Pretty New Buttons...

How about trying them out for a day or two. See how it turns out. Don't complain until the changes are complete. Like someone mentioned, be happy that changes are made while the site is online. The buttons may or may not change again soon. At least try it out first. My 2 cents. How to please +120,000 members, and make them all agree on cosmetic changes to the board...? Imagine trying to change one button for just one minute, and suddenly you get dozens of incoming complaints. Allow some time for correcting before pointing out obvious mistakes. We're not blind.

reply to post by elevatedone

I was just figuring out what was what and I did like the graphics with them .... now I have to face change so soon and I don't think that I'm ready for it!

The new look is easier to read though .... and somewhat slick. I said somewhat slick!

Well, as can be evidenced by my sign-up date, I've been around for a while. I feel like an old fuddy-duddy too, because I remember when we didn't have any of these fantastic features. All we had were these odd-looking simple buttons, which by themselves at the time were ok, but now would be ostracized as outdated. So, color me "pink" with envy, like the new U2U button, but I think we've got little to be complaining about.

For a look into a discussion about the last major change to ATS, look no further than ATS "Dark Matter" Revisited... Revised... Rethunk... for clarification. SO has done this more than once, and while not all of us like everything that he does, we must understand that he does so with the sincerest of intentions for the ATS community at large. This site is bigger than any ONE of us, please remember that!!

SO,

As I said above, I like how things are going overall, but I feel that I should make my feelings on the new button scheme apparent.

While I obviously appreciate everything being done, I don't particularly like the "step back" approach that we've taken. That doesn't mean that I can't adjust; it just means that it feels wrong somehow. Please don't misunderstand me here. I can and WILL get used to the new layout, if it's intended to stay for a while, as I'm not going to go anywhere, but I feel that it's got kind of a dated look to it. I preferred the big, bright, vibrant buttons of two days ago. But I, like all people I guess, get used to an improvement, and don't like the feeling of an apparent step back.



With all of that in mind, and this goes out to ALL members, if it's going to mean that we've got to adjust to a new button scheme so that we can reach more people, then I'm all for it. To use an appropo analogy, no revolution was ever started by the elites, as they are the ones that have the power and want to keep it. It was those at the lower end of the bracket that had the most to say, and were the most heartfelt about it. NO good revolution happens without this most valuable of commodities. We NEED these members more than any of us knows, if ATS is to become what we all want.

So, instead of looking at this as a harbinger of doom, lets look at it as the good omen that it really is, ok?

For Freedom and ATS,

TheBorg (Writing from Hive Central)

The way I see it, they still do what they did yesterday so why should I care what they look like?

They're buttons, nothing too drastic.

i dont like those buttons man for one they dont even match the site
its nice to hace them color coded like that god knows this place needs some livelyness but in contrast to the background they stick out like a sore thumb

SO why dont you make them smi-transparent kinda like bubble or ghost buttons

reply to post by TheBorg



dude where are you getting your information from people on dial up either dont live close to a city or they are too cheap to pay for broadband. granted some are poor but i bet ya they have at least cable TV.

trust me if someone is that determined to be part of this forum they will find a way like going to the library and post from there.


[edit on 10/19/2007 by razor1000]

Mod Edit: Big Quote – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 19-10-2007 by Jbird]

My main issue with how it is now, is that the myATS button is in the wrong place. It should be where members or memcenter is now. I don't think that it had moved before, at least not while I've been around this site.

having said that, while they need pictures like they were before, it reminds me of before the "dark matter" scheme. But to include it in the Dark matter scheme seems odd.

These new colors look better compared to the all green ones.

Of course everyones taste is different.

wow,

the ATS MIX, gets it own all-cap, dedicated button.
(must have a very stipulated agreement or contract or Agent)

i experimented it, and got the popup window for the Pod-Cast stuff,
and promptors to allow 'active-X controls' ... sheeze !

whew, won't do that idiotic move again,
it took several minutes to clear the insert window
& the attending 'program not responding' prompt that
arises when trying to extracate onesself from the mistake to begin with.

i did see that the buttons are of three different colors
~greenish ~ bluish ~ yellowish ~ ....

