Open Member Testing: ATS.5/3 Final Release Candidate

reply to post by mikelkhall


I like opera too. Seems the new ATS is not compatible. Never had issues with other sites with opera. Am using FF at the moment which seems ok.

I know my opinion will not matter much, since I'm not a long term member. I really love ATS as it is. Why fix what is not broke? Oh well.

Tried it out today and my main complaint was the size of the font and the graphics. I have a 17" HD screen and I had to scroll a lot to get down the page. I reduced the font size though, and it works much more smoothly.

I like the changes, and understand the need for them. It really does seem to be more streamlined and accessible and I do think that the new users and younger users will like it better. Older users are used to the old style and will likely be the ones complaining the most, but we know change is hard.

I visited each area of the site and appreciate the changes, though they will take a little getting used to. Since I have my browser home page set to the ATS Recent Posts page, it will open to that, and I like the options on the top of the page for it.

Great work SO and crew, look forward to the release of the final version!

-Ceri

eta... on my post of the above, I notice in my sig that it shows the bb code for the colors rather than the actual colors. Guess I will have to learn how to re-code that to make it work, unless that is part of the final release.

I'm not seeing any changes (I'm on the old desktop right now using chrome).

It's ok, As long as I can read the topics I'm good. I'll base all the material on character rather than the color(s). No new emotes here and no changes..it wouldn't let me log in-just kept getting the same prompt

reply to post by Taissa


I kind of agree. Skeptic overlord thinks it is broken due to loss of visits I think. I really dont think its the design of the site that causes that though. I have never stopped visiting a site because of the way it looks (unless it is really bad, which ATS isn't). I know some web masters that look far too deeply into this kind of thing though and assume avarage users do things that they actually dont. if you know what I mean.

There is nothing wrong with the site as it currently is. The loss of visits most likely has to do with content. Most threads get derailed these days, full of insults and the like.l That puts people off. That I know for sure as a couple of friends of mine stopped visiting ATS for that very reason. The threads get derailed all to often these days and that destroys any meaningful discussion. They should change T&C, not the site. Update the way its moderated.

The new look site will just put people off in my opinion as it lacks any real style. Its just too bland. Too ordinary compared to other sites today. ATS was unique, with the new look site its lost that unique feel and look. They are trying to compete with other sites by looking similar, with this modern UI style which to be honest, not many people actually like. Cant say that to a web developer though, they are too blinded by the tech and the need to be up to date.

reply to post by Taissa


As you are a member I believe this community values your opinion very much.

Does that mean that changes will be made based on your opinion? Probably not but don't dismiss yourself so quickly.

Originally posted by greavsie1971
Just seen new ats on a friends tablet. Much better than on my laptop. The text stands out better. Dont do a microsoft on us and leave us laptop / pc users in the cold. We still make up a large percentage of the user base.

Agreed.
The desktop users have clearly been told they dont matter anymore, in favour of the smaller screen device users.

In the profile preferences, there is a mobile/desktop option for mobile users, but paradoxically, it wasnt seen to be worth the effort to create a DESKTOP option for desktop users.

They are trying to compete with other sites by looking similar, with this modern UI style which to be honest, not many people actually like. Cant say that to a web developer though, they are too blinded.

reply to post by greavsie1971


I suppose you forgot to put the link to the information where you base these facts on?

I like the new format and I'm not a web developer. Maybe I'm just one of the "few" dumb people that just like whatever comes along.

I've seen ATS go through many revisions through the years and every time it's always the same, "don't change, it's not needed, if it ain't broke don't fix it". But in the end everyone gets used to the new format and everything is great until the next new design comes along.

Darkblade71
reply to post by AboveBoard

 

I know the friend/respected foe list is gone, but the points are still there although I don't see them either. I had asked about that during the beta and was told the points are still going to be kept, but the friend list is going bye bye, along with the profile wall, and ability to put a personal message in your profile about yourself.

The Friends/Foes, profile wall and messages add personality to the profiles. Though, I don't believe everyone uses them might be the case for removal besides the main reason of streamlining the member profile. Personally I'd rather see a simplified Friends lists and short member profile over, if possible, the basic stats post per thread and day tallies as follows:

flags per thread:
stars per post:
threads per day:
posts per day:

What would the purpose of that be besides users tallying their own posting per thread and day?

