Previous thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/site-upgrade-sunday-3-19-8am-est.2039590/ Going to make 3 posts. The first are the positive comments. The second are the issues with the mobile version The third are issues with the desktop/laptop version. @Janet H @Andy R Before getting to the below, can you guys lay out your reasoning on why you did what you did? What did your data say? What trends did you see elsewhere? What did you pick up here that you thought worked and did not? What was your overall thinking as to why you did what you did? Positive Design looks clean (mobile) The green up/down arrows are nice (mobile - contrast to the complaint) Feels the same, only a few bugs. Site works well after upgrade (personal note – this is nice as it has been an issue in the past – thanks from ‘nutter) More “modern aesthetic” is nice The grid format is nice when viewing all fora. The new forum list is better than the old. Font on iOS is good
Mobile Green arrows pointing up and down (“a bit in the way”) “Can't tell if I'm on page 1 or 2 since the green looks like a link I need to click” Notifications on left and right not sinc-ed up. Option for dark background Header is larger (“takes up at least a quarter of the page”) Navigation needs redesign to reduce clutter/increase content area. (and the advert doesn’t fit.) “Tools” menu does not close when editing a post – iPhone and Safari
Desktop/laptop (comments highlighted in red have been commented on or updated/fixed) Note - putting this at the top as a possible viewership concern – under Blog --> New Posts --> New Media or New Post --> New Media, the videos posted are quite sizable. If somebody wanted to slip some porn in there, or some graphic violence, it would be quite blatant and unsettling. Something to think about as people do a lot of viewing/posting at work, and there are kids who can/do view this as well. Trending, Recent Articles, and Profile on the right squeezes posts (multiple issues – most frequent comment is not caring what is “trending”) (an option to disable this will be created) Also, Trending threads should link to first unread post, not first post in thread. (done) And, include the forum where the trending threads are located (about trending threads – what is visible will be more forum/user specific than it is now) Move the trending threads below the threads (note – or above, perhaps in some grid manner) Improved separation of quoted material. (a blue bar on the side was added after multiple concerns were brought up, but the text is also an issue and is still too light) Top of page banner – “Watched Threads” and “My Threads” are the same thing Navigation links at the bottom of the page (several concerns) Navigation links at the top of each page should be fixed/pinned, not movable Visual queues are not forum-specific enough making it harder to navigate visually (see post 53 in the thread linked in first post) Women’s forum made pink (change will be coming) Header too large, too much wasted space (work in progress to reduce) Secondary menu on header should not be pinned Will profiles be back up (note – I’m not sure what this means as my profile hasn’t change) When writing a post, it no longer saves as a draft (note – this has not been the case for me. @wellno, is it still an issue?) Green on-line dot to be less blaring. And the position of the dot distracts from the avatar. A user option to switch between grid and list views. Pop-in menu missing (note – can be found using “Forum Lists” or the quick navigation tree on the unpinned menu at the top of each page) What is the purpose of “Add Media” (see post 125 of thread linked in first post of thread) Why does “Add Medial” only have clubs/countries listed? Why did “Soccer cups” get moved to the top of the navigation list? Remove BigSoccer and BigSoccer Bot as “notable members” blissett is not excited about upgrade – *sad face* () The upgrade did not recognize previously read threads, and there is no option to mark all threads as being read. The “new” in a new post is not visible enough. (note – perhaps it could be placed under the post number, and made darker) Remove “Media” link from header (note – was changed to “Video” but remains due to trying to tap into the notable number of posts with videos) Sig text is too light (and there are several various concerns about various kinds of text being too light) Padding in sigs needs to be reduced Double sticked threads at the top of the page need to be rethought due to the nature of PC screens When hovering over a place for a drop down menu, the menu does not become hidden again after moving the mouse “like post” box is too large Size of the reply box should align with post in thread above Not able to easily see new posts in forums and subforums without going into those locations. Ability to not show yourself as being on line (as opposed to showing it to others). When listing trending threads, some are not good for a new user. Too much padding between posts (interrupts flow) “Recent Articles” is only threads (should be threads where the first post is an article) Put “My Forum” on the menu bar next to “My Threads” Enable html in sigs Option darker background/night mode/other colors (possibility after higher priority issues taken care of) The new BS logo is outdated Darken the background some to separate it from posts (done) Too much blank space on the right (associated with the Profile/Articles/Treading on the right) Ads slowing down user ability (see post 152 from thread linked in first post) Ability to list a second club under avatar DELETED post boxes are too big Remove sans serif font Ability to toggle width works, but disable the ability to stick the Profile/Articles/Treading area on same page, but works on next page “Jump to most recent post” button has been “squeezed.” (Not sure where this is as I don’t use it) Make the forum look like an Excel spreadsheet. The Boss Button – did it ever work, and will it work now? The green navigation arrows on the right need to hand around a bit longer when scrolling is stopped. Knave said the play was bad, too In creating this thread, made a Word document and did a copy/paste. Needed to reformat text (it was double spaced when pasted) Also, this is a long list, and had to bullet-point it in sections, not all at once.
