I hate this new forum

[Deleted User] · September 2014

As to the PM deleting, the only way is to delete each message, one-at-a-time.
WilliamM2, you're right I should have said, "missing from the forum". Thanks for not complaining, sorry for the speech.

nguyendot · September 2014

I'm glad you guys finally changed the background and made the color scheme slightly darker. It no longer hurts my eyes to read. The first setup was actually painful to look at since the contrast was so far off.

[Deleted User] · September 2014

Glad you liked it...

oldrocker · September 2014

Thanks Ken for all your doing through the "growing pains".

ZLTFUL · September 2014

Ken,

This is what I am referring to:

The areas that are circled in red...it would be better if the menu scrolled with the page instead of remaining stationary. I know I can scroll in to get rid of the excess border but it looks even worse as it makes me feel like my 92 year old grandfather browsing the site...

I understand the desire to represent ones brand but even banner adds between posts is preferable to the unused real estate.
And for the record, 90% of my browsing is done on PCs and tend to look for an support forums based primarily around that format.

[Deleted User] · September 2014

I can understand your complaints, I can tell you it's not going to be changed.

daboyz · September 2014

Hey, Ricardo!! Life is totally different around here now. Must say I miss my Rockford brethren,too.

headrott · September 2014

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

How about we decide to no longer complain about what has changed and get on with making the forum a better experience?

With all respect Ken, changing the background color, adding the system showcase, vintage speaker information (you already adressed this), adding widescreen, and making clear distictions between posts (as maximillian addressed) would be making the forum a better experience, IMO.

Then, after the format changes are corrected, we can get on with social interactions (leading to helping others) on the forum and making that a better experience.

F1nut · September 2014

ZLTFUL wrote: »

How hard is it to edit the stylesheets and get a widescreen option (not very...even my own basic web page layout knowledge knows this)...

It's like having a 10 acre yard and only using 1 acre of it...

As Ken has pointed out, it is not possible with the Vanilla format because they didn't have the forethought to include that option like vBulletin has done.

Ricardo · September 2014

Hi Ken. I appreciate what you are doing with what you have at hand.

Maybe I am too old to welcome these type of changes. It just does not look inviting and I just don't feel like relearning the whole thing.

But who cares.... I was out of here already.

GospelTruth · September 2014

Ken -

I'm not hear to argue, but help me understand why making things adaptable for higher resolution screens is such an issue? I guess I don't understand why making a widescreen option is a "problem". I made the change locally and there are no issues that I can see doing so.

If you look at the custom.css stylesheet this site is using, I can definitely see that the maximum width is fixed at 960 pixels. You can see that highlighted below. I changed the value to be 80% instead (one line after) for my local test, and that fixes the higher resolution issues (as other would say adaptable for widescreen). Why something this simple cannot be done I have a hard time understanding.

.container {
max-width: 960px;
max-width: 80%;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
padding: 15px;
background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
background-color: rgba(229,214,137, 0.4);}
.container:after {
content: "";
display: table;
clear: both; }

The same goes for the breadcrumbs at the top of the forum that are hard to read. Editing that style class in the custom.css stylesheet would make that easier to read and conform to the rest of the layout. This is another issue that can easily be fixed, and I don't know why this isn't done.

.breadcrumbs {
font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 15px;
padding: 5px 10px 5px 10px;
background: #FFFFFF;
/*opacity: 0.9; */
border-radius: 3px;
}
.breadcrumbs:after {
content: "";
display: table;
clear: both; }
.breadcrumbs .sign-in-out {
float: right; }
.breadcrumbs .sign-in-out li {
list-style: none; }

All this to say is that this can be done without causing issues to the site no matter what the device being used. Personally, I think it would make it look better. Currenlty, on a 24" monitor, it looks kinda ridiculous being limited to 960px. On my 30" monitor that is 2560px wide, it's really ridiculous.

I have attached the my local example as a zip file so you and others can see what can be done. Unzip, and open the HTML file and you will see how nice things scale.

I hope Polk and those in charge of making the changes can see how this would help out what they are trying to implement. I'm more than willing to help out if you would want help in implementing other changes.

McLoki · September 2014

Hello everyone..... From the tornado 10 months ago - we are finally rebuilding. only another 4 months or so and I should have my Polks back and able to listen to some tunes.