Seen the last updates of the butons, my view is that they don't fit with the site, it makes it look as if there was a server eror, or something wrong with this site, some of them are smaller than others in width, it makes it look like there is a disorder and that there is no real alignment in them.
Just my opinion, the other butons that were before were better, and had more style in them.

okay well since wer're sticking with those buttons might i sugest that maybe they should all be the same length and if you're going for the rounded edges maybe you should have it on both sides unless your planning on making tabs out of them of course and finally why dont you do something about the top links while you're at it those a too plain al well.

dont get me wrong the buttons look nice as hell but they need to have better css in them

As a user-driven site, we, the users demand the democratic right to vote on buttons...

...I have a mob of peasant-users armed with pitchforks and firebrands at the ready and am prepared to march on Castle Skepticstein

Power to the People!

Wolfie, out

What have the Amigos ever done for us?

(er..moderated and promoted one of the best boards on the internet)

Ok...apart from the moderation and promotion, what have the Amigos ever done for us?

(Serpo..they brought us Serpo...)

So apart from Serpo and Moderation and promotion...what have the Amigos ever done for us?

(Errr...sewage...yes, sewage systems [and the grey-aliens and mythological crptozoological beasts that live in them]...

(Denying Ignorance! you can't deny that they deny ingorance like nowhere else on the 'net)

OK...so apart from Serpo, Moderation, Sewage systems, (and the Greys and Cryptids that live in them), and denying ignorance....what have the Amigos ever done for us?

(Gave us shiny new buttons!?)

Right...that's it






[edit on 19-10-2007 by citizen smith]

well if they want more people comming back here maybe they ought to make ATS games more frequently and give out better prizes than domains. i mean what do i need a domain for i dont want to pay for hosting and registration either

reply to post by apex


Yes, they remind me too about post-dark-matter-buttons. But....
"those 60 seconds can (could) be like eternity", and....
the slowest GPRS connection on the planet (mine) gets them in less than 10 now. Early morning in 3 or 4.

Thank you!

For what it’s worth the icon images are downloaded once and never again unless they changed or you empty your cache. So you’re not saving any “bandwidth” by using java buttons. In fact the java overhead to support the buttons is a bigger bottle neck than a simple image link by far. I like the icons much better.

Originally posted by thehumbleone
[sarcasm] OMFG! these new buttons are like so gay! they don't even have pictures![/sarcasm]

It's starting to worry me. Without the pictures how will we know which buttons to click on?

This must be part of the NWO plan to take over the world.

i liked the old icon based buttons. the image recognition was a much quicker read than reading text.

it also tied in better to the site forum icons better.

reply to post by 12m8keall2c


And I notice the Mods never complain against the administration that governs the ATS website.

I am sorry, friend, if expressing my concern over raping the site of graphic beauty for the sake of those who don't contribute is over the top for you. In all honesty, I say such things with the site at heart. The site is a community, as a community we hold dear to the way things are which we establish ourselves into.. changes often work against our own wishes, and demean our own actions and wishes for the site. This is but another aspect, as was the last series of events which "bogged down" the servers -- most of which services came back to popular demand.

So make ugly buttons that don't match the rest of the site.

But believe it or not, that silly nonsense DOES matter to newcomers. If this was an ugly site with a crappy layout, there are plenty of other places I could have gone, but I chose this site, and thus, it is my home..

I don't mean to condemn the actions of the amigos, and I don't mean to condemn the actions of the staff for supporting the amigos without question, blindly, but I will not be silenced. This site preaches of the revolution. The overcome of the human aspect to speak his mind as it is, the way one sees it. This is how I see it, think it as childish as it is, I do not speak to spite the site, though many may think so, I speak for the best interest of the active members, which I hold above all others, including newcomers demanding we concede to their demands because they refuse to accept technological changes and get a damn high speed connection.

Think of me as you will, I seem to complain about everything SO does, so it shouldn't surprise you at the least. Change is good, but nothing good will come from preventing change for the sake of change to pander to the few.



