy as it used to be before the so-called "upgrade".

Peter - I sincerely hope that you will follow Dusty's advice and take a sabbatical instead of leaving!

HooK

Posted on: 06 December 2015 by joerand

Within the past two days I've learned of two of my forum friends asking for their accounts to be closed. These had nothing to do with the new format and neither made any proclamation of their departure. One I contacted simply because I noticed he was missing recently, the other notified me of the fact. Folks grow out of the forum scenario, some move on to other brands. If they feel they've reached a penultimate system and no longer seek feedback or wish to contribute here maybe their leaving should be viewed as them having reached a sort of audio nirvana. Or maybe they just prefer listening to their system rather than talking about it. Besides, they can always come back.

Posted on: 06 December 2015 by Patu

I like the new format on my mobile but on computer it could have slightly tighter fit on the browser screen. Now it's all over the browser and much scrolling is needed to read everything. I feel like the spacing around text and topics is too big.

Posted on: 06 December 2015 by trickydickie

Like many others the main gripe is the amount of scrolling required due to the extra space used.

it seems quite a decent experience on the iPad, although links to the padded cell etc. could be easier. It seems nicer on a mobile phone but I dislike it on a 'normal' pc where there is too much space used.

It would improve matters if the featured topics section could be used better and regular housekeeping undertaken. For example in the music room we currently have an advert for an album from August, a Naim roadshow that finished in November and an Acoustica event that took place in mid November. If these were removed less scrolling would be required.

Richard

Posted on: 06 December 2015 by Harry

I can read six topic headings at a time on a PC with a 22" monitor at 1680V1050 with the size set to minimum (100%). This puts me strongly in mind of the kind of text my four year old granddaughter churns out, although the forum looks neater. I fear I will wear my mouse out, or some tendons. Or both. I hope this is one of the forum settings which can be altered. It seems awfully Micky Mouse for a default. If Hoop La are so clever and user orientated, why not a set of controls for the user to adjust? I mean, I can hide my birthday. That's incredibly useful, so let's have some more of this.

Posted on: 07 December 2015 by Darke Bear

At the trajectory of 'improvements' so far on the forum, we will end-up with a command prompt.

To be clear - apart from on a tablet, which seems to be all that one is now supposed, it seems to use - this is a clumsy and horrible layout that seems designed for young children.

There is no point having a high resolution monitor as I have, as it is totally wasted. There should be user-select options for 'classic' (the way it was before) or 'new' for those wanting this layout. All of these new changes are in the presentation layer of the code-base, so that would be possible.

My comments are meant to be constructive.

I do hate this look and feel, but having programmed command prompt entry primitive systems then it can be lived with - but it is not a nice look and feel or better user experience.

DB.

Posted on: 07 December 2015 by Allante93

Originally posted by Joerand:

""It's addressed under Featured Topics "FORUM RULES - Please Read & Follow" posted by Adam Meredith: "Please, when answering, consider whether you really HAVE to quote.

If you do - please edit the quote to keep it as short and relevant as possible."

Mmmmm, I thought it was just me, I do miss the quote box. Hence, I just employed the above technique. Being new to the Forum, I really never mastered the embeded quotes!

Posted on: 07 December 2015 by Don Atkinson

There is no HTML insert icon on the Add Reply Toolbar.

How do I paste a link to/from photos stored in Flickr ?

Posted on: 07 December 2015 by Don Atkinson

OK, got it !

Posted on: 08 December 2015 by totemphile

Not sure, if this was mentioned already, haven't followed this thread since my initial post.

1st: When you click on 'Take Action' within a thread (s.b. else's post, not your own) this pull down menu comes up:

Can someone please put these options in a logical order, i.e. most useful and used first! That would be 'Reply With Quote'! I doubt most people plan to select 'Report Reply'. It's common sense, which Hopeless seem to have a particular problem with.

2nd: Spacing, can the guys in charge please reduce the space that is introduced into a text when hitting the return button? The options above were:

xxxxx

A compromise somewhere in between would be nice.

3rd: Can someone please turn that annoying 'Follow' function (displayed in the bottom left hand corner when replying to a thread) off, i.e. it not being enabled by default. Got to untick it every time I post a reply to a thread.

MTIA!!

Posted on: 09 December 2015 by Ears

I strongly support the views critical of wasting vertical space, but also think the overall appearance is too stripey. This delivers a rather busy appearance, which I find hard on the eyes.

If the stripey area is compared with the sections to the right of the pages under "Comments" and "Recent Topics", I think the ones with the lack of dividers demonstrate my point.

Posted on: 09 December 2015 by MDS

I like the improvements that seem to have been made to the new forum today. Successive posts easier to read and one-click access to the Padded Cell from the header bar.

Mike

Posted on: 09 December 2015 by Tony2011

Probably very silly, but...