Just tested commenting on the blogs. They don't show. There's no discussion at all. You click Quote, and it takes you to a quoted text box where it actually quotes the entire blog post, then you put in your reply and it goes nowhere. Unless it does and I can't find it. Also looks like all of the comments from any of the blogs disappeared with Disqus going away.
I am moved by the fact that this was included in the list of general issues. Sniff. Definitely. It is a quite extensive and complete list of everything people pointed out at. The fact that the higher number of issues is apparently with desktop/laptop devices confirms my impression that this upgrade had mobile-users in mind and somehow forgot about the rest of the world (I am primitive, but I'll never understand how you can watch anything football-related on a tiny I-phone screen; like watching Grand Canyon through a key-hole, if you ask me...). Something has been fixed, something is being fixed, but, as we see from this recap, the number of issues is huuuuuuge (and obvioulsy some are more urgent than others). I hope something will be done. (Actually from older non-quotable thread) Ads between posts were of course disgraceful. We even happened to "lose" some old threads in-between changes in the past. But I've anyway seen better upgrades. I guess we sure don't want to risk losing any other long standing posters (they became rare and extinction threatened, and they are protected by WWF).
[QUOTe"KensingtonSC, post: 35260535, member: 162439"]Just tested commenting on the blogs. They don't show. There's no discussion at all. You click Quote, and it takes you to a quoted text box where it actually quotes the entire blog post, then you put in your reply and it goes nowhere. Unless it does and I can't find it. Also looks like all of the comments from any of the blogs disappeared with Disqus going away.[/QUOTE] Yep, same thing happened to me.
This needs to be a top priority. The absence of this permanent link is driving me batty. Well, battier ...
I'd like to expand on this a bit. Every time I look at the image of the classic soccer ball, both in the logo the appears top left of each web page, and in the thumbnail that appears in my browser tab, I have the same feeling... it needs to be inverted. IOW, it looks like a photo negative. The lines between the panels are white, when they should be black, i.e. the natural shadowing that happens between panels. Doing that would also invert the panels that now show as white to become black or dark gray, whatever color they want to use. I don't usually have graphic-designer-like comments like this, so perhaps they should be taken with a few grains of salt.
I just turn off signature display altogether. Anything to reduce clutter & info overload. It's enough just to keep up with posts!
I'm not sure if the new logo reminds me more of the original DC United logo or the previous US Soccer logo. One thing I am sure of? I hate the amount of white space between posts. This was an issue under a previous redesign. Luckily, it was fixed then.
Thanks for gathering up all the requests into one place. We are working on them but please be patient, the fixes will come in spurts. We have setup the site so members with 10 or more posts can turn off the side column. To do so you need to use the little arrow icon found at the way top. Here is the example: It looks like My Threads and Watched Threads are the same thing. Which one do you all think we should keep? @dark knight - My Forum and Watched Forums are probably the same thing (just like above). Let's standardize. Which one should we keep and what wording do you all like most?
Yes: https://www.bigsoccer.com/watched/forums It should be a permanent, top-line link as it was in the old design. The existing link on the second line is not permanent. It disappears on some pages, like the search page. Watched Forums (My Forums) should have a prominent, permanent link up top. For many of us the Watched Forums page is our go-to BigSoccer homepage. If I can't get there from wherever I am, I'm basically lost.
What kind of name is Gamecock? Sad! Sig are great! Nothing better! Build wall to protect sigs from terrorists. Make sigs great again!
I think that there are a few detailed oriented PC users. I would say that half of the issues came from 3 or 4 posters. We've been though a few upgrades and know what to look for.