Plus the posts per forum thread below that.

I'm also wondering if the profile changes are finalized.

greavsie1971
reply to post by mikelkhall

 

I like opera too. Seems the new ATS is not compatible. Never had issues with other sites with opera. Am using FF at the moment which seems ok.

edit on 31-8-2013 by greavsie1971 because: (no reason given)

Only issue I have had with Opera(PC use) was that I had slight trouble signing in, kept trying and it worked. What are some of the problems, maybe can help checking them out, and possibly if you use it on PC.

reply to post by Darkblade71


But I want my precious, precious points! I hope they do not take them away!!!

And I like having friend links (foes I did not care about so much) - it makes it easy to link to these members to see if they've started a thread, etc. if you were gone for a while. Going to the members search function is tedious for that. Oh well. I guess that very minor 'social' aspect is deemed unimportant?

It's a challenge to know how to give input early-on, when you are not sure what the changes will be. And the first test I did, I was just trying to figure out basic navigation, so these details were missed!

Thanks!

- AB

Arg. One more thing (I feel like I'm being a pain, here). There is a huge amount of empty grey space whenever I hit "posts" and I need to then scroll waaaaayyy down to the bottom of the "stats" and forum/thread information to see them. This might be able to be brought up on the page more???

Not trying to complain - just giving information...

peace,
AB

I've had it crash on me a number of times in the last two days. I'll try to post a reply, or go to a thread, and get the "Aw Snap! Something went wrong!" message and have to refresh the page.

I am disappointed. I pissed off user "filledcup" bad enough that i was added as a foe yesterday. We won't get to see the benefits of being on his sh# list.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Meh, I've pissed off a number of people over the years. lol. I'm on so many sh# lists it's not funny.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I've managed a few, myself.

Especially during election season. I like the position of devils advocate in politics.

skitzspiricy
1) Are you able to put a "back to top" function in at the bottom of threads? Like there was on the old ATS.

With the sticky menu, there's really no need.

reply to post by dreamingawake


The only problem I had with Opera (pc) was when I was going from page to page the system would go to the next page correctly and then, suddenly, go to the homepage. I would hit the back button and be at the correct "next" page.

Other than that the system works, as far as I have seen, with Opera perfectly.

asciikewl
iPad 1 adaptive issue: the message flows under the avatar pic, becomes hard and scroll intensive to read anything

Landscape, portrait, or both? That's odd because it's not happening on mine. What version iOS?

On a mobile device the page numbers are almost impossible to click unless you zoom in.

That's going to be a constant issue. I'm trying to keep the thread pagination to fit properly in portrait mode on phones, but I may punt and just do back/next.

Very often on potentially good threads the detracting posts can be so many that the thread becomes impossible to read and you give up on something that you should give input on.

I'm not a fan of Reddit's filter that hides voted-down posts. It allows biased topics to continue to be biased because the challenge posts are voted down by the biased crowd.

kal1ch
I've uploaded annotated screenshots with the things I've encountered that I think should be fixed.
www.evernote.com...
www.evernote.com...

I'm not the typical "responsive design snob." I didn't care about desktop users grabbing the bottom corner of their browser window and scaling it down based 1024 wide -- only web design geeks do that.

The complexity of a discussion board page with avatars, posts, and sidebar ads, and all the other page-types (we have 22), it's impossible to create a columnar grid that scales gracefully for the fraction of the audience that will go very narrow on a desktop computer.

Instead I'm using the widely-accepted and often-updated mobile detect script (Google, AOL, Amazon, and a bunch of others use it) to sense the device type.

The result is -- rather than "hide" the desktop menu and unhide the mobile menu for phone users, which would be typical of responsive design, I just don't send the desktop menu at all. I only send what the phone needs, for far smaller HTML payloads than typical responsive design.

Auricom
On this page: www.abovetopsecret.com... , all I see is a blank page with ads and some info like who's online and board stats when viewed with Chrome/SWIron.

That's a problem with Iron. The HTML is pretty standard.