I miss the groups and the showcases - Pictures are all I have had for the last 10 months. (and would have been nice to get some ideas from the showcase as we rebuild.)

(and why do none of the links in my signature work any more - what the heck....)

headrott · September 2014

McLoki wrote: »

Hello everyone..... From the tornado 10 months ago - we are finally rebuilding. only another 4 months or so and I should have my Polks back and able to listen to some tunes.

I miss the groups and the showcases - Pictures are all I have had for the last 10 months. (and would have been nice to get some ideas from the showcase as we rebuild.)

(and why do none of the links in my signature work any more - what the heck....)

Welcome back to the "forum" McLoki. I am glad you are close to rebuilding your home and having your Polks and the rest of your system back! Please let us all know when you do!

Unfortunately, all of the links to the old forum (including the ones to your system) are dead.

Please take new system pictures and link them into your signature. This is the only way for us to see your system now. It'll be a new start; and show us your new system. We are looking forward to it.

We all miss the groups and the system showcase, we are in the process of "bugging" the moderators to restart the system showcase and links to the old forum groups, etc.

Please add your thoughts to what should be added in the various threads regarding changes to the forum here:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/163755/which-format-do-you-want#latest
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/163758/forum-feature-suggestions-and-comments#latest
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/163998/time-to-vote-with-my-feet-or-fingers#latest

Please add any additional links that I missed (addressed to all).

Although the forum is a "shell" of what it was, we are all hoping it will continue to be improved upon over time. Please add your comments in this thread and the ones above (including voting on which forum type you like)

tophatjohnny · September 2014

Hard to fathom any member here (no matter how long they've been on this forum or how many thousands of posts that member has made) taking yet more time and building up yet more posts to complain about something they have zilcho control over. Pretty childish to me. I say the new forum is taking shape and will continue to do so over time and if some decide to bail...that's on them, as the members that are true to the forum and hobby as well as the interacting that's taking place will still hang in there!! I'm still digging it! Thanks Ken for all the hard work and making this a cool place to check in. Made some cool connections here that's for sure. Got a hell of a 2 channel system in the works, thanks to a couple here!!

exalted512 · September 2014

F1nut wrote: »

As Ken has pointed out, it is not possible with the Vanilla format because they didn't have the forethought to include that option like vBulletin has done.

Then get rid of vanilla before you lose the rest of your normal posters that has kept the forum alive for over a decade. I've seen a lot of changes on this forum in the last 13 years, some I've liked, others I haven't - but mostly due to cosmetic preferences. This new layout is ridiculous...but don't worry, I won't let the door hit me on the way out.
- Cody

BKphoto · September 2014

well, my 2 cents... I've been a photographer for 25 years, had a website since 03... this is just plain ugly...home page has nothing to get your attention...my eyes just jump all over the place...Bad design is bad design, can't tweak your way out of it...

good luck...

tonyb · September 2014

Poor Ken....can't imagine the headaches the guy is taking home with him everyday. Probably has a gang of newspaper boys following him around on bicycles...."I want the old forum back". lol

Toolfan66 · September 2014

headrott wrote: »

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

How about we decide to no longer complain about what has changed and get on with making the forum a better experience?

With all respect Ken, changing the background color, adding the system showcase, vintage speaker information (you already adressed this), adding widescreen, and making clear distictions between posts (as maximillian addressed) would be making the forum a better experience, IMO.

Then, after the format changes are corrected, we can get on with social interactions (leading to helping others) on the forum and making that a better experience.

Well said!! And I agree...

Won't be long before the spiders build their webs in this place...

vmaxer · September 2014

Toolfan66 wrote: »

headrott wrote: »

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

How about we decide to no longer complain about what has changed and get on with making the forum a better experience?

With all respect Ken, changing the background color, adding the system showcase, vintage speaker information (you already adressed this), adding widescreen, and making clear distictions between posts (as maximillian addressed) would be making the forum a better experience, IMO.

Then, after the format changes are corrected, we can get on with social interactions (leading to helping others) on the forum and making that a better experience.

Well said!! And I agree...

Won't be long before the spiders build their webs in this place...

I agree also, not sure it matters though.