To SO:

I may be little known on this site of yours, or perhaps I am well known, I honestly have no idea, but with over 40+ applauses I like to think I contribute to your, my, community. You work hard at what you do, to advance the site to make it more accessible, and you do work hard to make it, over all, more enjoyable. No one can discredit the work you have done for us all, but honestly, i cannot say I agree with lowering the appearance standard of the largest conspiracy site in the world for the sake of some Dial up users.

If your goal is a re-done layout of the site, like Dark Matter, I am all for it, but to leave it as it is, and to let a few things slide whereas they dont't even fit within the sites color scheme at the least, just for the sake to make the site more accessible, then no, i cannot support it.

Over dramatic, sure, but we members put ALOT of time into our post, our thoughts, everything we do here... and we make this site, we are the content, without our minds this endeavor falls into a void.

Thats my opinion, let the MODS pick at it as you will, I care not, I care not what anyone thinks of me.

While it's definitely too soon to tell a serious trend, there is some data to support the changes after just 24 hours.

In Google Analytics, we can separate the "first time users" from repeat users, and look at their site usage trends, and we see the following for today (as compared to two days ago with the higher-cost buttons):

Average pages per visit for first-time guests up to 4.7 from 2.1

Number of first-time guests clicking on "Recent Posts" up nearly 400%

Number of first-time guests clicking on "About ATS" (only shows up in the menu for guests), up just over 200%

Number of first-time guests clicking on "Board Home" up about 320%

Number of first-time guests clicking on "Search ATS" up about 200%

Clearly, these preliminary numbers indicate those who are new to ATS are having a better overall experience and spending more time with the site.


Now... on to some comments.

Originally posted by razor1000
dude where are you getting your information from people on dial up

From our website analytics package... this is the raw data on the connection speed of actual ATS visitors.

Originally posted by pepsi78
Seen the last updates of the butons, my view is that they don't fit with the site, it makes it look as if there was a server eror, or something wrong with this site

Over time, all the buttons will reflect a unified theme via CSS... so when this round of municipal reconstruction is finished, they will all fit.

Originally posted by tommyknockers
For what it’s worth the icon images are downloaded once and never again unless they changed or you empty your cache.

It's that first download that can often put people off. The Gartner Group published a study back in 2002 that still holds true today, even more so... web designers call it the 8/80 rule... within the first 8 seconds of visiting a new site, users make 80% of their "next-click" decisions... we want to do what we can to make sure that "next click" is an ATS link.

In fact the java overhead to support the buttons is a bigger bottle neck than a simple image link by far. I like the icons much better.

These are CSS buttons, so there's no real overhead... and I also like the icon-based buttons, but design for open access across a broad range of users is a balancing act... and for too long, we weren't balanced.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Over dramatic, sure, but we members put ALOT of time into our post, our thoughts, everything we do here... and we make this site, we are the content, without our minds this endeavor falls into a void.

Is the loss of 73k of graphic buttons really going to ruin your ability to contribute quality material to the ATS knowledge base?

We who created "The Above Network, LLC" as an entity to push the contributions of AboveTopSecret.com members into broader awareness know, very well, the value of each and every contribution our members volunteer to the massive amount of knowledge our site represents. I personally feel an enormous responsibility to ensure that what you write here reaches the broadest possible audience. We've had countless enhancements to infrastructure to ensure uptime and a long list core technology changes specifically for search engine optimization. Among the list of very important "to do's" for any web developer concerned with broad accessibility is the rendering performance of their pages... we've long been remiss in this area due to our desire for a graphically intense environment.

It's natural for this change to feel like a backward regression for those who have become accustomed to the visual cues of the graphic buttons... but you'll get over it... trust me... I've been through this before. I was involved in a major resign of one of the large online brokerage websites a few years ago. Much of the changes were very similar to what you're discussing here... but while people complained as the new site launched, the stats showed more efficient usage patterns, and users eventually loved limited-graphic approach.

Keep in mind that our goal, in all that we do for ATS, is to ensure as many people as possible have reliable access to what our members write. This is the latest refinement in the long list begun over four years ago when we first started clamping down on swearing and insults... so far, it's all working.