One thing that annoys me is the Current Visitors place where it shows members who could not be arsed to upload a picture of themselves or any silly avatar. Instead we're left with a load of blank faces with a question mark over them. Why? What's the point?

Posted on: 09 December 2015 by Jude2012

The green colour that comes up when you see t the menu seems pretty horrid, a subtle 'Naim green' would good.

Posted on: 09 December 2015 by hungryhalibut

The green looks fine to me, just like the lights on the boxes.

Posted on: 10 December 2015 by Hmack

A thumbs up from me in favour of the changes you have made to the forum in response to earlier posts. A great improvement, and now back to something close to the usability of the old format.

Thanks for listening, and for using your influence to push the changes through.

Posted on: 10 December 2015 by Tom-in-Amsterdam

well, in regards to re-claiming vertical space: have a look at my post at https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...ondense-forum-layout

Posted on: 10 December 2015 by Mike-B

Hmack posted:
A thumbs up from me in favour of the changes you have made to the forum in response to earlier posts. A great improvement, and now back to something close to the usability of the old format.
Thanks for listening, and for using your influence to push the changes through.

100% - a round of applause from me - & I guess most the forum.

...... however (it's a "but" moment) some more work is needed on the space left in the "Reply with Quote" - this post is a good example, there are about 3 lines of wasted space at the end/bottom of the quote section.

...... in the "Formats" drop-down, in "Blocks" can we have "Div" as the default - we don't need paragraphs, its an unneeded waste of one line.

Posted on: 10 December 2015 by Don Atkinson

Tony2011 posted:
Probably very silly, but...
One thing that annoys me is the Current Visitors place where it shows members who could not be arsed to upload a picture of themselves or any silly avatar. Instead we're left with a load of blank faces with a question mark over them. Why? What's the point?

Two points

Not everybody wants to have an avatar. It's not a case of "not being arsed" as you so elegantly put it.

As for the blank faces with a question mark, simply hover the mouse over the face and bingo ! up comes the user name. Same as for those with an individual avatar.

Posted on: 10 December 2015 by Tony2011

Don Atkinson posted:
Tony2011 posted:
Probably very silly, but...
One thing that annoys me is the Current Visitors place where it shows members who could not be arsed to upload a picture of themselves or any silly avatar. Instead we're left with a load of blank faces with a question mark over them. Why? What's the point?
Two points
Not everybody wants to have an avatar. It's not a case of "not being arsed" as you so elegantly put it.
As for the blank faces with a question mark, simply hover the mouse over the face and bingo ! up comes the user name. Same as for those with an individual avatar.

I do know about the "hovering", Don. I still do not see the point of the question mark over the silhouette. I have no interest whatsoever in wasting time playing hide-and-seek trying to find out who is behind the mask. Looks like Naim's poor version of an advent calendar.

Plainly stoooooopid!

PS: out of topic, but have you solved the GCHQ's Xmas puzzle yet?

Posted on: 10 December 2015 by Don Atkinson

Tony2011 posted:
Don Atkinson posted:
Tony2011 posted:
Probably very silly, but...
One thing that annoys me is the Current Visitors place where it shows members who could not be arsed to upload a picture of themselves or any silly avatar. Instead we're left with a load of blank faces with a question mark over them. Why? What's the point?
Two points
Not everybody wants to have an avatar. It's not a case of "not being arsed" as you so elegantly put it.
As for the blank faces with a question mark, simply hover the mouse over the face and bingo ! up comes the user name. Same as for those with an individual avatar.

I do know about the "hovering", Don. I still do not see the point of the question mark over the silhouette. I have no interest whatsoever in wasting time playing hide-and-seek trying to find out who is behind the mask. Looks like Naim's poor version of an advent calendar.
Plainly stoooooopid!
PS: out of topic, but have you solved the GCHQ's Xmas puzzle yet?

Thanks Tony, just found it.

Posted on: 11 December 2015 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Missing feature : In the "Add Reply" box, there is no icon for underlining text. The function is there via "Command u" on the Mac, but an icon should be on the menu.

The icons for formatting text do not follow the standard pattern (shown below), notably the icons for text colour and background colour, which resemble the icon for underlining, but are not. And to be really picky (remembering that this is a forum for a British brand) the text that appears when hovering over the underlined A icons should read "Text colour" and "Background colour" (and please fix the date format while you're at it). Mini-rant over.

Posted on: 11 December 2015 by Richard Dane

The date responds to the language and country set in your OS and browser. Works for Hoop la, doesn't work for me. I'm told safari has a big fixed in latest release. Others you need to set in browser preferences.

I have suggested dd/mm/yyyy as default, particularly as this is widest use. Mm/dd/yy is only used solely in USA.

seems most "bugs" are fine so long as all Os and browser up to date and latest. Not reflective of the real world, I know, but there you go...

we'll pick things up again on Monday...