GospelTruth · September 2014

Here's an example of what can be done with just changing the stylesheets. If I had more time, I would try to make it look better. This gives you some idea of what can be done with some simple stylesheet editting. You may not like the look, but I just want to show you all that this can be done. Personally, I think it at least gives a more professional appearance. Thoughts?

maximillian · September 2014

I like it. That would be far better. Has any admins contacted you yet about it?

Dennis Gardner · September 2014

I like the changes you made. It does come off more professional. Can you show how the recent discussions page layout could look better? I find it bland and non descript.

GospelTruth · September 2014

maximillian wrote: »

I like it. That would be far better. Has any admins contacted you yet about it?

No admins have contacted me, nor do I think they will. I think they are satisfied with what they have. Personally, if I paid an outside organization to design my website, the current look would not be acceptable. There are so many things that do not pass an acceptable UI design. This isn't a rip on Vanilla, it's how it's configured to look. It's open source and it's meant to be changed. Why not make it look better then?

Dennis Gardner wrote: »

I like the changes you made. It does come off more professional. Can you show how the recent discussions page layout could look better? I find it bland and non descript.

I can download the Recent Discussions page when I get home, apply the new stylesheet to it and post a image of what it will look like. Honestly, it may look a little better, but the configuration of Vanilla here has WAY to much on that page if you ask me.

Here are some other examples of Vanilla that just look a lot cleaner in my opinion.

voltz · September 2014

tonyb wrote: »

Poor Ken....can't imagine the headaches the guy is taking home with him everyday. Probably has a gang of newspaper boys following him around on bicycles...."I want the old forum back". lol

Dang it Tony.. what was that Cusack movie..ahh yeah I remember now

tonyb · September 2014

2 dollars....I want my 2 dollars. LOL

Ricardo · September 2014

That's it boys. Keep it coming and we'll beat the Emotiva thread.

headrott · September 2014

Ricardo wrote: »

That's it boys. Keep it coming and we'll beat the Emotiva thread.

Naaah, WAY more hate in the Emotiva thread. LOL!

GospelTruth · October 2014

Here's an updated version of what the Recent Discussions would look like. I figured out how to hide the first poster and last poster columns via the stylesheet. I think it adds to much clutter myself. That's my preference in this example.

BlueFox · October 2014

Good job. The laziness being exhibited here in not fixing this site is amazing. I would put the originator under the thread title, and the last poster on the right. Leave off the avatars and you get rid of the clutter.

GospelTruth · October 2014

Ricardo wrote: »

That's it boys. Keep it coming and we'll beat the Emotiva thread.

I gather you think that this thread is ridiculous based on your comment.

There is a lot going on with this new forum. I don't hate it, but I do think that the skinning of Vanilla leaves a lot to be desired from a professional level. I would expect more out of a company than the look/feel wise for this forum. Based on my findings, I think Polk got Vanilla for nothing and then paid an outside agency to "brand" the site for them. I think the work done for Polk leaves a lot to be desired. That is one thing I find weak about the new format. If Polk did pay an outside agency to brand this forum, then I'm sure they spent over the $359 or whatever it cost to upgrade vBulletin. Personally, I don't think it's a smart business move, but that's just my opinion. Polk chose Vanilla, so that's what we've got. I think it can look better than what they've got.

I'm not going to bash Vanilla. It's got some things that I like, especially with dragging and dropping images into posts. It's way better than before with the old Forum.

While I do think that Polk should bring back the system showcase and information on heritage speakers, I don't think that they are trying to necessarily get rid of all the vintage information. If they had wanted to do that, I'm sure they would have started from scratch and removed all historical posts. Additionally, I think they would have gotten rid of the Vintage Speakers section of the forum. I think they dropped the ball on a few things, but I don't think they are trying to get rid of everything vintage here. Of course, I could be wrong.

I don't think Polk is going back to vBulletin, so I'm just pointing out that they could make this site a lot better with some stylesheet editing. I don't see the harm in pointing out what is lacking or what others perceive is lacking.

I hope that others come back because I loved reading the bantering between members, the informative posts, and the odd ball discussions around here. That has vanished since the upgrade. I hope it comes back regardless of what Polk does with this site. I do hope they listen though and make some visual changes - not only for the people here, but to project a polished image to their consumers.

I hate this new forum

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