Reply to: Oi Nick!!!

[NickFitz]

I've not noticed at work because my monitor is knackered... Is it me or has the colour scheme gone a bit John Major?

One more thing, I've got a super duper 16:9 letterbox monitor yet I'm still seeing a horizontal slider bar. WTFITA??

Lots of people wanted a less colourful version as they felt it would be less conspicuous in the office, so here it is. If you'd like the blue version back, use the link at the top right (above the banner ad)

The horizontal scrollbar implies that you're using IE6 or IE7. They've been slightly broken by some hacks they needed for some other stuff that was even more broken. There's a fix on the way. If you notice anything else wonky, could you post it over here and I'll check it out

[gingerjedi]

I've not noticed at work because my monitor is knackered... Is it me or has the colour scheme gone a bit John Major?

One more thing, I've got a super duper 16:9 letterbox monitor yet I'm still seeing a horizontal slider bar. WTFITA??

[TheFaQQer]

Where's the nice button that gets me from PM->Inbox back to Forum->Social->...?

If you know how to use the PM system enough to complain about it - why not send Nick a PM, rather than the usual "shout loudly in General so everyone notices me"?

Or, you could use the dedicated thread for forum improvements to comment there....

[NickFitz]

FWIW, I noticed the missing forum button too, but it didn't bother me much because I always found it slightly annoying that it took me back to the home page.

One of the main issues I had with the so-called tab bar was that it didn't act like a tab bar does: in reality it was just some links, dressed up to look like a tab bar.

For example, if I went to advanced search and looked for stuff posted by a specific user in Technical between certain dates, I'd get a page of results with the "What's New" tab highlighted. (This didn't make any sense to start with, so let's say we change the tab to "Search Results".) Now the problem is that, if I click on the "Forum" tab, I go to the forum home page, but when I click on the "Search Results" tab again, I don't go back to my previous results: I go to the results of a "What's New" search. In fact there's no way to get back to my search results other than by using the Back button or repeating the search. It also suggests that the tab should constantly change its title, which isn't what tabs do: even on MS's weird multiline tab bars, they don't actually change their names, they just move around unpredictably.

Similarly, if I'm in, say, Technical, the "Forum" tab is highlighted. If I click on "What's New" and then re-select the "Forum" tab, it takes me back to the home page.

The whole tab metaphor is fundamentally broken: they aren't tabs at all. The problem is that vBulletin had to have a UI that could cope with a bunch of new stuff they've added to their overall suite (none of which is used here), and they let the graphic designers loose on it instead of the interaction designers. Any ID worth their salt would understand that navigating between different components of a site (forum, blogs, search, etc.) is not the same as switching among multiple views in an application (e.g. most preference dialogs, or a tabbed browser) and therefore the tab metaphor is not only inappropriate, but misleading.

Getting rid of the tabs has revealed that the previously-unnoticed changes they've made to the breadcrumb trail (for no readily apparent reason) mean that it isn't good enough, so I'm going to fix it. With a bit of luck, everybody will then be happy.

Actually, I think I'll make a nice cup of tea before getting back to it

[NickFitz]

I tried log in to that the old forum to try and find the relevant button/thingy/widget.

Well, the Internet Archive wouldn't be able to log you in anyway - it doesn't have any of the back-end code or database, just the HTML etc. that it saw when it crawled the site back in 2007.

[shaunbhoy]

Well overall, I have to say I like it. Subtle tweaks appear to be getting added at a pace that even the densest contributors can both absorb and respond to................as I have no doubt sasguru will confirm in due course.........once he gets back from his Line Dancing Class.

[Zippy]

It's also worth noting that on the old forum, the only options to get from PMs back to the forum were to use the logo or the breadcrumb trail, but people managed to figure it out, probably because the breadcrumb link was textual as well as a little icon.

I'm digging through the code working out how to add that back in now, as it seems a bit dumb to have that breadcrumb trail (apart from the little house) starting at "Settings" when those are settings (and so forth) for the forum. In the other forum sections it includes the "Forum", even on the home page, where it merely tells you where you are.

