What's new
What's new

new format - a thumbs-down

Well--- I will chose to be conservatively optimistic. DC has beat me up unmercifuly the last year--- we'll get through this slight software change; somehow in due time. Things could be WORSE; and they are; Economically. Need I say more----
 
Pretty early for me to say either way. I agree there is a lot of whitespace, maybe too much.

I do like the new page number deal. The old was too dark and hard to read.
 
I can tell you for sure, if I can't conveniently see which threads in each topic have new posts, and then jump to the first new post, I'll be doing a lot less reading and only stop in when I have a question to ask.
 
I can tell you for sure, if I can't conveniently see which threads in each topic have new posts, and then jump to the first new post, I'll be doing a lot less reading and only stop in when I have a question to ask.
Yeah, I've no idea what millenial idiot thought that to be an idea, let alone one that isn't just implented, but made to be the default even.
In any case, if you go into your preferences, you can change the style to Default.
It will make threads with new posts highlighted just like the old interface.
Your page width will be limited with a shitton of wasted space on the sides, but at least you get some common sense back.
 
I think it's extremely ugly too, but as long as the asinine way one had to post pictures, the random delete-instead-of-edit and the "10 messages in your inbox is too many" limits went away, I can live with it.
 
yea, too much white space, but I might get used to it.

bigger gripes, I don't see a post count at the beginning of a thread. that's vital as it gives me some idea if I even want to dip into a thread, if its a day old and has 120 posts, I know the usual pests have probably gotten into a pissing match and ill skip it.

other big one, it is really useful to see the post count, join date, and likes next to a users name.

third one, what is this "trophy" BS? also, I like seeing MY post count and likes, total "messages" is more BS.
 
In a week or two this will look normal to most of us. This isn't the first time I've had to adjust to new software on a forum. I'll have to take a look and see how many steps it takes to post a picture. It looks like there is an "attach files" icon right there where you type comments so no scrolling down a page to find that. It also looks like when you hit enter your comments gets posted.
 
I'm not surprised by the general amount of grumbling on this forum about the recent changes, seems to fit in with the general vibe here lol.

Some other forums I'm on have been migrating away from Vbulletin to Xenforo, and from what I understand it is primarily a back end thing. I guess Vbulletin is a much larger pain in the ass than Xenforo, and the amount of extra work it takes to keep spammers and whatnot at bay is much harder on Vbulletin.

I frankly hated the old Vbulletin layout. It was never as well laid out as I would have liked, and it was in NO way mobile friendly for photos or stuff like that. I think this is a positive move, and with some general tweaks and cosmetic massaging y'all will be back to complaining about the usual stuff in no time. It'll take some getting used to, but hopefully this helps attract and retain some more members as forums generally aren't the thriving medium they were 10 or 15 years ago.
99.9% of my time here is through a mobile device. This new format will be way better, once I find everything and adapt to it.

The "similar threads" banner is annoying for conversation but it is great for finding new stuff to read.
 
99.9% of my time here is through a mobile device. This new format will be way better,

Aaaannnnddd... in the meantime....
those of us who actually contribute to the machining related topics here as well, do it on our primary device, which happens to be a fucking COMPUTER, let that be a PC or MAC !!!
You know, the magic box you can use to draw a part, design a part, program a part, document a process, invoice the final product...
Come on Man! You know. You know what I mean. You know the thing, the thing ....

But please, do tell us why we should give a FF about you having a better experience on a mobile device?
 
I am OK with the new page number, but now the post numbers are too light and hard to read. Why can't they just be BLACK and perhaps a larger font size?



Pretty early for me to say either way. I agree there is a lot of whitespace, maybe too much.

I do like the new page number deal. The old was too dark and hard to read.
 
Tracking of this font is too narrow.


I don't really know what you mean by " tracking of this font ", but the field of view is definitely narrow.
Sure looks like it is catering to the millenial morons holding their portables in "portrait" mode!
 
My biggest gripe would be I can't seem to turn back on some information at a glance.

Meaning I could just look over and see how many posts a person had, where they were from, how many likes they got and how many they gave, and when they joined. This gave me an immediate idea of who was talking and whether they were worth listening to. I don't want to dig for this information.

That was a lot of information at a glance. I can't seem to turn it all back on. I can get some if I hover over their icon but that's annoying and most of the other info is still not immediately visible.
 
I don't really know what you mean by " tracking of this font ", but the field of view is definitely narrow.
Sure looks like it is catering to the millenial morons holding their portables in "portrait" mode!
I have a computer monitor in portrait mode and the whitespace on the sides makes the new layout miserable. I just don't understand why people seem to like so much whitespace everywhere these days.
 
