Is this new hotness here to stay this time?

Oh ffs, this is horrid. Yet again I make a simple request, allow us to select an "ATS Classic" layout otherwise I'm off.

How can I make the font and everything smaller?

yourmaker
How can I make the font and everything smaller?

CTRL + MINUS

By minus I mean the - key. CTRL+0 to reset it.

yourmaker
How can I make the font and everything smaller?

Press ctrl and - at the same time.

I tried it, it made the text too small.

The most annoying thing about the new style is that it's like reading books made for kids, or some school learning page for under 5's.

Apart from that, it's smoother in some ways and faster.

So far its ok, But it will take time to get use to this layout. I see less info on the top stories and now require to scroll up and down more making my large screen useless... thanks alot

New site design is DISGUSTING!

It actually hurts my eyes to read and when I do manage to concentrate on it I can barely find what I want.

The ATS team have majorly got this wrong in my opinion, lots of space has been wasted and it looks like a 14 year old designed the site. I don't mean to be rude or insulting just honest.

The old design had far more functionality.

PW229
Oh ffs, this is horrid. Yet again I make a simple request, allow us to select an "ATS Classic" layout otherwise I'm off.

Yeah, or at least put it up for a vote, I'm not liking this one bit.

Also where is BTS?

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Yeah, I was starting to think it was just me having that problem with posts going to the first page of the thread, instead of your actual post. I sent two messages to mods about this, but I see it hasn't been fixed.

Some threads have a very high number of pages in them and it's pretty close to impossible to find your posts in there.

I can finally read all my private messages here on my iPad that I couldn't do before and I'm getting used to the new format. Won't please everyone but then again, it is here to stay...

As I said in my thread this isn't really pc-friendly. I did say that in the feedback when this layout was first introduced but apparently that drowned into the other feedback. What I'd like is an option to switch back to similar layout we used to have. Smaller fonts, not wasted space everywhere is far more ergonomic for a pc-user.

You would think that after months of research and testing- that they would at least get the basics down right.
Everytime I get used to a new ATS layout- they go and change it- and never for the better.
I have to scroll to reply- and I have to scroll for reading the entire texts in posts.
Not to mention its like trying to read posts in space. Theres so much space in between everything that you have to navigate more just to read those posts. The faces look like something that would appeal to 8 year olds...Where is the throw-up face? I could use it right about....now :::Blaaah::

One question that I have regarding this new design, what has happened to the star feature?

I don't see the need to "fix" something that wasn't broken in the 1st place.

ATS is going after new users with this design, instead of remembering it has a hardcore of members who have been here YEARS, if there isn't an option to use the old design then I will most likely be leaving this site for good! Because looking at it is now giving me a migrane, I also imagine I won't be alone with this.

Folks, can you imagine how frustrating it can be to have opened up the new site for any and all members to thoroughly test for just about a full week... to see a slew of sometimes incredibly petty comments... and comments that should have happened during the open testing.

This is a massive redeployment, no bit of code was unchanged to the point where it was an entire recoding of both back and front ends --- by one person.

Everyone got a U2U urging them to test the new site and provide commentary in this thread:
Open Member Testing: ATS.5/3 Final Release Candidate
If you didn't care enough participate in an unprecedented open test and request for feedback, why are some of you doing so in such a petty manner after launch? You had lots of opportunity.



Please, if you have what you think to be an important issue, flag your post in this thread with something that will stand out... and do not open any more new threads.


Thank you.



And for the purpose of communicating, yet again, the rationale behind the redesign, here is what was posted in the open test thread...

By now everyone should have received a private message with the username/password that enables access to the Final Release Candidate version of the new ATS.5/3.

This is the fourth round of user testing (first being staff-only, second being invited beta-testers, and third being an open-beta test to all members) and is intended to accomplish the following:

1) final testing of the site UX (user experience) on a wider variety of user scenarios

2) final refinement of of the color scheme of the two UI (user interface) options

3) establish an understanding of the new interface/structure for a less jarring cut-over

4) begin the offered opportunity for a member collaboration on new smilies


This open test is not intended as an opportunity to offer significant alterations to the UI/UX in any way. Months of work, preceded by months of research, and that preceded by months of analysis of existing "upgrades" to so-called discussion board frameworks (XenForo being the best of a lackluster bunch).



The Primary Goal

What you are testing is not "change for the sake of change." Two massively important factors have been the driving force behind such a significant re-think of what a discussion board platform should be.

1) While the number of in-bound new users (roughly 85% of all daily traffic) has remained relatively flat, the user-engagement (content/thread pages viewed) has been falling off for months.

2) Across the Internet, nearly all discussion boards are experiencing a very similar phenomena. The decline in engagement is seen everywhere, even in large long-established video game forums.

The reason, is relatively simple: the audience has changed. The percentage of people comfortable with the rigid/tight discussion board format is decreasing, while the percentage of people accustomed to the more open sensibilities of contemporary flat design is increasing. It's a clearly quantified (and has been) fact of life for online operators.


Our mandate at AboveTopSecret.com, for more than ten years, has been to create and maintain a venue that showcases the quality content created by our members. A big part of that mandate has been consistent attention to search engine optimization. Another big part has been the delicate balance of advertising to provide the revenue needed to support big traffic, our own advertising, and growth. But the biggest part of that balance has always been finding ways to push the boundaries of a discussion board platform so that new users have the best possible chance to discover your content.

Right now, discovery is falling. Action is needed.

So every decision from font-size to color to mobile responsiveness has been from the vantage point of "what best highlights the content." The content is first. The content is second. And the content is third.



I'm not saying your input isn't important

That's why this is the third time we've opened the development site up to members. But if we didn't place a high priority on ensuring your content is both discovered and lingered-over, all we'd be doing is talking amongst ourselves and no one would have encountered the long-list of content that you created, that became important on thousands of other websites and hundreds of news sources.

This IS for you.






this thread is closed.

"Off topic post removed to prevent thread drift"???

Nice one ATS admins, either do as you say or get hit by that? Absolutely disgusting behaviour and the very behaviour this forum rallies against.

It's very hard to see to read ,very blurry and too grey .

Go back to, out of the blue and into the black

No ribbon.

1%

Resentedhalo08
what has happened to the star feature?

There is no starring ability in this, Board Business & Questions, forum. It's working in all other forums.

PW229
Oh ffs, this is horrid. Yet again I make a simple request, allow us to select an "ATS Classic" layout otherwise I'm off.

See ya

Needless to say there was a very popular website now owned by Justin Timberlake that decided to mess around with their design and site functionality and we all know what happened to that.

ATS you will lose members if you don't make this site more pc friendly like it was, especially if there won't be an option to revert back to "classic" skin.