I thnk that would help

[doodab]

We didn't know about the CUK logo (I didn't)
Once you are into creating a message there is no cancel or obvious escape option.
Luckily none of us is thick innit?

This isn't a pissing contest btw. It's about how different people use interfaces. I find it interesting and worth debating.

Yes, that's fair enough, and there are lots of things that could be improved I'm sure.

It was just that spod's ranting bought back bad memories of all the users who wrongly insist that "it used to be like this" that I've ever met. He then started emphasising his wrongness with accusations of "outstanding arrogance" and "changing things on a whim" when he probably ought to know better, so I thought a bit of teasing was appropriate.

FWIW, I noticed the missing forum button too, but it didn't bother me much because I always found it slightly annoying that it took me back to the home page.

[SupremeSpod]

It's also worth noting that on the old forum, the only options to get from PMs back to the forum were to use the logo or the breadcrumb trail, but people managed to figure it out, probably because the breadcrumb link was textual as well as a little icon.

I'm digging through the code working out how to add that back in now, as it seems a bit dumb to have that breadcrumb trail (apart from the little house) starting at "Settings" when those are settings (and so forth) for the forum. In the other forum sections it includes the "Forum", even on the home page, where it merely tells you where you are.

I tried log in to that the old forum to try and find the relevant button/thingy/widget.

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Splendid.

[NickFitz]

We didn't know about the CUK logo (I didn't)
Once you are into creating a message there is no cancel or obvious escape option.
Luckily none of us is thick innit?

This isn't a pissing contest btw. It's about how different people use interfaces. I find it interesting and worth debating.

It's also worth noting that on the old forum, the only options to get from PMs back to the forum were to use the logo or the breadcrumb trail, but people managed to figure it out, probably because the breadcrumb link was textual as well as a little icon.

I'm digging through the code working out how to add that back in now, as it seems a bit dumb to have that breadcrumb trail (apart from the little house) starting at "Settings" when those are settings (and so forth) for the forum. In the other forum sections it includes the "Forum", even on the home page, where it merely tells you where you are.

[Zippy]

Well, you can click on the CUK logo in the top LHS, click the back button in your browser, or use the little menu down the bottom where it says "quick navigation"

Alternatively scream really loud and your mummy will come and help you

We didn't know about the CUK logo (I didn't)
Once you are into creating a message there is no cancel or obvious escape option.
Luckily none of us is thick innit?

This isn't a pissing contest btw. It's about how different people use interfaces. I find it interesting and worth debating.

[doodab]

You could also create a bookmark to general in the little linky bar in your browser if you really can't stand to be more than one click away.

[NickFitz]

I'm not talking about FORUM button.

Other than the "House Shaped" button how are we now supposed to get out of the PM->Inbox area?

How did we used to get out of the Inbox?

You either:

• Used the CUK logo;
• Used the "Forum" tab/button thing;
• Used the house at the start of the breadcrumb trail;
• Used the "Go to..." menu at the bottom of the page;
• Used the "Back" button on your browser toolbar.

On both this forum using the unmodified theme, and on vBulletin's own forums, there is nothing that will take you back to the specific forum you were on previously except your browser's "Back" button and its associated history menu, or selecting your previous location on "Go to...". All the other options will only take you to the home page, and always did.

On this forum now, the only one of those options that is no longer present is the "Forum" tab/button thing.

[doodab]

I'm not talking about FORUM button.

Other than the "House Shaped" button how are we now supposed to get out of the PM->Inbox area?

How did we used to get out of the Inbox?

Well, you can click on the CUK logo in the top LHS, click the back button in your browser, or use the little menu down the bottom where it says "quick navigation"

Alternatively scream really loud and your mummy will come and help you

[SupremeSpod]

I read what you said. I went and tested it, several times, in various ways. The "Forum" button never, ever had any functionality that took you back to where you had been previously, it only ever took you to the home page.

I'm not talking about FORUM button.

Other than the "House Shaped" button how are we now supposed to get out of the PM->Inbox area?

How did we used to get out of the Inbox?