The tracking of a font is how wide the individual characters are spaced on a line.
The tracking of a font is how wide the individual characters are spaced on a line.
 
Aaaannnnddd... in the meantime....
those of us who actually contribute to the machining related topics here as well, do it on our primary device, which happens to be a fucking COMPUTER, let that be a PC or MAC !!!
You know, the magic box you can use to draw a part, design a part, program a part, document a process, invoice the final product...
Come on Man! You know. You know what I mean. You know the thing, the thing ....

But please, do tell us why we should give a FF about you having a better experience on a mobile device?
Because it's 2022 and we all have computers in our pockets? Which also happen to have cameras? Makes it SO much easier to snap a pic at the machine of the screen or the part or whatever and upload it. It's a giant pain in the ass to send pics to yourself, download them to the pc just to re-upload to a forum.

I also read PM while on the couch, waiting in lines, on public transport, as a passenger in cars, the list goes on. I don't carry my laptop with me everywhere, but I do my phone.

Yes, I write on my computer at my desk, as I'm doing now. But I would argue the vast bulk of social media and causal computing is done on a phone or a tablet now. Forums are a form of social media.

If PM doesn't keep up with the world, it will get left behind. Plain and simple. The Instagram machining community is easily as knowledgeable and helpful as PM, and the ENTIRE thing is done on mobile. If PM wants to stay relevant, it needs to be useable and accessible to people younger than the age of 40.

Forums rely on traffic. If you don't get traffic, you don't get ad money, and the forum closes. If I owned PM I would do everything in my power to make my site as appealing to as many people as possible. Mobile computing is here to stay, so it makes ZERO sense to not consider it when doing forum upgrades.
 
Because it's 2022 and we all have computers in our pockets? Which also happen to have cameras? Makes it SO much easier to snap a pic at the machine of the screen or the part or whatever and upload it. It's a giant pain in the ass to send pics to yourself, download them to the pc just to re-upload to a forum.

I also read PM while on the couch, waiting in lines, on public transport, as a passenger in cars, the list goes on. I don't carry my laptop with me everywhere, but I do my phone.

Yes, I write on my computer at my desk, as I'm doing now. But I would argue the vast bulk of social media and causal computing is done on a phone or a tablet now. Forums are a form of social media.

If PM doesn't keep up with the world, it will get left behind. Plain and simple. The Instagram machining community is easily as knowledgeable and helpful as PM, and the ENTIRE thing is done on mobile. If PM wants to stay relevant, it needs to be useable and accessible to people younger than the age of 40.

Forums rely on traffic. If you don't get traffic, you don't get ad money, and the forum closes. If I owned PM I would do everything in my power to make my site as appealing to as many people as possible. Mobile computing is here to stay, so it makes ZERO sense to not consider it when doing forum upgrades.
In the 80's we had pagers that were small and clipped onto your belt, then cell phones came out, you needed a backpack to lug one, so it stayed in the car most of the time. As cell phones progressed they got smaller until I could carry one in a shirt pocket, I miss my Blackberry. Then they decided phones needed to be bigger so you could have bigger screens, the problem is it does not fit in my pocket anymore, and instead of people sending a short message, they want to send 12 page dissertations, I'm not reading that sh*t on a miniature screen. The only clothing I see that has pockets big enough for modern cell phones is overalls, and I'm not dressing like farmer John, so the cell phone can sit next to the computer, and I don't have to play Pavlov's dog.
 
In the 80's we had pagers that were small and clipped onto your belt, then cell phones came out, you needed a backpack to lug one, so it stayed in the car most of the time. As cell phones progressed they got smaller until I could carry one in a shirt pocket, I miss my Blackberry. Then they decided phones needed to be bigger so you could have bigger screens, the problem is it does not fit in my pocket anymore, and instead of people sending a short message, they want to send 12 page dissertations, I'm not reading that sh*t on a miniature screen. The only clothing I see that has pockets big enough for modern cell phones is overalls, and I'm not dressing like farmer John, so the cell phone can sit next to the computer, and I don't have to play Pavlov's dog.
I have no issue keeping my iphone in the pocket of my jeans. They sell many different sizes of the same phone you know...

Either way, just because something exists doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. I have my phone on my all day because its the primary way I communicate with my customers, my wife, my friends, my family, etc. I am fine without it, but it just makes things easier.

I was merely pointing out that lots and lots of people DO use their phones for internet browsing, and it would be silly from a website owner's perspective to not optimize for mobile viewing.
 








 
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